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Jaime Mansour | Elevate Your Restaurant's Performance through Communication and Trust
Episode 1553rd October 2023 • Turning the Table • Adam Lamb
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"Don't focus on the PNL to manage the PNL; focus on your people." ~ Jaime Mansour

Do you want to create a thriving restaurant business with a motivated and loyal staff?

Are you searching for a proven solution to improve employee retention and boost your business performance?

Look no further!

In this session, we have a special guest, Jaime Mansour, VP of Operations at True Food Kitchen, who will be unveiling the key to achieving this desired outcome. Jaime will be sharing a powerful strategy to enhance communication, foster trust, and establish accountability within the restaurant industry, leading to a highly efficient and successful business.

Get ready to unlock the secret to building a strong team and achieving exceptional results in your restaurant!

In this episode, you will be able to:

  • Delve into the importance of company culture and investing in employee development for business advancement.
  • Decode the dynamics of effective communication, trust-building, and responsibility within the restaurant industry.
  • Investigate the correlation between granting workplace freedom and workforce retention.
  • Recognize the significance of employee benefits and mental health initiatives, especially in the hospitality industry.
  • Unravel the best practices for assessing and managing workloads for a productive and stress-free environment.

To dive deeper into this episode, click here.

Transcripts

Adam Lamb:

Welcome back to another episode of turning the table.

Adam Lamb:

My name is Adam Lamb, and I'm here with my cohost, Jim Taylor.

Adam Lamb:

And and as always, we are discussing staff centric operating solutions

Adam Lamb:

for restaurants in the hashtag.

Adam Lamb:

New hospitality culture, and we have a great guest for you today.

Adam Lamb:

And someone who's been on the inside track of this for a while and has a proven

Adam Lamb:

track record of, of actually making these concepts actually live and real.

Adam Lamb:

So.

Adam Lamb:

We're going to bring in Jamie Mansour who is the VP of operations for

Adam Lamb:

True Food Kitchens in just a moment.

Adam Lamb:

And Jim, I, I'm kind of curious because we, you know, again, what

Adam Lamb:

happens when you invest in your staff?

Adam Lamb:

You know, we've got some, some questions about like, okay, so.

Adam Lamb:

I think most of us have kind of empirical idea of what it would look

Adam Lamb:

like if we invest our in our staff.

Adam Lamb:

And yet there's probably some operators that are a little reticent to do.

Adam Lamb:

So I'm reminded of the fact that there are some folks who are still

Adam Lamb:

trying to make up ground financially from the pandemic and the shutdown.

Adam Lamb:

And that's also another interesting thing about your food kitchens and

Adam Lamb:

Jamie, the way that they actually approached the shutdown and continue

Adam Lamb:

to open restaurants all the way through the pandemic, which a lot of.

Adam Lamb:

Places weren't but I guess the question comes up, like, how do you actually

Adam Lamb:

know What to invest in, how much to invest in, if you don't have deep

Adam Lamb:

pockets, how can you still become the preferred employer in your market?

Adam Lamb:

And I think that there's things that Jamie is going to talk about that are going to

Adam Lamb:

be eye opening because there's some things that sure are going to take a rethinking

Adam Lamb:

of our financial performance the way that we might invest in training and and other

Adam Lamb:

benefits that there is an associated cost with, but how do you calculate that ROI?

Adam Lamb:

Because I think sometimes it's not as apparent as, as some might think,

Adam Lamb:

does that make any sense, Jim?

Adam Lamb:

Yeah,

Jim Taylor:

for sure.

Jim Taylor:

And I, and I think, you know, from some of our previous discussion with

Jim Taylor:

Jamie, I think there's going to be some interesting, And just good insight on,

Jim Taylor:

you know, everybody's about growth, right?

Jim Taylor:

And so some interesting insight from, from him a little bit about, you

Jim Taylor:

know, responsible growth in order to properly take care of people,

Jim Taylor:

you know, what that looks like in terms of, you know, investing in

Jim Taylor:

career path and that kind of thing.

Jim Taylor:

You know, I think they're, they're a brand that has really strong

Jim Taylor:

buy in and, and, you know, I think Jamie's a good part of that.

Jim Taylor:

So looking forward to having some good discussion with him.

Jim Taylor:

Yeah.

Adam Lamb:

And then I guess the last question I would have again, as

Adam Lamb:

an operator is how much is enough?

Adam Lamb:

At what point do you see what traction you have and pull back?

Adam Lamb:

And you know, I think we're on record of, of saying, you know, if you're not talking

Adam Lamb:

to your associates, you're actually missing the boat because they're the ones

Adam Lamb:

that are actually going to educate you.

Adam Lamb:

As to what's what enough is enough and, you know, I don't

Adam Lamb:

want to give away the whole fish.

Adam Lamb:

You know, but I just liked you to think that you know, it's going to

Adam Lamb:

smell awful well when it's finished.

Adam Lamb:

So we're going to be getting to those questions and more and bring

Adam Lamb:

on Jamie right after these messages.

Adam Lamb:

Welcome to turning the table.

Adam Lamb:

The most progressive weekly podcast for today's food and beverage industry,

Adam Lamb:

featuring staff centric operating solutions for restaurants in the

Adam Lamb:

hashtag new hospitality culture.

Adam Lamb:

Join Jim Taylor of Benchmark 60 and Adam Lamb as they turn the tables on

Adam Lamb:

the prevailing operating assumptions of running a restaurant in favor

Adam Lamb:

of innovative solutions to our industry's most persistent challenges.

Adam Lamb:

Thanks for joining us.

Adam Lamb:

And now onto the show.

Adam Lamb:

This episode is made possible by E Vocalize.

Adam Lamb:

E Vocalize makes complex local digital marketing push button easy for anyone.

Adam Lamb:

Empower your franchises with programs that automatically optimize performance and

Adam Lamb:

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Adam Lamb:

To find out more, go to turningthetablepodcast.

Adam Lamb:

com forward slash E Vocalize.

Adam Lamb:

And we'd like to welcome Jamie Mansour, the VP of Operations

Adam Lamb:

of True Food Kitchens.

Jim Taylor:

Welcome to the show.

Jim Taylor:

How are you?

Jamie Mansour:

Good.

Jamie Mansour:

I'm doing great.

Jamie Mansour:

Good morning, Adam.

Jamie Mansour:

Good morning, Jim.

Jamie Mansour:

Thanks for having me on.

Jamie Mansour:

Oh, it's

Adam Lamb:

such a pleasure, sir.

Adam Lamb:

As, as I mentioned to you in our little DM swap that we had the other

Adam Lamb:

day, I'm a big fan of the concept.

Adam Lamb:

I remember how it started.

Adam Lamb:

I'd like to say that I've been to a bunch of them, but I haven't.

Adam Lamb:

But from what I understand, you're, you're coming to North Carolina soon.

Jamie Mansour:

Yes, sir.

Jamie Mansour:

Yeah.

Jamie Mansour:

We're excited.

Jamie Mansour:

We've got two actually opening one.

Jamie Mansour:

And End of next year, then another one in 2025.

Jamie Mansour:

So we're, we're coming to your home.

Adam Lamb:

Fantastic.

Adam Lamb:

And

Jim Taylor:

Adam, if you haven't been, you're definitely missing out.

Jim Taylor:

I mean, I think I've only been to two locations, but it's.

Jim Taylor:

It's always for sure a go to if we're, you know, down in the U.

Jim Taylor:

S.

Jim Taylor:

So we got to get one in Canada eventually here, Jamie.

Jim Taylor:

Get one

Jamie Mansour:

in your backyard.

Jamie Mansour:

I'm, I'm, I'm very much trying, right?

Jamie Mansour:

As one of the only Canadians in this group, this is the, this is the button

Jamie Mansour:

I'm trying to push all the time.

Adam Lamb:

As the only Canadian in the group.

Adam Lamb:

Now, Jamie, that's kind of an interesting place to start.

Adam Lamb:

So for those who aren't.

Adam Lamb:

Perhaps familiar with the concept itself.

Adam Lamb:

And your story, can you kind of give us an idea of, you know, where

Adam Lamb:

the concept started, how you came to be, you know, you had to cross

Adam Lamb:

the border in order to jump on this opportunity from what I understand.

Jamie Mansour:

Yeah.

Jamie Mansour:

So I, I mean, I had heard of this brand and really the, the, the gentleman who

Jamie Mansour:

started this brand, Sam Fox, and then Dr.

Jamie Mansour:

Andrew, while I heard about this brand about 10 years ago and in my old

Jamie Mansour:

previous role You know, the CEO of our company had really talked really

Jamie Mansour:

highly of true food and what they were doing and really of Sam Fox.

Jamie Mansour:

And so I still remember my first trip 2012 with my girlfriend, who's now my wife.

Jamie Mansour:

It was the Santa Monica location.

Jamie Mansour:

And as a restaurateur for, I mean, 20 plus years, walking into a restaurant

Jamie Mansour:

and seeing the hosts happy, the servers happy, the chefs, to my heart, because

Jamie Mansour:

I was a chef to start my career.

Jamie Mansour:

In almost the middle of the dining room, prepping the food in front of you.

Jamie Mansour:

I was, I really just, I mean, encapsulated by what the brand was.

Jamie Mansour:

So much so when you travel to the U.

Jamie Mansour:

S.

Jamie Mansour:

from Canada, you try to hit at different spots.

Jamie Mansour:

And I actually had, I ate at True Food four days in a row.

Jamie Mansour:

And I remember telling my wife, If I ever get a chance to work for

Jamie Mansour:

this group I'm going to jump at it.

Jamie Mansour:

You know, fast forward to 2016.

Jamie Mansour:

I applied, I think, for probably every single job on the website for True

Jamie Mansour:

Food Kitchen, including restaurant manager, sous chef, and I got a call

Jamie Mansour:

back and, you know, I ended up staging in Phoenix and the first location,

Jamie Mansour:

which was in Phoenix, in Biltmore which is about, you know, five minutes

Jamie Mansour:

from where our office is right now.

Jamie Mansour:

They liked me.

Jamie Mansour:

They gave me an offer.

Jamie Mansour:

I was a previous vice president of operations and they asked me if I would

Jamie Mansour:

come to the company and run my own location, which my ego took a little

Jamie Mansour:

shot, but I was excited just to get down and work for the group and started

Jamie Mansour:

my journey and the Denver location in 2016 and there's some good story

Jim Taylor:

about that Denver location.

Jim Taylor:

I think we're going to get into, but I mean, that must have been an

Jim Taylor:

interesting leap to just move, you know, like you said, take the ego hit,

Jim Taylor:

take the Take the family across the border and all that kind of thing.

Jim Taylor:

But so besides seeing the, the, you know, prep happening in the dining

Jim Taylor:

room or basically in the middle of the dining room, they're not

Jim Taylor:

prepping on a restaurant dining room table, obviously, but for those that

Jim Taylor:

haven't been to the concept, but.

Jim Taylor:

You know, things like how good the food was and eating there every day and,

Jim Taylor:

you know, seeing how the place operated once you have started to meet people

Jim Taylor:

in the organization, did you obviously you had that same type of pole, right?

Jim Taylor:

I mean, what was it about the company when you started talking to them that made

Jamie Mansour:

you make that call?

Jamie Mansour:

Well, I would say first as a, as a previous chef, I mean, the food was,

Jamie Mansour:

I mean, that's really the thing that catches you right off the get go is

Jamie Mansour:

how we prepare the food, the real ingredients in the food, the way we handle

Jamie Mansour:

our food, the way we source our food.

Jamie Mansour:

I mean, a lot of restaurants claim to be healthy, but we, we actually were

Jamie Mansour:

started by a a a, I know, renowned doctor of integrative medicine.

Jamie Mansour:

So the food was the first part, but I really think the people side and the

Jamie Mansour:

culture of where the brand really thought about people and growth and development

Jamie Mansour:

and career paths, that was really the thing that made me really feel like that

Jamie Mansour:

was part of something big and, and great.

Jamie Mansour:

Mm-hmm.

Jamie Mansour:

and really, you know, when I was, you know, talking to my colleagues or friends,

Jamie Mansour:

they were like, I can't believe you're going to the US to work for a group.

Jamie Mansour:

And I'm like, It's not just the restaurant group though, right?

Jamie Mansour:

And to be able to talk about the way we talk about people and culture and

Jamie Mansour:

really believe in it, you know, for me that was a huge part of moving my family.

Jamie Mansour:

And it didn't go without some struggles.

Jamie Mansour:

I remember the drive from Denver to Calgary and my wife crying the whole

Jamie Mansour:

time wondering what we were doing.

Jamie Mansour:

But I want to take a leap of faith.

Jamie Mansour:

And when you believe in something like I believed in it you kind of go all in.

Jamie Mansour:

And that's kind of how I felt at the time, so.

Jim Taylor:

Amazing.

Jim Taylor:

And now you've been with the

Jamie Mansour:

company for how many years?

Jamie Mansour:

Yeah, seven years, seven years this, this past July.

Jamie Mansour:

So it's been a journey for me.

Jamie Mansour:

Wow.

Jamie Mansour:

Well,

Jim Taylor:

congrats on the, on the success.

Jim Taylor:

I mean, like you said, legal faith, but with the right

Jim Taylor:

organization, it's paid off.

Jim Taylor:

So, okay.

Jim Taylor:

So we were talking before we jumped on about this story about the Denver

Jamie Mansour:

experience.

Jamie Mansour:

And

Jim Taylor:

I think a lot of conversation and discussion say, we want it to be

Jim Taylor:

about this, you know, investing in people and making sure that they feel like

Jim Taylor:

they're a part of the business, which is can be a bit of a sticky discussion

Jim Taylor:

in the restaurant industry, you know, whether people are replaceable or what's

Jim Taylor:

the career path or is there even one.

Jim Taylor:

Can you tell us a little bit about the story of what Denver was like when you,

Jim Taylor:

when you got there, where it is now, what process was like a little bit and sort

Jamie Mansour:

of, yeah, well, I mean, yeah, I mean, when, when you get

Jamie Mansour:

hired into a company you know, you, you hope your first project is, you

Jamie Mansour:

know, the best run store in the brand.

Jamie Mansour:

And at this point, you know, Denver was, we had 10 locations and Denver was.

Jamie Mansour:

Number 10 out of number 10.

Jamie Mansour:

I think it saw, you know, six GMs and six executive chefs in a four

Jamie Mansour:

year span turnover was, you know, well over probably 150 to 200%.

Jamie Mansour:

There was really just a lack of culture in the restaurant.

Jamie Mansour:

And so when I got into that restaurant, you know, your first inkling is,

Jamie Mansour:

yeah, how do you attack maybe profit or how do you attack sales?

Jamie Mansour:

But, you know, I really felt like for me, it's like, how

Jamie Mansour:

am I going to attack people?

Jamie Mansour:

And how am I going to, like, kind of gain this trust of this team

Jamie Mansour:

and move us in the right direction?

Jamie Mansour:

And, you know, it was interesting for me as someone who didn't really

Jamie Mansour:

know too much about the brand when I started, but I knew a ton about

Jamie Mansour:

people and what that looked like.

Jamie Mansour:

You know, I went in there and, you know, the first three months I'd really

Jamie Mansour:

kind of told my direct report, like, we're not going to worry about profit.

Jamie Mansour:

We're going to worry about, right, like career paths.

Jamie Mansour:

We're going to worry about having one on one conversations.

Jamie Mansour:

We're going to really get this team and this boat moving in the right direction.

Jamie Mansour:

And, you know, I was really lucky at the time to have a director who, you know,

Jamie Mansour:

kept his hands away from like talking about, you know, some of the words

Jamie Mansour:

you don't want to talk about, right.

Jamie Mansour:

The labor and the food cost and what we were doing.

Jamie Mansour:

And I was like, Hey, what are you know, for me, that was the first inkling

Jamie Mansour:

of just walking in here, creating a, you know, a foundation of trust.

Jamie Mansour:

And then really like kind of practicing what I preached, right?

Jamie Mansour:

It was, you know, you had a bad shift, you spoke about it, you had a great

Jamie Mansour:

shift, you high five about it and then you started really digging into staff

Jamie Mansour:

and like what was making them tick, how long they've been in the restaurant,

Jamie Mansour:

what were some of the things that they, you know, listening to your team.

Jamie Mansour:

And that's a huge part of, of sometimes where operators misses

Jamie Mansour:

your team will know the answers and our staff knew the answers.

Jamie Mansour:

They knew we couldn't get food out fast enough.

Jamie Mansour:

They knew service maybe wasn't quick enough.

Jamie Mansour:

Maybe they knew the facility wasn't clean enough.

Jamie Mansour:

And so, you know, we focused on that.

Jamie Mansour:

And I mean, I think I started in September of 2016.

Jamie Mansour:

We're the number 10 location.

Jamie Mansour:

And when we got to January 2017, we're the number one location and in the, in the

Jamie Mansour:

brand and here we are seven years later.

Jamie Mansour:

And that store is, I think a top three store in the brand for us.

Jamie Mansour:

So I'd like to think like the work we did with the team there.

Jamie Mansour:

Really pay dividends.

Jamie Mansour:

And now you see it.

Jamie Mansour:

I mean, that's the true nature of, I think, this, this business, right?

Jamie Mansour:

You send the right message.

Jamie Mansour:

And here we are 7 years later, and it's right there.

Jamie Mansour:

So it was a, it was very much.

Jamie Mansour:

I wouldn't say it was an overnight success with a lot of hard work.

Jamie Mansour:

But I will say the work that happened was really more, you know, 90 percent

Jamie Mansour:

people focused because I think people get you the results in this business.

Jamie Mansour:

And the 10 percent we were getting was, you know, growing sales, growing

Jamie Mansour:

profit no turnover in the restaurant.

Jamie Mansour:

So, you know, I always feel like that's in seven years in the Brad's.

Jamie Mansour:

One of the things that I'm most proud of is where that restaurant kind of ended up.

Jamie Mansour:

So, so you just, you just

Jim Taylor:

commented on something that I just have to touch on this.

Jim Taylor:

You said that you were listening to the team about things like ticket times and

Jim Taylor:

food quality and restaurant cleanliness.

Jim Taylor:

I think, I think that is rare because even in my experience in restaurant management,

Jim Taylor:

Adam, I'm curious your take on this too.

Jim Taylor:

Typically the stuff that we listen to the staff about is.

Jim Taylor:

I want a better schedule.

Jim Taylor:

I want a bigger section.

Jim Taylor:

I want to learn a new station.

Jim Taylor:

It's stuff like that.

Jim Taylor:

Right?

Jim Taylor:

It's, it's, you know, for the staff to feel comfortable to come forward

Jim Taylor:

and say, ticket times aren't good.

Jim Taylor:

You know, there's, there's got to be some, some trust there, I think, right?

Jim Taylor:

And some

Jamie Mansour:

safety.

Jamie Mansour:

Yeah.

Jamie Mansour:

Yeah.

Jamie Mansour:

And I think you need to like, one of the first things I remember, like the

Jamie Mansour:

back of my hand, the first week I was in there, I grabbed some of the best people

Jamie Mansour:

or who I thought the best people were.

Jamie Mansour:

And I sat him at a table and I said, I'm the next hour is just going to

Jamie Mansour:

be about you talking to me about the things that you love in this place

Jamie Mansour:

and the things that are going wrong.

Jamie Mansour:

And the common denominator and, you know, maybe the top three was communication

Jamie Mansour:

and effective communication, right?

Jamie Mansour:

Trust between both teams.

Jamie Mansour:

right?

Jamie Mansour:

And then the ability to be able to hold people accountable to

Jamie Mansour:

a standard of right excellence.

Jamie Mansour:

And it's funny, you listen to your people, they'll give you

Jamie Mansour:

the, they'll give you the answers.

Jamie Mansour:

You just, you just have to kind of push your ego aside and understand

Jamie Mansour:

right where it's one common goal.

Jamie Mansour:

And what's the goal in restaurants is to make the guest

Jamie Mansour:

experience really, really great.

Jamie Mansour:

And have people that are really excited to come to work.

Adam Lamb:

I think that's probably point number one in this discussion of

Adam Lamb:

reinvesting in your associates and team is, you know, doesn't take anything.

Adam Lamb:

Didn't cost you any more money.

Adam Lamb:

It costs, it costs time, which of course has an equivalent dollar value.

Adam Lamb:

But, you know, when you talk about.

Adam Lamb:

The first question that you ask yourself when you're walking into an operation

Adam Lamb:

that's running as, as the brand new guy, like, how, how do I gain the

Adam Lamb:

trust of my people because they'll never get to a point where they feel

Adam Lamb:

comfortable enough to actually tell you what's wrong unless you invest in

Adam Lamb:

that in that emotional piggy bank.

Adam Lamb:

So I think the way that you went about it is it's, Both smart,

Adam Lamb:

both intuitively and emotionally.

Adam Lamb:

But this whole idea of like, step number one is ask your team and ask your team

Adam Lamb:

in such a way that allows them an opportunity to actually be honest, right?

Adam Lamb:

I remember clearly being in walking into an operation where nobody

Adam Lamb:

trusted upper management at all.

Adam Lamb:

So I could ask all the questions I wanted, but that was never

Adam Lamb:

going to get any answers that were actually going to be actionable or

Adam Lamb:

what's going to change anything.

Adam Lamb:

And those who did speak up.

Adam Lamb:

We had an agenda, but, but that, that time of like, and, and the other thing

Adam Lamb:

that strikes me as, you know, good on your boss that, you know, he actually

Adam Lamb:

listened to you and said, okay, for three months, we're not going to talk about

Adam Lamb:

profit, we're not going to end a lot of I imagine that there's lots of folks out

Adam Lamb:

there that don't have that benefit of someone who's going to watch your back so

Adam Lamb:

that you can work on your people first.

Adam Lamb:

So not only were you very forward thinking, but so is that person.

Adam Lamb:

And I think one of the things that you mentioned right before we got on

Adam Lamb:

the show is kind of a testament to the time served and the effort exerted

Adam Lamb:

in that Denver location is that chef is now your director of culinary

Adam Lamb:

organization over 40 restaurants.

Adam Lamb:

I mean, that's

Jamie Mansour:

pretty cool.

Jamie Mansour:

I mean, it's, it's a proud moment to know that me and the chef started

Jamie Mansour:

at the same time and now we're both sitting in an office trying to

Jamie Mansour:

make a bigger impact on this brand.

Jamie Mansour:

And so we always kind of pinch ourselves when we travel, we get on planes together.

Jamie Mansour:

We were just in Florida, you know, last week.

Jamie Mansour:

We're in New York next week, and it's always the, like, I can't imagine

Jamie Mansour:

how far we came because there was some, there was some tough days where

Jamie Mansour:

you're like, are we in the right spot?

Jamie Mansour:

What are we doing here?

Jamie Mansour:

Right.

Jamie Mansour:

Six days a week and, and thinking about, you know, is the juice worth the squeeze?

Jamie Mansour:

But, you know, I, I think full circle to kind of think of the

Jamie Mansour:

journey I, I think sometimes just a testament to the, the people.

Jamie Mansour:

And I always say the people in that location, which I'm still proud of.

Jamie Mansour:

I can go to that Denver location and.

Jamie Mansour:

You know, maybe 20 of the staff that I hired back then are still there

Jamie Mansour:

seven years later, which to me is like, it's a place of home there.

Jamie Mansour:

So for

Adam Lamb:

sure, I have one question before we move on, because it seems,

Adam Lamb:

I mean, the video shot is, is pretty self explanatory, but there's, for

Adam Lamb:

those who are listening to the podcast, there's this huge poster right in back

Adam Lamb:

of your head with a swish above it.

Adam Lamb:

And from what I understand you spent, you, you take that

Adam Lamb:

everywhere with you because you spent time as a basketball player.

Adam Lamb:

Did you

Jamie Mansour:

not?

Jamie Mansour:

Yes, sir.

Jamie Mansour:

Yeah.

Jamie Mansour:

I mean big, big, big basketball fan, a big basketball player growing up.

Adam Lamb:

So, and so how did your time with sports and you know, your

Adam Lamb:

identification with the Nike brand, do you find that that helped influence

Adam Lamb:

the way that you viewed team and team performance within the hospitality

Jamie Mansour:

industry?

Jamie Mansour:

Yeah, great.

Jamie Mansour:

I mean, great question.

Jamie Mansour:

Number one, I would say if I ever interviewed somebody who played sports,

Jamie Mansour:

I always feel like we're on the right path because they understand teamwork.

Jamie Mansour:

They understand accountability.

Jamie Mansour:

I think, you know, my first love in this world was sports and basketball.

Jamie Mansour:

And I really felt like getting into the restaurant business was like

Jamie Mansour:

the closest I got to how I felt.

Jamie Mansour:

As a crowd cheering for you or the camaraderie you feel in a huddle or a

Jamie Mansour:

locker room was the same thing you feel in pre ships or lineups or when you

Jamie Mansour:

see a guest really happy or when you see somebody growing and developing.

Jamie Mansour:

And so.

Jamie Mansour:

I always feel like, you know, the two loves besides obviously my wife and

Jamie Mansour:

my children were basketball first and then the restaurant business second.

Jamie Mansour:

And I've been very, very lucky to do both you know, basketball for

Jamie Mansour:

10 to 15 years of my life and now restaurant business for 25 plus years.

Jamie Mansour:

But I always believe sports sets you up for the success you need.

Jamie Mansour:

And it teaches you accountability.

Jamie Mansour:

It teaches you honesty.

Jamie Mansour:

It teaches you, I mean, for me communication, what was a huge

Jamie Mansour:

thing, being able to communicate on the court with your teammates or

Jamie Mansour:

with your coach and take coaching.

Jamie Mansour:

That was something that I really, you know, learned at a young age, how to

Jamie Mansour:

take coaching and be accountable to it.

Jamie Mansour:

And then really in this business, it's about, it's about empathy and it's about

Jamie Mansour:

listening and it's about communication and communicating effectively.

Jamie Mansour:

And I mean, I think sports sets you up for that in this business, right?

Adam Lamb:

So would you say that it also kind of at least introduces

Adam Lamb:

the idea of kind of selflessness?

Adam Lamb:

Selflessness and, you know, service to that particular mission of, you know,

Adam Lamb:

whether it's winning or winning the shift or and that's not something that

Adam Lamb:

comes natural to folks of a certain age group because, you know, so much

Adam Lamb:

is about them and like, how do you actually shift that from an immature

Adam Lamb:

standpoint to a mature standpoint if you don't have something like the

Adam Lamb:

cauldron of, of, of competition in order to kind of distill that out of you.

Jamie Mansour:

Yeah, I mean, great point.

Jamie Mansour:

I mean, I winning for the shift is something that resonates to me, right?

Jamie Mansour:

We, we, we win daily, right?

Jamie Mansour:

A.

Jamie Mansour:

M.

Jamie Mansour:

and P.

Jamie Mansour:

M.

Jamie Mansour:

And I always thought that was funny.

Jamie Mansour:

It's like, let's just win today and then we can talk about tomorrow.

Jamie Mansour:

Obviously, in this, in this business, you have to be thoughtful

Jamie Mansour:

and you have to plan and the best leaders are the best planners.

Jamie Mansour:

But I mean, don't make it harder than it is when today, right?

Jamie Mansour:

It's Thursday Wednesday.

Jamie Mansour:

So true.

Jim Taylor:

You were talking a minute ago about, and you didn't use this term,

Jim Taylor:

but kind of doing focus groups with some of the people in the restaurants to get

Jim Taylor:

some feedback, you know, back to one more sort of question about that, you

Jim Taylor:

know, not to jump all over the place.

Jim Taylor:

But

Jamie Mansour:

I remember there were times in, in sort of in

Jim Taylor:

my corporate career where I think we attempted to do

Jim Taylor:

that type of stuff and maybe didn't do a very good job at it because we,

Jim Taylor:

we gathered people together in an effort to get good feedback and build

Jim Taylor:

community and build trust and whatnot.

Jim Taylor:

But then we didn't do a very good job of actually acting on the feedback.

Jim Taylor:

So it actually, I think the way that we, the mistake that we made

Jim Taylor:

was it actually worked against us because the team went, well, we told

Jim Taylor:

you, we didn't need to do anything.

Jim Taylor:

So was there a specific, you know, process or anything that you did to go, okay,

Jim Taylor:

now we've been told, now we got to...

Jim Taylor:

We gotta act because that's part of some of those people are probably

Jim Taylor:

some of the ones that still

Jamie Mansour:

work there.

Jamie Mansour:

I would assume.

Jamie Mansour:

Yeah.

Jamie Mansour:

Yeah.

Jamie Mansour:

I mean, great question.

Jamie Mansour:

I mean, I was when you were talking to the 1st, the 1st thing that came into my head

Jamie Mansour:

was like a goal without a plan is a wish.

Jamie Mansour:

So it would have been great to sit down and hear about all these things.

Jamie Mansour:

And not do anything.

Jamie Mansour:

And I think what we did in this group or what I've done in, in,

Jamie Mansour:

in multiple times in my career is you make sure you write it down.

Jamie Mansour:

You come out of it there with, you know, 3 to 5, not, not 100,

Jamie Mansour:

3 to 5, like main points, right?

Jamie Mansour:

And then you got to build the strategy and then those points

Jamie Mansour:

have to be spoken about daily.

Jamie Mansour:

And I think in business, those are, I mean, the best leaders,

Jamie Mansour:

they don't talk about the plan.

Jamie Mansour:

They got a strategy and then they execute the plan.

Jamie Mansour:

And so for us, it was really about like, you know, what are the 3 things

Jamie Mansour:

we're going to take out of this meeting?

Jamie Mansour:

And then we're going to talk about them so we don't have to talk about because

Jamie Mansour:

they're part of our culture, right?

Jamie Mansour:

And then we're going to find three more things to talk about.

Jamie Mansour:

And then for me, it's always, I always feel like in this business,

Jamie Mansour:

you, you talk about, you talk about people, you talk about communication,

Jamie Mansour:

you talk about trust, you talk about these things, you get results.

Jamie Mansour:

It's never, you know, there's a saying of like, don't focus on the P& L to

Jamie Mansour:

manage the P& L, focus on your people.

Jamie Mansour:

And so for us, it was really, it was really people stuff, right?

Jamie Mansour:

Like, hey, we're going to make a decision as a group that.

Jamie Mansour:

We're going to trust each other that if we make a mistake on the floor that

Jamie Mansour:

you're going to be able to grab a manager and know that manager is going to have

Jamie Mansour:

your back and make sure that guest has been recovered or hey, if the kitchen is

Jamie Mansour:

running long ticket times and they seem stressed out, you know, you as a manager

Jamie Mansour:

are going to get ahead of that table and talk to that table and make sure

Jamie Mansour:

that they're there you know, they've been communicated with, so I think it

Jamie Mansour:

was a plan and a strategy, and then you came back to the plan every single week,

Jamie Mansour:

every single pre shift, and you made sure you gauged your success of that.

Jamie Mansour:

How are we doing?

Jamie Mansour:

And then the ultimate success is You know, like I said, three months

Jamie Mansour:

later, our sales growing, are people happy, are your guests happy?

Jamie Mansour:

And they'll tell you what you need to know.

Jamie Mansour:

And then you've got to find new problems, which I think is

Jamie Mansour:

the best part of this business.

Jamie Mansour:

It's that's why you, I think that the ones that stayed at long enough

Jamie Mansour:

know that not every day is the same.

Jamie Mansour:

Yeah.

Jim Taylor:

It's, it's really not about the act of getting

Jim Taylor:

the people together and trying

Jamie Mansour:

to listen to them.

Jamie Mansour:

It's about the action that comes from it.

Jamie Mansour:

Yeah.

Jamie Mansour:

Definitely.

Jamie Mansour:

I was

Adam Lamb:

reminded of basically I worked where every year

Adam Lamb:

they did an associate survey.

Adam Lamb:

That was supposed to be anonymous and I remember kind of

Adam Lamb:

cheerleading this entire process.

Adam Lamb:

When I got there, it's like, this is your opportunity to tell management, you know,

Adam Lamb:

where it's at and where we need to go.

Adam Lamb:

It was coordinated by HR and again, there was this kind of distrust, but

Adam Lamb:

that, you know, okay, so we've done this before and nothing ever happened.

Adam Lamb:

Right.

Adam Lamb:

So it's 1 thing to actually offer the opportunity for feedback.

Adam Lamb:

And operators can now with technology, the way it is, they can use sites

Adam Lamb:

like type form, job form, survey monkey to create these anonymous

Adam Lamb:

surveys, not only for their for their guests, but also for their associates.

Adam Lamb:

But then, you know, you need to follow that up by sharing that feedback and

Adam Lamb:

then your plan to actually execute because there's nothing worse than

Adam Lamb:

like, Hey, I'm, I would really like your opinion just so I can ignore it.

Jamie Mansour:

Yeah, tough place to be, tough place to be and not,

Jamie Mansour:

and not a place you want to be.

Jamie Mansour:

Right.

Jamie Mansour:

Like, let me hear that.

Jamie Mansour:

Let me hear your opinion and not do nothing with it.

Jamie Mansour:

Well, to

Adam Lamb:

Jimmy, and I think that that was kind of, I think that's what

Adam Lamb:

you were kind of alluding to, like having all this information and then

Adam Lamb:

not really doing anything about it.

Adam Lamb:

Right.

Adam Lamb:

And.

Adam Lamb:

And then I think it's probably human nature to, like, consider that for a

Adam Lamb:

moment and then pivot to somebody else that maybe you quote unquote trust

Adam Lamb:

more like the guest or, or or, or managers in your area or stuff like

Adam Lamb:

that, when in fact your associates are the ones who are telling you.

Adam Lamb:

Mm

Jamie Mansour:

hmm.

Jamie Mansour:

Yeah.

Jamie Mansour:

Jamie,

Jim Taylor:

you were talking a little bit about again, a comment you made earlier

Jim Taylor:

around 150 to 200 percent turnover in that one location when it wasn't going

Jim Taylor:

well, you know, you don't have to share with us a specific percentage of turnover

Jim Taylor:

for the company at this point, but are there things that true food does or that

Jim Taylor:

you do that are like non negotiable?

Jim Taylor:

These are things we do in order to

Jamie Mansour:

drive good retention rates.

Jamie Mansour:

Yeah.

Jamie Mansour:

I mean, great question.

Jamie Mansour:

I think that's an ongoing for us, like a mission for us is to try to get ourselves

Jamie Mansour:

in a position where the turnover, because I think, I mean, obviously everybody

Jamie Mansour:

kind of hit that wave in the COVID where you, you know, you're losing people

Jamie Mansour:

and people are leaving the industry for other jobs and finding their careers.

Jamie Mansour:

I think for us, it's, I think on my own personal like journey with, with,

Jamie Mansour:

I think turnover has really been about.

Jamie Mansour:

Being really honest with people and showing them that there's career paths

Jamie Mansour:

for them, you know, one of the things that we really kind of, I would say in the

Jamie Mansour:

last few years really stuck to is just a mentorship and key hourly program, right?

Jamie Mansour:

Like, almost like an apprentice program where people can learn.

Jamie Mansour:

As servers or bartenders as hosts or to go people that can really get

Jamie Mansour:

into this position or into this Into the leadership aspect and I think

Jamie Mansour:

that's been a huge part of what we do.

Jamie Mansour:

I make no mistake though I think the the stores that do it the best

Jamie Mansour:

for us on the brand are the ones that speak about it more, right?

Jamie Mansour:

They speak about great culture.

Jamie Mansour:

They speak about great training.

Jamie Mansour:

They they sit down and talk to people One of the things I did as a director

Jamie Mansour:

that I thought really helped me is, is, you know, I made our GMs, you know, put

Jamie Mansour:

up staff lists in their office and then each month it was, you know, the GM or

Jamie Mansour:

the AGM or the chef's responsibility to sit down with every single team

Jamie Mansour:

member and really go through strengths and go through weaknesses and, and

Jamie Mansour:

what do they want to learn and where do they see themselves as a month?

Jamie Mansour:

If you were a grill cook and you wanted to learn, you know, a sauté

Jamie Mansour:

station or a wok station, here's how we're going to get, get you there.

Jamie Mansour:

So I really think just like, yeah, Looking at people as people who want

Jamie Mansour:

to do more and really investing in that conversation and being honest with people.

Jamie Mansour:

I think the best restaurants in our brand are the, have the leaders

Jamie Mansour:

that actually put that first, right?

Jamie Mansour:

And you walk into a restaurant and you can see the looks on their face.

Jamie Mansour:

They're happy.

Jamie Mansour:

They engage with you, they engage with the guests.

Jamie Mansour:

And I think our ability, number one, I always feel like we've got a really...

Jamie Mansour:

a leg up on the competition because our food and what we stand

Jamie Mansour:

for is, you know, really at the top, I think, in this cuisine.

Jamie Mansour:

But I also believe, like, the way we look and we talk to our people and the way

Jamie Mansour:

we treat our people as we move forward.

Jamie Mansour:

I mean, it's almost been overnight, I think, for us this last year,

Jamie Mansour:

just to see turnover go down.

Jamie Mansour:

No if I'm not mistaken, management turnover this year is

Jamie Mansour:

about 15 percent down from last year, and that's what you want.

Jamie Mansour:

Hourly turnover is close to 20 percent down from last year, and that's just from

Jamie Mansour:

us having more one on ones, having more conversations, really doing more career

Jamie Mansour:

pathing for people and then really giving them an opportunity to see this business

Jamie Mansour:

like I saw this business 25 years ago.

Jamie Mansour:

And I think that's a huge part of this business in general, or any

Jamie Mansour:

successful business is people, right?

Jamie Mansour:

And moving your people in the right direction, and then being honest

Jamie Mansour:

with them and listening to them.

Jamie Mansour:

So what's, what's your

Jim Taylor:

thought on the connection between autonomy and, and retention rates?

Jim Taylor:

I was reading an article this morning about how Apple is moving

Jim Taylor:

more and more towards this.

Jim Taylor:

Rather than take your best people and put more work on them, take

Jim Taylor:

your best people and give them more

Jamie Mansour:

freedom.

Jamie Mansour:

Yeah.

Jamie Mansour:

Yeah.

Jamie Mansour:

Great.

Jamie Mansour:

I mean, it's, I think there's a level of autonomy in this

Jamie Mansour:

business that you earn with trust.

Jamie Mansour:

And I think, I think for us, I mean, obviously at a leadership level, we don't,

Jamie Mansour:

nobody ever wants to work for somebody who micromanages their performance.

Jamie Mansour:

I think, to be honest, it's one of the things I really enjoyed when

Jamie Mansour:

I first got into this group is, you know, we had system standards.

Jamie Mansour:

Things that, you know, process to get us from A to B, but the autonomy that I had,

Jamie Mansour:

and that I think we still have to be able to find solutions to be able to come up

Jamie Mansour:

with some of those answers and then to be able to have somebody in the back end

Jamie Mansour:

that if they don't know the answers you can talk to, I think there's a, there's

Jamie Mansour:

a fine line, I think, you know, autonomy is gained by trust and by performance,

Jamie Mansour:

but I also believe like, you know, somebody said this to me, and I thought

Jamie Mansour:

this was a really, really great thing.

Jamie Mansour:

It's like, it's okay to walk up to people, put your hand

Jamie Mansour:

on them and say, I trust you.

Jamie Mansour:

Thank you.

Jamie Mansour:

And I know you're going to be great.

Jamie Mansour:

Now go be great.

Jamie Mansour:

And I think sometimes in this business we try to like micromanage everything.

Jamie Mansour:

And I think leaders, I mean, leaders, some need some sort of autonomy.

Jamie Mansour:

I know hourly staff, they, I mean, if we've got great hourly staff that are

Jamie Mansour:

great at making money, great with the gas, we want these people to be great.

Jamie Mansour:

If we have to step in and, you know, give them communication about things

Jamie Mansour:

that we want to see improved or just to just show gratitude to the performance.

Jamie Mansour:

That's where I think, you know, our jobs as leaders, right.

Jamie Mansour:

Praise.

Jamie Mansour:

Right.

Jamie Mansour:

And if things aren't going great, coach, be honest and, and, and

Jamie Mansour:

then be celebrating with them when they get the results that you want.

Jamie Mansour:

So amazing.

Adam Lamb:

That point, I mean, would you also agree that, you know, with a

Adam Lamb:

certain amount of parameters, you know, you want to empower your hourly staff or

Adam Lamb:

your line staff to be able to say, move with a certain amount of autonomy to make

Adam Lamb:

sure that the guest is happy and happy.

Adam Lamb:

Thank you.

Adam Lamb:

That they end up leaving happy so that, you know, maybe there's

Adam Lamb:

appetizers, desserts that they're empowered to be able to afford.

Adam Lamb:

Or you know, the great interaction between the front of the house and

Adam Lamb:

the back of the house where like, there's never a quibble about, you

Adam Lamb:

know, having to refire something or, you know, those types of things.

Adam Lamb:

That's also kind of a great breeding ground for that,

Adam Lamb:

that future type of autonomy.

Adam Lamb:

Would you

Jamie Mansour:

agree?

Jamie Mansour:

Yeah.

Jamie Mansour:

A hundred percent.

Jamie Mansour:

It was, it's, it's still the thing that I'd still love really dearly

Jamie Mansour:

about the brand is, I mean, it was always like, we just fix it.

Jamie Mansour:

Right.

Jamie Mansour:

Yes.

Jamie Mansour:

Yes.

Jamie Mansour:

Our, our saying was always, yes, is the answer.

Jamie Mansour:

Now what's the question, right?

Jamie Mansour:

If there was a problem and a guest, you know, Hey, I have a

Jamie Mansour:

first time guest at this table.

Jamie Mansour:

We want to be able to buy an appetizer.

Jamie Mansour:

It was like, you've got, you've got the autonomy to go do that.

Jamie Mansour:

Or, Hey, I You know, if we find out it's somebody's birthday

Jamie Mansour:

in one of our restaurants, it's an automatic free dessert.

Jamie Mansour:

And, and the servers get to do that.

Jamie Mansour:

And from a chef perspective, which you know, how I started my crew as a

Jamie Mansour:

chef, I, I think the autonomy that we have and that we give our chefs when

Jamie Mansour:

it comes to, to creativity or creating dishes, you know, I was in one of our

Jamie Mansour:

restaurants and one of our chefs, I had my daughter with me created this.

Jamie Mansour:

you know, trio of desserts that I wasn't asked for.

Jamie Mansour:

It's like, Hey, Jamie, I made this, right?

Jamie Mansour:

Like knowing you were coming and I wanted to show you.

Jamie Mansour:

And I was like, well, this is, that's the type of stuff that you could see

Jamie Mansour:

the look on his face when he brought it.

Jamie Mansour:

And then the look on my daughter's face, when she got to

Jamie Mansour:

eat, it was even, even better.

Adam Lamb:

Are there, well, let me just back up for a second.

Adam Lamb:

It's, there's been a lot of press made about shifts in some organizations since

Adam Lamb:

the pandemic to try to communicate care, safety value to the associates by.

Adam Lamb:

By upgrading their benefits packages and or their rates within your

Adam Lamb:

organization, true food kitchen.

Adam Lamb:

Is that something that you've also focused on?

Adam Lamb:

Or did you always kind of had a really solid package so that, you know,

Adam Lamb:

folks aren't leaving for a quarter?

Adam Lamb:

Well, of course, we, we know that no one's going to leave for a quarter, but because

Adam Lamb:

I was looking at your website and it seemed to me that your benefits package

Adam Lamb:

is Incredibly well rounded and balanced, not only from an operator standpoint,

Adam Lamb:

but from an associate standpoint.

Adam Lamb:

Can you speak to that a little

Jamie Mansour:

bit?

Jamie Mansour:

Yeah.

Jamie Mansour:

I mean, great.

Jamie Mansour:

And number one, I think in this day and age of this business.

Jamie Mansour:

Right.

Jamie Mansour:

Mental health wellness is such a huge part of what we do.

Jamie Mansour:

And obviously for me coming from Canada and our health care and going to the U.

Jamie Mansour:

S.

Jamie Mansour:

And trying to learn it firsthand, there was a little bit of a slope and anybody

Jamie Mansour:

who's Canadian will understand that.

Jamie Mansour:

But I do think like we've been able to take our health benefits over

Jamie Mansour:

the last seven years and really make improvements that help our hourly

Jamie Mansour:

employees and give them opportunities that they might not have had.

Jamie Mansour:

And really, at an hourly level, those are sometimes in big

Jamie Mansour:

companies were They struggle, right?

Jamie Mansour:

You know, they give these people benefits off hours, work and off,

Jamie Mansour:

you know, tenure and for a lot of our hourly employees because our turnover

Jamie Mansour:

has been so good from an hourly ranks and a lot of our, you know, states,

Jamie Mansour:

they've been, we've been able to protect them with better benefits.

Jamie Mansour:

And from a management perspective, it's only gotten better which I like

Jamie Mansour:

over the last seven years, even from joining the brand to where it was when

Jamie Mansour:

I started to where it is now, I think, I think the people in charge, So Of that

Jamie Mansour:

department have done a phenomenal job.

Jamie Mansour:

Just putting it front of mind and really making it something we talk about.

Jamie Mansour:

It's actually a part of, you know, when we talk about quarterly

Jamie Mansour:

meetings, health and wellness is a huge part of our group, right?

Jamie Mansour:

We can't be talking about our food and not talking about mental health or not

Jamie Mansour:

talking about health for our people.

Jamie Mansour:

So I've been actually really, really impressed by what we've done as a brand.

Jamie Mansour:

I still think there's work to be done.

Jamie Mansour:

And I think as long as we're having a conversation as a group and talking

Jamie Mansour:

about what's best for our people, it's only going to get better for us.

Jamie Mansour:

So yeah, great question.

Adam Lamb:

And can you talk a little bit about what your experience has been

Adam Lamb:

or perhaps what your team's experience has been working with Hooray Health,

Adam Lamb:

which is your healthcare partner?

Jamie Mansour:

Yeah.

Jamie Mansour:

I mean, I mean, my experience on a personal level has been phenomenal.

Jamie Mansour:

I think.

Jamie Mansour:

You know, you're, you're a little bit tentative when you get over

Jamie Mansour:

here from a different country and healthcare is really paid for.

Jamie Mansour:

I would say that lightly, right?

Jamie Mansour:

I was telling you guys the story of like getting into the U.

Jamie Mansour:

S.

Jamie Mansour:

and trying to just understand the system coming from where I come

Jamie Mansour:

from, where everything was paid for.

Jamie Mansour:

And so my experience always, number one, number one, you know, you

Jamie Mansour:

have to have great people that can talk about it at our level.

Jamie Mansour:

And we have some really good benefits people that really walk me through it.

Jamie Mansour:

But then as a, you know, as a father to three kids and the amount of times that.

Jamie Mansour:

These kids hurt themselves or end up going to the emergency or to the doctor's

Jamie Mansour:

office just from a personal level.

Jamie Mansour:

I mean, the health care and the way we looked at it has

Jamie Mansour:

been so great for my family.

Jamie Mansour:

And it's, it's almost like we've got our, I mean, we've got two

Jamie Mansour:

boys that are born in Canada and a daughter that's born in the U.

Jamie Mansour:

S.

Jamie Mansour:

And I would beg to say, but besides the charge for the, for our American

Jamie Mansour:

daughter, the health care and the benefits were way better for us.

Jamie Mansour:

And then from an hourly perspective and just a management perspective,

Jamie Mansour:

I think our work with Hooray Health and what they've done for us.

Jamie Mansour:

And we really saw with Covid, right?

Jamie Mansour:

You can imagine the amount of times Hooray Health was involved in testing our teams,

Jamie Mansour:

making sure that that that was available for our teams keeping it front of mind.

Jamie Mansour:

And in the US and where we are in Phoenix right now, or any state,

Jamie Mansour:

I mean they're huge part of.

Jamie Mansour:

Just making sure that people stay healthy and they offer a service

Jamie Mansour:

and the availability for us, which I really had never come from in Canada.

Jamie Mansour:

So I think they've been a really great partner for us.

Jamie Mansour:

And I want to continue to kind of think that that's something that, you know,

Jamie Mansour:

even from a mental health standpoint is something we've got to keep talking about.

Jamie Mansour:

Because I do think in this business, it's been a, there's been a huge shift.

Jamie Mansour:

And just even having a conversation, it's been a huge part of why it should.

Jamie Mansour:

Yeah, definitely agree.

Jim Taylor:

So Jamie, we covered a lot here.

Jim Taylor:

Typically, and this is, it's, you know, I always enjoy talking about this

Jim Taylor:

because when I, when I first started this podcast, one of the things we

Jim Taylor:

wanted to be able to provide was one, we decided to do it on Thursdays because

Jim Taylor:

maybe somebody could listen to something that they can actually do in their

Jim Taylor:

own restaurant going into the weekend.

Jim Taylor:

Like, what can I think about differently?

Jim Taylor:

But we also wanted to try to make sure that there was some

Jim Taylor:

sort of actionable, you know...

Jim Taylor:

Two or three things that they should be considering if

Jim Taylor:

they're operating a restaurant.

Jim Taylor:

So do you have a couple of things like that that you can say, okay, Hey,

Jim Taylor:

if I was going to start over again, or if I was running my own place,

Jim Taylor:

here's two or three things I would be trying to do, you know, whether it's

Jim Taylor:

starting today or, or thinking about

Jamie Mansour:

improving.

Jamie Mansour:

Yeah, I mean, I feel like there's probably a hundred, but I'll see if I can give

Jamie Mansour:

you the, there's so, there's so much that I've learned in this business and I feel

Jamie Mansour:

like I've been very fortunate to work with some really great people that, you know,

Jamie Mansour:

you take the best from the great people.

Jamie Mansour:

I mean, just even the topic of this, you know, this conversation and staff

Jamie Mansour:

and, and, and the return on investment and staff, I think there'd be one thing

Jamie Mansour:

that I would always say is like, I think people make this business go around.

Jamie Mansour:

And I think if I were starting today, the first thing I would tell any

Jamie Mansour:

operator is, right, if you're not in front of open, honest communication

Jamie Mansour:

with your team members daily.

Jamie Mansour:

Right.

Jamie Mansour:

And have that set up and plan to do.

Jamie Mansour:

Right.

Jamie Mansour:

So it's, it's part of your team's strategy is we're going to talk to

Jamie Mansour:

our people both front and back and talk to them about, you know, the

Jamie Mansour:

business, talk to them about their personal lives and their career paths.

Jamie Mansour:

I mean, I think you're missing an opportunity.

Jamie Mansour:

I think number two is listen.

Jamie Mansour:

It's funny when you grew up in this business and a lot of

Jamie Mansour:

leaders I met are very type A.

Jamie Mansour:

Right.

Jamie Mansour:

You know, listen more than you talk.

Jamie Mansour:

And I think in this business, I think sometimes you listen to your

Jamie Mansour:

people and you get the right answers.

Jamie Mansour:

You're not going to know all the right answers.

Jamie Mansour:

Even in my position, I mean, I asked for, I asked for constant feedback and I

Jamie Mansour:

think that's what makes you good, right?

Jamie Mansour:

You don't know all the answers.

Jamie Mansour:

And I think listening to your people.

Jamie Mansour:

So talking to your people, listening to your people.

Jamie Mansour:

And then I do believe like.

Jamie Mansour:

You know, strategy in this business and having a plan and following through

Jamie Mansour:

is such a huge part of what we do.

Jamie Mansour:

And I, and I think you said it, Adam and Jim, it's, it's great to have

Jamie Mansour:

conversations, but if, you know, hourly team members or managers are talking

Jamie Mansour:

to you and telling you things that they need you got to listen to them

Jamie Mansour:

when it's your job as a leader to make sure that they're successful, right?

Jamie Mansour:

And you're an investing in them and the investment that you put into your team

Jamie Mansour:

is investment you're getting back with.

Jamie Mansour:

You know, career paths and with growth in this brand and with more

Jamie Mansour:

money as you grow your career.

Jamie Mansour:

So, you know, I think talking to your people, you know, daily, I

Jamie Mansour:

think listening to your people and really, and being empathetic to that.

Jamie Mansour:

And then I think having a strategy on how to get your people

Jamie Mansour:

better and move them forward.

Jamie Mansour:

I mean, to me, that's, that's one thing that the best leaders that I've ever

Jamie Mansour:

worked with do better than anybody else.

Jim Taylor:

Well said.

Adam Lamb:

Brilliant.

Adam Lamb:

Jimmy, we want to thank you very much for joining us today.

Adam Lamb:

And you've certainly given us a lot to think about, and I've tried to keep up

Adam Lamb:

as much as possible of like sharing it in the chat and making sure that we're

Adam Lamb:

sharing this but we're hoping that you might come back and join us again and

Adam Lamb:

kind of let us know about the growth of the company and as you start you know,

Adam Lamb:

thinking about Boulder and Charlotte and and hopefully Canada in the next 12

Adam Lamb:

months, because I know that you guys are also thinking about a new concept, right?

Jamie Mansour:

Yeah, we have a couple of things happening.

Jamie Mansour:

We're opening in Tucson, which is Dr.

Jamie Mansour:

Wilde, who started our brand, his backyard.

Jamie Mansour:

So we're excited about that.

Jamie Mansour:

But then we got a fast casual kind of spin off of true food opening probably quarter

Jamie Mansour:

one January, February, March of next year.

Jamie Mansour:

No name picked out yet, but we do think, right, we're pretty

Jamie Mansour:

excited to test our realm.

Jamie Mansour:

I think, obviously, quick service restaurants are the way of the future.

Jamie Mansour:

If you see in the U.

Jamie Mansour:

S.

Jamie Mansour:

Are really growing and expanding and we think we can food to that.

Jamie Mansour:

So that's exciting for us.

Jamie Mansour:

But we're, we're excited about Tucson.

Jamie Mansour:

We're excited about the fast casual concept next year.

Jamie Mansour:

And then, I mean, we're excited to come see you Adam.

Jamie Mansour:

I will make sure that you're you're part of our opening team.

Jamie Mansour:

So we won't make you go back in the kitchen.

Jamie Mansour:

No.

Jamie Mansour:

So

Adam Lamb:

I don't mind strapping an apron on, you know, I still got my clogs.

Adam Lamb:

It's all good.

Jamie Mansour:

You could do

Adam Lamb:

it.

Adam Lamb:

So, well, thank you very much, Jim.

Adam Lamb:

Last words.

Jamie Mansour:

Jamie, just so good to reconnect

Jim Taylor:

again.

Jim Taylor:

And thanks so much for joining us.

Jim Taylor:

We'll definitely have to have you back again.

Jim Taylor:

I mean, there's, we could go on about some of this stuff for, for hours.

Jim Taylor:

So always great to catch up and congrats on all the

Jamie Mansour:

success with the group.

Jamie Mansour:

Yeah.

Jamie Mansour:

I appreciate you both.

Jamie Mansour:

Thanks very much.

Jamie Mansour:

Good to see you again.

Jamie Mansour:

Good to see you again, Jim.

Jamie Mansour:

I wish your daughter a belated happy birthday.

Jamie Mansour:

I saw that.

Jamie Mansour:

You're very welcome.

Jamie Mansour:

Have

Adam Lamb:

a great day, gentlemen.

Adam Lamb:

It was a pleasure.

Adam Lamb:

Thank you very much, Damian.

Adam Lamb:

We really appreciate your time.

Adam Lamb:

Thanks for watching another episode of Turning the Table with

Adam Lamb:

myself, Adam Lamb and Jim Taylor.

Adam Lamb:

And we'll see you next week.

Adam Lamb:

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Turning the Table with

Adam Lamb:

me, Adam Lamb and Jim Taylor.

Adam Lamb:

We're on a mission to change the food and beverage industry for the better

Adam Lamb:

by focusing on staff mental health.

Adam Lamb:

Physical and emotional well being by proactively measuring

Adam Lamb:

and managing staff workloads.

Adam Lamb:

Join other hospitality professionals co creating the hashtag new

Adam Lamb:

hospitality culture by subscribing to our weekly newsletter at www.

Adam Lamb:

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Adam Lamb:

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Adam Lamb:

In every edition, you'll find innovative solutions.

Adam Lamb:

Ready to test and validate in your operation this weekend.

Adam Lamb:

Plus listen to exclusive bonus content just for you connect with us

Adam Lamb:

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Adam Lamb:

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Adam Lamb:

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share it with a friend or colleague who you want to see succeed.

Adam Lamb:

Thanks for stepping in and speaking out for an industry craft and

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Adam Lamb:

Remember retention is the new cool y'all.

Adam Lamb:

This podcast was written, directed, and produced by me, Adam Lamb and Jim Taylor.

Adam Lamb:

Turning the table is a production of realignment media.

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