Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign welcome to the Victory Show.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: Hey victors. Welcome to this episode of the Victory Show. If this is the first time you're joining us, I'm Rachel League with bestseller By Design. Our founder, Travis Cody is the best selling author of 16 books and we've had the privilege of helping hundreds of business consultants, founders and entrepreneurs rate and publish their own best selling books as well. Through that journey, we've discovered a fascinating pattern. Most businesses really struggle to break past the seven figure revenue mark. On this show, I sit down with some of the world's most successful CEOs, leaders and business owners to uncover the strategies they used to scale way past that mark so you can do the same. So get ready for some deep insights and actionable takeaways that you can implement in your life and business. Starting now. Today's guest is Michael lamonica. A restaurant consultant, hospitality veteran and passionate supporter of local food businesses. Michael has opened, operated and supported restaurants across Boston and beyond. Through his consulting company, Baby Chef, he helps hospitality brands streamline operations and scale sustainably. He also works with the team at Chownow, a platform supporting independent restaurants with commission free ordering, giving him a unique perspective for both the tech and ownership side of the industry. I Michael, welcome to the show.
[00:01:25] Speaker A: Thank you for having me.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: So tell us a little bit about your origin. You know, what really drew you to the restaurant and hospitality industry. And did you know you always wanted to build a career in this space?
[00:01:37] Speaker A: Yeah, I always know I wanted to build a career in the space. That is a deeper question. But I would say what drew me to it? It was one of those things that kind of got inherited, you could say. So from a young age. I mean, my mother was, was like, was a server for, for years and years and years and like that's what she did. My father, my father was completely different. So he, he sold financial products. And then my mother was a server, so she was a serve for years. My aunt was in the industry, my brother got into the industry. And it was something that came natural to me and I'm a big, big eater. And that is one of the reasons why I was like, if I can make a career out of this, I'm gonna do it. So if I can eat my way through my career now, I'm gonna do it. How, how that reflects on my health, that's a different situation. But it was something that I always had a passion for and I think that it was, it was something that came naturally to me. So I really did just enjoy it. I loved working within the organization but absolutely love just going right into it.
[00:02:33] Speaker B: What were your first few roles within hospitality?
[00:02:36] Speaker A: First few roles. Well, if I tell you my first role, you wouldn't be like, like when I was a little kid, my first, my first job was selling the paper outside of Dunkin Donuts. That was like, like 12 or 13 years old. And I'd sit outside in an outside of Dunkin Donuts and I'd sell the paper and I'd make like a little bit of money from that. When I got older, I started in like some different chains. I started like as a host, eventually transitioned to the back of the house and was like a chef. I did like, I was a line cook and different things like that. Got into more like events. I worked for a few different spots. When it came to like event spots, I was a banquet chef. And in addition to that, I started getting more into the front of house again. I found the front of house you made a lot more money. Just going to be straightforward front house positions, you make more money. Yes, I could work really hard in the back. But then when I tried serving tables, I made quick money, really quick. I went to Johnson and Wales University when I, when I hit that age and what I went for was restaurant consulting in business management. So I have a bachelor's degree in restaurant consulting and business management. And then eventually I decided to get more into management. I helped with a few different projects in Rhode Island. One was called Federal Taphouse. It was making a transition from a different spot called the Oyster House. And then over time I got the opportunity to do a few different openings and I was on the opening team for Italy in Boston. So I opened La Pizza, La Pasta, which is, it's funny because you still get people that are gluten free when basically the name is La Gluten and La Gluten. We did crazy numbers and I couldn't believe how much volume that restaurant could do. After that I stayed there for a little while. I got involved with another mom and pop brand, did a couple more openings. One in Winter, Massachusetts called Piccolo Piatti, another one in Salem, Massachusetts called Antique Table, did a little bit work in between and then eventually found my way to a larger high end sushi brand called Fuji at Ink Block and that represented by JP Fuji Group for specifically that. It was my first crack at like high end, you know, restaurants that in the city of Boston. And I loved it. It was my dream job at the time. But eventually things got different and when Covid hit, I had to make a switch. So when that happened, I Decided to get more into events. So I worked for a place called Innovation Studio for a little bit and sales and different elements of that and eventually made my way to Chow now where I was able to grow within the organization in like a sales director role. And that has allowed me the time flexibility to also continue on my hospitality path when it comes to consulting. During that time I also opened another restaurant that I'm still the owner of, which is called Volo's, which is a high end contemporary Italian restaurant. We have stellar reviews. I do the menu conceptualization, payroll, finance side. Apparently I'm good at numbers. I didn't know when I was working in along the line, but so a lot of different elements to it. But I always try to keep the door open. You know, there's some things I'm sure I've forgotten along the way along and strenuous, but that's the gist of it.
[00:05:57] Speaker B: Fantastic. I mean your career is so varied and I love how much direct operator experience you have as well as working more from a tech perspective and trying to make operations more efficient through that. With Chow now, you know, I think so many people dream of opening their own restaurant. The reality is really tough. What do you wish more people knew from having seen it time and again? People knew about doing that before they jump in.
[00:06:23] Speaker A: Yeah. When it comes to opening a restaurant, I think some people have. Well, even before you open it, this is, this is one thing that's really important. People that need to understand you're going to fall a lot and you're going to get frustrated a lot. And if you need to understand there's different elements to opening a restaurant in terms of like construction, whatever you assume the date is going to be when you actually are supposed to open, I would say at anywhere between four to six months minimum. And that is a more realistic date because there's going to be hiccups. You have to apply for different licensing, you have to apply for different certifications. It's going to happen. So, you know, and then in itself too, it can't always be about what you like. It has to be about what the clientele likes. And in every geographical area, it's always going to be different. So what worked in the city of Boston versus in Winthrop, right outside of Boston, you know, and that's where the restaurant is now. It's completely different on the vibe, price differently. You have to adjust the drinks, you have to adjust the concept. It's going to be slower pace. People want to take their time. You know, Italy in the Peru it was go, go, go. It was like a 45 or less flip time from beginning to end of the meal. Just come in, grab your food, boom, you're out. Like, this is. It's tourist related. You know, you're coming in, you're flowing. Whereas Volos, I'd say the average turns probably like two hours or so. If you're relaxing, you're here for a special occasion. It's just completely different idea and different concept. So you really need to understand that you can't fall in love with just like, this is what's in my mind and we're going to translate it. You have to be able to adjust. And if you, if you can do that, you can be successful. If you can't, you know, change it up again, I guess.
[00:08:06] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. I think that's a concept that can be applied across any industry of needing to stay really in tune with your core market, your core customers, what do they need? Not just what product do you want to bring to market.
[00:08:18] Speaker A: So what do they need specifically?
[00:08:19] Speaker B: You can't just put out your dream restaurant and think that it's going to work. That same idea of listening to your customers, your clientele and making sure you're meeting their needs is something that's really applicable to a lot of different industries.
[00:08:33] Speaker A: Absolutely. I mean, that's why chains, some chain brands fail in general, and the ones that do survive, like, cost effective. But you got to do your market research before you just decide, I'm going to lock into a lease or buy the building or anything like that and go ahead.
No, I say another thing that kills it is people don't control their fixed costs. So what I mean by that is, like, people fall in love with a space and like, I envision being here in New York City, but then forget that, like, rent's high, food's high, and these things are going to eat up profit to the point where you might barely break even. And then you're going to ask yourself, what am I doing all this work for?
[00:09:11] Speaker B: Totally. With some of those challenges. Can you tell me about a time that maybe something didn't go quite right for you or you hit a bump in the road? And how did you work through that?
[00:09:21] Speaker A: Absolutely.
So when I was working, for example, with JP Fuji Group, there was a lot of different things that we were supposed to get done at some point. And one of them was that the owner wanted to get into another concept again. He wanted to do an Italian restaurant, which is weird because we were Japanese cuisine, but he was like, I want to I want to open an Italian restaurant. They were trying to expand the brand beyond that. They found a location in Quincy, Massachusetts. They were ready to rock and roll. And then it just fell through. The just did not hit. The owner decided to go a different direction. It was going to end up costing too much money. And it was one of those things where it was sad because I was excited to be like, oh, let's open this. They're like, we want you to make you a partner, want to help you, you know, build out the menu. You're going to be on this always exciting because, you know, that's what any restaurateur wants is they want to be made into an owner and they want to be, you know, a part of the decision making process. But in hindsight, like six months later, Covid hit and I would have absolutely been on the hook for a lot of money because, you know, would have been an initial investor and then the money would have dried up because we all know that Covid, you know, thrashed in person restaurants. So it was actually a blessing in disguise. That didn't happen. And it opened the doors for. For me to go in a lot of other different directions. Towards the end of 2022, we opened the restaurant, but the economy started to bounce back enough and people were going out at least.
So it worked out fantastically to do it that way. It ended up being awesome and, you know, and I had less partners and.
And I was able to just do it, you know, more with my own, with the family.
So some of my family's involved a little bit in that project too. And all in all, it ended up being a lot better.
[00:11:17] Speaker B: Yeah. Tell me a little bit about the team that you pulled around you to help get it up and running. And then what did your role look like at the start versus later on now that you, you know, are also managing your consulting business and you work with Chow now, I assume you're not, you know, a host or you're, you know, in the back working with the food. So, you know, tell me a little bit about how you got it standing up and then you put the team in place that can run it day to day.
[00:11:45] Speaker A: Oh, a big part of that is when you're in the construction phase, you need to start accumulating some talents. Back of the house.
You know, there was a lot of different people we met through the industry, and sometimes they. They have a team of people that they use.
For example, the back of house. His name is Abraham, and he's kind of like the back of House guru guy, how you want to look at it for the head chef, and he's awesome on the line. He has a few different people and some friends, stuff like that that he had, that he was able to jump on board with the project. You know, the funny thing is about backhouse people, or anybody is as long as the money's there, then they're like, sure, I'll do it. Obviously, nobody's doing anything for free. That's not the world we live in. So in terms of finding the backhouse staff, it was. We found, like, one right guy, and he had a team of other people that were just ready to rock, right. Located in the hometown of Winthrop. So it was awesome. It was convenient, and it was something that we were blessed to have.
In terms of everything else, there was a. You know, I have some siblings and some family members that wanted to be on board because, like I said, I grew up in this industry. So me and my brother Stephen kind of did more of, like, the conceptualization of the menu. I did more of the, like, you know, let's put it this way, like, my background, I'm a perfectionist. So we worked on together, and then I went back through, and I was like, this doesn't work. This doesn't work. We need to move this here. Because at the end, people realize a menu needs to have, like, form. You can't double up on too many things, and it has to have. It's like art, and it can't be too repetitive.
And then you also have to understand there's product placement. Like, you need people to draw your eyes into certain key items when it comes to the way you set up a menu, too. So me and him worked on the menu, worked on the right recipes, built all that stuff out, worked with this new executive chef, Abraham, to get it all rolled out.
And then my brother Joseph. So I have a big family, and my brother Joseph is a fantastic bartender slash mixologist. I want to say that he doesn't get high in his own supply, but he likes to drink too, and he's really great at building a bar menu, and he's amazing at the social media aspects. So to get more people in the door, that helped significantly. And then we essentially were able to get that going. My father was a financial consultant, so he said, you know, we figured out the money situation as a family, got that up and running. We launched in September of 2022. It went fantastically. I was there to oversee in a management, management side, watching the food, watching the service, steps of service, training the Staff, you know, as things transitioned and we got a little more dialed in, I was able to take a step back and now I do more.
I'll assist with like specials and then I'll do the payroll, I'll do scheduling, things like that in the financial side of things, which is awesome that I have the flexibility to not have to be in person every single day.
[00:14:36] Speaker B: Yeah, getting that right team in place. I like that you said you were really hands on in that boots on the ground, managerial perspective from the start, making sure that the ship was going the right direction. And then you ended up bringing in people. And how did you think about finding the right people so that it could run on its own?
[00:14:54] Speaker A: I'd say it's finding people that you either trust or you have a good feeling when it comes to, like, their personalities. Hospitality industry is funny because in a lot of other industries you can find someone, you can train them, their background's important and always is going to be. But for hospitality, yes, background's important, but what's really matters is do you have a personality that, you know, invites people to talk to you? Do you feel like it's a situation where if you are not there, can you find people to be in place that can handle it when you aren't? Right. So all in all, you have to put out advertising, you have to talk to people. You know, if, if the restaurant's not too large, you know, hopefully you can find these, these roles internally. Oh, I know somebody. Oh, I have a friend. You know, going referral side of things. If you are dealing with a restaurant like Eagley, for example, which is a staff of 500, I think that's what the number was, fully staffed. Now you're putting out a lot of advertisements and you're going to have to hire as many people as possible and you're going to sacrifice a little bit in terms of quality over, you know, because you need quantity of people that invites problems which you will then deal with because that's your job as a manager. But it's just very different. Whereas when you can keep it a smaller, tighter project, you can find the right people, you can step up and it's all containable in a sense that like, all right, if someone calls out, I can handle the floor by myself. But if somebody calls out in Italy, it's not possible. It's just too big and just too big of an operation. I think the sweet spot for a size restaurant where you're going to make the most in terms of profit and keep it contained is right around 80 seats. Once you go beyond 80 seats, that's when it starts to be more and more difficult.
In today's economy in general, I just don't see the need to have a bigger project because you have to keep these seats filled to be profitable and you have to keep realistic expectation of what that looks like.
[00:16:55] Speaker B: Yeah. You know you mentioned earlier about how you can train someone but if they don't have the feel for it and they don't have that hospitality thing sort of naturally in them, then it's going to be challenging for them. And I remember earlier you were saying you had a degree in hospitality management but you also have this vast experience. What do you think about when someone decides that they want to start a business in an area that they don't have maybe the educational background in but they have a real passion for, what should they do to help their career get going?
[00:17:31] Speaker A: I think you should go fully research mode. You should find a restaurant or business that you can stage and or work at. Gain more insight in this first, restaurants don't have, really don't have non competes. If they did, you wouldn't see as many restaurants. But it's not like, it's not like I'm going to go be a banker, you know, whatever, you know, work in financial industry and I'm going to go steal clients. It's not like that. I'd be more. What I mean is like if you can find opportunity, work there a little bit, get your, your heading on is this area the right area for me? Understand the clients, the people going to come in, get to know people. You know, in a sense you're going full research mode and you're trying to understand that my idea viable in this area and if it's not, why wouldn't it be? And what is working like looking around, if you see in a small town that there is one or two places that are always packed regardless if it's a small town, why is that? Like what is the reason? Are they really strong with the community, you know, or is it the food's really good, the service is excellent. Usually it's got to be everything to make it in a town that's not right in New York City, right in Boston, right in Chicago, you need to have community ties, you need to know people, you need to be friendly, give back to the community and you also need to have good food and good service. If you can do all three, the business will come.
[00:18:53] Speaker B: How do you figure out the service piece?
[00:18:55] Speaker A: Big smile. When I got trained at Johnson and Wales there's like. Like proper fine dining service. That is not what makes service good. What makes service good is if you're kind, if you're nice to somebody, if you're apologetic, and if you're understanding. Right. So I don't think if you go out to dinner, right, are you going to come back because the fork is positioned correctly, or are you going to come back because they're really nice to you, they helped you with the menu? That's an opinion question.
[00:19:24] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I think if the food is delish and the service is good, I'll be back. I agree. I'm not paying a lot of attention to the position these days.
[00:19:32] Speaker A: Exactly. And that's. Exactly. That's my point. These days, that style of service is taking a backseat to just the more conventional. Hey, it's a wonderful experience. I feel like I'm at home. I feel comfortable. They're quick. As long as you're still quick. You get the food out on time, show up with a smile, very kind to people. Most people are forgiving of that stuff. And we're not going for a Michelin star. That's a very different concept. I know people and friends, and I've been to a lot of those restaurants, but that is completely different. That's like going from a local theater to Broadway. It's like you're. It's just a different vibe, and it has to be. Be. It's gonna be looked at through a lens, and it. You have to be a perfectionist, and it'll drive you crazy. So not what I'm looking for right now. I don't think it's as profitable anyways.
[00:20:19] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, hospitality, like you said, it's such a people business, a human business. What have you learned about dealing with people? And, you know, what leadership learnings have you had from being in the industry for so many years?
[00:20:32] Speaker A: Yeah. So, I mean, things that I've learned is eating thick skin, because people are going to get out at you. People are going to mean to you. People are going to jump online after they tell you everything's good, and they're going to jump on Yelp and then jump on Google, and they're going to say that Mike, he's terrible, and the restaurant's awful and the food's terrible and don't ever come back there. And it hurts because you put. People don't realize, like, you put so much of yourself into these businesses that when someone comes at you, it's like them insulting your kid, where it's like, this is my Baby, I put everything I am into this and then few just to come in and you know, I'm not going to swear, but all over it and it's, it's really stings. It really stings. So you have to have thick skin because if you let that affect you, it'll drive you crazy. You can't do it. In addition to that, you know, like I said, going with the flow and accepting of that. People have different situations in life. So what I mean by that is staff is going to have problems and you have to be understanding and you have to pivot and you can't get mad because these aren't robots, these are people. Right. This is an AI we're not talking about. I have a fleet of AI people that are just going through the motions. These are people in these roles and emergencies are going to happen and personal things are going to happen and birthdays and X, Y and Z. And you have to be able to move things around, adjust schedules, fill in the gaps. So if, once again, if you can do that and not let the other things affect you, you should be okay.
[00:22:02] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. That flexibility, I think, and seeing people as individuals, not just a group trying to execute one goal is, is really important.
[00:22:10] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:22:12] Speaker B: So as you've seen everything from the back of house chaos to high level strategy, what does victory mean to you?
[00:22:19] Speaker A: Victory means, to me is that if you can adapt and understand the direction in which the market is going a little bit before it gets there, you can get out in front of it. You can get the right position in terms of like how much money you've spent on to do whatever you're trying to do. And if you just got to be there first, you know, I mean, in the end of the day, like, I think that's, that's any investment, right? I mean if you, if you want to buy a stock, you got to buy the stock when it's well priced and then it gets, it gets bigger. If you buy the stock in its, its high point, it might go a little higher, but it can also go down. And I think that's the point is that like, you need to be able to see a little bit in the future and picture yourself doing it. And if you can do that, you'll get out in front of it. And then a big thing for me too is that, you know, keeping the doors open to different opportunities. So eventually I got more into the hospitality technology side of things, which I found to be awesome in terms of the money was great and I'm able to touch the lives of so many other business owners who need those things. Like I'm dealing with hundreds if not thousands of other restaurants all the time and constantly I see different concepts and you wouldn't believe. People try to reinvent the wheel the way they do. It's like insane. A lot of at home businesses, a lot of people try to start a restaurant from their house. Not always the smartest idea, but they do it a lot.
[00:23:40] Speaker B: So if you could go back to younger Michael, what, what piece of advice would you get him?
[00:23:46] Speaker A: Don't be prideful. Don't get mad so easily. Everything's going to work out and no matter what you do, and I think this is true for any job. I don't care if you're, if you're dishwashing, if you're serving tables, if you're a cook, if you're a director of sales, whatever it is, what makes anybody successful and what makes life worth living in those situations is that you put a hundred percent of yourself into that work.
If you can do that 100, try hard, show up every day and do your job the way you're supposed to do it, opportunity will present itself, people will recognize you and everything else should fall into place. If you can't put 100 of yourself into something, try a different industry. And that one that you can put 100 of yourself because you're, you're clearly not passionate about it. I think that that probably goes for anybody in any industry. Like what? Otherwise, what are we doing right? Otherwise, you know, you might as well just be chilling out and just waiting and waiting the time to go by until you can say, I'm retired.
[00:24:45] Speaker B: Otherwise, what are we doing? I love that. Well, Michael, this has been a fantastic conversation. Thank you so much for joining us today.
[00:24:52] Speaker A: Thank you very much. It was a pleasure.
