Happy Sunday familia -

This weekend was dope.

But let's rewind before we get into the weekend.

I had an off week. Just bad.

I’m just getting back from 10 days in Paris and was overwhelmed with work upon returning.

Every day last week I wanted to throw in the towel.

We’ve all been there.

So, this weekend, I made plans to get out of the house and do something fun.

I made reservations for a show/restaurant /club (?) that I’ve been seeing online.

And boy, was it something.

From the valet to the accommodations made for my dietary restrictions, to the joy all the workers had in serving us — the place, the team, and the vibes were 10/10.

The food? 12/10. AMAZING.

But enough about the restaurant - this isn’t a Yelp review.

Here’s where things got interesting.

When dinner ended, we decided to stay longer and have a drink at the bar. We were enjoying the service and the vibes at the restaurant and didn’t want the night to end yet.

As we headed over to the bar, we started interacting with a few groups of people.

Long story short…

The first group of people we became friends with were the investors in the restaurant.

The second group of people were the owners of the restaurant.

I have a lot of stories from the night, but I wanted to share what I learned from the owner. Let's call him “Jim” to respect his privacy.

Jim helped found Texas Roadhouse and made BANK from his time there.

He then took 5 years off to surf in Hawaii and came back to ATL to open restaurants. The one we were at is his 2nd restaurant in ATL.

Now, y’all know me - after we got acquainted and I built some rapport, I started asking him questions about how he has learned to build an amazing team and business.

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Here are the top 4 lessons from our conversation over Negorinis:

Lesson 1: The experience has to be something to write home about within the first second

When building Texas Roadhouse, they quickly introduced the nuts on the floor. Why? Because it gave customers a unique experience right away. This is something they would write home about.

Jim incorporated this into his new restaurant as well. When you arrive at his new restaurant, you are privately escorted to your table from your car. You don’t stop at a host stand. You don’t wait in line. When you pull up, the valet asks for your name, and handsome men in suits and walkie talkies escort you straight to the greeter (who already knows your name) and seats you.

It felt like I was a celebrity.

It got me thinking - how are my businesses set up to WOW our customers and clients IMMEDIATELY?

Here’s your takeaway - Give people an amazing experience immediately. They should know they want to come back within the first second of interacting with your business.

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Lesson 2: Fire your bad apples immediately, even if it’s the entire staff

Jim shared a story about how he went to Indiana to do a site visit. He was so disturbed by what he saw so he fired the entire team immediately. 40 people. Gone.

This was over 20 years ago and he still remembers this moment. Why? Because he hated doing it, but he knew this was the wrong team for the job.

This resonated deeply with me. As someone that cares about people, firing is ALWAYS hard for me - even when I know the person may not be living up to the excellence expectations I have.

After he fired the team, it took him 30 days to find a new team. He lost $500,000 during this process.

But, it was worth it.

Within the first 90 days of reopening - this became one of his highest-grossing stores. And still is.

Fire fast. Even if it hurts.

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Lesson 3: Imitate systems, Innovate experience

As you can already guess, Jim is keen on experience. Its key in the service industry, but this should be key in EVERY industry.

Jim said, “Kasey, business is simple, you can imitate the systems laid out by other companies. Just do what they do. But your experience has to be different. The part the customers see, has to be different - find your edge, thats the only way to win.”

Texas Roadhouse - the nuts, the rolls – that was their edge.

Jim’s new restaurant - the service, the vibes, the fancy dress code, the food, Usher being in the room – thats their edge.

Have good systems, but you don’t need to innovate that much. Your focus should be on innovating the experience the customer has.

Apple is a great example of this. They didn’t revolutionize the systems within the phone - but they tremendously innovated on the experience. From the tech of the phone, to the store setups. Buying a new Apple product is an experience. Unboxing is an experience. Using the devices is an experience.

Be different and focus on the experience. That’s how you win.

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Lesson 4: Understand your market and stick to it

Jim walked me through the “off the highway” rule that helped Texas Roadhouse scale.

They understood their market - middle America and truckers. They wanted to provide these folks outside of big cities, a place to dine. Most of their options were fast food, so Texas Roadhouse saw a gap. (this is similar to Cracker Barrels model).

As Texas Roadhouse began to scale, the money was pouring in. Jim said there were talks to put a few locations in big cities and higher-end areas. It was exciting because this could possibly generate more money because these customers ate out more and spent more.

But they ended up not doing it - because of the “off the highway rule”.

Understand who you are building your business for, and what market you are trying to dominate - and STICK TO IT.

Too many of us try to be broad and service everyone - especially when we get a few quick wins, we begin spreading wide.

Don’t do it. Stay true to your market and continue focusing on how to dominate even more.

I know this email was a bit longer - do you enjoy these longer writings? Let me know so i can keep improving and making these worth your time to read.

Have a great week!

Kasey

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