How I built the number one new restaurant in America | Aaron Silverman | TEDxMidAtlantic

Summary

The speaker recounts their journey of opening a restaurant, emphasizing the importance of hiring the right people over skills. They highlight the restaurant's rapid success, attributing it to their talented and passionate staff. The speaker shares insights on hiring for desire over experience and creating an environment that attracts and retains top talent, ultimately concluding that they are in the 'people business' rather than just the restaurant industry.

Takeaways

• 🚀 The speaker opened a restaurant with no prior experience and faced the challenge of convincing people to work in an industry known for high turnover rates.
• 🤝 They partnered with a close friend who shared similar ideas and beliefs about restaurants and people, highlighting the importance of alignment in values.
• 👥 They built a team of 25 people, many of whom remain with the restaurant, emphasizing the significance of a strong and loyal team.
• 🏆 The restaurant quickly gained recognition, being named the best new restaurant in America by Bon Appétit and GQ magazine, showcasing the impact of a dedicated team.
• 🍽️ The speaker believes that their success is 100% due to their employees, who are talented, ambitious, caring, passionate, and well-dressed.
• 👨‍🍳 As a chef, the speaker reminds the staff that food is only 40% of their service, indicating the importance of the overall dining experience.
• 🤔 The speaker questioned what made their restaurant different and concluded that it was their people, not just the food or service, that led to their success.
• 🧐 The speaker suggests that the quality of a business's product or service is a direct result of the people who create and deliver it, underlining the role of employees in business success.
• 📝 Hiring practices are crucial; the restaurant looks for people with the right attitude and desire, not just skills, as skills can be taught, but care and passion cannot.
• 🌟 The restaurant's hiring process de-emphasizes resumes and focuses on references and personal fit, valuing personality and attitude over past experience.
• 🌱 The restaurant has created an environment that attracts great people, reducing turnover and making hiring a less challenging process.
• 🙌 The speaker concludes that they are in the 'people industry' rather than the restaurant industry, as their success is driven by the people they have gathered.

Q & A

What was the speaker's initial concern when deciding to open a restaurant?

The speaker's initial concern was how to convince anyone to come work with them, especially considering the restaurant industry's notorious high turnover rate.

Who did the speaker reach out to for help in starting the restaurant?

The speaker reached out to one of their oldest and closest friends, who shared the same ideas and beliefs about both restaurants and people.

How many people joined the team when the restaurant was first established?

Initially, 25 people joined the team when the restaurant was first established.

What recognition did the restaurant receive within its first year?

Within its first year, the restaurant was named the best new restaurant in America by both Bon Appétit and GQ magazine.

What does the speaker attribute the restaurant's success to?

The speaker attributes the restaurant's success to their talented, ambitious, caring, passionate, and well-dressed employees.

What percentage of the restaurant's success does the speaker attribute to the food?

The speaker attributes 40% of the restaurant's success to the food.

What did the speaker initially think the restaurant industry was about?

The speaker initially thought the restaurant industry was about serving good food and providing good service.

How has the speaker's perspective on the restaurant industry changed over time?

The speaker's perspective changed from thinking they were in the restaurant industry to realizing they were in the hospitality industry, and ultimately to being in the people business.

What is the speaker's philosophy on hiring practices?

The speaker believes in hiring people based on their desire and personality rather than solely on their skills or experience, as skills can be taught but not everyone can be inspired to care.

What is the speaker's approach to retaining great employees?

The speaker focuses on creating a great environment that people want to be a part of, prioritizing the employees as the main stakeholders and the core of the business.

How has the restaurant's approach to hiring affected its staff turnover?

The restaurant's approach has resulted in a low staff turnover, with many of the original team members still working there four years later, and new, talented employees seeking to join the team.

Outlines

00:00

🍽️ Building a Restaurant Team with Heart

The speaker reflects on the journey of opening a restaurant four years ago, emphasizing the importance of assembling a dedicated team. Despite being inexperienced, they sought help from a close friend who shared their values. Together, they built a team of 25 people, many of whom remain with the restaurant today. The speaker credits the success of the restaurant to the talented and passionate staff, who have contributed to its recognition by Bon Appetit and GQ as the best new restaurant in America. The speaker also discusses the realization that their business is in the hospitality industry, focusing on making guests feel good, and not just serving food. They conclude that it's the people who make a business great, highlighting the employees as the key to their success.

05:02

🛠️ Hiring Practices and Cultivating a Supportive Environment

In this paragraph, the speaker delves into the hiring practices that have contributed to the restaurant's success. They emphasize looking for people with the right attitude and desire to work with the team, rather than just the necessary skills. The speaker shares that they no longer rely on resumes, instead focusing on personal references to understand the character of potential hires. They highlight the importance of creating an environment that attracts and retains great people, treating employees as the core stakeholders of the business. The speaker proudly states that they no longer need to search for talent; instead, it comes to them. They share anecdotes about staff members who started with little to no experience but have since become integral parts of the team, illustrating the power of a positive and supportive work environment.

Keywords

💡Restaurant Business

The restaurant business refers to the industry of operating restaurants, which involves preparing and serving food and beverages to customers. In the video, the speaker initially believes they are entering this industry but later realizes that their focus is more on the people who work there and the hospitality they provide, rather than just the food and service.

💡Turnover Rate

Turnover rate in the context of the restaurant industry refers to the frequency at which employees leave and new ones are hired. It is notorious for being high, especially in the early stages of a restaurant's operation. The speaker expresses concern about this issue and how it might affect their new venture.

💡Team Building

Team building is the process of developing a cohesive and productive group of employees. The speaker emphasizes the importance of assembling a team with shared ideas and beliefs, which is crucial for the success of their restaurant venture.

💡Hospitality

Hospitality is the act of receiving guests with warmth and friendliness. The speaker mentions that their end goal is not just to serve good food but to make guests feel good, indicating that hospitality is a key component of their business strategy.

💡People Business

The term 'people business' is used by the speaker to describe the core of their operation, which is centered around the employees rather than the food or service. It highlights the belief that the quality of the workforce is what truly drives the success of a business.

💡Employee Retention

Employee retention refers to the strategies and efforts made to keep employees within a company. The speaker discusses how creating a good environment and prioritizing employees can lead to lower turnover rates and a more stable workforce.

💡Hiring Practices

Hiring practices are the methods and procedures used by companies to recruit and select employees. The speaker explains that they look for people with the right attitude and desire, rather than just the necessary skills, which is a key part of their hiring process.

💡Desire

In the context of the video, 'desire' refers to the motivation and passion an individual has for working with the company. The speaker values this quality highly, believing that it can be more important than specific skills or experience.

💡References

References are the people or documents that can provide information about a job applicant's character and work history. The speaker mentions that they prioritize listening to references over looking at resumes, indicating their focus on an applicant's character and past behavior.

💡Stakeholders

Stakeholders are individuals or groups that have an interest or involvement in a business. The speaker considers their employees to be the main stakeholders of their business, emphasizing their importance over customers and investors.

💡Success

Success in the video is defined not just by the quality of the food or service, but by the collective efforts and contributions of the employees. The speaker credits the success of their restaurant to the quality of their people.

Highlights

The speaker decided to open a restaurant without prior experience, emphasizing the importance of seeking help.

The concern over the restaurant industry's high staff turnover rate and the challenge of retaining staff was highlighted.

The speaker's approach to building a team with the help of a close friend who shared the same beliefs about restaurants and people.

The successful growth of the team from 25 to 64 staff members within the first year.

Recognition from Bon Appetit and GQ magazine as the best new restaurant in America.

The ongoing popularity of the restaurant, with people lining up before opening for a seat.

The belief that success is 100% due to the employees' talent, ambition, care, passion, and presentation.

The chef's perspective that food only accounts for 40% of the restaurant's success, with people being the key.

The realization that the restaurant business is more about hospitality than just serving food.

The idea that the end goal is to make guests feel good, using food and service as tools.

The acknowledgment of the importance of people in creating and delivering products and services in a business.

The hiring practice of looking for great people with the right attitude rather than specific skills or experience.

The decision to not rely on resumes and instead focus on references to understand a candidate's character.

The success of the hiring strategy, with some staff members having no restaurant experience but excelling in their roles.

The creation of an environment that attracts and retains great people, leading to a decrease in turnover.

The shift in perspective from being in the restaurant industry to being in the people industry.

The speaker's humility in acknowledging that the success of the restaurant is due to the staff, not themselves.

Transcripts

about four years ago I decided to open a

restaurant I had no idea what I was

doing or where to begin all I knew was

that I was going to need help and a lot

of it in fact that was my biggest

concern at the time how would I ever

convince anyone to come work with me and

with the restaurant industries notorious

turnover rate how would I get them to

stay for my own personal experience I'd

seen restaurants turnover staff anywhere

from two to five times in as little as

the first six months so I reached out to

one of my oldest and closest friends and

asked for help he wasn't in the

restaurant business at the time but I

knew he was the right man for the job

when it came to restaurants we share the

same ideas and beliefs but more

importantly the same was true when it

came to people so back in 2011 we set

out and began to build our team one by

one we found 25 other people willing to

join us many of whom are still with us

today four years later and if you've

ever worked in the restaurant industry

you know restaurant years are like dog

years every everyone feels like seven so

fast forward to today we're about to

turn two years old

we've gone from 27 to 64 staff members

in our first year both bone Appetit and

GQ magazine named us best new restaurant

in America and to this day

and to this day people still line up

outside the restaurant before we open

hoping to get a seat

so how did we get here and how did we do

so in such a short period of time I can

honestly say that it is 100% due to our

employees our talented ambitious caring

passionate and well-dressed employees

that was New Year's Eve as a chef it's

strange to say this but I often remind

our staff that our food only accounts

for 40% of what we do sure we have to

nail 39 and a half percent of it but at

the end of the day our success is

dependent upon our people if there's one

thing that I've learned over the past

four years it's that we're not in the

restaurant business we're in the people

business so let's go back to when we

opened I thought we had a pretty good

chance that we'd be at least somewhat

successful I mean we had good food good

service good atmosphere and we were

charging a pretty fair price and when we

opened we were a hit we even made a

profit in our first month mind you it

was only about $750 but for restaurants

that's actually pretty good but as time

went on I started to think maybe we

weren't really in the restaurant

industry I started to think maybe we

were in the hospitality industry I mean

our end goal was not to serve good food

or provide good service our end goal was

to make guests feel good our food our

service those were just the tools we use

to make the people happy

they were the means to our end so as the

praise in the awards continued I started

to wonder was there something more that

was helping us achieve such success I

mean other people had obviously figured

out that the restaurant industry wasn't

about serving food it was about

hospitality Danny Meyer even wrote a New

York Times bestseller about it so why

were we receiving such unusually large

bounce of praise after asking myself

what made us different I realized it

wasn't our food or our service it wasn't

even our hospitality it was our people

our people were the reason we had been

so successful think about it

what makes a business great very simply

it's the quality of the product or the

service they provide but who creates

those products and services it's the

people who work there

it's the housekeeper who cleans the

house it's the designer who creates the

logo and it's the coffee roaster who

roast the beans it's those people that

make a business great it's those people

that make a business a product or

service what it is and the same is true

for a restaurant the food the service

the decor those are just the products

that our restaurant sells but it's the

people who work there that create and

deliver those products a restaurant

needs good chefs to conceptualise create

and execute its dishes it needs good

bartenders to create delicious cocktails

in these gracious hosts to welcome the

guests and it needs friendly servers to

take care of them

throughout the night so the question

becomes how do you find these people and

once you do how do you keep them first

have really great hiring practices it

doesn't matter what business you're in

you need to know exactly what you're

looking for but more importantly you

need to know what you're not looking for

for example when we're hiring we always

keep in mind that we're looking for

people not positions we're looking for

great people to join our team not great

people to complete a specific task we

don't look for people who have the

necessary skills we look for people who

have the necessary desire and what I

mean by that is we look for people who

have a strong desire to work with us

anyone can be taught a skill or a task

but not just anyone can be inspired to

care we don't hire people because they

can do a job

we hire people because they want to do a

job and those people are always worth

ten times more than someone with solely

great experience we don't look at

resumes we listen to references a resume

can tell you where someone's worked and

how long they've worked there but what

it can't tell you is what kind of person

they are to be honest we don't we

haven't really looked at a resume in

almost two years and so far we haven't

regret that decision once in fact quite

the opposite

some of our most successful staff

members had whittled to no restaurant

experience when they started for example

one of our front-of-the-house managers

started as an unpaid intern almost a

year ago with no restaurant experience

and today she's second-in-command of the

restaurant and a huge part of managing

our daily operations we look for people

not positions we look for incredible

people from all walks of life we look

for great personalities and attitudes

but in order to get these people you

have to create an environment that they

want to be in an environment that

they're attracted to a place that they

want to go every day we always put our

people first

they are your main stakeholders they are

the core of your business more so than

your customers or even your investors

and in fact if ever there was a secret

to attracting and retaining great people

that's it we all know the expression a

good help is hard to find but it's just

not true in fact it's easy to find

what's hard to find is a good

environment and I like to think of our

business as proof we no longer have to

go out looking for these incredible

people anymore they come looking for us

turnover is no longer an issue yeah in

our first year we lost like three to

five of our opening staff but we also

gained 37 new team members in fact today

we have the opposite problem we have too

many people that we want to hire so

every once in a while I find myself in

this funny situation where I'll have a

guest come up to me and say thank you so

much for an incredible meal and I always

say no thank you for coming that I'll

often respond I don't know why you're

thanking me I didn't do anything I

didn't take your order I didn't greet

you at the door

I didn't cook your steak and I didn't

pour your wine in fact I had nothing to

do with your meal

and every time I say that it reminds me

that we that our business is nothing

without the great people that we've

collected it reminds me that these

people are the key to our success so if

you asked me two years ago what industry

I'm in I tell you the restaurant

industry but if you ask me today I tell

you I'm in the people industry it just

so happens I work in a restaurant thank

you