The Restaurant Coach Podcast with Jedd Patterson

And welcome to the Restaurant Coach Podcast. It is the cure for the common restaurant. I am honored today to have on the show as a guest Jared Patterson. He is the COO of the New South Restaurant Group. Now, New South Restaurant Group might sound familiar to you, because if you read my latest book, Ingredients, the Forward was written by their founder, Robert St. John. And so Jared actually run. Jared actually runs the company. Well, Robert's off having a good time in Europe doing culinary tours. Jared's actually holding a fort down in Mississippi. So, number one, thanks, Jared, for being on the show today. And tell everybody real quick just a little bit about New South Restaurant Group. What do you guys do, where you guys located it? And then also talk about, you know, how did you get into the restaurant industry?

Sure, Donald, thanks for having me. New South Restaurant Group, we're in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. We have five concepts right this second, and they're all within a mile of each other, you know, and three of them are a couple hundred yards from each other and in one instance, a few feet. So. But we have built that over the last, really 37, 38 years, coming up on 40 years as a company. But most of the growth has happened in the last. Since 2010, 2011. And we've had some other things. We've. We've had some concepts 90 miles away, 100 miles away, and we're working on some more. We feel like we're still, you know, we're kind of still in expansion mode, which is why the TRC method is so important to us. But. But we've got no. No concept really alike right this second. So we got an Italian place, we've got a Cajun creole restaurant. We've got a couple bars, we've got a hamburger joint, we've got a breakfast and lunch place that kind of reminds you of a 40s, 50s diner. And then we've got a bakery who does cakes. We do pastries, but we also do king cakes. And we do custom stuff. We do sell buns to accounts and do, you know, let them dream. They're the best bun ever. And then we try to produce it and make it and sell it to them.

So here you go.

A lot of. A lot of fun stuff going. And we've got kind of a midtowner concept, similar concept to our breakfast lunch concept that we're getting ready to open in Gulfport, Mississippi, about 90 miles south of us that we'll call the Downtowner, in a building that is near and dear to us that already kind of looks like a 1940s downer. It's a perfect spot, has a ton of history and we're honored to be a part of that. And so we're working on that now, among some other things. But that's the most, that's the closest I, I have been with the company since 2009 and a lot, a lot of people in our town, we're in a college town, we're about, I don't know, three quarters a mile away from a university that has about 15,000 students on campus. And I was just there getting, getting a degree, figuring it out.

What were you studying?

I say getting degree. I wasn't studying nothing for a while. I mean I was studying, but I wasn't studying. I was, I was burning the candle at both ends in the wrong way. You know, like a lot of people do, staying up two or three in the morning studying as, as much too. I'm kidding, I wasn't studying. And you get that really low GPA the first couple semesters and you finally say, okay, maybe this is not what I'm supposed to be doing, maybe I need to go make some money. And I just, you know, put it on the credit card or whatever. But anyway, so I get to the restaurant industry and up until that point I had been working at retail, Walmart Academy, you know, sports and outdoors, that kind of thing. And I think at the time minimum wage was 6.25 maybe. And so I was making seven or eight dollars an hour and I thought I was, you know, I thought I was rolling it. And so you get in the restaurant business, you get a server job at Crest City Grill and you make hundred dollars in a shift and you work four or five hours, you think you're cheating, you know, and so, and so you know, just that that was the initial bug was like, man, this is, I like making people happy, you know, and then the more people are happy, the more your check average goes up and you can make more money and there's this direct correlation and I felt like I was in control of my destiny and that track back to like Walmart and Academy Academy. I kind of became the guy who was the kind of the 16 year old footsteps specialists, you know, person go there with plantar fasciitis and say what kind of shoe did I need? I love that. I loved understanding the type of shoe and getting them in the right shoe and looking at their foot and just making people feel like, hey, you know, you're going to get an experience that you're not going to get anywhere else. And then At Walmart, I would load potting soil and mulch up for little old ladies. You know, I just love doing that. Hey, you know, I want to get this stuff, but I can't get in my car. Oh, I'm here for. Oh, you want to buy a grill too? I'll put it together for you. We'll get it to you. You know, I remember I met one lady who bought a lawn mower from us. We put together and she came back a few months later. It just won't run. And I said, hey, are you. This may be uncomfortable, but if you're okay with it, hey, I'll go to your house and I'll fix it for you. I'll drain, I'll change the oil. We'll figure it out. That afternoon I went to her house. Probably shouldn't be saying that. That's totally against Walmart policies.

We're not there anymore.

Yeah, I've been there 20 years, but just taking it to the next level and just really happy. And so that, anyway that really I was able to see that in, in the restaurant industry. As a server, I was a market. I have a degree in marketing and you know, what I was learning in the classroom and what I was doing on the floor, I was able to apply it. And there was some, there was some correlation there. And then I became a manager and then really fell in love with wine. We had a fine dining restaurant at the time since closed, we closed it with COVID but in a 6,000 bottle wine list, about a thousand labels. And I ran that wine program for a long time and kind of fell in love with that side of the business because of what it meant to people and it allowed me to connect with people at the table and I really enjoyed, I really enjoyed that. And then our market kind of shifted and it kind of, well, everybody's market shared shifted. Then craft beer became a thing and then whiskey became a thing. And then I kind of shifted and kind of became the specialist in those fields as the market shifted. Yeah, and then it's shifting again right now as we, as we speak. But so I managed, I don't know, the floor and the parrot and worked all nights from, for about four or five years. And then I became the general manager of that space and, and that was three concepts. So we had crested grill, purple parrot, mahogany bar in that building. At the time I was the general manager of that. And then let's see, probably 2018, 2019 somewhere in there. We started working on some projects in Jackson, Mississippi. One big, really big project. It was about a $15 million project. And so when that happened, that's kind of when I went into a more operational role. And at that point, we had the Midtowner, we had Eds, we had Tabella, but because of ownership structure, they all were kind of represented as separate entities. You know, Robert did not own all of them outright at the time. And so that we were kind of discombobulated a little bit at that time. And kind of the point of having a coo, which we had not had before, was kind of combining those things together and having a central purpose and central kind of mindset, core values, that kind of stuff. And so we've been working on that for quite some time. But. But anyway, so that's. That's the. That's the minute version of how I got here. And then Covid happens, and then everything. Then everything changes for us. And we really saw some great business and some great opportunity and continue to grow even after Covid. And so we've shifted our businesses a lot. We're pretty light on our feet and really excited about the. About the future.

Yeah, you guys have really leaned it down and really got, like, really lean and mean now. So before joining, like, the TRC method, what do you. What do you think is, like, your biggest frustration or pain point that you had in the restaurants?

Well, you know, with that growth, you know, we're not big enough to have a corporate office of 10 people. You know, it's. It's me at the time. And so. And I'm a gm, and so my. My. My background is people having a relationship with me. And when they have problems come to me and I fix it, and it's. It's over. Well, as we've grown and I've grown to this role, doing that for 400 people, as much as I would love to do it, that's the reason I got in this industry, but it's just not possible. And. And if you try to do it, what you end up giving people is this kind of cheap product or a product that doesn't. That doesn't follow through. And if it does follow through, it's kind of half, halfway, and people start to not trust you as much or don't believe in you as much, don't believe in the brand as much because you are the brand to them if you don't. If you can't follow that through. And so I really had a problem disconnecting from the restaurant and then encouraging others to be that for others and creating this tree of trust. That kind of flowed downward into organization where if that the dishwasher or the line cook or the manager had an issue, they had somebody a little bit closer to them that they could go to that they trusted would solve that problem. And so for a while I just felt like it had to be me. And, and, and that was, that was a limiting belief.

There you go.

Does that answer that question?

Yes. No. Perfect. Yeah, perfect. So, you know, the TRC methods, I would say it's a little different. It's kind of. And I would say how would you explain it? How would you say it's different from like, you know, other coaching stuff like that or maybe consultants you've guys tried in the past?

Yeah. So the, the. There's two sides that I see. TRC method. You know, there's the side that is, is what exists. You know, it's like, hey, if I'm looking for an answer, there's a module that exists. I can go and find that and, and learn lessons that you've taught to other people. That's right.

We have a robust, robust library of resources.

Robust library of resources. Now most restaurant people, that's not the way that they necessarily, necessarily think is that I have all these problems and I want to go and find the solution and I have the time. Most restaurant people say I'm too busy to do that.

Oh yeah, definitely.

Right. And so the part that I think works for us is that it's a living, breathing organism that is TRC method is that, you know, we've been with you for two years.

Ish.

And where that has kind of molded the way that you've molded the program, the new programs that you've put in, how the individual leadership you've had with me. There's been so many things that have gotten added over time as you, as you recognized our needs or combined a couple modules and you say, well, I'm gonna make a module. So it makes, it makes it a little bit more clear. That's where it's really helped is that it's, it's, it feels like this kind of white glove approach.

Yeah, yeah.

Nsrg. And not that just this blanket that applies to everybody.

Right.

And that's where it's really benefited us is that, that's.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I would say like what's, what's maybe one tier C tool concept or maybe mindset that really changed the game for you.

Yeah. So for me personally, I think it's this kind of time mapping concept, just really being in control of your time and Being extremely intentional about where you're spending time and basically, however, where your priorities are. You know, kind of stepping back and saying, you know, where do I want to spend this time? Thirty percent here, 30% here, 30% here, and then, and then time mapping accordingly so your priorities never get out of line. That's, that's, that's the one that personally affected me the most. The, another one is understanding human needs. You know, that, that it's not, it's not a one size fits all. You know that all of our managers are different and they have different human needs. And recognizing those human needs and kind of having your own plan on how to serve those people well, I think is something extremely important. I think we knew that conceptually, but not as it. I don't know that our follow through and our implementation of that was effective.

Yeah, even Robert mentions that like, you know, he's had core values for years, but he never really like got him out and like just talked about them. Like now we talk about core values all the time.

That's exactly right. And I think in having the same values and if you don't, and if you don't communicate your values well, then people create their own values. And a lot of times it's not ones that align with you normally. Well, it's normally this convenience value, you know, or, you know, or they're just going to run in the lane that they feel comfortable in.

Right.

And not make themselves uncomfortable, you know, and that's, and that's fine. But then you get some interesting team dynamics when everybody's doing the same thing and nobody's doing the thing that nobody wants to do, you know, so. And we had this discompopulation that that's kind of. We were really great at other things, but we were just really poor at some things and things that are non negotiables. You don't, you know, it's the way I see it. It's like you don't get to choose if you feel somebody's water, you know, you got to fill their water. And it's like those type of things. We were being like, no, we're just not going to do it because we don't want to do it, you know, and we were filling water cups at the table. I'm just saying. But it's just things that should have been simpler and we're just not committing to it.

It's funny you mentioned about time management and about how, how to like to just be like really on top of your, your calendar. So that one of the things I like to tell people is like, you know, and think about time in the, in the general construct of time is that time, Time is relentless. Time is ruthless. And you have to treat time the same way trying time treats you. So I mean, it doesn't stop, it doesn't care what you got going. I mean, time is just. Time just keeps going. It is relentless. And you have to be just as relentless about, you know, managing your time as time as taking things away from you.

So, yeah, I think I'm probably not unlike a lot of people in this, in this industry where, you know, I have three kids and kids who are in. Very involved. And I mean, I was, I had a blessed childhood where we got to do everything we wanted to do. You know, my parents were busy, but they found. They found a way. And so that's, that's been a challenge for me is that how can I be an A plus father and an A plus husband in an A plus COO all at the same time? And I think most people, they choose one or two of those and then one kind of falls to the wayside. And that's where time mapping had to happen is because I just wasn't going to accept that as reality. I wasn't going to let busy be the excuse as to why I couldn't be a great father or a great husband or a great CEO. I just wasn't going to accept that. I knew there was a way. I just needed. I just needed to find it. And the TRC method, and I've told you this many times, is that, you know, as far as my personal life, you know, this, what it does for your mindset, it makes you be self aware. It makes you step away from what you're doing. Looking at it objectively, I mean, it's changed my life, you know, because I definitely was compromising one of those, one of those categories.

What would you say is like maybe one leadership trait that every. Everybody works in a restaurant, especially a leader or an owner. Owner. What do you think is a trait that they must develop if they want to kind of just, I mean, if you really want to, I mean, thrive in the next five years.

I think understanding your personal standards, you know, what's, what's the Jared standard?

Yeah.

And then having a system that maintains that standard that does not include you, I think that's probably the thing because then you don't have to play in the. This idea of like, regret and like if you go and commit to something and then you get back into another thing. And you're like, man, that. That. That's gone down. Because I didn't. Because I'm not there. You know, there's a way to do that, you know, and there's a system and there's empowerment and there's conversations and there's standards and expectations that need to be communicated, and that can be done, you know.

In.

Most people want to do it, you know, And I think sometimes we play too far on the empathy card on the empathy side, and we define what we think people's limitations are, and then we work around them as opposed to letting people show us their. Their limitations and then planning from there. So by continuing to give them opportunities to grow and then not being surprised when they do it or exceed or expectations, you know, and I think that's. Empathy is a key pillar of hospitality. But, you know, weighing empathy and operational success, you know, sometimes that's a. That's a tough thing to do. So in any. Anyway, that may not answer that question, but.

No, it does. No, it does perfectly. No. Oh, yeah, yeah. So let's talk about, you know, I mean, I'm huge on culture. So in your experience, when we talk about culture, what's the easiest thing to overlook and also the hardest thing to fix?

What's the vision?

Where are we going?

Yeah, you know, what's. Where are we going? You know, next month, next year, five years from now, ten years from now? You know. Yeah, it's so. And. And if you have good leaders, they want a part of it, they won't buy it. They. Part of their. It can't just be your vision that they just go and do. We don't have those. You don't want those type of people. You know, you're like, you want people. People who are. The vision is some of it's derived from them, you know, but sometimes we don't communicate it well enough or we don't ask, we don't listen enough to understand where our people are, to have a vision that aligns with our top leadership, you know, and I think we've done a. A much better job of that. Where we've struggled is that, you know, we're going from one job, kind of rented it all to now four or five guys, you know.

Well, we're.

We're a female run mostly business. You go most of our. Our restaurants there's mostly female. But I mean, I mean, we got some badasses. I mean, I mean, they're. They're awesome. But anyway. And so we just. That is, we've been. We've been okay with just having one vision and then everybody kind of go and doing that. But this shouldn't work in this day and age. So you gotta, you gotta bring some more people to the table. And we've done, we've done a better job really understanding what our people need, really understand what our customers need. Interjecting, you know, where there's some lines, you know, and then, and then just, and then just hammer, but really communicating. And so that's, that's, that's the main thing to overlook is that everybody, everybody's just going to understand my vision. They're just going to do it.

And then as far as like profitability, profitability leaks, what do you think is what was like when, before you guys started with the TRC method? What was like your biggest, you think your profitability leak?

I think riding a roller coaster in these peaks of alleys of sales. You know, I think we would just say, yeah, we're just slowing sales. You know, we're okay with running 18, 19 hourly labor. This just is what it is. We'll be busy in a couple weeks. You know, flexibility of that, I think we've become more flexible because we communicate better to employees. We've done a better job at finding efficiency. And so we don't need a lot of people. And so when we, when we flex down, those people go to 35 hours. But when we flex, when we get busy, they just go to 40 hours, you know, and they can live within that. And I think we've done better at understanding the head count, you know, that we need. As opposed to having a bad Friday night that was really two hours of bad. And then thinking, oh, we gotta go hire four people. It's like, no, no, no, no, no. We just gotta solve the two hour problem. And I think that's a mindset thing that TRC method kind of helps you step away from and then solve the actual problem as opposed to letting emotions make the problem bigger than it actually is. And then the other thing is maybe our mindset on new opportunities. Opportunities is that because we're busy, we're not looking at offside events and catering and where can Loblolly really, you know, run this wholesale thing? I think, I think we just kind of had limiting beliefs on. Yeah. Where some of this stuff could go.

And grow, what it could be.

Yeah. And I think we've been able to, we've been able to really key into that as we've seen kind of a little bit of a downward trend in like seated dining that We've been able to kind of make up for that in private events and off site catering and stuff like that, which has been really nice kind of counterbalance that has happened. And you know, in some situations, uncertain financial times for a lot of people.

I think, I think so many leaders in the restaurant industry just accept the status quo. Like, they just think, well, that's just. What's that? That's just what it is. It is what it is. And I always say, no, it's. It's what you, what you allow. And when, like, you know, you can take it for face value, like, oh, it's just slow. Market's slow, you know, sales are down, people aren't coming to restaurants, or you can say, okay, well, what, what am I going to do about it? Like, what, what do I have control of? We, we talk about that CoC circle of control a lot. Like, what's in your CoC, what's in.

Your circle of control?

Well, there's a lot of things inside your circle. Control.

Yeah.

And then as far as, like, guest satisfaction, what's one thing that you've kind of changed over the last couple years since you've been in the TRC method that you think has had a big, huge ripple effect with your guests?

Expectations? I think I've been very intentional about expectations that I have for our top leadership in our restaurants. And I think they've seen enough of the value in that that they have those expectation conversations with their managers and with their leaders on the service floor. And I think because of that, that becomes very, very a lot more intentional on the floor. And I think, you know, other people are now understanding what does yes mean, what are my options that I can provide to a guest as it bobs and weaves throughout service problems and successes and things like that. And then so we, we have, I think, a better book of yeses of things that we can do for the guest. And I think when you open your mind up to that, you pick up more things. It just becomes really dynamic and fun to watch on how you can make you take a median or an acceptable dining experience to the net, just to the next level. And a lot of times it's not a super complicated move. It's just something that's just intentional and thoughtful. That starts with listening. I think that's probably a cultural change that we've made is that I think we've just kind of said, oh, I know it all. Let me just do my thing. I'm the smartest guy in the room. Let me. Let's do it. Let's do it the Jared way. It's like, no, that's fine, but if nobody follows it, then it's for nothing, you know. But now let's listen, you know, and then let's figure out how we can get buy in and how we can take a little bit, you know, there's a little give and take to get them to say, hey, yeah, it could be the Jared thing, but now I'm gonna go accept it as the Jennifer thing. If it goes to Jennifer, then the Jennifer thing becomes the barber thing, you know, or whatever. Because, because we listen. You know, intentionality, maybe that's the best word. That's perfect. Yeah.

And one of the things I've noticed too with you guys is you guys, your communication has gotten so much better.

So.

And one of the things we work on, like when I work with like restaurant groups, like you know, the New South Restaurant Group and Jared and his team, one of the things I really focus on, we do like a leadership call every other week with the whole leadership team. And when those calls are like, a lot of people think, well, you're going to talk about like hard skills. I don't ever talk about hard skills. Those guys know the hard skills. So what we really focus on with the leadership team is we focus on the soft skills which focus on like that time management, we focus on mindset, we focus on stress management, we focus on communication, we focus on emotional intelligence, we focus on all those soft skills that no one really teaches in a restaurant business. Because I mean, to get to the level you're at in restaurant game, I mean, you already have the hard skills or you wouldn't be a manager. You know what I mean? So how do I get you to get those soft skills? And those soft skills are where we really, really dial in on. And I would say like one of the things that we really preach in the TRC method, of course, is self care. And you've been really big lately about, you know, doing some really good self care stuff. Do you think self care is, do you think it's a necessary or just a luxury for people who work in the restaurant industry?

It, it isn't, it isn't necessary. Yeah. And so now you could categorize what self care means in my mind the way that I try to in the what? You know, because some people look at me or probably us and say, going to the gym, hey, that's just not my thing. And then there's some barriers as to why maybe you wouldn't do that. You know, or do it the way that we do it, which is totally fine. But there is some. There is something to be said about the time that we're spending doing that thing. And, you know, I wake up five, five o' clock every single morning, and as soon as I wake up, I'm making lunches and I'm. Then my kids wake up and it's da, da, da, da, da, da. You know, hey, I need this. And so we're running and then I get in the car and then a lot, you know, for years, I went straight to work, and it's Jared, Jerry, Jerry, Jerry, Jared. Which I'm happy. I love. I love that. Yeah. But then, you know, you get off whenever you get off, and then you go home, it's the same thing, you know, and then you put your head down on the pillow at 11 or 12 at night and you're like, there is so much noise, you know, and then over time, it just becomes gray and muddy and it's just. It's just all this one just roller coaster that, you know, it's hard, it's easy to get kind of caught in this cycle, you know, and then. So the point, I think, is, is that breaking that cycle to create these moments that you can gain some perspective and take away mental space and breathe, you know. And so, yeah, 45 minutes is a luxury. It's not a lot of time, you know, but it's something that. That's, that's the point is that spending time getting your mind right, doing something you enjoy doing. And at first, when I was getting into the gym, you know, I'd say 30 minutes cut it off. Because in my mind, I was like, you know, the phone starts ringing at 7:45, 7:30, you know, and I would always feel pulled away. So I said, okay, well, if that's the case, then I'm just going to end it by that time, you know, But I'll find a way to get whatever I can get in and go as fast as I can. And then that 15, 30 minutes went to 35 minutes, went to 40 minutes with 45 minutes. And some days it's 20 minutes, sometimes 45 minutes. But it's just consistency. And then I realized that it affected all the other things in my life too. You know, from a discipline perspective. You know, I was a lot more disciplined about writing list in the morning. I was a lot more disciplined about being intentional with my children at night, a lot more disciplined about all these other things. And so it has this ripple effect on the disciplines in your life. But if you're disciplined in nothing, then you can't have that. And so I think it starts.

How you do anything is how you do everything.

That's right. That's right. I think I was the ultimate firefighter, you know, everyone's ultimate fire.

Everyone. Like all you guys, everyone in the restaurant business, if you're in a leadership role in the restaurant business, you are just born to be a firefighter.

Yeah.

Because that's how you. I mean, that's how you grew up in the business.

Yeah, that's right.

I mean, you were, you were trained, actually, I hate to say you were conditioned to go run and put up fires.

Yeah, yeah. And that got, you know, unfortunate part is kind of got to me to where I am, you know. And so, yeah, you're like, well, that's. That feels. That's comfort. That feels good. That's what I know has value, but the reality of it is, especially in a growing business, is what got me here is not going to get us.

To the next level.

I need more people, you know, and.

You also need to change your mindset and your approach. And you got to have that trust with your team. You got to build that trust with the team. You got to train your team. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Self care. So when we talk about self care, like, Jared mentioned earlier that like, a lot like him and I, we like to go to the gym. But that's again, it's not for everybody. When I say self care to people, a lot of people think I'm automatically, you know, trying to shame them into going to the gym. No, I'm not shaming you going to gym. You just need to take time for yourself. That's what self care is. Care for yourself. That could be time to read. It could be, maybe you like to.

Go for a walk.

Maybe you just want to sit and have like, you know, Jared said just some quiet, quiet time. Maybe some reflection time, if you like to get into. Maybe do a little prayer, maybe like a little meditation, maybe have breakfast with your spouse, maybe just sit and have some quiet time with your kids. Whatever it is that just fills you up. That's what self care is about. Whatever just kind of refuels you. Because so many times we're like, we go to the restaurant business, we give.

And we have given you. We give and we give and we.

Give, but we don't ever take that time just to refill our own battery just to recharge ourselves. And so. And you can't. I mean, you can't serve from an empty vessel. So you got to recharge yourself. Yeah, that's why I'm.

The reality is I really don't need much.

No, no.

Most of it's just amazing. It's amazing. And I'm like most, hey, I do it for 60 or 90 for most of my career. I'll do it for 69 days. I'll get really, I'll get really pumped up. You know, you start seeing gains and get stronger and feel better. And then about 90 days, you're not gaining at the same pace and you're like, okay, this, I'm out. You know, we always play. Yeah. And so it's just one of those things. But now, I mean, I, I've. Because of, I don't know that it's about the lifting. I think it's about the time and the discipline that, I mean, I'm, I'm over two years going five days a week. Yeah. And I haven't done that at any point in my career. You know, but it also, I mean, I just feel way calmer and way more control.

Cold are calmer. From when I first met you, you were way calmer than when I first met you.

I, I, you know, I got, I call it middle child syndrome. That's what I call it. That's what I'm playing chip on my shoulder. Gotta prove it. You know, I, you know, every, everything's a test, you know, in life. Just not that. It just doesn't have to be. That's true.

It doesn't have to be. None other than that.

Yeah. Yeah.

So how do you handle stress? When the pressure hits, when you hit that kind of red line and you're like, you know, how do you handle stress?

I think it's the acknowledgement that there is a solution.

Yes.

And that you might not have it right this second, but that it'll come and you can't get it in the way of seeing it. An emotion normally keeps you from seeing it. And so I think that's important. It's, it's, you know, I have, I have the opportunity to have a nine year old who's starting to deal with adversity and deal with stress and deal with that kind of stuff. That I get to feel it and then I get to teach it and coach it to a nine year old, but also get to teach it and coach it to managers. And so that, that is a, that is a huge opportunity for me to certainly commit it in my own personal life because there's so many people that that I'm, I'm telling to do it and so I can't tell them if I'm not gonna do it. So it's a good, good reassurance. But yeah, I think it's just, it's just being aware. I think it's taking time during the day and just collecting your thoughts, you know, go get, finding some quiet time or just getting into a rhythm of looking at that list that I developed at the beginning of the day and say, hey, hey, where am I? You know, how am I doing? Doing with that? Where should I be divided? Did I get enough FaceTime today? Did I, did I get, did I go and see people? Did I ask them how their day was going and not blow right by? You know, I tried to put in a couple hours a day of intentional conversations with the dishwasher, with the servers, with managers, every, every single day. And that's, I think that's, you know, know, I think maybe the point I'm trying to make there is what do I enjoy most? And I, and I enjoy personal connection. And when I don't get a lot of personal connection, that's when I feel a little overwhelmed and stressed.

Okay.

And so I build that in a lot of times through time mapping and say, hey, that is an essential need for me. I gotta go get it. You know, and so I'll go, I'll go try. Even if it means I work a 10 or 12 hour day or 14 or 15 hour day, I'll go do it because I understand. It's, it's, it's the thing that keeps me rolling.

Very cool.

Does that answer the question?

No.

Yeah.

Perfect. No, that's perfect. So if, if you came with a warning label, what would your warning label say?

I don't know if I should say this, but I'm going to say it. Don't ask a question if you only want yes is the answer. You know, I like to discuss. I don't like, you know, I don't like to be asked a question and being kind of, and say, hey, but there's only one answer to the question. Yeah, let's, let's don't make, don't make me choose. You know, let's, let's have a relationship. Let's have a. Let's, let's make, let's let it be a living organism. No, don't back me into a corner. I think that's, that's, that's what I would say. So if you don't want the truth, don't ask me. Maybe that's what I should.

Yeah, that's a good. If you don't want the truth, don't ask me, man.

I'm, I'm.

You and I are both brutally honest.

I mean, it'll eat me up inside, you know, I'll think about it all night. I gotta, I gotta tell you where you stand.

So I've said that to some people. Like, do you want, do you want me to tell you the truth? You want to tell you what you want to hear? Yeah, because you know, I don't do that. I don't do that. A second part. I don't do it. I'm not gonna tell you what you want to hear. I'll tell you what you need to hear.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So let's go back to like eight year old Jared. Eight year old Jared, what'd you, what'd you think about, What'd you dream of being when you grew up?

I always thought I'd be an engineer.

Really?

Yeah, yeah. I just like the idea of building stuff, you know, like people, dynamic LEGO kid. But then I would just take random stuff and build stuff out of, you know, spoons and forks and pots and pans and random. You know, this is not. Children don't necessarily do this as much, but every wooded area, area behind any house that we were associated with, we had a fort, we had a fork.

Oh yeah.

Linoleum that we pulled out of somewhere, you know, and, and, and just we. I mean, there's still some. I went behind my parents house, which is the house we grew up in, and there's. There's traces of that that still exists.

Really?

That's cool.

That was so cool.

And that's just what we did, you know, and there's woods on the other side of the neighborhood that we went. We wasn't our land, but we, we wouldn't build a fort there too, you know, So I mean, just my grandma's house. Everywhere we went, that's just what we did. I was just thinking, what can I build? You know, and then as I, as I grew up and was playing organized sports, you know, I kind of always felt like I was the. It was my responsibility to be the glue to the team, you know, it's like, hey, I got to be the one that encourages people and people having bad days to be the one that kind of helps them have a better day now. You know, I didn't have a framework for that. It just felt, felt like I needed to do it. You know, if I ever got money for Christmas, I never I never spend it on myself. I always, I always went and bought gifts for other people. I just always love giving things and.

Like making people happy. Little gifts all the time out.

I just, I just don't, you know, I say all the time, it's like, you know, once, once you make enough money, the rest is not mine, you know, I mean, the rest is, is for me to do whatever I felt led. Led to do. If somebody needs something, I want to be in a position where I can help. And so that, I think anyway, that, that I got on a tangent there, but I wanted to be an engineer. I like to build stuff. You know, I thought I would go to Auburn. Down here has a really good engineering school. Has a really good engineering school. And so I kind of thought it, I mean, I, I had a dorm picked out at Auburn. I was a, I, I was about to go there and then I kind of pivoted last minute. And I grew up a Southern Miss fan. My parents went to Southern Miss and just said, you know, Southern. This just feels like home.

Yeah.

Yeah. And so I didn't really know what I'd study coming here, but it just, it was kind of this feeling that's like, man, this just feels like where I need to be. Why I couldn't tell you, you know, but you know, you gotta, you gotta believe that somebody else. There's a thing, there's a guy upstairs that's pulling the strings and, you know, directing you where you need to go even when you're not sure.

The strings. Yeah. What does that say? I tried my way. God's way is better.

Yeah.

Tried my way.

Yeah. We don't know it all. We don't know it all.

We don't know it. No. And that's where you have to have that faith and just like put it in the hands of him, you know, and that's okay.

You know, it doesn't mean that we're broken. It just means we, hey, we're not there. We're not there.

Not there yet.

Yeah.

What's the absolute best meal you've ever had?

I'm gonna go both, I'm gonna go both spectrums here, you know.

Okay.

You know, I, I, I took my 6 year old daughter to per se.

Did you really?

When she was 6. Yeah. And it was just incredible. I mean, just incredible. And it was such a lesson in hospitality and that kind of stuff because where selfishly I'm like, you know, it's per se, you know, if you've been in the restaurant business, you're like, you know, you kind of live to do that one day. Just go and eat at one of these places, and you're probably going to eat there once, maybe twice in your life, but that's it, you know. And so I worked this thing up in my head and so I kind of made it about me, you know, it's like, oh, this is. This is what I want to do. I'm going to go drink all this wine and eat all this food and stuff. And they were certainly hospitable to. To me, but they made the girls feel like they were just royal, you know, and so that was such a lesson of hospitality, you know, they did a menu that wasn't even listed for the. For the girls. They had cider pairings for the girls. Oh, wow. They took them on their own private tour to the kitchen, then came back and got the dads later. I mean, just made them feel like it was just a mess. And so it was just. Don't really remember what. I mean, I remember some of what we ate. I mean, I keep the menu and stuff, but just the way those girls were made to be. Were made to feel was just. It was just. It was amazing. And then, you know, the other side of that, me and my. My wife have been lucky enough to travel a little bit. We've been to a couple meals. There's one place in Barcelona that Robert has been to a bunch called Topeo. It's kind of tapas. And we went there and it, you know, the food, fantastic. But just sharing that moment with my wife, you know, it's just. I'm one of those travelers that it takes three, four days for me to kind of like get into vacation. Yeah.

It takes me a couple days to basically mentally unplug myself.

Yeah. So I'm still thinking about other stuff. So I'm not really relaxed. I'm not super. I'm not super in the moment yet. And so that meal, I was. I was able to be there and just really feel like I was able to enjoy. Enjoy the time with her. And the food was fantastic. It's something I've heard a lot about because of Robert. And so it kind of built this thing up and it exceeded expectations. A lot of times that doesn't happen. Yeah. Is that you get this expectation. You're like. I mean, it's just food, you know, but that was really cool. And then I. I love going to Waffle House with my kids.

We go to Waffle House every Sunday. When I was a kid, we used to go to Waffle house every Sunday, man, sit at the counter and just like, it was just, it was. I mean, it was probably one of my favorite memories. That and like early childhood memory of my grandmother going out in the garden harvesting like fresh tomatoes, fresh vegetables and coming inside making stuff. Those are like my, my favorite memories about food.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have a bunch of those too. You know, with my grandmother making mint tea and making fresh applesauce and all that kind of stuff, it's really, really.

Question like, if you could sit down, have dinner with any chef, any leader, any historical figure, anybody in the world, alive or dead, who would it be and why?

I can't narrow it down to one, but I, you know, give me a couple.

Okay.

This is probably an answer for a lot of people in my position, but I'd say Jim Collins from good, good to great.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

And, and a lot of that's, you know, I've read good, great 10 times probably and listen to it even more. And every time I read that book, you know, there's all these nuggets as is I've read it the first time. I mean, I get so much out of it every single time. And my life has changed a lot. So the vantage point is different too. But to create that type of information and the amount of research and study and just hours and hours and hours of, you know, for the 500 page or whatever it is, it probably took 5 million pages to make that 500 pages. And I'm just fascinated by that. The other one is just kind of the titan in our hospitality field right now is Will Guidera. You know, he's.

Oh yeah, yeah.

Just, you know, he's just one of those that you just. I could listen to a 15 minute, 15 second deal and you feel encouraged and revitalized when you listen. He just got that way, which would be really cool. And then this is a little bit off, but somebody who's just fascinating to me is Steph Curry.

Oh, that's cool.

Of. It's just the guy that nobody thought, you know, if you look at his stature, you look at who he is, you look at where he played, you know, it's like there's a hundred reasons why he shouldn't be the top. The top. And he, despite every single. I mean, that is his ultimate belief in yourself. And that, that is so encouraging that especially we mentioned kind of solving problems and how do we, how do we deal with stress? You know, look at those kind of guys and you're like, you just found a way. You just Find a way you believe that you can. And so those.

Those.

Those three are probably the first ones.

That came to mind. So, yeah, if I had to pick somebody, number one, I'd pick, of course, Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth. I'd like to have. Sure, sure. And then also did my other one. And people always, like. Like, he's like, really? I go, marcus Aurelius? Yeah, I've always liked that stoic philosophy. I would just love to sit down and have, like, dinner with Marcus Aurelius. Yeah, that would have been, like, cool.

Yeah, I stayed. I stayed more current time, I guess.

Yeah, I like to go, ace. Like, I was like, you know, when it says, like, dead or love, I'm like, I'll go back in time, man.

Yeah, yeah, there's some. Yeah, there's probably some rock stars that would be fun to eat dinner with.

Rock stars have been cool. Like, he had to pick a rock star. Who would you pick?

Yeah, I don't. I don't know. That's tough. Yeah, I'd probably go after, like, World War II.

Robert would definitely have the Beatles or let's.

No doubt. No doubt, no doubt. Yeah, I'd probably, you know, Franklin D. Roosevelt, you know, dealing with what he dealt with, you know, that. That'd be a cool conversation.

Churchill would have been cool too, huh? Churchill.

Churchill. Oh, no doubt, no doubt.

He would have been awesome.

Queen Elizabeth.

We're going.

We're going for the top.

We're going to the top here. So what do you think is, like, one unpopular opinion that a lot of people have about the restaurant industry?

I don't know. You know, I. Maybe this is. This doesn't directly answer this question, but there's a. There's a saying that you hear. The guest is always right, you know, and we kind of run down this avenue. It's like, guess is always right. And I have fought with definitive, like, things are the way they are, you know, that to me, that feels like there is no option. It's like, almost takes empowerment away from the employee if the guest is always right. And I don't like to deal in, like, that type of certainty, you know, I like to deal in, hey, let's empower our employee. Let's. Let's build that person up. And so the guest would always be right, but you also. You also have an employee who's really, really empowered, you know, and we're not playing in this field of right and wrong, you know, it's just like, we're just doing the right thing, you know? And so I think that's. Maybe that doesn't directly answer that question, but that's probably an unpopular opinion. Is that I don't like the way that we look at things sometimes.

Yeah, yeah.

When it's like somebody, something has to be that way in their.

Everybody. My thing about that, when people say the guest is always right, my statement, my statement is I always say like the guest is not always right, but the guest is always the guest. And it's okay for the guest to be wrong.

Yeah, yeah. I don't even know that we're playing the game of right.

I mean, I just. They're always the guest. It's okay if they're. I mean, you know, they have a.

They.

They're like every other human being in the world. They have assumptions. Yeah.

And so that's probably, you know, sometimes when I have that conversation with people about like that thing you could, they kind of draw back and you're like, what do you mean? You know, it's like, well, let me explain. You know, let's just, let's just go do the next right thing in general and normally it works out. You know.

If you had one superpower to run your restaurant, what would it be? And how would you use it? And please use it for good? What would be your superpower? One superpower.

I just. The ability to stay calm.

Really?

Yeah. I just think that is such. That is so the reason, you know. Emotional knee jerk reactions. Yeah. It's just the reason that restaurants fail or people fail, you know, and just the ability. Ability to always have like a information the way that it was intended.

Automatic calm. Automatic calm.

And to always know the intentions of words, you know, that. That would be the superpower. I don't, I mean that's not, it's not cool and flashy. It's not super strength.

But you know what I would like? Invisibility.

Yeah, yeah.

Stand in a restaurant and like watch what they watch. Team doing stuff like, you know, and I'm there, but I can see stuff, you know.

Yeah, yeah. Super speed would be good. Super speed. I like to go fast.

You could definitely be the Flash. You get. Get around all day, like super fast. Yeah. Get five restaurants in like two in two minutes.

And then when we have 20, you.

Know, that's super easy then.

Yeah.

All right, so if your restaurant had a mascot that represents your culture, what would that mascot be?

I don't know. An elephant? I don't know.

A.

Sure. A sure footed animal.

Sure footed animal.

Pachyderm.

It didn't say like something like, you Know like something crazy like rattlesnakes.

Yeah, yeah. I just think foundation, something that has a good foundation. You know, I think right now we're building a foundation. We got sure footing and then we're building on top of that. You know, it's not the, it's not the prettiest. You know, it's not the most attractive. It's not the one everybody thinks of when they think of their favorite animal. But it's, it's. You can trust it and believe in it and that, you know, that sure.

Footed, I would say for you guys, like a mountain ram.

Yeah.

Okay. Those things can like stand on those super skinny ledges and be sure footed and like, you know, they have those big battering rams are just out, you know, blow, you know, just bust open obstacles. Yeah, yeah. You guys would be like a mountain ram.

Yeah. Okay, well, I'll take it. There's. We do it. There is some tenacity in, in our.

There. You have a lot of core values. Yeah, definitely.

Yeah.

All right, so this next session I call in or out, it's really going to be fast. I'm going to basically just say a word out loud and you basically say, and usually a lot of times it's trends. You just say it was, is it still in or is it out? Right. You ready? Sriracha?

For me, it's still in.

Right. Smash burgers.

It's in.

EDS gotta be that berea everything. Like everyone's making that, you know, that shredded beef.

I think it's on its way out. I like it though.

Okay. Nashville Hot chicken.

It's kind of, it's running its course, but I like it. I'm in on it.

How about cauliflower as a meat substitute?

I think. Yeah.

How about charcuterie boards?

It's in. Yeah, we sold a lot of them. It's in. Yeah.

How about hot honey?

That's a mid. I mean it's, it's.

I think it's running its course.

It's running its course.

Yeah. Here's the thing. I always know. I always say a trend starting to run its course. When I see it at the chains, then I know it's like it's already played, you know. Okay. How about hard seltzers?

They're out for me. I don't, I don't like it. How about a lot of them say something different?

Yeah. Your wife say they're in. How about mocktails?

They're coming, they're coming in, you know, they're, they're, they're there.

How about that flavored cold foam on coffee.

This was a tough one. I think it's in.

Do you really?

That's. Yeah, because I'm a black coffee guy. No sweets, nothing.

Yeah.

But my wife will get that, and I'll always sneak a couple sips because I'm like, yeah, it's good.

You know, normally I would say. Yeah. I mean, I'm kind of, like, on the fence sometimes. Like, I was just up in Canada. I was up at Whistler, and we have a member of our group over there called Ed's Breads, and they do this really great chai, and then they put this coconut whip on top. It's called Old Coconut Whip. And it made. That thing was delicious.

Yeah, Yeah. I like it as a. As a. A vessel for. I mean, there. You can really manipulate it and do a lot of fun stuff with it.

Okay, and then what's one book, podcast, or an audio book? You know, you and I change exchange audiobooks all the time. What's a book, a podcast, or an audiobook that you recommend right now?

E. Myth.

Oh, yeah, that's a great one.

Got it. Gotta be good to great. Read it a hundred times and don't think that you got it figured out. Oh, yeah, that's definitely true because there's just nuggets everywhere. And then. And then Shameless plug here. You didn't ask me to do this, but I'd say ingredients.

I love that. My newest one.

Yeah, yeah, That's a good one. Yeah.

And then we have a new one coming out. I have a new one coming out in January already called Restaurantology. Yeah, New one coming out. What's one quote you kind of live by?

It's probably one that a lot of people do, but the Maya Angelou learned what? That people will forget what you said. People forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

That's true.

I mean, that's. That's a daily thing.

Definitely. You guys live that. The whole. Your whole culture lives that every day.

Yeah. And then. And then what you say is that busy is a mindset, and that's not. You know, that's something I have to remind myself and remind our leaders all the time.

When somebody says, I'm busy, I say busy. Yeah.

Yeah. Maybe I paraphrase that.

No, Busy is a mindset, though. Yeah.

Yeah.

And then one mindset, but the mindset.

Yeah, yeah. And then one that maybe. I don't know if it's mine. It's probably yours. I don't know. One that I've kind of adopted lately is that don't be foolish enough to think it's all about you, you know.

Oh, that's a good one. That's not mine, but that's a good one.

And so that's. That's one of those things that I've really had to think about that when I'm failing to act or move forward, it's because I've made it about me and how I feel and how, you know, and so it's just. It just slows us down when we make it about ourselves.

And then what's one thing you wish that you want every restaurant owner listening to this week? What's one thing you think they could do to make more money?

It's like, quick. Yeah, okay, I. I would say, look, take the most popular item. You know, sometimes you kind of forget about that because it sells how you sell more of it. There you go. So how much you can package it and sell it. But, you know, how can you encourage. If you're selling a certain, like, for us, it's the crab meat wonton. You know, we sell them probably on 50 tables. How can I sell it 60 tables? How can I sit at 100 tables? You know, take the item that, you know you're already selling. How can you produce more of it? And then the other one is looking at streamlining your menu to help improve prep and operational efficiency. You know, what are some things that you can. You know, every time we've scaled down our menu, I've always been like, oh, no, you know, people are going to quit coming, you know, and every time we do it, every time it's better, you know, get better at making the other things. And normally it doesn't affect anybody's fine, you know, and so don't underestimate what that could mean. Now, don't take off the stars, you know, but I mean, take maybe some things that are the dogs.

Well, the plow horse, especially if things that, yeah, may be popular but not profitable. I might, like, retire them for a little bit. And I want to push more of those puzzles. The things that are already profitable but not popular yet.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or features, even. But that's, That's. Those are the two things that I think you could. You could do and affect yourself pretty quickly.

Then what. What would you say is one word to describe your restaurant today versus before the TRC method?

I think we're a little bit more adaptable. Oh, we're lighter. I think we're lighter on our feet. You know, I think we're able to accept more stuff. We're able to say yes. We've opened up more realms of yes. You know, that's it. If that. If that answers the question.

No, it does. Perfectly. And then, of course, if people want to find a New South Restaurant group, how do they find you guys?

So they can find us on Facebook and Instagram? They're going to have no problem finding Robert St. John. He's. He's all over it.

Robert St. John is like. Yeah. Robert St. John, of course, is the founder of the New South Restaurant group.

Yeah.

If you just. If you just want to find. Go find Robert St. John. You can't miss Robert. Robert's like everywhere. I think he's now. Is he still doing his book tour?

He's wrapping it up, but he's got a week or so left of that. He's on the road now. I write a lot of books. Robert.

Robert makes me look like I'm. I'm slacking because he, like, he's like, on what, number 15 now, I think.

Books.

Yeah, this is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm only on number. I'm. I'm on number eight. I feel like a slacker, man. I got like, kick it in gear here. I gotta catch up to that guy.

Yeah, he's good for one about every two or three years. Yeah.

Yeah. I'm usually good. I'm usually good for one a year.

Well, then you catch up in no time.

Yeah, yeah.

So he's got another one on the. He's got another one coming. I know you do, but you better think for the next.

Slow him down. We gotta slow him down somehow. What? Could you slow him down?

Good, good. Good luck. I've been trying.

Robert. Yeah, you can't slow Robert in. It's like you can't stop the train, you know, Robert's like the train. You can't stop the train. You just gotta hold on. That's it.

Well, and. And why would you. It's such a compliment. My skill set. It's. It's, you know, it's.

It's just.

It's why our brand exists.

And then, you know, we really doubt. It's lately, over the last year, we really dialed in the C suite team super, super efficiently.

Yeah. And building the C suite team, I mean, you've been a part of. Really. When you came on as. When we were constructing the C suite team. We've added some people to the, to the, to the. To our team. And then figuring out how we can use those people, you know, we've always promoted from within. And for the first time ever, we brought people who have extreme experience in to help us navigate the next chapter of our business, which is, you know, a challenge and a huge opportunity. So we've been a lot of TRC Method has helped us navigate that and, you know, kind of orchestrate that.

Awesome. Well, I want to say thanks, Jared, for being on the show today. I appreciate you. I'm. I'm honored to be your coach. I'm honored to be able to talk to you and just see. I'm. I'm so excited about where New South Restaurant Group's going and looking forward to the future with you guys.

It's been fun. It's been fun. And so, yeah, I can't imagine doing it without you, so.

Oh, awesome. All right, perfect. Thank you.

Thank you, D.B. appreciate you.