00:00:00:01 - 00:00:06:04 Greg Plummer About 8 million pounds of chicken was was a fun number that that's a lot of those are our big sellers. 00:00:06:05 - 00:00:12:21 Rich Sweeney Nothing to cluck about. 00:00:12:23 - 00:00:14:18 Marc Cohen That really took three minutes. 00:00:14:19 - 00:00:17:02 Rich Sweeney I have to get at least 3 to 5 zingers in. 00:00:17:03 - 00:00:24:04 Steve Carrell No, God, please, no no no no. 00:00:24:06 - 00:00:47:11 Marc Cohen Welcome to restaurant 365 presents Behind the Numbers, a show where we talked to restaurant owners, operators, chef's kitchen managers, CFOs, and everyone in between about what makes successful restaurants tick. Before we get started, a quick reminder to like and subscribe to the show wherever you're watching and please consider leaving a review. It really does help us continue to bring you these incredible guests and conversations, while continuing to grow and support our amazing restaurant community. 00:00:47:11 - 00:00:50:00 Marc Cohen And with that, I'm your host, Mark Cohen. 00:00:50:02 - 00:01:03:07 Rich Sweeney And I'm Rich Sweeney. And with us today is Greg Plummer, the CEO of Concord Collective Partners. Greg. You've got an amazing story that we got to talk about a little bit beforehand. But why don't you go ahead and tell tell the listeners a little bit about yourself and about the company. 00:01:03:09 - 00:01:36:09 Greg Plummer Awesome. Well, well, first of all, thanks, Mark and Rich for having me on the show. Absolutely big fan of what you guys are doing and love the episode. So it's honored to be here. Our company, Concord Collective Partners, is a airport concessions company, but we like to think of ourselves as the hospitality travel hospitality company. And we operate bars and restaurants and airports largely on the West Coast, with a presence in Los Angeles, Seattle, Ontario and CNBC. 00:01:36:11 - 00:01:38:01 Marc Cohen Yeah, we'll talk about that. 00:01:38:02 - 00:01:42:07 Rich Sweeney Just just a couple of spots, you know, not a lot of traffic going through there. 00:01:42:09 - 00:01:44:11 Greg Plummer Well of course yeah. 00:01:44:12 - 00:02:00:22 Marc Cohen Airports we're going to get into some airport talk. Greg welcome to Behind the Numbers. We always like to start with sort of a big fundamental question. And I'm curious for you what is you know, for your business. What do you think is the most important thing that you should be doing day to day, week to week, within the four walls of your operations? 00:02:00:23 - 00:02:05:12 Marc Cohen You know, as an owner, as an operator. What's the key focus these days? 00:02:05:14 - 00:02:07:15 Greg Plummer Well, you. 00:02:07:15 - 00:02:09:17 Marc Cohen Know, loaded, loaded. 00:02:09:17 - 00:02:44:21 Greg Plummer But I think it all comes down to the people. And, you know, I know that that is a pretty typical answer, but it's it's really true, Margaret, you know, restaurant business all about people. You want to create lasting, incredible guest experiences. We need the people to make sure that we deliver the food on time, but also making sure that we have the product in the stores and stocked properly, and just our management, making sure we have people with aces and places and and just being able to treat our people good so that they that then in turn is extended to our guests. 00:02:44:23 - 00:02:48:03 Greg Plummer So people is absolutely number one aces in places. 00:02:48:04 - 00:02:55:21 Marc Cohen I haven't heard that in a while. I don't know the genesis of that, but I remember hearing that very early in my restaurant career. You got to have your own places. Yeah. 00:02:55:22 - 00:03:02:16 Greg Plummer I'm a I'm an old school guy. Old school restaurant guy. So that's an old school terminology, as we know. 00:03:02:18 - 00:03:04:18 Rich Sweeney And so that. 00:03:04:20 - 00:03:08:07 Greg Plummer We all have we all have great our beers. 00:03:08:09 - 00:03:12:15 Marc Cohen Nobody's watching this thing. They're only listening. They don't know how great we are. 00:03:12:17 - 00:03:19:20 Rich Sweeney So I had to get the haircut yesterday. Try to cut some of the gray out to. But this, this, this won't go anywhere. 00:03:19:22 - 00:03:22:20 Marc Cohen So how many locations are you at now, Greg? 00:03:22:22 - 00:03:33:10 Greg Plummer So we're in in four different airports, but we have 12 restaurants at LAX that we operate with 13 branded concepts. 00:03:33:12 - 00:03:39:08 Marc Cohen Wow. Okay. So all different. And and how many Aces and places do you have? How many employees? 00:03:39:10 - 00:03:53:02 Greg Plummer Yeah. At LAX we have 300 employees and then about 50 employees outside of LAX. And then all of our other properties are now in the startup stage. So those will will grow exponentially in months to come. 00:03:53:04 - 00:03:58:19 Marc Cohen Yes. Ramp up to opening. It's awesome. And then you've been using restaurant 365 for how long? 00:03:58:21 - 00:04:28:00 Greg Plummer Three years. Years. We started restaurant 365. You know, we were looking at ourselves as small business and and as the restaurant industry constantly evolves, kept seeing restaurant 365 populate. And let me look into this some more and grateful that we found restaurant 365 because, you know, it's a platform dedicated to, you know, the numbers and running and managing a restaurant company. 00:04:28:00 - 00:04:29:23 Greg Plummer So absolutely. 00:04:30:00 - 00:04:43:19 Marc Cohen I mean, that was the genesis of the company, right? Like, people were coming to our co-founders looking for a solution for restaurants, and it just didn't exist. So they're like, I guess we need to create one. I mean, that's the beauty of software. You find an industry that has a need and you try to solve for it. Right? 00:04:43:20 - 00:04:47:10 Marc Cohen That's that's what all these companies are doing. 00:04:47:12 - 00:05:02:01 Greg Plummer And we're grateful. I mean, there's a lot of them, but I would certainly say that software and technology, and particularly in managing the restaurants, is essential right now. No longer is a yeah, you can't run. 00:05:02:03 - 00:05:02:18 Marc Cohen It's not a nice. 00:05:02:18 - 00:05:03:12 Greg Plummer To have. 00:05:03:14 - 00:05:18:12 Marc Cohen 100%. It is it is a must have. And Richard and I talk about this with guests all the time. I feel like our industry was the last to figure it out. Right. We've all we've we've always been the last one at the table when it comes to technology. But I feel like we've finally gotten ahead of that and just some, some crazy numbers from you. 00:05:18:13 - 00:05:22:00 Marc Cohen You know, in airports, how many transactions do you do a year? 00:05:22:01 - 00:05:37:06 Greg Plummer Wow. So we do about 2 million transactions a year so far. And the number is going to continue to grow. And we're super grateful for all 2 million of those guests who decided to spend their money, money with us when they're traveling. 00:05:37:07 - 00:05:44:10 Rich Sweeney I'm trying to figure out how many of those 2 million have been me passing through LAX for other folks. 00:05:44:12 - 00:05:50:08 Greg Plummer Yeah, no. Thank you. I want to thank you and thank you in advance for future purses. 00:05:50:10 - 00:05:55:13 Marc Cohen This episode is brought to you by our expense reporting software. 00:05:55:15 - 00:06:02:08 Marc Cohen And it's been a big, big year for chicken. I know you guys have quite a few a couple of your concepts of chicken focus. How many pounds of chicken you going through a year? 00:06:02:14 - 00:06:22:18 Greg Plummer Wow, that's a good question. So about 8 million pounds of chicken was was a fun number that, you know thinking about it. And it's across multiple concepts. But you know we get the pleasure of operating brands best in class brands like chick fil A and Chang's and Panda Express. As you can imagine. That's a lot of those are our big sellers when people are traveling. 00:06:22:20 - 00:06:25:18 Rich Sweeney Yeah, nothing o'clock about. 00:06:25:20 - 00:06:30:05 Marc Cohen I don't really took three minutes. 00:06:30:07 - 00:06:37:12 Rich Sweeney I have to get at least 3 to 5 zingers in and usually then afterwards they put in like the crickets track. Afterwards it's just me laughing. 00:06:37:14 - 00:06:40:21 Marc Cohen Around him. It just it's just a progression. 00:06:41:02 - 00:06:43:08 Greg Plummer I'm all in, I like it, keep them coming. 00:06:43:13 - 00:06:59:20 Marc Cohen And so not not to mention our years in the industry, but you started relatively young. You've got one of those restaurant stories that we love where your first job was, was like a dishwasher, right? Like that was that was entry. Yeah. And now you're running a company. I love these stories. Tell us about that. That journey. 00:06:59:22 - 00:07:09:04 Greg Plummer Well, you know, the most important job I had the pleasure of being a dishwasher. And that's the most important job in a restaurant. But I. 00:07:09:06 - 00:07:10:06 Rich Sweeney Preach on that. 00:07:10:07 - 00:07:10:22 Marc Cohen Yes. 00:07:10:22 - 00:07:36:15 Greg Plummer So thank you. Thank you to. And we treat our dishwashers as such. Right. Whether they where they realize not so much appreciation there. But I started at 15. Had to get a work permit and you know, it was for a restaurant, old restaurant company called binning. And if you remember. And so that was a very, very tough, great job to give me a good restaurant foundation. 00:07:36:15 - 00:07:48:07 Greg Plummer But, you know, back in those days things are a little loose. So I wouldn't I'd be lying if I say I wasn't a bar back at 15 at some point you're like, what's going on? 00:07:48:09 - 00:07:50:16 Rich Sweeney It's an early detection. 00:07:50:18 - 00:07:51:05 Greg Plummer Yeah, yeah. 00:07:51:11 - 00:07:54:02 Marc Cohen Necessity is the mother of invention. It's fine, it's fine. 00:07:54:03 - 00:07:56:22 Greg Plummer You had to be a Swiss Army knife in restaurants, right? 00:07:56:23 - 00:07:58:18 Marc Cohen Absolutely. 00:07:58:20 - 00:08:02:05 Rich Sweeney And so how to do that? You're about to learn how to do it today, right? 00:08:02:06 - 00:08:23:21 Marc Cohen I've never partnered before. You'll be fine. You'll figure it out. And so, you know, there weren't a lot of national chain restaurants, but I think Bennigan's was one of those early, large national chain groups. And so not that you're working at a in a corporate environment, but what was there a culture there? Did you learn anything in those early days that you sort of carried forward? 00:08:23:23 - 00:08:53:14 Greg Plummer Yeah, I mean, look, the work, the work you got ebbs and flows and you learn the foundation, you learn how to prepare for a busy shift. You know, we were the busiest restaurant in our city at one point. And that was really cool at a young age to be able to be a part of that, but just to be able to see how impactful the food and beverage industry and restaurants were for people's daily lives, and them celebrating things that really matter to them. 00:08:53:14 - 00:09:13:04 Greg Plummer So, you know, we have been used to seeing that happy birthday songs like Happy, Happy Birthday. But just think about that when you go out, how do you celebrate birthdays? You go to restaurants and that, that, that and pressure with me because, wow, what other industry do we get to make people happy? You know, I feel I still go out to restaurants today and see people's faces light up. 00:09:13:05 - 00:09:31:14 Greg Plummer When they see their food coming. They're like, oh, that's my food. You know? That's not my food. So it's it's a it's a really cool evolution and full circle moment for me, because in the back of my mind, I think I always wanted to be in the restaurant business, but more so I wanted to be in the people business. 00:09:31:16 - 00:09:40:02 Marc Cohen Yeah. I mean, and it is a people business. We talk about that all the time. But you left for a hot minute. You went into the world of finance. You went to work for Morgan Stanley. Is that right? 00:09:40:08 - 00:10:04:09 Greg Plummer Yeah. You know, I went to college at the illustrious Morehouse College in Atlanta, and I worked in restaurants and nightclubs all throughout my college to help me, you know, pay for college, but also pay for just my life expenses. Yeah. And I've always, you know, had multiple jobs. And then when I came to LA, you know, my parents, my dad shout out my dad, he's a he's a big supporter of mine. 00:10:04:11 - 00:10:07:14 Greg Plummer He said go get a real job. You got to get a real job. 00:10:07:16 - 00:10:09:00 Rich Sweeney It's like. 00:10:09:02 - 00:10:32:20 Greg Plummer A real job. Okay. So I got a job in finance and work for a pretty large financial firm, and I was miserable every, every single day. I remember driving to work, and I would take naps in the car thinking like, there's got to be a better way. And, you know, I had a year contract, and when that year was up, I had a meeting with my boss and say, hey, let's go renew your contract. 00:10:32:20 - 00:10:34:04 Greg Plummer I said, I'm sorry, I. 00:10:34:04 - 00:10:34:19 Rich Sweeney Can't. 00:10:34:21 - 00:10:36:10 Greg Plummer I can't do it. 00:10:36:12 - 00:10:38:11 Rich Sweeney This this is not something. 00:10:38:13 - 00:10:48:18 Greg Plummer Yeah. It's like the series seven. Series 66. I did all the exams and you know, it's a great experience, but certainly not for me. 00:10:48:18 - 00:10:53:13 Marc Cohen But serves you well as CEO. Now obviously that you know those fundamentals they apply. 00:10:53:14 - 00:11:00:05 Greg Plummer So absolutely. Yeah. Well certainly. But I don't know how much algebra helped me when I was. 00:11:00:07 - 00:11:04:16 Marc Cohen When you're selling 8 million pounds of chicken bouncer was not a factor. I agree. 00:11:04:18 - 00:11:08:00 Rich Sweeney That's definitely it's definitely going to come into your day to day. 00:11:08:02 - 00:11:26:06 Greg Plummer It doesn't. But you know, finance in general, just the discipline and being in a corporate environment certainly helped me because you got a chance to be in a professional environment. So I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn. And, you know, I came to and I immediately left the finance industry and came into the airport space and I got a chance to work for it. 00:11:26:06 - 00:11:54:15 Greg Plummer Really brilliant guy. He's one of luminaries in the airport concessions world, and he took me under his wing and I got a chance to work for him for 12 years. He gave me a ton of autonomy and, you know, he'd appreciate me saying didn't pay as much. But the real, the real pains in the lessons learned and being able to have the autonomy, make mistakes, learn on his dime. 00:11:54:15 - 00:11:59:08 Greg Plummer And I'm extremely grateful for it to this day. 00:11:59:10 - 00:12:19:10 Marc Cohen That that mentorship piece is so, I think, critical to being successful, especially in this industry. Right. If you don't find that person, it's it's a tough business to figure out on your own. So it's like having that that that person take you under their wings and show you the ropes and, and how fortunate for you for it to be specific to airports, because that's ultimately where we've landed, right? 00:12:19:11 - 00:12:21:19 Marc Cohen No, there was a pun for you, Rich. That's where we've lived. 00:12:21:19 - 00:12:25:15 Rich Sweeney I was waiting for it. I was waiting for. 00:12:25:17 - 00:12:26:20 Marc Cohen Well, that's. 00:12:26:22 - 00:12:29:20 Greg Plummer Right, but go. 00:12:29:22 - 00:12:39:08 Rich Sweeney I was just saying, how did you end up kind of getting back from finance, shifting back into the hospitality space? Like what led you to that role? Yeah. 00:12:39:10 - 00:12:56:06 Greg Plummer So yeah, again, I was I was miserable in my current iteration. And it was the old adage, don't you know, don't, don't quit one job without having another. And anything I could do to get out of finance, I was like, sure, I'll do it. 00:12:56:06 - 00:12:57:04 Rich Sweeney So take it. 00:12:57:09 - 00:13:17:23 Greg Plummer Yeah, I got a chance. My buddy, my dear friend, my best friend's father owned the company and and he's he's like, yeah, I'm going to give you a job, but don't think you're going to, you know, get some cushy job. This is not a and I'll use his direct words. This is not a sexy industry. You know I have 20 hours operations or 20 hours a day. 00:13:18:00 - 00:13:35:04 Greg Plummer 365. You know, we don't close. We don't get the clothes on Christmas. We don't get the clothes on Thanksgiving. We're open and our people are there. And I was the person that got to be there. And that was one of the things that really stood out to me most, where, you know, I got to be a assistant manager. 00:13:35:04 - 00:13:57:19 Greg Plummer And I started, you know, really, I never managed restaurants before. I worked in a service capacity. I've been every position under the sun from back to front of house, but I never worked in management. And, you know, here I am in the management at an airport and I'm a kid. I'm 22 years old and it was a union environment lax. 00:13:57:21 - 00:14:07:17 Greg Plummer And it was just my my eyes were open from day one. And I remember thinking like, this is so cool. I get to see all these people. 00:14:07:17 - 00:14:09:20 Rich Sweeney Every day. Yeah. 00:14:09:22 - 00:14:26:03 Greg Plummer Yeah, it's very transactional. And one of the things that stood out to me was that, you know, the business always functioning and the cash register is working when when the owner of the company is not here. So I thought to myself, like you still that way to back online for later in life, right? 00:14:26:09 - 00:14:28:01 Marc Cohen Some opportunities some people might. 00:14:28:02 - 00:14:30:21 Rich Sweeney Take advantage of here. Yeah, yeah. 00:14:30:22 - 00:14:53:11 Greg Plummer So I mean it's been an incredible ride and I've been to the airport for 20 years, but wow. You know, which I put a lot into it right in just like many of the restaurant owners and operators and people that work in this industry, it's a it's a labor of love. And we work really long hours. And it's not always. 00:14:53:13 - 00:15:22:12 Greg Plummer A call it. It's not sexy, but it definitely is not. It sometimes feels like a thankless job, but the reality is we get to really help one our people and provide a great quality of life, but also, you know, really make people happy when they're going to celebrate their either their biggest moments where they're going on a honeymoon, are they going, you know, you know, to a wedding to celebrate their friends or if they're going home to a loved one. 00:15:22:14 - 00:15:40:18 Greg Plummer And that's what we try to, you know, guide our team and say, hey, this is an opportunity for us to be the best part of someone's travel experience and and really trying to build that culture around doing that and recognizing that this is the responsibility and and the privilege we have. 00:15:40:20 - 00:15:59:02 Marc Cohen And that's a I mean, the fact that you're operating in airports and coming at it with that sense of hospitality is I don't I don't feel like that's the norm personally. Right. Having traveled all over the country and been in all sorts of airports, you know, that is, you know, you don't typically get that sort of experience in an airport environment. 00:15:59:02 - 00:16:07:10 Marc Cohen So that's awesome that that's sort of the focus. And it sounds like that was from sort of day one. This was ingrained in you by this small family owned company. 00:16:07:12 - 00:16:30:06 Greg Plummer Absolutely. I mean, it was a very entrepreneurial approach. And that's our secret sauce, the fact that we are an entrepreneurial company and we're not we don't look at ourselves as a family owned business, but we look at ourselves as an entrepreneurial based business, and we are hands on, and we're in every aspect and involved in every aspect of our business. 00:16:30:06 - 00:16:34:20 Greg Plummer And and that's the intent so that it comes out in the guest experience. 00:16:34:22 - 00:16:55:16 Rich Sweeney And to drive it right, you have to you can't think about it as just a transactional business, right? Like we're 2 million transactions per year. But like you said, you have that that brief moment to make an impact on somebody's day. And I can tell you from all the travel that I'm doing currently and that I've been doing, you know, you can have a really transactional experience means nothing. 00:16:55:16 - 00:17:13:14 Rich Sweeney I don't remember the place that I ate at in the airport versus the really great experience where even from like, you know, just grabbing a quick bottle of water from somebody at one of the restaurants. But that brief interaction, right. Somebody says something makes you smile, makes you laugh, makes you forget that your flight may have been delayed for four hours and you missed the connection and something else. 00:17:13:14 - 00:17:22:19 Rich Sweeney So like just that brief moment of hospitality because because airports get a bad rap, right? But being able to elevate that, I think is something amazing that you and your team do. 00:17:22:21 - 00:17:51:16 Greg Plummer You're right man, and I preach one. I appreciate you for saying that. But the we get a bad rap because you got to think what we're the we're an amenity in an airport when someone flies through one of the airports that we operate in there, their primary focus of being there is not to, you know, come and eat a chick fil A or, you know, Alfred coffee, you know, or the things that they're there to travel and they're going somewhere and they're usually under stress. 00:17:51:16 - 00:17:59:09 Greg Plummer And they went through TSA. And thankfully people have to take their shoes off anymore and have. 00:17:59:11 - 00:18:00:00 Marc Cohen A little. 00:18:00:01 - 00:18:24:21 Greg Plummer Laptop on their bag. So they irritated already. So you get a you get a customer who shows up in a not in the best mood already. Things are more expensive, so it's a lot of opportunity for someone to to gripe and complain. And you know, our job is to to mitigate that and make sure that we do our best to to make them happy and make them feel valued for, you know, what they're purchasing. 00:18:24:23 - 00:18:35:22 Marc Cohen Well, and so let's fast forward now. So you joined this group. You worked with them for for 12 years. You the business grew from from 10 million in revenue to 52 million in revenue while you were there. 00:18:36:00 - 00:18:36:03 Greg Plummer Yeah. 00:18:36:03 - 00:18:37:12 Marc Cohen It's huge leap. 00:18:37:18 - 00:18:51:17 Greg Plummer Yeah. We I mean that's one of the things that I'm most proud of because as a young person, you know, really trying to find a career and feel like you belong somewhere, that was really exciting, having a chance to be a part of a growth. 00:18:51:17 - 00:18:53:14 Marc Cohen Trajectory to grow. Yeah, yeah. 00:18:53:15 - 00:19:13:09 Greg Plummer Because it's you get every iteration of a business where you're going after it, and therefore we bid on all the contracts. We so we respond to a request for proposals, and we put a lot of thought into it. And we're going out and you know, signing restaurant brands to partner with. And then we have to write the proposal submitted. 00:19:13:09 - 00:19:17:21 Greg Plummer And then when you win, then you have to put together the business plan and then design the. 00:19:17:21 - 00:19:18:19 Marc Cohen Rest, execute. 00:19:18:19 - 00:19:20:18 Rich Sweeney The execute first step of. 00:19:20:20 - 00:19:44:20 Greg Plummer Yeah. So it's it's it's always the peak of one mountain is the base of another. And we're always, you know, having a new transition. And for us we operate, you know 13 different concepts today. And that number grows, you know even this year to 16 different concepts. That means you're dealing with 16 different brand partners and 16 different sets of standards. 00:19:44:21 - 00:20:06:03 Greg Plummer And how do you standardize some of what we do? Because our unique environment. So it is it is certainly that lesson that I learned when I was, you know, working as a manager or a director operation and then ultimately a vice president level. It was what prepared me to be in this position today. 00:20:06:05 - 00:20:29:16 Marc Cohen Well, and you mentioned that, you know, airports notoriously get a bad rap, and I would argue lax of most notoriously was not a great food destination. Right. Like LA as a city, as a foodie town. But that airport was severely lacking. And your group was primarily responsible for bringing in these chef driven concepts. You really took this small kiosk business and flipped it into a full service restaurant group, so to speak. 00:20:29:17 - 00:20:34:01 Marc Cohen Like you brought the celebrity chefs from LA into LAX. That's a huge win. 00:20:34:03 - 00:20:57:19 Greg Plummer Yeah, we have some of the things really got a chance to bring Neal Frazier, who's a dear friend of mine with blood, chef Jimmy Soar with Wolfgang Puck, who is an icon and, you know, really got a chance to learn from the best in class operators, chefs at a young point in my career, which, you know, gaining my chops right. 00:20:57:23 - 00:21:00:00 Marc Cohen In an airport environment. 00:21:00:01 - 00:21:29:07 Greg Plummer With all these guys. And, you know, that's the beauty of this business. There's so many mentors I've had over the years. But, you know, it's incredible business because airports are one. You're right. We get a bad rap, but everybody wants to be in the airport because it's a big billboard, but it's only a big billboard if we, the operators, are doing it right in representing their brands and the right, authentic, truest form, which is something we take very, very serious in our company. 00:21:29:07 - 00:21:36:11 Greg Plummer But yeah, it's not that was cool to really be a part of that transformation at LAX and still be a part of the transformation. 00:21:36:13 - 00:21:43:20 Marc Cohen Yeah, because we've got some big years coming up for you, don't we? We've got the World Cup, we've got the Olympics on the horizon. So yeah. Got to. 00:21:43:22 - 00:22:06:03 Greg Plummer 26 is here. Yeah. We looked at the calendar and that's in just under just 60 days from now. You know people will start showing up here for the World Cup which is crazy right. But then they're going back and forth to different match cities. So we're excited and we're gearing up to be prepared for that. And much like those athletes are preparing, we're preparing as well. 00:22:06:04 - 00:22:19:23 Greg Plummer We're training our staff. You know, we're not doing push ups and running laps, but we're definitely fine tuning our business to be ready to optimize that opportunity and make sure people coming to LA have an incredible experience. 00:22:20:00 - 00:22:39:19 Marc Cohen Yeah, it's a huge opportunity. And, you know, operating in an airport is I mean, you've got just the day to day operations, which are tricky because it's almost like you're in an isolated it's like it's own city, right? It's it's own world. But on top of that, you know, that perception of value, like because airports are expensive, right? 00:22:39:20 - 00:22:49:01 Marc Cohen It's an expensive place to run a business. It's expensive place as a consumer, like how you talk about that. How do you balance those two things out? 00:22:49:03 - 00:23:14:00 Greg Plummer Well, one is the is having a real firm grasp on the numbers. And, you know, you run a business in in 2026, a modern day restaurant. You the margins are every day getting squeezed. So you have to know where the money is. You have to understand the numbers with a level of specificity, that there's not a lot of margin for error for us. 00:23:14:01 - 00:23:40:14 Greg Plummer You know, we have operations that are running 22 hours a day, 21 hours, 20 hours a day. And, you know, we have a lot of different moving pieces. You know, we have 550,000 labor hours. And with California, because of the regulation that we deal with, you're constantly having to watch. Okay. Are people taking their breaks on time? You know, are they taking their breaks? 00:23:40:15 - 00:23:48:17 Greg Plummer Right. Which is the the old school person to me remembers the industry where people he wouldn't take breaks and we weren't given break. 00:23:48:18 - 00:23:49:12 Marc Cohen What's a break? 00:23:49:17 - 00:23:50:08 Rich Sweeney Yeah. What do you mean to. 00:23:50:12 - 00:24:08:01 Greg Plummer Break a break? But now you better you better take the break. And we take those things serious. And, you know, the industry has evolved. But for us, it's all about having a firm grasp on numbers and understanding, you know, and doing things right the first time we do it right, don't do it twice. Like. 00:24:08:03 - 00:24:08:08 Rich Sweeney Oh. 00:24:08:08 - 00:24:16:14 Greg Plummer Yeah, do things right the first time so that we're not having to address a later because we're going to have to address it later if we don't, you know. 00:24:16:15 - 00:24:28:10 Marc Cohen Well, and now you have the technology to do it right. I can imagine, you know, 20 years ago these kiosks were probably cash registers. And you run an X and Y and Z reports. At the end of the day, now you've got, you know, with restaurant 365. 00:24:28:12 - 00:24:29:17 Greg Plummer Those long reports. 00:24:29:18 - 00:24:30:10 Marc Cohen Yes. 00:24:30:12 - 00:24:31:10 Greg Plummer We fold up. 00:24:31:12 - 00:24:40:02 Marc Cohen Yeah. There's like a CVS receipt. Right. Is this massive string of paper. But now you've got restaurant 365. So you've got daily insight into what's happening. 00:24:40:04 - 00:24:58:20 Greg Plummer Yeah I could I it's incredible tool for us. We understand. Hey you know maybe our labor is too high. And what do we need to be doing here to to monitor. Or maybe the labor is too low, you know, and maybe that's going to impact our our guest experience. We don't usually say labors too low because you. 00:24:58:20 - 00:25:00:09 Rich Sweeney Know so. 00:25:00:11 - 00:25:22:00 Greg Plummer But but there is there are certain instances because every brand is different. We operate you know, different brands. And they have they call for different things at different times. So the numbers in having a firm understanding of the I'm an old school guy, you know, I look at all the reports that restaurant 365 has. But I, I'm, I'm looking at the PNL right. 00:25:22:01 - 00:25:24:05 Greg Plummer I want to understand in real time PNL. 00:25:24:06 - 00:25:26:12 Marc Cohen Before I was going to say. 00:25:26:14 - 00:25:39:09 Greg Plummer Appeal, before it was ancient history. He was like, oh, well, that happened two months ago, right? What am I able to do about it now? I know right now I can look at my piano and say, oh, I need to make an adjustment. 00:25:39:11 - 00:25:48:11 Marc Cohen It's my my favorite question I get asked by users say, hey, I need a report that's going to show me, like my sales and my labor and my food costs. I'm like, yeah, it's your pal. Yeah, that's that's. 00:25:48:11 - 00:25:49:11 Greg Plummer It, that's it. 00:25:49:13 - 00:25:55:15 Rich Sweeney That's it. Like, it's always good to be like, no, no, no, not that one. The other one. I want to see the other one. 00:25:55:17 - 00:25:58:14 Marc Cohen I needed to report. 00:25:58:16 - 00:25:58:22 Rich Sweeney Yeah. 00:25:58:23 - 00:26:02:09 Greg Plummer So we're in business. We're not we're not a nonprofit. We're we're in business. 00:26:02:09 - 00:26:04:15 Marc Cohen For. Absolutely profit. 00:26:04:17 - 00:26:35:21 Rich Sweeney Well so with that like, you know, Mark said it before, like, everybody knows going to the airport is so much more expensive. And just like every other restaurant, margins are tight. I mean, what for anybody who doesn't know, like what's a little peek behind behind the curtain of like, why is it so expensive in the airports? Obviously California, we've really expensive labor, but like, what are some of those other things that maybe people don't realize add into that cost when you're going through the line at chick fil A to pick something up. 00:26:35:23 - 00:27:04:19 Greg Plummer Yeah. And I would say that it's a couple components here that impact the pricing model in airports one year in Los Angeles. And so if you anybody who lives in Los Angeles knows if you go to the gas pump, gas is $7 a gallon right now, which, you know, fuel cost drives all costs. And you know, our are we are subjected to the Los Angeles City living wage here at LAX. 00:27:04:19 - 00:27:31:18 Greg Plummer So that is, you know, about $30 an hour today when you look at the all in cost per, per employee with another, you know, obviously 96 hours of paid time off every year. So there are different costs that we need to factor into it from a, from a rent perspective. Whereas on the street you may pay a flat rent, in airports we pay a percentage of revenue and it's top line. 00:27:31:18 - 00:27:52:07 Greg Plummer So it's percentage of gross revenue. And and you know, that's all 15% of our overall pal. And that number used to be a lot lower. And then it went a lot higher. And now we're trying to bring it back to a place where it's more stabilized. But you think about the number of hours you have and the type of restaurants. 00:27:52:09 - 00:28:13:23 Greg Plummer You just have a lot of cost associated with that that need to be addressed. And so we we certainly get a lot of feedback from customers and saying, hey, why is this so expensive here? And, you know, and no one really cares about the cost structure because they're thinking about their respective situation. But it is what it is. 00:28:14:00 - 00:28:39:23 Greg Plummer It's the cost of doing business in LA, which then impacts the overall price that the customer is seeing at the register. You know, we got a funny and it's not funny, but we got a guest comment yesterday saying, hey, I was at this restaurant the same concept yesterday, and I bought this same menu item. It was and I spent $22 in New Orleans and it was $58 here in LA. 00:28:40:01 - 00:28:45:09 Greg Plummer I'm thinking, well, we're not New Orleans and you can't say that, right? The customer? 00:28:45:10 - 00:28:45:20 Marc Cohen No. 00:28:45:21 - 00:28:47:12 Greg Plummer The customer doesn't. They don't want to. 00:28:47:12 - 00:28:48:21 Marc Cohen Hear that. No, but they don't. 00:28:48:22 - 00:29:08:19 Greg Plummer The reality is we aren't in New Orleans and the situation is very different. So for us, the biggest opportunity is that we make sure our team members are given a good service experience so that the cost is not such a stinker, right? People feel like, wow, you know, I'm in an airport. I get it out of the pay a little more. 00:29:08:19 - 00:29:14:14 Greg Plummer And they were nice to me in the and they got my order correct and they provided a great guest experience. 00:29:14:20 - 00:29:34:03 Marc Cohen But I would also argue labor is your biggest cost center, it sounds like. But but also for for not just because you're you're forced to because you want to. Right? You're all about taking care of your people. Right. That's been your philosophy since day one. You're trying to build sort of a business that enriches lives, provides opportunities. I've heard you say that before. 00:29:34:04 - 00:29:36:14 Marc Cohen That's sort of critical to your mission. 00:29:36:16 - 00:29:59:20 Greg Plummer Absolutely. You know, our our people are critically important to us and the people who are good to us. We're good to them. Right. I think I've heard you guys say on this podcast before, you know, the people who aren't good to you. You got to. You got to cut that. Cut ties immediately. Because the biggest challenge in California today is all the other ancillary costs that come with labor. 00:29:59:22 - 00:30:12:02 Greg Plummer You know, if you look at the amount of you drive down the street and I counted this morning, I saw this is we're talking about numbers. I saw ten billboards for attorneys saying, hey, you know, where you. 00:30:12:04 - 00:30:13:17 Marc Cohen Litigation friendly. 00:30:13:23 - 00:30:37:22 Greg Plummer Yeah. Did somebody hurt your feelings? Call me. And I mean, we deal with that. So again, you got to treat people right so that, you know, you are dealing with a lot of that stuff and then you're still going to have to deal with it. But the amount of slip and fall claims, the amount of, you know, the regulatory environment in California, quite frankly, is, is is used to weaponize, is weaponized against employers. 00:30:37:22 - 00:31:01:15 Greg Plummer So employers here and that may be controversial, but it is it is the truth. And I think a lot of the operators are agree with me. When you think about it, all these different agencies and regulations that are put in place, they come with a great cost. And so if someone's disgruntled, they can come after you and then they can see you and then they can, you know, say they hurt themselves on the job, but they never reported it. 00:31:01:15 - 00:31:21:12 Greg Plummer And then your insurance goes up and your worker's comp goes up. It's just it's a domino effect. So again, it comes back to being hands on, being extremely present in running this restaurants and doing right by our people so that they understand that our success is their success. 00:31:21:14 - 00:31:36:22 Marc Cohen But that old, you know, in New York City. It was if I can make it there, I can make it anywhere. I think for restaurants it's really California. That's why we see so many concepts start there. Because it is. It is a hard place to do business. But if you can be successful in California, likelihood is you'll probably be just fine. 00:31:37:02 - 00:31:39:08 Marc Cohen Moving nationally across the country. 00:31:39:10 - 00:31:50:21 Greg Plummer I think that is I don't know why. I don't know why I haven't put that together. And I'm I'm about to use that. But if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. It's true. If you can make it in California to the airport there. 00:31:50:22 - 00:31:53:15 Marc Cohen Yeah. I was going to say. 00:31:53:17 - 00:31:55:13 Greg Plummer Level. 00:31:55:15 - 00:31:56:09 Marc Cohen Ninja level. 00:31:56:10 - 00:32:13:15 Greg Plummer I love it. Yeah, I know, but I tell I tell people all the time. I'm just grateful to be here. If I could do this, then I want the people that work for our company to be able to. If they if they want to be entrepreneurs, then we want to put them in a position to to learn and to be able to do that. 00:32:13:17 - 00:32:25:11 Greg Plummer And I'm a hopefully a gleaming example for them to say, look, if he did it, I mean, right. I mean, he's a fun guy and he's kind of silly, but he's, I mean, moderately intelligent. But if he did. 00:32:25:11 - 00:32:26:21 Marc Cohen It, then come on. 00:32:26:22 - 00:32:30:04 Greg Plummer Yeah, we we got we got we got something here. 00:32:30:06 - 00:32:45:03 Marc Cohen That's a great point. Yeah. And that's inspiring right. Like that's exactly the kind of person you want to work for and you want to be successful with because, you know, you definitely you've proven the path forward for them if they want it, if they work hard enough. I want to mentioned. 00:32:45:08 - 00:32:47:03 Greg Plummer Before their job. 00:32:47:05 - 00:32:59:06 Marc Cohen Exactly. And that's I mean, that's so important in any industry, right? Like, nobody wants to report to somebody that hasn't been in the trenches where they, you know, like it's there's a disconnect that you just get. Yeah. Very true. 00:32:59:07 - 00:33:00:11 Greg Plummer Absolutely. 00:33:00:13 - 00:33:09:18 Marc Cohen You talked about something when we were chatting a few weeks ago. Forming, storming and norming. What is this philosophy? 00:33:09:20 - 00:33:46:22 Greg Plummer So it's a it's the constant iteration we go through. So, you know, every business cycle we have is, you know, we're we're in one page and this in this iteration we're in today, you know, we were purchased this contract or this company in 2021. And so at the 2021 coming off the pandemic, everything we were doing was one moving really fast to to get the business back up and running, because we had bought it from a really large company who was a great partner of mine, who was a great partner of mine, and they decided to focus on other areas of the business, and they gave me the opportunity to purchase this. 00:33:46:22 - 00:34:23:06 Greg Plummer So they go out, raise money, you know, find partners to help me, you know, realize this dream that I had to to be a restaurateur and operator again under my own umbrella. Right. So forming was, hey, let's we're creating this company. We need to address the problems. The business has changed because of all the impacts of Covid. You know, Covid saw 95% overnight decrease in air traffic, which has a our business is completely impacted or dictated by how many people are traveling to the airport. 00:34:23:06 - 00:34:42:00 Greg Plummer So there's no customers. Everyone goes home. So it was a culture we were coming into where many of the employees have been laid off. They were at home. And you know that certainly whether people were the men and not leaves a bad taste or a sour taste in someone's mouth. Eight well, I don't know if I want to go back to that. 00:34:42:00 - 00:35:18:08 Greg Plummer I don't I don't like it and I think people understand it, but they knew they that it just was a challenging environment. And then they come back and then you're now essential workers and you're in a highly transitory and a lot of people and a lot of germs and, you know, all of the media stuff. So we were trying to build a business and, and create operational plan at a time where there was so much chaos and so much uncertainty that we were forming and we were forming our foundation, our founding, our principles of who we want to be, how we want to treat people, the type of people we're looking for, who are the 00:35:18:08 - 00:35:41:05 Greg Plummer ideal candidates. So we're forming and the storming, like going through all the growth challenges and all of the hiccups and mistakes that one can make. And, you know, we were trying to, you know, recon and build restaurants at a time where, you know, cost of goods were because of supply chain issues are crazy. There's the biggest the big labor shortage, if you recall. 00:35:41:09 - 00:35:41:19 Rich Sweeney Oh yeah. 00:35:42:00 - 00:36:10:02 Greg Plummer It was impacting employees in the gig economy where all the workers were Amazon or DoorDash or, you know, they were doing all kinds of jobs that, you know, they had more flexibility. And then, you know, all of the other issues that we've had in, in, in the state of California, particularly LA, where the challenges with the the Screen Actors Guild strike and then the the health care workers strike and then the hotel strike, and then we had the fires of 2025. 00:36:10:02 - 00:36:31:07 Greg Plummer And so all that was storming and dealing with the storms and the challenges that we had to overcome in order to get this business on solid footing. And we had some very, very, very challenging times. But now, you know, at the end of 2025 is when we transition to a normal stage, which is okay, things are starting to normalize and stabilize. 00:36:31:10 - 00:36:58:23 Greg Plummer They're getting a little crazy right now. But, you know, such is life. But now we're trying to then reaffirm, hey, here's the things that are important to us. Make sure people understand what the outcome or expectation is to give a great guest experience, retraining everyone, giving them the tools to be successful so that as we get ready to welcome the world to LA with the People World Cup and the Super Bowl in 2027. 00:36:59:00 - 00:37:00:10 Marc Cohen Oh yeah, that's right. 00:37:00:12 - 00:37:02:19 Greg Plummer The Olympics in 2028. 00:37:02:21 - 00:37:05:01 Rich Sweeney A couple of years are busy. 00:37:05:03 - 00:37:22:21 Greg Plummer Busy. But you know, hopefully it's the other ancillary stuff around it where people are coming to town and there's just a lot more activity. And and that it was all a plan that we knew we were going to go through these tough years to hopefully get to a place where things were good and good for everybody. 00:37:22:23 - 00:37:28:06 Marc Cohen I love it forming, storming and norming and that takes us rich to transforming, doesn't it? 00:37:28:07 - 00:37:29:02 Rich Sweeney Yeah, always. 00:37:29:03 - 00:37:32:03 Greg Plummer Always I like that. 00:37:32:05 - 00:37:47:23 Rich Sweeney Yeah. What I mean, what are some things that, that you're doing with the business kind of to try to, to transform the way that you operate for for 2026, obviously ahead of a few big years of lots of things going on, a lot of growth, a lot of transformation. What are some of the things that you're doing to transform this year? 00:37:48:04 - 00:38:11:21 Greg Plummer Well, so I would say we're really one of the big thing we're doing is really tightening up our processes and reimagining our steps of service so that we are in line with the airport is asking for the airport has rolled out this this initiative to be one of the best guest experiences, air guest experience airport. 00:38:11:21 - 00:38:16:06 Marc Cohen So taking a page out of your book. Aren't they they finally listening to you? Yeah. 00:38:16:08 - 00:38:46:07 Greg Plummer For sure we're aligned. But you know, with the train coming in and all the pain points that people experience coming to lacks, the train is is one of the big parts of the traffic. So hopefully the traffic and giving people a more seamless experience into the airport and then fixing our concepts, the airport, you know, refreshing everything. So everything looks opening day fresh and then thinking about how we better implement technology is some of our full service restaurants we have recently piloted. 00:38:46:08 - 00:39:16:07 Greg Plummer We just completed our our first pilot for restaurant. 365 I mean, not right. I'm sorry, that's five. We did a pilot for Survey robot robotics robot. So we had the robots who are delivering food to take to to the dining room and then taking their dishes. So, you know, we've already had these robots complete, you know, several thousand miles in trips around the restaurant, thousands of miles. 00:39:16:07 - 00:39:24:03 Greg Plummer And they've carried over, I think, 340,000 pounds of whether it be food, dishes, etc.. 00:39:24:04 - 00:39:24:17 Marc Cohen These are good. 00:39:24:17 - 00:39:47:18 Greg Plummer Poses with no safety risks. Like totally the worker's comp numbers should be improving. Our people can then now be more attentive to guests and not, you know, chasing. Going back to the kitchen of fine food. These robots are the future and they're bringing the food out and they cute and people taking pictures of them. But the reality is we're trying to use technology to to get our people faces in places. 00:39:47:19 - 00:40:08:05 Greg Plummer Right. How do we put our people on the floor? So they're taking care of the guests, and they're not doing the task of running back and forth to, you know, go get extra soy sauce or go get an extra bowl of rice at our Changs or and so yeah. And then using self for the kiosk because we see the trend people want or themselves, they want the autonomy. 00:40:08:05 - 00:40:26:06 Greg Plummer They don't necessarily want to talk to a person. They're like us headphones. And you know, they listen to a podcast, they're on a phone call, they're on a conference call, and they don't have time to, like, wait in line and not our restaurants, but, you know, have someone be rude to them. That would happen at our restaurants. But in other restaurants, I've seen it happen before. 00:40:26:09 - 00:40:54:04 Greg Plummer But so our goal is to to really, you know, one meet the customer where they're at. Give them what they what they what they're asking for. And then we're implementing technology with the QR code. So we've created these digital marketplaces using technology like bebop, which is a DoorDash platform. And and we created this platform in our restaurants where you can order from one restaurant, but you can order from multiple restaurants on one transaction. 00:40:54:04 - 00:41:17:23 Greg Plummer So if my kids want pizza, I want a burger. And, you know, my daughter wants Panda Express, we can get all that one transaction. And, you know, for the business traveler, pleasure traveler, they don't have to do a bunch of expensive. So we're trying to create these streamlined processes that they're really help improve the experience. 00:41:18:00 - 00:41:22:05 Marc Cohen And all of that just then funnels back up in the restaurant. 365 and you've. 00:41:22:05 - 00:41:22:11 Greg Plummer Got. 00:41:22:12 - 00:41:25:02 Marc Cohen There you go. Nice consolidated reporting package. 00:41:25:08 - 00:41:33:11 Greg Plummer And then we can see and right we can see where the sales are coming from. Yeah. What's working, what's not working. Where do we need to deviate? 00:41:33:13 - 00:41:41:10 Marc Cohen It's fun. We've talked a lot about kiosks on this show and I'm sure you've noticed the same thing. Check. Averages go way up when people are ordering themselves because. 00:41:41:10 - 00:41:43:18 Greg Plummer They're just about 30% increase. Yeah. 00:41:43:20 - 00:41:45:18 Marc Cohen Averages wild. 00:41:45:20 - 00:41:53:11 Greg Plummer And it makes you think like well we're incentivized to put more kiosk in. But that's a controversial subject. 00:41:53:11 - 00:42:07:08 Marc Cohen There it is. It is. And almost everybody we've talked to still has somebody there to help. Like if so, somebody. So you're not alone at the kiosk, right. You've got some sort of host or hospitality representative there to help guide you if you need it. But yeah. 00:42:07:14 - 00:42:13:09 Greg Plummer But in an in an airport to that point, you're used to checking in on a kiosk for an. 00:42:13:09 - 00:42:13:18 Rich Sweeney Airline. 00:42:13:19 - 00:42:15:02 Marc Cohen For everything. 00:42:15:04 - 00:42:32:20 Greg Plummer Everything. So so again, meeting them where they are and creating those, those synergies where it makes sense. You know, a kiosk is something people want. And then we can use our team to then provide that service and make sure that the restaurants clean and make sure that they get the food. And that's right and accurate. 00:42:32:22 - 00:42:49:12 Rich Sweeney Yeah. And it's just like you said, it's become part of that day to day where people are just so used to doing it for everything else. Why not just make it one more part of the process that people are used to? So I've got to ask, because the biggest anomaly that I've ever noticed in airports is time doesn't really exist at the airport. 00:42:49:13 - 00:43:06:05 Rich Sweeney Like, you can show up and be throwing down a beer at 6:00 in the morning in the airport. Right? Like, like alcohol is kind of this weird thing that happens in the airports. But what we're seeing with a lot of other restaurants is like, alcohol sales are going down. I'm curious, in the anomaly that is the airport bar. 00:43:06:06 - 00:43:10:06 Rich Sweeney What are you guys seeing as far as members trending? 00:43:10:08 - 00:43:33:22 Greg Plummer Sadly, and I'm a little guy, sadly, we're seeing the same trend and I think it's partially driven by people who are drinking less. And they are now we realize some of the harmful effects of alcohol, but but maybe it's also driven by the price. And how do we how do how are we impacting that as something we're taking a really close look at, right. 00:43:33:23 - 00:43:52:14 Greg Plummer Does a beer need to cost $12 at the airport? You know, maybe maybe we're a part of the problem. And but we are seeing people drink less. However, we do have some anomalies. We operate in the international terminal. So people who are traveling, you know, in excess of five hours just thought. 00:43:52:14 - 00:43:53:06 Rich Sweeney About. 00:43:53:08 - 00:43:56:23 Marc Cohen And I need to sleep like this. 00:43:57:00 - 00:44:19:20 Greg Plummer Still throw them back. But also, you know, they they're in a different they're in a more celebratory mood. The person who's going international, that's exciting. Whether it be going on vacation or whatever the case may be, you're in a different moment. So how do we we again create an experience where they're like, oh, my vacation starts at the airport is exciting. 00:44:19:22 - 00:44:34:21 Marc Cohen So you mentioned the kiosks. Can you think of any other small improvement that's made a huge difference in your business? Something small that just move the needle tremendously and you can say restaurant 365 if you want. Great. We're not going to not going to hold you back. 00:44:34:23 - 00:44:59:16 Greg Plummer No, I mean, you're right. The numbers being able to look at the numbers in a real time application was was key. You know, we were going through the forming and storming right before we picked up and started using restaurant 365. We were looking at numbers and it was history. There's nothing we could do about it. And, you know, we think about our business, how many, how many PTO hours we have. 00:44:59:17 - 00:45:23:00 Greg Plummer You know, our company on average, we average about 42,000 paid time off hours. So 42,000 hours where people are paid not to be at work. Right. So yeah. Okay. How is that impacting the guest experience, the service, the sales, the check average, the wait, the ticket time, all those things. You know, we're able to look at the numbers in a very different way for us. 00:45:23:01 - 00:45:44:18 Greg Plummer And then, you know, really just just challenging the status quo in our restaurants. We've done a lot of things. And unfortunately they they be sometimes deemed as controversial. But we had to make real changes. You know, when we were impacted by the fires of 2025, we had to lay a bunch of people off. And that's one of the toughest things that someone has to do. 00:45:44:18 - 00:46:08:06 Greg Plummer But when we brought them back, we were able to to work with our labor partner and say, hey, let's reimagine this and let's say how we can do this in a way where if the business is impacting the future, we don't have to take such kind of polarizing or like shocking action to, to to like, adjust and make sure the business stays solvent. 00:46:08:06 - 00:46:26:14 Greg Plummer And so again, it's really a firm grasp for the numbers and being creative and thinking about things as saying I'm willing to change in our people are looking at what are the solutions, not necessarily. This is how we've done things in the past, and this is how we're going to continue to do. We got to do things differently. 00:46:26:14 - 00:46:35:03 Greg Plummer We have to evolve and and constantly be thinking about what can we do differently to to get to the to the results we need. Right. 00:46:35:05 - 00:46:39:01 Marc Cohen That makes perfect sense and easier. 00:46:39:05 - 00:46:40:05 Greg Plummer Easier said than done. 00:46:40:06 - 00:46:43:03 Marc Cohen Yes. 00:46:43:05 - 00:46:43:22 Rich Sweeney It's not always the. 00:46:43:22 - 00:46:44:21 Marc Cohen Way that I'm true. 00:46:45:02 - 00:46:47:20 Greg Plummer Yeah. 00:46:47:22 - 00:47:12:22 Rich Sweeney I gotta I gotta ask, you had mentioned before, kind of like a big thing that you and the company really try to focus on is like a great business that like for your for not just for your guests, but also for your team. Like it makes their lives better. It gives them some opportunities. So I got like a little a little quick question for you, which do you think is harder hiring great staff or keeping them after you've gotten them on board? 00:47:13:00 - 00:47:17:21 Greg Plummer Well, that's a really good question. 00:47:17:23 - 00:47:31:18 Greg Plummer I think hiring hiring is, is really difficult because, you know, everyone puts their their Sunday best on in there interviewing for a job and then about 90 days. 00:47:31:20 - 00:47:47:20 Greg Plummer The truth reveals itself. But for us, you know, restaurant operators, we need to do a better job. And I know that that might be controversial, but we do. You know, when you bring people into a restaurant going back to the old days? Yeah. I don't know how a bartender go. You figure it out. You got to train people, right? 00:47:48:00 - 00:48:09:23 Greg Plummer You got to inspect what we expect. We have to train them and give them every opportunity to be successful. Because once bad habits start just hard to. It's hard to correct. So I would say certainly hiring in really onboarding the right way and then integrating them into the culture as the next phase of it. But you got it hiring for me. 00:48:10:00 - 00:48:22:08 Marc Cohen But I think it ties into your bigger philosophy. Like, you can't you can't just rest on your laurels. You've got to keep iterating. You've got to keep enforcing, empowering right, training up, promoting up like that's all part of it. It's not. 00:48:22:09 - 00:48:30:12 Greg Plummer Yeah. And we want people to feel like, you know, all our people that work to this company for the most part, have come through the ranks. So our, our. 00:48:30:17 - 00:48:30:23 Marc Cohen Says. 00:48:30:23 - 00:48:58:09 Greg Plummer A lot, you know, came from a restaurant management, you know, single restaurant to multiple restaurants. And now, you know, director of operations. Everybody has an opportunity to grow here. Hourly team members have become, you know managers in in you know, kudos. Being a manager in a restaurant is probably one of the more thankless job there is. And in California, you know, the manager is sitting around and you're like, why am I doing this? 00:48:58:09 - 00:49:08:10 Greg Plummer Again? This is this is so we got to treat our managers good to make them feel like they have a reason to be here and they feel appreciated. But it's just a tough business. 00:49:08:11 - 00:49:28:06 Marc Cohen Well, restaurant managers are sort of always kind of like unicorns because they're expected to understand guest relations. Then they're expected to have some level of financial, you know, sense. And then we expect them to have this admin capability to do all of this paperwork and then also manage an entire pool of people that come from various walks of life and ages. 00:49:28:06 - 00:49:35:06 Marc Cohen And it's like, you know, expecting somebody to have all four of those skill sets is a lot to ask. It's a big job. 00:49:35:08 - 00:49:44:20 Greg Plummer Yeah. They they don't get enough credit. So you're right. I like the word unicorn. And maybe we can incorporate that too. Mark I may be using that one. 00:49:45:01 - 00:50:07:14 Marc Cohen It's good I'm stealing you know, form and storm and and Norman and I, like you also said inspect what you expect. I think that's a that's a that's a good takeaway. Well, look, we always like to end these things with a bit of a hot take. And I'm Greg I have no doubt you have a hot take. I'm sure you have several about the industry, but what's what's one thing currently that you want to see go away or maybe come back in the industry. 00:50:07:14 - 00:50:13:10 Marc Cohen Something that we've lost track of. 00:50:13:12 - 00:50:15:20 Greg Plummer This is controversial. This is controversial. 00:50:15:21 - 00:50:16:09 Marc Cohen I like. 00:50:16:11 - 00:50:20:08 Rich Sweeney That means it's really hot take it's a yeah. 00:50:20:10 - 00:50:40:22 Greg Plummer We we all need to get back to. We need the girl fix kid. It is it is gotten to a point where, you know, we've all even operators to become cynical. And we got to realize that we're in it for the guest is if it's all about the guest, guests have a choice to make and their choosing to spend their money with us. 00:50:40:22 - 00:51:01:15 Greg Plummer So let's treat them with dignity and respect and let's leave the ego at home. So if I had one request, it would just be like, if we can get back to people having thick skin and understanding, we're here to do a job. We're here to feed our families enough, you know, enough with the, the, the dramatics. Right. 00:51:01:17 - 00:51:03:20 Marc Cohen We're all on the same team here. Yeah. 00:51:03:21 - 00:51:20:06 Greg Plummer Yeah, we're all on the same team. We all want the same thing. And I don't know how we get there, but in California, God help us, you know? Oh, restaurateurs, we're under attack. And and, you know, we're essential. We're one of the biggest employer base there is. 00:51:20:08 - 00:51:20:23 Marc Cohen Absolutely. 00:51:21:00 - 00:51:24:23 Greg Plummer Small businesses are the biggest employer yet we are. 00:51:25:00 - 00:51:29:09 Marc Cohen The goes government and then hospitality. You're absolutely correct. Yeah. 00:51:29:12 - 00:51:45:03 Greg Plummer And I really want the our government and leaders to recognize that you know we are essential. You know what happens if restaurants go away. We're in airports. But think about the restaurants on the street. Oh yeah. Ever want to do people really want to go back to cooking? 00:51:45:05 - 00:51:49:20 Rich Sweeney I did it for me for way too long. I don't want to go back to cooking. 00:51:49:22 - 00:52:14:14 Greg Plummer All right, Rich, I don't either. I cook, I don't, I don't want to cook anymore. And I love cooking. But the point is, let's let's just appreciate the restaurants. People are, you know, putting their everything they have on the line. Small business owners, large restaurant franchisees, they're all we're just trying to figure it out. So people should appreciate that, recognize that there is a world where that goes away and then what happens? 00:52:14:16 - 00:52:22:09 Greg Plummer You know, if we keep squeezing restaurants, restaurant operators, then what happens? So. 00:52:22:11 - 00:52:40:23 Rich Sweeney There's my future that I it's a future that I don't even want to dare imagine. Because now that I've gotten out of the day to day, I enjoy this side so much more, and I'm so much more appreciative of every restaurant that I go into. And Greg, appreciate you for joining us today. For everybody who's everybody who's listening. 00:52:40:23 - 00:52:52:08 Rich Sweeney You can find Greg on LinkedIn. And if you're flying through LAX, you can find Concord Collective. Anytime that you were going through there. Make sure you stop by and get a smile, get a snack, have a great time in the airport. 00:52:52:10 - 00:52:54:08 Greg Plummer And of course, let me buy you a drink. You know. 00:52:54:09 - 00:52:54:14 Marc Cohen Yes. 00:52:54:16 - 00:52:59:06 Greg Plummer I'm serious. If someone actually asks, I saw you in restaurant 365 drinks on me. 00:52:59:07 - 00:53:14:18 Marc Cohen There you go. You heard it here first, folks. Well, look, everybody who's listening, watching. Thank you for joining us. We hope you have a great day, a great shift of profitable Tuesday. Wherever you are in your restaurant may be. And don't forget to like and subscribe to the show wherever you are. No small ass there, but we really appreciate it. 00:53:14:18 - 00:53:36:06 Marc Cohen You can find us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, basically wherever you're listening or watching. And you can also follow us across all social media. We're on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and you can always visit us at restaurant 365. Com. Greg, thank you so much for this conversation. We're really excited to see what the future holds for you and your group as you grow and have a great World Cup, Super Bowl and Olympics. 00:53:36:10 - 00:53:40:00 Greg Plummer Thank you. Thank you very much, guys. I really appreciate this. 00:53:40:06 - 00:53:47:20 Rich Sweeney Yeah, thanks for coming out. This was this was great. And also I'm excited to hear how many people come back in and redeem the Behind the Numbers cocktail special. 00:53:48:00 - 00:53:57:00 Greg Plummer Yeah, yeah it is beyond beyond the numbers cocktails. Just say I saw you there Rich and Mark sent me and that that offers. Good. All right. 00:53:57:05 - 00:53:58:03 Rich Sweeney I love it.