Serving Up Connections: The Key to Hospitality | Tobias Diamandopoulos

00:00:00 - 00:01:03

I was going to leave I was going to go overseas but then I stopped and I thought what am I running away from Tobias diamandopoulos is a renowned entrepreneur in the Australian hospitality industry he has founded six businesses in the condiments and premium dining scene I had to literally break down every preconceived concept of like what I thought we were here to do because I thought we were here to run a Russ it's not we were here to build a family from his elegant Sashimi bar Esa to his exotic African ired condiment

00:00:31 - 00:01:36

Rafiki tobias's bold approach keeps setting new standards in Hospitality I've been bankrupt it's like that was rough do you know what I mean I was young and I was bankrupt because I just made every mistake in the book I drove customers away because I didn't I didn't appreciate them we went from having a really really busy restaurant and one step at a time I killed that thing did you want to quit so many times you have a product called Rafiki and this isn't a plug it's it's

00:01:05 - 00:02:14

actually [ __ ] amazing it's like crack for your breakfast I used to think the food was the be all and end all now I think it's less than 50% food has to be good as a standard like you can't serve rubbish and expect people to keep coming back [Music] but I would like to welcome my dear friend Tobias to the agency podcast pleasure to be here so the hospitality scene is like from my experience notorious for failure yes and we were looking at some of the stats of the risk of failure in 2025 and it's 1 in 11 are

00:01:44 - 00:02:53

at risk of failure in your opinion why is it that so many businesses in Hospitality fail and what separates the survivors oh okay um it is a hard industry it's got low margins and you got to put a lot of physical hours into it I think it's a tough industry because it's consistently evolving there's so many moving parts and it's something that is forever Dynamic like the food industry people's wants people's needs people's dining habits people's budgets everything is constantly changing so I

00:02:19 - 00:03:13

think the ones that separate it from the best are the people that really live and breathe Hospitality because I think it's a thing where a lot of people give it a go but the guys that the guys and girls the amazing people out there are have Hospitality when they say they have Hospitality in their blood they do they really do these are people that they wake up every day and they serve and they meet people's needs like nobody else and the greatest venues are the ones that really show up and deliver

00:02:46 - 00:03:53

that for you was there an experience in particular that gave you that bug for Hospitality oh yeah and so I was fortunately my dad is a hotel general manager so he lived overseas moved away when I was six and I would go visit him once a year and he would come visit us once a year so he lived in Malaysia in Dubai Singapore Russia Hong Kong so I got to experience I fell in love with the hotel when I would go and stay there because I saw the backend operations I was fascinated with a single building

00:03:20 - 00:04:20

that had so many special moments going on at one time you would walk in people would be on holiday they would be having dinners there would be weddings there would be events there would be like a date night an anniversary and all these special moments were going and I had the pleasure of following my dad around and watching him orchestrate and facilitate these moments and he was the conductor of this ship that was going on the whole time and I saw the pre the start the finish of these events and it just it

00:03:50 - 00:04:47

just lit me up inside and I wanted to be able to bring those things to people so you were at the age of six traveling abroad experiencing Hospitality in different countries yeah well different cultures I think cultures was the thing that really opened it up just seeing different people live different ways it's like you can be so narrow focused when you come like being in Australia and being in one city and not traveling but then when you see the different cultures the different foods the different ways that people celebrate

00:04:18 - 00:05:19

together it changes your it just opened my mind and got me really excited about it and you know looking at it from the outside in when I went to the Gold Coast to your uh Cafe Riki uh which is in mermaid Beach yep um it just seemed like you're in your natural elements it seemed that you were vibing and saying hello to people that you probably see every morning there's definitely an energy to that place you know a lot of cafes but that place felt like a little beach nightclub in the morning yeah

00:04:49 - 00:05:41

everyone has their dogs everyone has their uh athesia wear on and everyone's just vibing out and getting ready for their day totally and that's like even Rafiki it's like we don't to be honest we don't do anything special we serve toasted sandwiches smoothies and coffee what we decided that we were going to focus on is we wanted to have like we keep referring that we wanted to have a Cheers bar we wanted to have a place where people can CU Rafiki is means friend in Swahili so we wanted to have a

00:05:15 - 00:06:12

place where people could come and hang out because what you serve will always change and evolve and adapt but the way that you make people feel when they get there is the thing that they come back for that's the thing they remember because you will forget a meal that you had but you never forget the way that somebody made you feel and when you have that fall inside you and creep inside you you can it draws you across the street it brings people in and then that energy just permeates so did it did it start off

00:05:43 - 00:06:34

that easy for you or like when you go back to the start of your career how did you even get like okay so at the age of six you were traveling the globe experiencing experiencing different cultures with your father uh in these different countries in the hotel scene at what point were you like I want to start working in this space you started to pick pick up a knack for it well I actually fell into it so I had no idea what I wanted to do when I was at school I actually thought I wanted to be a personal trainer I was just like oh

00:06:09 - 00:07:04

well I'll just give that a go cuz I sucked at school I just I was not really interested in anything I couldn't really focus on things and then I just I had an I went for a job offer um it was a chicken shop or it was a sushi shop and I the chicken shop was paying really well you got a free can of Coke or the sushi shop was paying not as well as a chicken shop but just had this energy about it and I was like I want to work there I was like I don't know what it is but I want to work there and that's

00:06:36 - 00:07:35

where I met my business partner I was 15 at the time and she owned the shop she had four of them and it just sucked me in and I experienced this team this family this culture that was just so much bigger it was a tin two tiny little Sushi shops in the middle of a shopping center but the energy that would come out of this place literally the shopping center was renounced for these Sushi shops because everyone knew that you would just come there to have a good time we would sit in the middle of the food court and we

00:07:06 - 00:08:11

would blast the music and like everyone would just come and hang out and that sort of like gave me the bug to be like oh this is this is really I want to do more of this so yeah and then it just that just started the journey so how did you guys end up being business partners well I my business partner Ros I worked for her when I was 15 and then um started learning from her and then then I started managing the shops and got in and I was managing multiple shops and then we moved from the Sunshine Coast to

00:07:38 - 00:08:56

Brisbane and then we tried a few other businesses because why the hell not give it a go and um we were selling building supplies online we would try to try to build a website before when it was really hard to build a website and then um then we an opportunity came up to open up a b restaurant and we decided to give it a go we decided to become Coffee Roasters and we were not coffee roasters so we had to learn very very quickly and yeah at about 23 took a massive loan out against mom's house bought in and then sort of started

00:08:18 - 00:09:20

the Journey of learning and failing was your mom warning you about anything in particular when you were doing that uh my dad was okay my dad was very go to school go to university like he was that was the world that he grew up in he was very he was a scholar he knew what he wanted to do like University was the path get a degree get your piece of paper that's what he said and he never really understood what we were doing or how this was progressing and where we were moving along to and Mom is just the most

00:08:49 - 00:09:52

easygoing person she was like go for it son got this so Mom from Mom's perspective and I live with Mom so that was she she pushed me along the entire time and that was that was the yeah just mom's unwavering support of just you'll work it out Go Get It Go Get Started you you'll get it sorted and then cuz I tried to do uni I tried to do uni and working at the same time and I just I would work all day and then I would sit in the shopping center at the middle of the night and sit on my computer trying

00:09:20 - 00:10:18

to do online uni that lasted about six months cuz I was just dying because I was doing so many hours but I was just totally not engaged in that and I was like every hour I'm doing this um is an hour spent away from doing something that I really love and I'm good at and that I want to do so yeah that's how I moved into that section now take take me into the mindset at that moment like when when you talk about this passion or this bug that people get for Hospitality um I guess it's often seen

00:09:49 - 00:11:02

as a passion Le industry it's yeah it's got to be like someone might be a pastry chef um and then they decide look I'm making all of this pastry why don't I go start my own gig get my own location and and so forth um and it seems like profit definitely comes second do you think that this is a mindset that might be affecting why most Hospitality Centric businesses fail 100% I think it's a lot of people see the end result of a great dinner service or a great lunch service or a beautiful venue but with any

00:10:25 - 00:11:24

business it's the hours that go into that to get that ready and this is like we toil away for months for like we just spent like 3/4s of last year building a couple of venues and we were day in day out every single day we were driving around the country we getting inspiration we put so much time and effort in to have that 10-minute moment where you can sit in the corner of the restaurant and watch somebody sit there and share a special moment with the loved one and you know that that's a

00:10:55 - 00:11:48

moment they're going to talk about forever and that 10 minutes is worth those eight months of just toiling away and it's like when you have those moments it's like you run a marathon and it's like you're running forever forever you're training this and that but that last little minute when you cross that it's such a fleeting moment but it is worth it and it's it's the same in Indie industry I think it's the industry leaders are the people that you they put so much work in the

00:11:21 - 00:12:20

background and it's it's meticulous work and it when it's executed like it looks effortless but it's not it becomes effortless because you've put the hours in and that's where it has to be a passion driven thing because we get up at 3:00 a.m. we work all day we're completely naked we're covered in eggs and dirt and food and everything and we stink when we get home like with seafood now like I walk into the house and sometimes my family is like dude you need to go outside so it's like but I

00:11:52 - 00:12:44

love it do you know what I mean and that's that's the thing I love I I love the hustle I love the intensity I love the thrill of service I love the thrill of um yeah just creating a moment for somebody so with that much passion and energy that goes into it what's the other part of your brain that that allows it to be commercially successful because if you're trying to create these beautiful moments that are fleeting but you're putting eight months into research and preparation to make sure

00:12:17 - 00:13:12

you guys nail it what's also going on in the back of your head to make sure that that it doesn't um go into the red well you're constantly calculating you're we we calculate every second we're we're constantly looking at like food cost and you we we are so flexible one thing that I learned when we started I was very rigid in my ideas and i' like I had a huge ego on me I was young I wanted to do the things that I wanted to do and they weren't received well from people

00:12:44 - 00:13:39

because I was just so DED in I was like no you better like this because I put so much effort into it and do you know what I mean and what were some of those things oh just like I thought I thought fancier was better and I thought more expensive was better too that was just in my head I was just like oh well I've opened a cafe now I need a bar now I need a nightclub now I need a fancy R like now I need more expensive dishes and the things that were working I scrapped because I got sick of Mak like

00:13:12 - 00:14:07

we had a salad that we used to make and we would make so many thousands of them and I was so sick of making it that I was just like this is going off the menu we're putting some we're putting this fancy $80 $90 Chicken on there and no one bought it they would wanted the salad you know what I mean so that was one of my first lessons it was like you got to understand what people want and you got to meet their needs and these like and I really like I had an ego death because I we went from having a

00:13:39 - 00:15:00

really really busy restaurant and personally one step at a time I killed that thing to the point where we had to shut the restaurant and completely Rebrand it because we killed the because I killed the brand so badly that it couldn't come back so we had to reinvent the wheel and bring it back in a different version what happened I drove customers away because I didn't I didn't appreciate them I took for granted their patronage I took for granted the fact that they chose to come to us over anybody else and that I was

00:14:19 - 00:15:07

just I like we were busy and I was like fine if you don't like it I'll take the next person but then I realized if I keep pushing these people out I'm going to be constantly looking for customers and then I heard the saying that if you kept every customer you had you'd never have to look for another one and I was like oh that makes sense so I was like okay well maybe let's slow down let's actually get to know these people let's really invite them into the story let's

00:14:44 - 00:15:38

invite them into the brand let's invite them into this whole thing that we're doing as the restaurant evolves these people are part of the community they live down the road they live across the street you see them every day you get to know their lives you watch them have Partners you watch them have kids you watch them grow up up and move in and out and you become a part of their life and that's some that's a big switch that I had to make was to really get to know these people and bring them along in the

00:15:11 - 00:16:06

journey and not treat them just as customers but as guests and now we go even further and these people are family like our like our guests that we have they we take them to dinner they come to staff parties we do things with them like we go to their house and we buy them flowers on their birthday like we do they they genuinely friends and that's and it's created a thing where if for any reason our staff have to leave the guests are bringing in pres and flowers and they keep in touch and

00:15:39 - 00:16:30

they're texting each other and it's like it is a community that's so far outside of their job because it's not our job is to be there and facilitate those things but it's that connection that really holds people there and that was what we that's was definitely what I was missing at the start what was the specific moment you talked about the ego death Y and this realization that you had to do an entire Rebrand and I love what you just said about we don't treat them like

00:16:04 - 00:16:53

customers or patrons we treat them like guests and it's a very different mentality it's a very different energy and I've experienced that personally there's a there's a place down the road for me it's called the north spoon Sydney and um you know we went in there the the first time and they were just so loving and generous and courteous and comforting and they're like come grab a seat welcome is it your first time here they just made us feel like oh we're part of the community cool yeah every

00:16:29 - 00:17:17

time we went back they remembered our names they'd ask about our kids how's the dog and we're like these guys are cool and then we just kept going back like every day totally just to hang and you'll you'll choose a sub like not that it is but you will choose a subpar product for a premium experience over going some cuz I've been to fancy some fancy restaurants I couldn't tell you what I ate I couldn't even remember the name or where they were and I wouldn't go back again but

00:16:53 - 00:17:36

they might be like my favorite little Chinese or Indian shop down the road that has like the wallpaper falling off the walls but I love it because it's like it's you're in there with their F it's like the family's cooking with you you're with them it's you feel a part of the experience and they're my favorite venues yeah we go back we I've spent thousands of dollars at this restaurant yeah I'm not even hungry I'll just go there you know what I mean I'll just go

00:17:15 - 00:18:08

get a coffee or pop in and say hello so so when you had this moment where you had the ego death like what exactly happen walk me through it and then what were the lessons and how did you build out of it so we had it was a big restaurant that had and it took it had really high expenses because it was so big to just to cover the footprint with staff and wages and all those things and I had like I thought I had so much more experience than I actually did so that was a big realization but like there was

00:17:41 - 00:18:32

points where a customer would pay and then I would have to take the money out of the till and go drive down to the bank and put the money in the bank to then pay one staff member and then the next person would pay then I'd do that and I was like okay this is really not working like we were really struggling at some points just to keep the lights on and I was like this is going back and back and back I'm like What's Happening why why is this such a big venue and this is like and I had to really stop

00:18:07 - 00:18:59

and and think about it and like I'd get calls from the bank and they're like well you took all the money out of the till we need change to give to the next customer tell them I'll give him a credit yeah but when you have those moments and then just flirting with bankruptcy flirting with bankruptcy well no I've been bankrupt it's like that was rough do you know what I mean I was young and I was bankrupt because I just made every mistake in the book and I had I found myself wandering around late at

00:18:33 - 00:19:38

night just like questioning like what am I doing like why where did it go wrong and I looked and I sat it was like an epiphany I was walking through and I just had this like like camera roll of moments of like well you did this and you forgot that and you didn't do this and then this happen and then it started to snowball and I think it's it really started at the core because now our our team our family like our group of people they are everything to us we we help them move we help them

00:19:05 - 00:20:06

with their visas like we any family issues we lend them car like whatever they need we are there to support them because there's only so much myself and my like Rosie can do we can't physically be everywhere all the time but our guests like our team are the ones that are taking care of these people so that was something that was fundamentally lacking at that restaurant was the culture was really bad and that that that's that permeated onto the customers so when we had to I literally had to go

00:19:35 - 00:20:26

back to square one and fix like we had to strip everything back because I I was focusing on the end product not the base level and that's where because it was crumbling from the inside out and I thought oh yeah I'll put this fancy thing on the end but if it's not served correctly if it doesn't have that love you you can taste passion in food and if it's not there from the kitchen because they're disgruntled or whatever or something's going on people are fighting I'm like that that's going to affect

00:20:02 - 00:21:06

your business and these guys have so many touch points with the guests that it was it was a Snowball Effect where just one thing after another started falling apart and now that is our core with everything is culture and our core and our team and before we do anything we got to make sure we're all on the same page and that we all have the same vision and we take care of each other like a family and yeah we invest in our guys like we invest in them and they invest in us and it's such and then in turn our

00:20:34 - 00:21:30

guest we invest in them but our guests invest in us they support us with everything like cuz our venues are fairly close to each other it's like I'll see somebody for breakfast we see them for lunch and then they're down at dinner having a glass of wine and some sushimi it's like it's amazing do you know what I mean CU you've got the Rafiki Cafe uh like a probably throw a rock at the beach y uh then you have up the street from that there's kind of a uh a connection of a couple businesses

00:21:02 - 00:22:07

kind of working together where you have the the seafood restaurant yep yeah so as there's a little presin down the road and you have on like up the road 5 minutes down from there is a little takeway sushi shop and then 5 minutes down the other road is another Cafe and another sushi shop so what made you want to diversify you know have a little cafe having a place with a bar having a seafood restaurant like what's what's been the I guess the driving force between having that much diversity well to be honest we never

00:21:33 - 00:22:31

looked at businesses to make money well like it has to make money yeah like obviously the fundamental is it has to make money if you want to continue doing it like you need the the the cash flow to pay your bills but anything we do NE is money's the last thing that we think it's like let's do something we want to do and then we'll work out how to monetize that so like our businesses aren't just restaurants like we had a hair salon for 10 years and okay know that just yeah so that just stemmed from

00:22:02 - 00:23:01

Rosie her hairdresser was going out of business and her like that he worked for and then he was an amazing guy we don't invest like what we say is we don't invest in businesses we invest in people and if you put the right person in the right position allow them to shine it's like I say to the guys all the time we spend more time together than you do at home than you do with your family and like this is such a huge part of your life if better bloody be fun do you know what I mean it's like this can't be a

00:22:32 - 00:23:20

miserable place to be like so let's do things that we love to do and if it's something that we don't like to do why are we doing it if unless like there's things you need to do that are necessary like you got to take out the trash do you know what I mean but yeah if we find ourselves where we've worked ourselves into a position where we're doing something that we don't actually enjoy we're never going to put our heart and soul in it do you I mean you got to wake up every single morning and grind so we

00:22:56 - 00:23:57

find things that we're passionate in and the food businesses I think we love hosting that's something that is like just in our nature it's just we love bringing people together and putting something onto them and watching them enjoy we originally and this is another story is like we originally wanted to sell um I had the genius idea of selling Gourmet toast I don't know where I thought that was a good idea but it was just like 10 different styles of gourmet H and I was like here you go Beachside

00:23:27 - 00:24:26

Cafe Gourmet toast and then like within two days I was like this is terrible like no one wants this and then I was is this after you opened it did we open yeah we opened and I spent months planning all these things and how we're going to do it and find the perfect slice of bread and all these different toppings and then within the first week we literally pivoted like this is not what people want and we moved to toasted sandwiches avocado on toast healthy smoothies juices coffee but then we focused on the

00:23:56 - 00:24:58

atmosphere and we literally had to Pivot like straight away our sushi shop we had a background in sushi so I knew Sushi and we knew Japanese food and then like I spoke to my dad cuz he was living in Hong Kong at the time and he was like you should do economy Ary and I was like sweet great let's do economy Ary put that on the menu so we were doing sushi rice bowls and economy Ary and then we were so busy with the fit out cuz we just love designing a beautiful space too cuz that's part of

00:24:27 - 00:25:24

it it's like creating a safe space like this beautiful room do you know what I mean you got to have a place where people can feel comfortable and relaxed we get there I had knew nothing about um economy Archy the day before we open like this is again it's like let's do it and we'll work it out as we go I made economaki the my first one like two days two or three days before we opened and I will eat anything but that thing was so bad that I sat there crying and I'm like we've just invested all this money into

00:24:56 - 00:25:51

a concept that's not going to work you're talking about pivoting so so like you open with this toast concept doesn't work break neck speed let's change that the sushi um the economy Yaki wasn't really working so you break neck change that like it sounds like you you really don't have much room for error no you don't well you're always going to make mistakes you have to jump on that error really quickly so it's like know your numbers make sure that you're focusing

00:25:23 - 00:26:27

and if you do have a leaky tap you got to close that up really quickly because espe especially in the food industry it's like that's why it is tough because food prices are going all through the roof like if the last five or six years is an example of how crazy and turbulent it can be like you we went through Co cuz we luckily got out of a big restaurant just before Co and we only had small takeaways at the time and we were just in a very fortunate position that we didn't have to Pivot as much of

00:25:55 - 00:26:55

some of these big restaurants that some amazing restaurants were closing because they they couldn't pivot quick enough or their customers didn't pivot in that same way food cost went through the roof which made certain models not work anymore but we were lucky that we were in a position where we were serving almost an I don't want to say but it's like an entry level product so it was the last thing that people would take off their list right like going out for a nice fancy experience you could say

00:26:25 - 00:27:20

that's that feels more like a frivolous expense whereas yes getting a toasted sandwich and a coffee on the way to work in the morning it's kind of a necessity I need to eat something totally and that's where we made that morning coffee like really touch the soul people are cutting back how do you keep them coming through the door if people are cutting all of their costs across the board in their household we literally sat the team down only a couple of weeks ago and we said we have to work our guts off to

00:26:52 - 00:27:47

really get creative I was like we know how to produce food we know how to make food affordable for people let's work our absolute guts out to make that happen so I said there's like cuz restaurant prices are just going up and up across the board and it's getting to a point where like $120 $130 for breakfast is just crazy do you know what I mean it's like where where did that come from and I was like no one can that's not sustainable it's not like I I looked at a bill the other day and I was

00:27:20 - 00:28:22

like man 100 it was like 146 bucks for like breakfast for me my partner and our kids I'm like I can't do this like like it just felt silly at that point and that's and that's it got to that point so I said like we we're here for our guests and it's like if we can reduce and change and modify and improve our option so that we can still deliver what they want and what they expect but at a price range that is going to keep them coming back every single day so that's like that's our single-handedly like

00:27:51 - 00:28:45

that's what we are focusing so solidly on is Reinventing our dishes constantly creating constantly trying to keep it at that price point to make people come back without because they don't want to lose that little luxury because then what are you living for do you what I mean not saying that restaurants that the be all on end or but it is an experience that you go out and it's time where you get to be taken care of so we need to do our job and not just put the prices up but fight for our customers so

00:28:18 - 00:29:11

that we can keep that down and really be in their corner so that they can come back and enjoy the experience with us so that we can continue to do this and then when times get good then we can like give readjust again and keep moving in that cycle but you have to be so adaptable especially with the pace of way things are changing at the moment it's like if you lose eggs then you have to get creative without eggs it's like we have these different stages these es and flows like there was a potato shortage a

00:28:45 - 00:29:53

few years ago so we had to wipe those off the menu so there's just you have to see what's happening and then adapt and change before it's too late and I think that's where you just have to be quick to act really quick to act yo my name is Dane Walker and I am disgustingly obsessed with branding I had to figure out a way to do branding every single day so I branded myself then I started my agency rival and hired a team of branding Mavericks hellbent on creating Brands so good that they'll make you a competition

00:29:28 - 00:30:29

de pants so here's the thing you want your brand to go viral and rival makes Brands go viral that's why we're offering you a free 30-minute branding session to get an expert's opinion if you don't believe me the proof is in the pudding here's what clients have to say about rival rival is trusted by Brands like nutrition Warehouse light my bricks and V so if you want to absolutely smoke the competition and make your brand go viral hit the link below and book in your free 30-minute branding session do you have a

00:29:59 - 00:30:58

couple of core principles that you try to live by when you open an establishment you want to make it successful like some things that you like these are the non-negotiables with this establishment it's always well it's customers first so it's like what why are we even doing this like what like are we opening a restaurant because we want to open a restaurant or does this place actually need this like is there actually a need for this so when we open something it's we really think about it

00:30:28 - 00:31:13

we like our venues are all very close so we've stuck to like our little area do you know what I mean we're not traveling all over the place a little a little Monopoly yeah oh there's people that do it way better than us you know what I mean like there's some amazing there's some amazing guys out there but we've got our little community and we know what we want and we constantly getting feedback from them so our non-negotiables are like it's got to be what the C like why why do people want

00:30:51 - 00:31:43

to come here like we got to put ourselves in their shoes and be like not what do we want to not what do we want to serve not what do we want make not the name we want to get for ourselves it's like what do these people want and that's yeah so we went back to Simplicity because people do want simple things do you know what I mean and but you still got to deliver like Excellence is just the standard the entry level so we just know that we're going to put up good food but then it's those extra

00:31:17 - 00:32:19

little moments and it's like how can you surprise and entice your guest and every Twist and Turn through that experience it's like I think surprises are amazing things to happen through a guest experience like small example like at Rafiki we put a tiny little cookie on the top of every takeaway coffee it's so small but it means the world to people what are some things that you identified with let's just take Rafiki Y what was what was the need that you saw in the community so like if someone's trying to identify

00:31:48 - 00:32:42

whether there is or isn't a need like what are some of the things someone can do to make sure that they're finding a a concept that isn't just serving their own ego or their own needs but it actually serves a community well I can't talk for everybody because there are so many different reasons why people get in so for for our experience was we love connection and in a world where that's getting further and further apart it's it's weird like we walked around our streets and these people didn't even

00:32:15 - 00:33:11

talk to their neighbors because they just lived in big houses with walls up and they would walk past them but they never talked to them so Rafiki was creating a communal space like even the seating and the way that we did it it's like the seats faceing other big long benches so you're forced to sit next to somebody then we allowed the dogs and like the babies the prams these are great conversation starters like you put a listen I know more dogs names than I know their humans names do you know what

00:32:43 - 00:33:30

I mean but what a great conversation starter so you bring that in and because you see these people like if you live in an area and you know that there's a certain dog that walks around the area like you know these people you never talk to them so this was such a great Icebreaker and it's brought these people together like people come down to the cafe without even an intention of buying anything they just want to come and see who's there see if they know somebody and they might just hang out for a chat

00:33:06 - 00:34:03

or like pass them on their morning walk or finish a surf like that's what we wanted we're not even there to sell something so so outside of like the the community's need for like food you're trying to think about like what else can we do to bring connection to uh strike conversations to give them uh another place to hang out totally other than their house and their workplace and we like we like our guys are we really drill that into them it's like connect your customers get them talking

00:33:34 - 00:34:30

introduce them like get them like where we're the facilitators of that experience so it's like have you met so and so they do this or you I know that you have a kid that does this or you're out at doing this activity and then we get them talking and then people are so willing to talk to each other you just got to create that environment for them so for us it's like that's that extra little thing that hits in their heart and that they really hold on forever and that they'll miss when they leave and

00:34:02 - 00:34:54

like cuz we've had like staff or guests that have gone and moved to other states or whatever and they're still messaging us Instagram oh we miss you guys so much like because they miss those moments those memories that they've had those like those breakfasts those rainy days outside while they're drinking their coffee drench like it's yeah yeah there's definitely a vibe there and I remember when I went there there was dogs prams people just vibing out it was really cool so so some people say it's

00:34:28 - 00:35:31

all about the food you're saying it's a lot more about the experience and the connection and the relationships where do you stand on this because it sounds like your perspectives change over time from uh your ego dying to realizing it's about them it's not about you it's about being in service of it's about Hospitality right um I guess to to get clear in the question here um what is it that allows a business to be successful in Hospitality outside the experience and outside of the

00:35:00 - 00:35:56

relationships and Community Connection well I think it's I used to think the food was the be all and Endor now I think it's less than 50% like well and truly less than 50% because it's like the food has to be good as a standard like you can't serve rubbish and expect people to keep coming back but the ambience the lighting the music the like the flow of the venue the way the staff interact with everybody they're the thing that's actually plays more of a part than the food I think if you put

00:35:28 - 00:36:20

too much emphasis on the like if you slop down like if you have a delicious dish but you throw it in front of somebody and they're like oh that weight is an [ __ ] like it doesn't matter how good the food is you will never come back to that place ever again or if you're sitting somewhere and it's like freezing cold or like you're getting smashed by the elements or it's just like the seats are uncomfortable like a you have to put attention to detail into everything it's like where are people

00:35:54 - 00:36:54

going to sit like where do the flow go like are they like right next to the um like the washing station do you I mean is that a bad experience how can we man manipulate and move the seating around like you got to really put yourself in their shoes to be like is this a place I'm going to be willing to sit there for an hour and a half and be and have all my world problems go away I think it's yeah I think the food has to be good like as an absolute standard but your service has to be exceptional the venue

00:36:23 - 00:37:28

has to be in like Immaculate really well presented and and then you got to have like your costings your operations your timings you don't want to wait an hour and a half of food like your service your sequence of service has to be down pat and I think it's a th000 little one percenters that make up everything so there's yes there are the your big ticket items your cost of goods your wages all those sorts of things but then if you really dial in those one percenters that make the difference then and think about the

00:36:57 - 00:37:48

customer experience from the second they walk into your Venue like what's the flow like how are they where are they going to go like what's the experience from start to finish from being greeted being seated like how is the access to the toilets like what's their dining experience going to be and even when they're leaving like are you saying goodbye like are you walking them to the door it's I think they're those extra moments that really make this successful because you notice it when you go to a

00:37:22 - 00:38:14

place and they've got that down pad yeah you're like this is exceptional yes yeah and there is so much thought that goes into that yeah we had um we had a guest on recently his name is Marcus Collins and he works for widen and Kennedy and he he done some stuff for like the NBA and he' worked with Beyonce and all the rest of it he was he came up with this really interesting concept he said like we're in society at the moment we're getting so comfortable with automation so for example you want food to your

00:37:48 - 00:38:34

door Uber Eats you want to get somewhere you don't even have to call a cab hail a cab you don't even have to pull out a card you just punch in the address a car shows up you get in you get out you do your thing when you walk into a restaurant you know then you're faced with options and work like oh I got to scan this QR code and I got to scroll through this menu and you know what I mean so he's like you have this seamless experience in the Uber you get out now you have this difficult experience with

00:38:10 - 00:39:04

a waiter so what's your opinion on um how restaurants and establishments need to function now like I I personally get annoyed with QR codes I'm like I don't want to do the work yeah I'm here you do the work it might sound egotistical but I get pissed oh totally when I have to scan a QR code your opinion on like that that flow effect like how do you make sure you're ushering that in a way where they go damn I want to come back yeah I think it's very venue dependent it's

00:38:38 - 00:39:37

like some big venues where there's a lot of ground to cover QR codes are almost vital to keeping that business running because they can't have staff walking all the way around these huge grounds CU some venues are enormous um I was very against them for a very long time I just we I really wanted that personalized service for like we just wanted to connect with our customer we wanted to talk to them we wanted to get their orders right we wanted to cuz we're we do a lot of personalization probably

00:39:07 - 00:39:56

more than we should but these guys mean a lot to like our guests mean a lot to us so we they've been for us for a long time I think we now have moved to a bit of a blended service where that facility is there should you choose to use it but we're here to serve you okay so if it's a busy night and we're being we're we're really under the pump and you want another round of drinks and you can just scan your code and you can get that done instantly because it goes straight to

00:39:32 - 00:40:24

the bar great but if you want it like but if it's a quieter night or even if we're we're completely under control we will come and we will serve the hell out of you and we will give you everything you wanted and more so I think yeah a bit of blend of the technology is what because you need the technology to help run the business like Automation in restaurants is like I I was having this conversation with Ros the other day it was like when I first started everything was paper every like and the of man the

00:39:58 - 00:40:47

amount of mistakes will go to the kitchen but now I feel like I'm running a tech company not a restaurant because it's like with some of our venues do Uber e it's the online bookings the online menus the QR codes like all the automation through like the online booking services and all the plugins that you can have it's like there's so many things to update and stay on top of now but they help us offer a better experience to the guest if utilized properly because you can definitely

00:40:22 - 00:41:14

throw people to the Wayside what do you think are like the common mistakes people are doing because yeah like that's an interesting point with Uber like now you're uh at the whim of the Uber gods and you're serving this uh piece of software and if something goes wrong you can't really control it like what's your honest take on on having to juggle uh a physical environment with face Toof face experiences but then you're also trying to serve this tech company and send food

00:40:47 - 00:41:44

to someone's door yeah um it's difficult like and you got to have the right product for for the platform because it's like the same thing with with podcasting or this or that whatever it's like you got to have the right product for the medium so our business like uber does really well with like Indian food pizzas like stuff that travels well so that allows us to CU some of our businesses do over some of them don't okay avocado and toast just doesn't travel well coffee does not really

00:41:16 - 00:42:16

travel well like you don't want that or just like an eggs Benny would never travel well do you know I mean so whereas like a Japanese rice ball works really well and can stay good for a very long period of time so that works um it's definitely a balance between those two it's like we prefer the in-house interaction but then you also have to be aware that you are getting some marketing you are getting branding people are seeing your product through these mediums so we use it for what it

00:41:45 - 00:42:49

is but we do not rely on it because for Uber it's an advertising exercise for us we get out to a lot of people we're able to serve our customers when they can't get to the store so they're still allowed to have that experience but we focus on growing our business internally do you think that when it comes down to it that you're you're doing this delicate dance between creating an experience creating memories trying to have a really solid culture in a place where it's kind of hard to get

00:42:18 - 00:43:12

enough stuff or it's hard to cover the cost of overheads and rents and food inflation and all the rest of it it just sounds like it's such a dance and it's you have to have your mind in the tech you have to have your mind in the kitchen you have to have your mind on the customers the experience the hospitality the the environment all the rest of it h how do you make sure that that all hums do you have pulse checks like how do you make sure you're constantly staying on point with all of

00:42:44 - 00:43:31

these things yeah you learn to dance that's what you do you learn to dance break dance your way through the day but it's fun that's that's the exciting bit about it that's what that's like at the end of the day like we we say like we love business business is the same no matter what you're doing you you have a product and you're trying to con like like somebody's going to need that product that you're serving do you know what I mean so it's like no matter what

00:43:09 - 00:44:04

shape if it comes in a form of food if it comes in the form of a book if it comes in the form of a podcast it's like it is all business so that to me is the beauty that's the game that we love to play that's what gets us up every single morning is I love the thrill the chase the excitement of like test like we do real life like tests all day every day like our feedback loop is insane because it's like put it at like especially for us we don't we don't spend we spend months planning some things we spend

00:43:36 - 00:44:34

seconds planning others so we can put things out we can get the feed like here try this special did you like it no this is crap you're off you're off Target this is what we're expecting so that feedback loop and then it's like we can take that back and that's a challenge it's exciting it keeps us vibrant we're not doing something the same every single day like I just I love it so do you find like uh okay take me into the cultural uh component of having a restaurant or a cafe do well like what

00:44:05 - 00:45:06

what do you try to create how do you make sure that the culture stays in a good place how do you prevent uh issues and arguments and and resentment building up in a team well I think you have to empower your guys I like they are they're adults not all of them but they not because they're not adults just because they're younger they um but like we Empower our guys we hold them accountable for the things they're doing right and they're doing wrong but we also teach them to hold themselves

00:44:35 - 00:45:32

accountable and I like we say to them all the time it's you're not going to be here forever I understand that there's only a certain very small portion out of the entire staff that actually want a career in Hospitality which is fine I get that so our responsibility to you is to make you a better person and leave here with more skills than you came because you will learn some serious ious life skills that you can take into any any business after you've done some time on the floor in a restaurant you will

00:45:04 - 00:46:02

learn people's skills like there is no tomorrow and you get it quick so the like we really invest in our guys we get to know them what do you want to do what are your goals because in this business that is a restaurant there's Tech there's marketing there's design there's like food there's service there's like costings you can learn numbers you can learn every part like you can a skill that will take you anywhere in this restaurant so tell me what you're interested in I'm going to try and find

00:45:33 - 00:46:24

you a position in that in the restaurant that can enhance something that you're interested in so you can take that skill into the future so like our we used to Outsource a lot of things like we've got a girl now that works for us and she designs all our menus and our flights because she loves graphic design but she also makes a killer coffee so she makes coffee during the day we pay her to do the other stuff at nighttime we find things that they love to do some of them love being in the background and cooking

00:45:58 - 00:47:01

and creating but they hate being on the floor so let's put you in a position where you're going to shine and that put that builds them up so high we also really enforce that the you guys are a family you got to look out for each other like when you go into a service and all hell is breaking loose like you got to know that the guy next to you has got your back and we really turn High intense situations into having a blast and I watch some of them when things are going wrong one thing after another like

00:46:29 - 00:47:21

M equipment's breaking orders are wrong or like the till system goes down and instead of them freaking out I watch this huge smile on their face and they're like it's like they're about to go on the battle and they they're warming up for it so that is something that yeah that's the culture that really gets me excited when I see them knowing that they got each other's back and they go over and above for it they check in with each other to make sure that do you need a break I'm going to cover like it

00:46:56 - 00:47:45

you've just had a really intense period or you've been working for a long time go sit outside for 10 minutes like have a breather oh I got you that's what I love that's what we really emphasize and we when we see those moments it's like don't catch people doing stuff wrong catch them doing it right and then really drilling on that because you can have those quiet little chats with the the corrections but if you're spending all day every day focusing on the things that you want to see out of these guys

00:47:20 - 00:48:18

they will bring that out naturally and then that just permeates through the whole group was there any particular moments where you had to Define moment where you had a reality check or realization around the power of the culture in the team well I think you see the downfall of like when I was getting it wrong I saw that accumulate into one day the day that we had to close the restaurant to be like we literally we need to stop this thing and then I had to close the restaurant and we sat there inside just like working out like what

00:47:49 - 00:48:41

the hell are we doing like where did we go so wrong that we now have to completely flip this thing on its head because we didn't know where to go and it was just one thing after another and then that climaxed into a period where we didn't know like I didn't know what to do and then I had to literally break down every preconceived concept of like what I thought we were here to do because I thought we were here to run a r it's not we were here to build a family and that's what we were actually

00:48:15 - 00:49:23

here to do and then when that clicked in my mind I realized okay where what we sell or what we do is almost not important it's us going through life as a team as a family and we're going to do this together and things will come and go as we go but we're just driving this train the whole way along and as I built that train as we built that train back together one piece at a time and the momentum started to come and then we started to one is like you decide what you're willing to accept but you have to

00:48:49 - 00:49:45

get really strict about what you're not willing to accept and when we cut out things and we said no we're not going to allow like this toxicity in here because that's going to permeate through we set some really hard rules about the way we want our people to be the way we want them to act with each other the way we need to show up and be of service to them so they can be of service to the guests business owners if you're stuck using one platform for every project you're probably stuck in a

00:49:16 - 00:50:25

growth bottleneck more clients means more hires which just adds noise and cuts into profits to break the loop you need flexible tools that don't stretch your resources Wix studio is a smart addition to your business toolkit intuitive by design your team can quickly Master the platform and focus on the work that matters the most then keep up the momentum with a built-in management tool a unified dashboard reusable assets and a figma plug-in that turns static design into launch ready websites with robust native Business

00:49:51 - 00:51:09

Solutions like bookings e-commerce and events you can take any project at any scale without the added cost of third party plugins plus Wick studio is a low maintenance platform meaning you can redirect the client budget towards real growth initiatives think more value for clients steady income streams and stronger relationships to get started simply go to wix.com studio in that moment when you close a restaurant rough did you want to quit oh yeah I did I actually so many times and because I always

00:50:30 - 00:51:27

thought if everything goes wrong I can I know I work hard so I can at least go get a job and I'll work 100 hours a week and I'll pay my bills and I'll work it all out I was actually going to I was I was going to leave I was going to go overseas and then Ros supported me through that whole journey she's like go I'm your biggest fan I'll cry I'll push you onto the I'll push you onto the plane but and I was planning it I was organizing overseas but then I stopped and and I thought what like I'm what am

00:50:59 - 00:52:18

I running away from like why am I running cuz I thought I was going to chase a new adventure but then I realized I was running and I was running from the pain of getting it wrong and I just needed to stop and reflect and go okay it's not you do this you love it but you need to work it out you need to get it right so then it was literally yeah ego death back to square one and not running away and coming back to to start again was it more painful having to reconstruct your ego or was it more painful not knowing how

00:51:38 - 00:52:49

to fix it not knowing how to fix it once the ego died I was like I was I was Rock Bottom you know what I mean I was like there's nothing you can't take anything from me just listening to Creed in the shower I would literally take really long walks at night i' walk for hours at nighttime just in the dark around just Parks just trying to like think about like why what's going wrong and then that just dissolved and then yeah rebuilding the just once you eliminate that ego out of that and then really

00:52:16 - 00:53:20

became of service which is what this game is about then that's where the penny really dropped me I think my favorite part in what you're talking about here is that of course you you have to know your numbers yes you have to know what the community want you have to be extremely concise and attentive to the details you're creating moments not just food you're you're really holding a space for people to come in and out of when you get the culture right you get the food right you get the location right and

00:52:48 - 00:53:50

everything's kind of flowing how do you know when your business is in a position where it should expand you should open another location should you just stay focused and dial in like how do you know when to expand or if you should expand at the start you have no idea you just give it a go and then you make some mistakes that's the thing is bigger is not better okay it can be but not always and more is not better and it's like even now we've made the decision to put a hold on opening more venue so that we

00:53:19 - 00:54:09

could focus on some of our other products because we've got another business that we really want to focus on yeah I want to give you guys a shout out on this as well well cuz there's an interesting story behind it um you have a product called Rafiki yes and this isn't a plug it's it's actually [ __ ] amazing so I remember the first time um I tried it you guys sent me a bottle of this stuff and I just put it on my avocado on toast and it's like crack for your breakfast like it's it's uh you

00:53:44 - 00:54:45

guys joke that it's the love child of salt and pepper yeah it's just better yeah now around this because you've got all these venues how did this whole thing happen because you're not only having success with your venues but you have this spice mix that you've created I even feel like I'm offending you by saying that but like this has become a bit of a sensation in your community oh totally what what happen it it happened by default because when we've opened the first restaurant I had no idea we went

00:54:15 - 00:55:06

into coffee roasting and we I had no idea how to Coffee roast so we had to work that out first of all then we opened the doors and I had no idea how to make a coffee so I had to learn that pretty quickly because I was running outside to grabb the Barista that was having a smoke every time somebody wanted to order a coffee and I sat there like an idiot waiting for him to make the coffee so I could run it out and then it happened in the kitchen and the chefs would leave they would not show up they were inconsistent they would

00:54:40 - 00:55:43

promise something and not deliver and that was a constant battle until one day they just either no one showed up or we were short stuff or something happened I couldn't remember but I had to jump in the kitchen and then I was like okay we own a restaurant and I have no idea how to PO an egg and I'm like why did I do this so it's kind of ridiculous when you think about it ridiculous like I'm going to open a um you know a surf shop but I don't surf like it's one of those things where is like I love people

00:55:12 - 00:56:04

but there's a whole lot of this other part of the business I have no idea about so then I had to learn to poge an egg and then I had to do this and then I was promised all these beautiful food in a tasting but then when it came to consistency on the menu which is a huge part of the business consistency is everything and we were giving out different products every day because the product wasn't consistent so when we open Rafiki the cafe I was like I'm done with chefs I'm not doing this again I'm

00:55:37 - 00:56:32

just I'm I'm done so I was like I'm going to like we're going to create a product that we can put on all the food and then we can make entry level food and then we can make it taste amazing by putting this that way we don't need chefs we can run a better operation with lower cost because we don't have these high wages we can bring entry-level staff in we can teach them how to cook we can keep it consistent but we can make the food taste amazing so the product had to be had to have a

00:56:05 - 00:56:57

widespread and it had to not overpower food it had to enhance it and just by default we started putting it on the food people started loving it they started asking for it so we would give them little coffee cups of like to take home and have some because they wanted to have that experience at home and then we were like oh well I'm giving out so many these coffee cups May well go down to the $2 shop by a couple of jars so then we bought little these tiny little jars I remember you sent me like a glass

00:56:31 - 00:57:40

probably seen one of those first prototypes God but how did you come up with the mix like like what led you to create this this mix that you guys crafted I think it was a blend of being so fortunate to travel when I was younger and experience like Dad spent some time in Dubai so I got to taste all those Middle Eastern flavors and see spices that don't get used here a lot so like just things like sumac just has such a beautiful flavor to it but is not utilized here so and it was that plus a kind of wing in it definitely a little

00:57:05 - 00:58:04

bit winging it so we um yeah we we put it together the first one was pretty close to the final version but then we iterated a little bit and we we got lucky we got lucky and yeah it just kind of worked from the start and we haven't had to change it since like we've tweaked it a little bit to improve it and make it sort of more pable as expand and grow and do bigger batches and stuff like that but yeah no we got lucky yeah and you guys killed it and that stuff is like crack we handed out to our team

00:57:35 - 00:58:24

here people are constantly like when are they sending the next shipment and now you guys have a site which people can go to and get uh and try for themselves we'll put a link in the chat here but like yeah what you guys are done with that is interesting because you're you're obsessed with Community you're obsessed with creating moments uh and you're clearly just like the type of person to really enjoy experimenting and figuring it out while you're doing it yes how much of um failure in your

00:57:59 - 00:59:00

industry do you think is um attached to people overthinking over engineering uh and not jumping on things fast enough oh a huge chunk of it because and I'm so guilty of this myself like I've spent months planning something thinking that it's perfect refining it constantly refining it and then putting it out and it being an absolute flop and I've like I've wasted six months designing rubbish and then sometimes I will have something where I've just and I have it for breakfast one morning cuz I'm putting

00:58:30 - 00:59:27

things together in my cabin in my cupboard and I'm like this tastes pretty good let's try it at the cafe try it and then it works and then it goes out and that's what I realized is like fail fast and like a friend of mine and even with Rafiki it was like we were trying to get it off the ground like before we um like were talking with you guys and like developing the product and I was just I was paralyzed by trying all the things that I had to do and I was like I'm so far away from this because I got to do

00:58:58 - 00:59:49

this and this and this and this and this and then I realized he said to me he's like just get that minimum viable product out there he's like iPhone iPhone 1 2 3 four five they just constantly improve it so it's like get it out there test it get that feedback get that honest feedback not what you think they want what they actually want what are the problems with the product not what you're seeing because I start looking through Rose cled glasses or I'm looking through a concrete wall like

00:59:24 - 01:00:20

struggling to connect with the product whereas these guys will give us the feedback and let us know what's missing or how we can improve it now around the topic of expansion and and growing it seems like it's there's never the perfect moment in Hospitality uh or the perfect plan or what have you I noticed that Trends seem to come and go yes um how do you guys stay relevant without just becoming another fat or getting caught up in a fat and then having to reinvent your business again and again by making the

00:59:52 - 01:00:53

mistake of trying to be a fad based Cafe and then wrecking it and then going back to square one was there a fad for toast at one point well even before that like I I I thought that fads they would come in and then I would do the best version of that fad and then I realized that we actually didn't have an identity we were just a fad based place that would change with the times so now like when I look at a menu I look at it percentage based and I'm like this is I break it up into percentages so this is the core like a

01:00:22 - 01:01:21

huge chunk of the menu 70 80% will be the core stuff that people know and love that they understand then I will have like a portion 5 10% to things that we're experimenting and trying I'll have one fat dish on there so that you can stay relevant and keep with the times with people and stuff like that but I don't change the identity based on a FB because I realize they come but they go so you don't want your business to go when that fb's out the window and that's why I could never open we like we could

01:00:52 - 01:01:53

never open a business where it's just purely surrounded by a fat it's got to be around those Staples that people know love understand people have been eating things a bacon egg burger has been around for a very long time it that's because there's a reason why that happen because people freaking love them yeah so don't try and reinvent the wheel and how much do you think about the virality of a dish uh when you're introducing it to the menu versus just it tasting good I couldn't care less about the virality

01:01:23 - 01:02:14

of a dish to be honest I listen I don't think that's the view for everybody my thing is like a dish because the problem is a lot of viral dishes look great but they tastes like [ __ ] and it's like well you're not going to you're like yeah wow I'll take a photo but I'm never going to come back and buy and eat that again I for me it's taste first because regardless of a pretty coffee once you stir your spoon in it it's gone do you know what I mean but you got to drink the rest of that

01:01:48 - 01:02:41

coffee so if it tastes like crap like yes it obviously has to look pretty it has to be aesthetic like that comes with the territory but our focus is the flavor and it's got to be fur that you enjoy eating so that you want to Crave it cuz you're not going to crave something visually yeah you're going to Crave that taste in your mouth and that feeling that it gives you that dopamine release yeah you almost get anchored to the first time you have it yep and um yeah some of my favorite dishes it was

01:02:15 - 01:03:09

just like I was having a stellar day I just coincidentally ordered that felt great when I ate it and just I tend to be the guy that goes back and just orders the same thing every time but then that's back to the food at being less than 50% because the way that you were feeling the way those people made you feel was a big part of the way that food tasted interesting right so so you're saying you know if someone plops a plate down on my table and like have a good day and it's like okay versus like

01:02:42 - 01:03:52

hey you know like a bit of interaction everything just seems to taste better 100% it's like when your grandma comes down and kisses you on the forehead and puts a plate of cookies in front of the best Grandma makes is great now how do you guys deal with I guess influen of culture food critics uh customer reviews public perception how do you manage this kind of PR component uh around a venue I a touching on a soft spot um what's sof well when I get a DM that says do you want to collab which is not

01:03:17 - 01:04:12

collab you want to come in and have a free meal which I'm not interested in so it's like the social media the influencer side couldn't care less honestly because they come and they go and I don't think they have as much weight as they think they do I think it's your everyday customer lives around the corner these genuine people that genuinely support your business not looking for free stuff so in terms of influences I'm not remotely interested I want to know the real people that come

01:03:44 - 01:04:50

into the restaurant when it comes down to managing online I look for the message inside the message if it is a negative Rie because usually reviews are so extreme it's very rare that you're going to get a middle of the range review it's either going to be this was the most amazing thing or everything was terrible and this is what CU some of the guys get really upset because they puts this their heart and soul into something I said well look at what this person is actually trying to say because it might

01:04:17 - 01:05:16

be one thing that went wrong but then the whole cascading effect would have never happened if that one thing didn't go wrong so where do we fix that and for me it's like you're going to make mistakes things are going to happen like things out of your control are going to happen that are going to wreck somebody's experience so for us it's really genuinely stopping getting on the phone or getting in contact with that customer like as personally as possible and bringing them back to redo that

01:04:47 - 01:05:35

experience again and to show them what it is to connect them to let them know that you did make a mistake or a mistake happened but we're here to fix that because we're here for the long run and that's what we do we don't it's not a thanks for your advice it's like no come back in come talk to us like come let us have let's let's meet let's have that experience again and you'll be surprised when you approach people like that people are people they love being

01:05:11 - 01:06:02

communicated with I think we put these walls up and these facades about who these people are or like we put them on a pedestal or we shun them away or and I think when you just genuinely connect with people you will get cuz you can there's 10 different versions of Dane yeah there's 100 different versions of me depending on how you're getting me do you know what I mean so it's like you may have got them on a bad side and it might have nothing to do with your experience it might be something that's

01:05:37 - 01:06:28

going on in their life and you're the outlet so they might be getting a divorced that day or God knows what and exact or like yeah you might be the the straw that broke back um yeah you you just might have been that moment where you gave them a glance or you didn't give them a friendly hello and they're just like that's enough you know totally and these things can all be redone yeah bring them back in if they don't want it that's completely fine but give them the opportunity like I tell the guys it's

01:06:02 - 01:06:53

like you this is an escape from your problems you know what I mean it's like it problems stay at the door it's like we are here to offer people an experience and this is if you've had a crappy day leave that at the door and have an amazing service be with your friends because the guys all are so well connected that they are friends you know what I mean so they're getting to hang out with their friends while doing something that they enjoy to do like we try make the job as easy as possible

01:06:27 - 01:07:15

through great systemization through like I don't want them to work I want them to work as easily as possible I don't want them to work hard so where if we can find a way to better develop our systems to make their life easier so they could spend more time with the guest instead of just trying to do their job right that's what we focus on because as much automation behind the scenes as possible so that you can focus on it's the freedom to sit there and have a 10-minute conversation not because you

01:06:52 - 01:07:48

have to run the food and do this and do that and whatever you come across as being rude or what and but it's stressful because if if you're completely under the pp you're going to put that on to the guest so all of it is that human interaction but you can break when you learn to break down walls with people you can flip them in an instant yeah do you know what I mean like if you say something not inappropriate but if you say something that is left of center yeah you can you can break somebody's because you know

01:07:20 - 01:08:11

mean like misery loves company when people you can break that pattern really quickly and you can change that experience for the rest of the night yeah so that's what I like we have a great team where the guys all check in with each other to make sure that's happening and if something is really intense like we check in with their lives all the time like what's like we're very invested in what's going on in their personal life so that we can help them do that because we know it's

01:07:45 - 01:08:37

like we want you here but we also know that you're dealing with that so how can we help fix that in your personal life so that you can come to work and everything's will not even come to work it's not for our benefit but it's for your benefit as a human because we love you and respect you no well said and I think you know the cultural piece is important the relationships between people's important leaving your [ __ ] at the door and trying to bring you a game it's like a performance it's like you're

01:08:11 - 01:09:02

in theater almost very much so it sounds like you know whatever you going on at home I don't know what happened with that girl with the burrito but um you know what I mean you got to leave that [ __ ] at the door and you got to you got to perform yes yeah so if you have a good connection with the community you've got a great cultural team environment atmosphere the food's good uh and you've got a nice automative system you're using technology all these other things how much does branding play

01:08:36 - 01:09:40

a role in the mix of this like is it um something that adds an edge or like how do you how do you see or understand how branding can influence uh Beyond just the culture Beyond enly enormously and you have to have a solid brand which is like we were so blessed to work with rival and have Rafiki do become a brand because it wasn't a brand beforehand it was five letters that I found some weird squiggly F and put together and I was like when I showed you the first time I was like this is our brand and you're

01:09:09 - 01:10:07

like not a brand what's your definition of a brand in the water Hospitality what are some of the the Hallmarks uh a venue needs to have oh in terms of a brand I think it's the it's the feeling that the venue gives you is the brand of that venue the experience that you're going to have that you know that they're responsible for so there's some brands that are like you know you're going to have a good party when you go to this place or you know this is a great high class

01:09:39 - 01:10:38

restaurant you're always going to get an exceptional meal with crazy service for us Rafiki it's fun it's playful it's Community Driven it's like it's about being active it's about being alive it's about like just music and laughter and all those sorts of things that for us brings people together because we love celebration like that is us us to the core it's like so many moments go in life and you can just whistle them away or forget to celebrate every like we

01:10:07 - 01:11:08

celebrate everything like everything we will celebrate the smallest of achievements to the biggest of events we will just celebrate it all and I think that's that just makes life worth living and then if you can drag people into that it's and it's like you become attractive be be by being an attractive person or by being an attractive brand it's like we don't want to go out and find people we want them to be drawn into us so we do think like we're that guy in the corner having fun

01:10:38 - 01:11:31

and you're like why is that guy over there dancing by himself just having a great time I'm going to go check that out and then one turns into two turns into three turns into four and that's what I think it's like we just want to be our most authentic self and that's represented in our in in the brand because it is fun it's playful and that's just who we are at our call so for you with all of this stuff that you're doing I understand you've got Rafiki that's popping off like you guys

01:11:05 - 01:12:07

mentioned to me you've built this product it's going gang busters you haven't even been focused on it for a year because you've had such a demand from your venues yeah now you're returning to that which is fantastic but above all of this if we zoom out to 30,000 ft how do you want to be remembered I don't I don't I real that's so unimportant to me wow right now like I couldn't care less because think about it like I don't even know my great-grandfather like I know his name

01:11:36 - 01:12:39

and I know a couple of things about him but I know nothing else no one cares like and which is fine I'm cool with that but as long as what I focus on is being present in the moment because whatever happens in the future I have zero control in whatever happens in the past is already done but how I show up every single day and the way that I make people feel in that exact moment that's what I focus on I couldn't care less about what Legacy I just love doing things I love being useful um I love

01:12:06 - 01:13:06

going out with our team with Ros and us just putting our all into some sort of project and giving it a go and either massively succeeding or having it blow up in our face like it's fun when things go wrong do like I've developed that mindset where it's just like I like it's we gave it a go we got it so wrong but that's fine so it's like yeah I don't think nothing's Legacy based it's just we just like doing we have a group of people that we like spending time with

01:12:36 - 01:13:39

and we make food we sell products we cut hair we would like we do all different things we just we spend time together and we just travel through life so that's kind of where my focus is at the moment I love that it's a really honest response very candid and I can connect with it personally uh what's a quote or a mantra that you've carried with you on your journey that you wished everyone listening to this would immediately Implement well something that my dad said that he constantly would say to me is be true to

01:13:09 - 01:14:11

yourself be kind to others and the rest will sort itself out and if you can do those things daily like if I can show up and do that daily then I've had enough experiences to know that over a long enough time period things work themselves out like whenever I go see my grandma she's 95 and the only thing that she asked me is she's like are you happy are you healthy and after a lifetime they're the only two things she cares about Grand care about man they've had so much to do and then I realized all

01:13:40 - 01:14:32

this other stuff is not important yeah so I think just showing up and yeah being true to yourself because deep down you know do you know what I mean whether you fight it or not like you know the answer so be true to yourself always be kind to others regardless of what's going on because you have no idea of their story and I've just had that situation play out personally so many times in my life and then knowing that everything will work out over a long enough time period because it's either

01:14:06 - 01:15:03

you're going into storm you're in one or you're coming out so it's like it's you're just in a phase and everything is so cyclic you just got to keep pushing through so I just know that it was just everything works yeah I was sharing a quote recently which is um from Johnny Knoxville which is one of my favorite quotes we did like a quote episode where where he says that um I know it's going to end bad but I'm going to pretend it's not yep so true so much of business is like

01:14:35 - 01:15:25

that cuz you're just like man this is going to go bad somewhere I don't know where but we'll figure it out but it will there's there's so many factors there's so many moving parts to sit there and think that you can control everything is just absurd you just got to get on the wheel and just ride the wave and when I stopped fighting like pushing and fighting and just started to flow that's when when everything really opened up for me so I now just focus on trying to go with the

01:14:59 - 01:16:08

flow and flowing with what's going on around us was there any key people of influence that you really aspired to learn from on this journey I feel like it's forever changing I feel like to to be brutally honest like Ros is a true inspiration I learned so much from her like every single day so like our connection is crazy but you meet this this journey of business is so wild do you know what I mean and you never know who's around the corner so it's like I just am wide-eyed open waiting for the

01:15:35 - 01:16:37

next person that I encounter it's like I didn't know you but now I do and like you're a fascinating person so I love like I just love meeting interesting people and I love getting to know them so it's like and I think that's a Common Thread through everything that we do because like the o one of our goals is to just create something where interesting people want to come to see us by the party that we host or the event that we hold because then we don't have to go see them they can come see us

01:16:07 - 01:17:06

and then we can just meet people because people are fascinating humans are so fascinating is there anyone that you're modeling that you're like man the way they do business is [ __ ] rad I want to copy that specifically one person no I take bits and pieces from everybody because I don't I feel like I've gone down that path of just trying to imitate in the past and that's where like my younger self really got lost because I was trying to be somebody else so now what I've learned to do is I pick pieces and

01:16:36 - 01:17:35

attributes from people that I like and that I can apply in my own life and then I start to build that in my own way and develop it that way yeah rather than trying to copy everyone copy everybody I find pieces from everyone that I meet that like where like somebody that lives on the streets like I had a fantastic conversation was somebody only a week ago and I learned so much from them somebody that you would usually write off but then like CEOs my dad grandmothers like just random people that you meet on there you

01:17:06 - 01:18:07

can learn from everybody so I try and just pick up these little nuggets of gold through life and then put that together and apply it to my life I love that man that's awesome when you wake up in the morning what gets you fired up my phone going off just the fact that I woke up dude I say it every day I like I woke up today's a good day because I'm alive like I'm just stoked to be alive because the rest of it and I I always say it's like the worst thing that could happen is that you die but then it's all over

01:17:37 - 01:18:35

so there is no pain after death so it's just like and for me just another day I'm stoked with another day because I've had I've experienced tragedy I've had people around me die and I've seen loss and I've seen pain and I've seen regret so for me it's just wake up give it your all come home Knack it at the end of the day yeah and then go to sleep and just go because I don't we we're so blessed to be in a position where we don't do things that we don't enjoy doing we

01:18:05 - 01:18:53

literally get to dictate our day dictate our life and we've been put in a position where we're able to craft that so I don't do anything that I don't enjoy like I just love it and I will do it till I have zero energy left in my body at the end of the day yeah and collapse on the couch and then wake up and do it again yeah I always joke about this and I've said this on the Pod before and I say this people all the time they're like What's your exit plan I'm like [ __ ] the exit plan I just want

01:18:29 - 01:19:16

to do this till I turn to dust like this is my [ __ ] yeah yeah that's so true it's like yeah I don't have an Exit Plan it's just like what's the next thing yeah what's the next brand I can build you know I'm just hungry for the next project um now for you and and RZ like what's a door that you need to kick in in order to go to the next level in business well this is like we're learning a new industry now through this like through the spices it's like we we

01:18:53 - 01:19:47

need to go through and we need to challenge in expand ourselves so we've got to a point we're almost comfortable with restaurants where we could do them very easily with our eyes like like we can do this model we know it we've done it for a very long time so now we need to kick down the door of becoming beginners again like luckily we both Embrace being beginners and being [ __ ] at stuff so like I love that Journey because I know the process of starting and learning something like we

01:19:19 - 01:20:10

understand we leared how we learn so I think kicking down the door of this complete new industry of e-commerce sales like contract manufacturing like shipping Logistics all those sorts of things like that's that's our next exciting opportunity and it's just biting the bullet and like sinking our teeth into it that's why we said no more restaurants like we need to focus on this CU we were like we're going to focus on it then we went and open two more of so I was like no we need to set

01:19:45 - 01:20:33

some rules cuz I remember when you guys had three then you went into four then you're like that's it we're done then you open number five and then number six so I'm hesitant to believe that you're not going to open seven and eight I'm committed but yeah you guys are are definitely sleeping on this product man like we are so ready every time I go to the supermarket I'm just pissed off it's not there yeah I have to go we got some big goals this year and that's like it's

01:20:09 - 01:21:28

now just like bite the bullet and go deep on this and become a beginner and enjoy that Journey so so why do you not want to just play it safe and just stick to what you know and what you know works oh so I got a I got caught speeding on a motorbike once and I was going like almost 100ks over the speed limit when I got pulled over and then I got back and I called Ros and cuz I lost my license and like had to call my her business partner at the time and I was like very hesitant to call him and I called him and then I was

01:20:48 - 01:21:47

like this is what happened and he goes did you have fun and I was like what and I was like no he's like like cuz you were [ __ ] flying and I was just like he's like you don't sit around at the end of your life and tell all the the times where you went to bed early or you had you ate had a really nice meal and then like nothing happened or you had a day an uneventful day it's like the stories are those crazy moments in life where you're pulling at every end and I'm like that kind of like hit home with

01:21:17 - 01:22:20

me I was like I I just love extremes so yeah I think that's I just love the I love the chaos why I think it's life is interesting you got one life it's like I I it just might be the way that we're built or the life the way that my life plan ended up or the way we ended up doing things but it's just there's Beauty in chaos and I think there's Beauty in everything and it's like when you've been enough around enough chaotic situations you can see the other side of it and you're not so

01:21:49 - 01:22:57

scared or intimidated by it because it life just goes on until it doesn't do you do you think a part of you is trying to seek that next Rush no no I'm also very calm like I spend a lot of time just I'm I chill a lot too like I I I love the rush but I'm not addicted to it right what would you say if there were an addiction which is probably very comp cont I don't know okay so let me rephrase this so like what would you say like is like um uh what what are you getting a dopamine hit from going back

01:22:22 - 01:23:29

into uh I guess the realm of being the beginner and hitting a new industry that you've not got much experience in like what is that that you're seeking through that pivot I just think I'm becoming a better version of myself because if I'm doing something that I suck at this is a part of me that's missing that I'm looking to grow or evolve into a new version of myself I love learning skills I just I'm just interested in things so if I have the opportunity to do that I've also identified that when I suck at

01:22:57 - 01:23:54

something I'm like okay this is a new task let's like game on I love a bit of a challenge do you know what I mean so I love getting in there nitty and gritty and I think just yeah I think life is about experiences it's like it all circles back to that same thing it's like creating experiences having experiences living life to the fullest like I'm really down for that yeah so I think yeah if I can thrust myself into that as much as possible then for me personally that's a great life I always

01:23:25 - 01:24:18

love hanging out with you guys you and Ros are ball of energy every time you guys are in town or I'm in town I'm like got to go see Ros and Toby And we just got to see those guys hang out with them whether we're getting a toasty together getting cocktails together just genuinely man like I see you guys as friends I appreciate you both I just love how you light up a room together and um yeah what you're doing in the hospitality space is exciting it's enthralling and I think that the fact

01:23:51 - 01:24:43

that you're kicking this new door in is going to be fun to watch I just love it when you make content yeah if I can nudge you I think you need to make more content but um we'll talk about that we'll talk about this later but dude nothing but love for you and uh Ros um also thank you for my beautiful tiger gift that you guys brought in um that's thoughtful Ros again it's very thoughtful of you guys no one's no one's really brought me a gift before uh so so I appreciate that it's very kind of you

01:24:17 - 01:25:05

and dude since day one your whole team has been amazing that's why like we love you guys too it's been yeah a crazy experience big for you guys man we'll put some links in the chat for those that want to check out what you're doing check out your locations and if you're on the go Coast uh they should definitely swing by and come see what you're doing but um yeah from the bottom of my heart man Big Love appreciate you guys so much really appreciate your time love to get you back