Restaurant Owners Uncorked - By Schedulefly

Wil talks with Jeff Perera, founder of Jeff’s Bagel Run, to unpack a quintessentially scrappy entrepreneurial tale: laid off in 2019, Jeff stayed home with his kids while his wife returned to work, and, prompted by her longing for authentic New York-style bagels, he taught himself to bake from scratch in their kitchen, turning a novice’s sticky-fingered mishaps (including a rescue call to King Arthur Flour’s baker hotline) into a perfected recipe that evoked childhood nostalgia for his wife. What began as porch pick-ups and 20-mile deliveries for four bagels snowballed during the pandemic into home deliveries of 40 dozen a day, farmers-market lines that braved Florida rainstorms, and eventually a first leased storefront in July 2021; by 2025 the brand boasts 24 locations (6 corporate, 18 franchised), a laser-focused “bake fresh, bring joy, build community” ethos, and a franchise pipeline of 141 signed agreements—all while rejecting scalable shortcuts like frozen products or off-site baking to preserve the art

Kristina Garrison, a Ukrainian-raised San Franciscan turned globetrotting mom of two, and her classically trained chef husband David Garrison have just soft-opened Grub Smokehouse in a coworking-space kitchen in Youngsville/Wake Forest, NC—their non-traditional barbecue haven born from a hole-in-the-wall California burger joint shut by COVID, four-and-a-half years of culinary inspiration across Europe and Israel, and a ChatGPT-assisted leap to the Tar Heel State with five suitcases and zero local ties. In week three of word-of-mouth operations, they’re smoking everything in-house (12-day-brined pastrami, scratch sauces, seasonal salads, daily sweet-potato cinnamon rolls) on a shoestring DIY buildout, balancing 14-hour grinds with yoga, cold plunges, and an industry discount while betting that perfect-bite flavor symphonies and organic influencer meals will turn curious locals into loyal regulars in a growing melting-pot market.10 Key Takeaways Non-traditional BBQ = perfect-bite melody: Every sandwich/sSant i

Dimitri Syros, a Greek-American former teacher and law school graduate, launched The Breakfast Company with his mother in Sarasota, Florida, in October 2020 amid the COVID pandemic, transforming her dream of a small coffee shop-bakery into a full-service breakfast-and-lunch concept that exploded from day one. The family leveraged their multi-generational restaurant heritage, including translating his late grandfather's recipe book, to fuel rapid growth to five locations with two more opening in June 2025. Facing soaring labor costs (tipped wages rising from $6 to $15/hour), inflation, hurricanes, and immigration impacts on supply chains, Syros emphasizes preserving soulful, community-driven service over fast-casual efficiency while experimenting with drive-thrus, standardized builds, and potential franchising to scale responsibly without losing family involvement or local intimacy. He credits early closure at 2 PM, above-market pay, promoting internal managing partners, and a strong support system for staff r

Wil hosts Tyler Kotch, founder of PIE.ZAA (Asheville & Charlotte), for a candid chat about spotting late-night demand, building a hyper-focused high-margin pizza concept (five-item menu, 28" pies or 12" slices), surviving COVID, navigating a painful partner split, and scaling methodically toward franchising. Tyler shares lessons on location strategy, simplifying operations to reduce waste, ditching phones in favor of in-person/email and AI ordering, fixing third-party delivery headaches via Takeout Central, and the bigger mission: build a people-centric company, communicate face-to-face, and leave a legacy—possibly across 30–100 locations—using a mountains/city/beach testbed with the FDD in motion.10 takeaways:Simple wins: Five-item menu; whole 28" pies or 12" slices—less waste, faster training.Late-night niche: PIE.ZAA launched to serve post-10pm demand; pizza delivers the margins.Go big on product & packaging: 28" pies + distinctive black boxes = walking billboards.Location is leverage: Foot traffic

Wil sits down in-person with Tim McLaughlin, technologist-turned-operator who founded GoTab after opening two Caboose breweries and confronting real service-model pain (giant spaces, staffing constraints). Years before COVID, Tim taped QRs to tables and proved guests will change behavior to avoid pain (lines), which pushed GoTab to build not just ordering but a deep KDS and, later, a POS when closed ecosystems (e.g., API roadblocks) blocked integrations. Today GoTab focuses on operations over payments, hybrid service (QR + handheld + kiosk), open integrations, and white-glove 24/7 support, while running lean and profitable (not “growth at any cost”). With Opsie for inventory/costing, expansion in higher-labor markets like Australia, and an operator-first pricing philosophy (inspired by Costco’s cap idea), Tim argues tech should feel invisible, amplify hospitality, and never replace it.10 Takeaways Pain drives adoption: guests embraced QR ordering in 2018 at Caboose Commons to skip long lines—two years before

Episode SummaryIn this heartfelt episode of Restaurant Owners Uncorked, host Wil chats with Heidi Whitcomb a passionate and deeply committed independent restaurant owner in Florida. With nearly 40 years in hospitality, Heidi embodies service, gratitude, and resilience. She shares her journey from early jobs at Subway and Kmart to bartending, truck driving, entrepreneurship, and ultimately founding Raise the Bar & Grill. Her approach to hospitality goes far beyond food and drinks. It's about people, community, empathy, and raising standards in an industry where service and heart are often lost. Through adversity, hard work, and unfiltered honesty, Heidi proves that leading with love and purpose creates meaningful impact in business and in life.Key Takeaways Hospitality Is About People First – Heidi believes the industry is about serving others with genuine love, not just making money. Happy Teams = Happy Guests – Run your business by caring for your employees first; great service starts with a strong cu

Wil talks to Jeffrey Boland, Director of Operations at Mac’s Hospitality Group (home of Mac’s Speed Shop and South 48/Southbound concepts). Jeff shares an intensely honest journey—from addiction and getting fired in construction to finding belonging in restaurants, achieving sobriety at 22, and transforming into a purpose-driven leader. He explains how recovery shaped his leadership philosophy, why mental health must be normalized in hospitality, and how Mac’s now offers free therapy access to employees. This episode is packed with real-life leadership tools: building equity with your team, using communication as an instrument, connecting through vulnerability, and leading with service and courage. Jeff reminds us that hospitality is the best industry in the world—because it saves people and builds community.10 Key Takeaways Hospitality can save lives — Jeff found belonging, purpose, and a path to recovery in restaurants. Sobriety is a journey, not an event — AA helped him get sober; therapy helped him hea

Wil sits down with Tim Wittman, a Denver-based developer and founder of Brewello, a white-label mobile app built for independent cafés and bakeries. Rooted in the same “simple tool + legendary support” ethos as Schedulefly, Brewello integrates directly with Square to enable order-ahead, loyalty, and push notifications—without the complexity or high cost of larger tech platforms. Tim shares how the idea was born after seeing local cafés struggle, why he’s focused solely on independents, how his success-based pricing model works, and why word of mouth, authentic partnerships, and community trust will always beat venture-backed speed.10 Takeaways Shared philosophy: Both Schedulefly and Brewello focus on simplicity, fair pricing, and treating customers like family. Founder origin: Tim, a longtime software consultant, created Brewello after seeing beloved Denver cafés close and spotting an unmet need. Square integration: Brewello connects directly to Square (covering ~80% of local cafés), removing extra manag

SummaryOn this Restaurant Owners Uncorked episode, Wil talks with Village Juice & Kitchen cofounders Clyde Harris and Lonnie Atkinson about building a clean-food concept that’s as craveable as it is good for you. Born from Lonnie’s California-shaped passion for fresh, minimally processed ingredients—and reinforced by Clyde’s cancer journey—the brand grew from farmers’ markets and a pop-up (first juice in 2015, first restaurant in 2016) to seven locations today: two corporate stores (Winston-Salem and the new Raleigh), one franchise (Optimist Hall, Charlotte), and four licensed university outlets (Wake Forest, Elon, USC—South Carolina, and High Point). They unpack price/value myths, menu pillars (cold-pressed juice, bowls, wraps, toasts, plant-based “Billy Cakes”), and an all-are-welcome approach to dietary needs. The growth plan is disciplined—more corporate stores across NC, selective university deals, and a push into hospitals (including a signed deal with UNC Health)—funded store-by-store to protect co

Wil welcomes guest Ken Stemke, owner of Main Street Social in Libertyville, IL, an upscale Italian-American restaurant with its own wine label. Ken traces his hospitality spark to bussing tables in high school, then a 35-year career in banking that armed him with the financial discipline many restaurants lack. He shares how a seasoned team, empowerment, and a recent, internally driven menu refresh (60+ dishes tested) improved culture and guest experience. The convo dives into COVID cash-flow planning, POS frustrations, the importance of listening to staff and guests, policy headwinds like tip-credit changes, rising costs/tariffs, tech overreach, and why independent restaurants—and local coalitions—are essential to community life. Key Takeaways Banking → hospitality advantage: Ken’s finance/accounting background gave him crucial cash-flow and planning skills most operators need but often lack. Seasoned staff pays off: With servers averaging ~40 in age and long tenures, May Street Social avoids much of the t

Wil  sits down with Emily Williams Knight, CEO of the Texas Restaurant Association (TRA), which represents 58,000 restaurants, 1.4M employees, and nearly $137B in annual sales. Emily explains how the TRA protects a pro-business regulatory environment so operators can focus on guests and teams, not red tape. She shares a pandemic origin story: brand-new in the role, she built a “war room,” forged bipartisan relationships, helped shape PPP/RRF fixes, and pushed for one of the earliest statewide re-opens, becoming a nightly “north star” for Texas restaurants.Today’s headwinds: uncertainty across demand patterns, labor/immigration constraints disrupting the full “plant-it to plate-it” chain, protein inflation (beef unlikely to ease until ~2028 due to shrunken herds, import frictions, and disease risk), and looming seafood import tightening. Emily flags swipe fees (3–4%+), opaque delivery chargebacks/penalties, and rising insurance/rent/cleaning costs that small operators can’t keep passing to guests. TRA’s approa

Wil sits down with Chris Moran, owner of Bullet Grill House in Point Blank, Texas—an hour north of Houston by Lake Livingston. Chris traces a winding path from teenage shifts at Big Boy to Pizza Hut GM postings across the Midwest, a pivot into automotive/oil & gas, and a “nights-and-weekends” stint at Ted’s Montana Grill that rekindled his hospitality bug. In 2019, he and his wife built Bullet Grill House from raw land—doing much of the interior themselves, debt-light by cashing out savings. After a strong first summer, COVID hit; they pivoted fast to curbside, takeout, and discounted beer/wine to-go—ironically exceeding February sales in April 2020. Since opening, they’ve posted year-over-year growth.Chris walks through lessons learned: keep operations simple and reliable (including moving back to Schedulefly), obsess over service consistency, and keep a close eye on vendor pricing. He’s grown the space with “McBullets,” a hidden-door Irish-style speakeasy room, and leverages their 4.4-acre lot to host t

Edward (26) and Myi (27) went from hanging door flyers and delivering pies in high school to owning two Pizza Guys franchises in California’s Inland Empire. They share how a decade of on-the-line learning beat any business textbook, why the right partner matters, and what it took to pioneer a NorCal brand in SoCal—leases, permits, delays, and all. They dig into California’s new $20/hr fast-food wage, how corporate support and smarter deals helped them steady sales, and the community-first tactics that keep customers coming back. Above all, they’re building a culture by doing the hardest jobs themselves, mentoring their crew, and taking calculated risks—not lottery-ticket ones.5–7 Key Takeaways From door hangers to owners: Starting at the bottom gave them credibility with their team and an operator’s eye for the details that matter. Choose partners wisely: Drop the ego, communicate, and make decisions together—partnerships thrive on humility and trust. Calculated risk > blind risk: College can teach fr

Sam Hart's journey into hospitality is a story of resilience, risk-taking, and reinvention. After dropping out of college multiple times and living out of his car, he discovered a passion for cooking while scraping by on cheap pasta and tomato sauce. That spark led him back to Charlotte, where he left a lucrative advertising career to attend culinary school and eventually train at Alinea, one of the world’s most celebrated restaurants. He returned to open Counter, a fine dining concept built on storytelling, music, and discipline, launched with just $35,000 during COVID. Over five years, Sam has grown as a leader, mentor, and innovator, developing restaurants rooted in creativity, resilience, and a fierce commitment to skill, not “talent.” His story blends lessons on risk, failure, discipline, health, and joy in pursuit of building something truly original.10–12 Key Takeaways Origins in Adversity – Dropped out of college four times, lived out of his car, and stumbled into cooking out of necessity. Discover

Wil talks with Anthony Hamilton of Icon Group Hospitality about building people-first restaurant businesses that last. They riff on digital minimalism (Wil’s flip phone!), presence with family, and the hard edges of hospitality—burnout, 24/7 crises, substance abuse—then pivot to how thoughtful leadership, balance, and systems can make the work sustainable. Anthony traces his path from CIA-trained chef to operator/educator to acquiring legacy independent brands and venues, explaining creative deal structures, venue-first catering strategy, and a culture that prizes productivity over performative “grind.” The throughline: lead with hospitality, invest in people, use simple tech well, and protect the soul of beloved neighborhood institutions.Key takeaways Presence beats obsession: Ditching always-on smartphones can reduce noise and make you a better leader, parent, and human. Hospitality is holistic: Mental health, family time, and modeling balance are part of the job, not perks. People > spreadsheets: “

Part I: People-First Leadership → Culture Over Everything

In this episode of Restaurant Owners Uncorked, Wil welcomes Darren Spicer, co-founder and CEO of Clutch Coffee Bar, a fast-growing drive-thru coffee concept with 17 locations across the Carolinas. Darren shares his journey from bagging groceries to working at Dutch Bros, then taking a leap from a successful medical sales career to build Clutch Coffee with his co-founders. The conversation dives into the brand’s philosophy of serving “positive energy,” its people-first culture, growth strategy, and the importance of authentic customer service as a differentiator in an increasingly transactional industry. Darren highlights lessons learned in funding, location strategy, and leadership while underscoring his belief that hospitality is about genuine human connection, not just speed or convenience.Key Takeaways Origin Story: Darren’s first taste of customer service came as a teenage barista, which shaped his passion for hospitality. Dutch Bros Influence: His time at Dutch Bros taught him the value of culture and

In this episode of Restaurant Owners Uncorked, Wil talks with restaurateur-turned-coach Josh Kopel about his journey from running highly successful, Michelin-rated restaurants in Los Angeles to how he ultimately transitioned to teaching profitability and marketing. Kopel emphasizes that hospitality is fundamentally about people, not products, and that lasting success requires a servant’s heart, resilience, and a willingness to embrace failure as a teacher. Their conversation explores the grind of restaurant ownership, the importance of clarity in brand storytelling, the danger of “scope creep” in menus or features, and why businesses must focus on benefits over features. Kopel also shares his philosophy of teaching everything he knows through a free masterclass, his use of AI as an “executive” assistant, and his mission to give more back to the industry than he takes.Key Takeaways Hospitality as performance art — Kopel discovered the industry young, viewing the bar as a stage and service as a performance.

Tom and Amy Johnson are turning a years-long dream into B-Side the Tracks Brewing Company in Conyers, GA. Amy, a 30-year finance pro turned American Brewers Guild grad, will helm the brewhouse. Tom will run front-of-house and a small distillery (bourbon, whiskey, vodka; rum later). Their vision is a true “third place” with standout hospitality, pizza from a 700° rotating oven, smart limited specials, weekend brunch, and education-forward beer & spirits pairings. The path wasn’t linear: failed financing, lost earnest money, an architect/GC reset, a surprise ~$42k water fee, and an 18-month slog to close on their historic railroad-side building. Permits landed late May, renovation began in June, target opening is October. Equipment is en route, community excitement is real, and their service-first mindset (“welcome home”) is the throughline.8–10 Takeaways Hospitality > Hype: They’re building a neighborhood “third space” where regulars feel known. Service is the differentiator, not bells & whistles.

In this episode of Restaurant Owners Uncorked, Wil sits down with Nick Patel, a CPA who left corporate accounting to become a multi-unit franchise restaurant owner before pivoting back into accounting, this time with a focus on helping restaurant operators. Patel shares his personal journey from owning restaurants in Florida, the challenges of partnering with family, and the lessons learned from expanding too quickly. Today, he runs a thriving accounting and advisory practice that specializes in restaurants, helping owners navigate razor-thin margins, complex tax credits, and strategic planning.The conversation spans everything from partnership structures and breakeven analysis, to practical tools like Margin Edge and bill.com, to how strong customer service and “high touch” relationships are becoming rare advantages in business. Both Wil and Nick emphasize the importance of focus, humility, and planning as the foundation for restaurant success.8–10 Key Takeaways Focus Before Scaling – Patel’s experience tau