How They Crushed It

Nick Liberatore | Growing the Family Business, Changing a Tarnished Industry, & Continuous Learning

• Direct Mortgage Loans • Season 1 • Episode 8

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Nick Liberatore, owner of Lib's Grill, shares his journey from working in the restaurant industry at the age of 13 to running multiple successful restaurants. He emphasizes the importance of positivity, authenticity, and community involvement in the restaurant business. Nick discusses the challenges faced during the pandemic and how they pivoted their business to offer upscale curbside service. He also highlights the significance of treating customers as guests and creating a loyal and engaged community. Nick's mission is to change the tarnished industry and provide a genuine and exceptional dining experience.

Direct Mortgage Loans (00:

00.046) I said, dad, I'm ready to work for you. He said, absolutely not. I was like, what? So you were working in the restaurant world at 13. Customers have transactions. Guests, they're welcome all the time. The culture is contagious. Positivity is contagious, but negativity can be, too. Changing a tarnished industry and community involvement. They have to be crushing it. They have to be crushing it. As long as you're learning from something, I feel like it's not a lost cause. Man, I'm glad I didn't know what I didn't know at that moment. Exactly. Welcome everybody to episode eight of the How They Crushed It podcast sponsored by Direct Mortgage Loans, my wonderful place of employment. Today's guest is Nick Liberatore of Libs Grill here in Baltimore. Nick's a Baltimore guy, he's running a great business, he's definitely crushing it and he's got a wonderful story to tell that starts at around the age of 13. So check it out, we can't wait to show you what Nick's all about. Hey, everybody. Welcome to episode eight of the How They Crushed It podcast sponsored by Direct Mortgage Loans, where I work. Today, we have another true Baltimorean, not Baltimorean, sometimes, you know, Baltimorean. I can't even talk Baltimorean. Nick Liberatore from Libs Grill. You've heard of Liberatore's. You've heard of Libs Grill. Liquid Libs. They cater as well. He's got businesses all, you know, he's involved in all over this town. And we're pumped to have him. He's got a business that is crushing it. And can't wait to jump into it and hear all about it. So welcome, Nick. Thanks for having me. Glad to have you, man. So, you know, we always start this with some fun. And especially, I'm married to an Italian woman. So since Libertory's in this, the family is all Italian, I got a couple of questions. I'm going to ask you a question, and I'm going to tell you what Google told us, and then get your take on it. and have a little fun just to loosen it up. Google might know more than I know about myself. That's scary. Not always. No, it's not about you specifically. But my first one is, what is the most famous Italian food? The most famous Italian food? Like the style? Like the most popular. Like when you say to Google, what's the most popular Italian? Pasta? Pizza? Pizza. Oh, man. And what about the most popular Italian food in Italy? Mmm.

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05.934) Pizza again. It's pizza again? Pizza again. No way. So I'm guessing you sell a lot of pizza. I'm more of a pasta guy myself, but we do sell a lot of pizza. Okay, that's what I figured. And then second one, this is one my wife always asks me, so you're going to get a kick out of this. Why don't the Italians have their own version of St. Patrick's Day since we're in the spring right now? I don't know. I don't know either. She has a t -shirt that says, Kiss Me, I'm Italian, that she wears every year. Every year she says, Take me out for Italian food on St. Patrick's Day, and we have a little fun with it. I love that. So, yeah. And last one, there's no right or wrong, but Bocelli or Pavarotti? Oh, Bocelli. I've seen him four times in concert. I love that answer. I missed him. He just came to Baltimore. How long ago did you go? CFG Bank, that's where I was, CFG. Good for you. Good for you. Well, look, we do a couple segments here, everybody. You've done the same one with our previous seven guests. We're going to talk a little bit about Nick's story. We're going to talk about your sales and marketing story. And we're going to talk about what's happening right now in the spring of 2024 that's working for you. So. Without further ado, my friend, give us the story. Young Nick in Baltimore to a guy running multiple restaurants and crushing it in the restaurant business. Tell us how you got there. That's quite a story. I appreciate you saying we're crushing it. There are days that it doesn't feel like that. But I think it started to see my dad. I mean, my dad was always in the business. So if I wanted to see dad, Alex and I wanted to see him, Alex and my brother wanted to see my dad, we had to go to work. So we would drive with him as bus boys, not of the legal 16 year old age, probably 13 busing tables, dish washing. And we would go hang out with him, close the restaurant with him and get to spend time and kick ass in the restaurant. So you were working in the restaurant world at 13. Dish washing and busing, yep. Owings Mills. Question to ask you immediately, was your dad harder on you and your brother than he was on other employees? Absolutely, yeah, no doubt about it. I would have bet on that. So 13 years old, bus and tables, that's your entree into this thing? It was exactly that. And my sister and my brother were both involved. My sister in a lesser capacity, but my brother was as well. I fell in love with it, and he said, absolutely not. So it was kind of a tale of two stories at that point. And then I just kind of kept grabbing as much information as I could from my uncles and my cousins. How old are you at this point?

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19.853) They're still 13. So 13, 14. Oh, 13, you're already interested in how the business runs. Fell in love with it, yeah. Right then and there. Wow. I loved the fast pace. No day was the same. And it was interacting with guests and fellow colleagues and colleagues of all ages. I mean, I was 13. I was obviously the youngest person there. But as I've gotten older, I've realized that I was that 13 -year -old, 14 -year -old, 15 -year -old that we have today. So it's kind of nice to accompany that. That is so great. And by the way, that's something I've heard from others that we've had the... privilege of interviewing is that everybody started early and had an interest early. That's kind of born in you, right? Do you agree with that statement? I think you at least have to be brought into it early enough that you can understand everyone's perspective. I mean, if you don't understand how it feels to really grind it out with a staff member at a young age, then I feel like you can't manage. But you were interested. Interested. Nobody put that in you. You were just interested in it. No, I mean, to the point where when I was heading into college, you know, I wanted to pursue hospitality. And... In the end, my dad was like, are you sure? My mom was like, don't do this. What are you doing? My mom's the bookkeeper for the company. She's like, please, what are you, your sister and brother have a good plan, do that. But I was like, no, I love it. And he encouraged me to do the business end of it. So I got a double major in Business Administration from Loyola -Blakefield. And then I went to University of Delaware. Okay, cool. And hospitality with Delaware. So it's kind of dual major. That's great. So when you get out of college, what happens? You come... I said, Dad, I'm ready to work for you. He said, absolutely not. I was like, what? What do you mean? I mean, I'm a pass -blind. So this is the second time he said, he really doesn't want... Even some Sundays, it feels like he doesn't want me in the restaurant still. But no, we ended up going into PBI, so Blooming brand, out back, but I managed the Fleming Steakhouses. So I was in Baltimore as well as Richmond, Virginia, managing a Fleming's. I ate at that Fleming's. It's been a long year. Yeah, I know. Ruxton's there, though. Yeah, the Ruxton's there. But... Okay, so you're out and you're not working for the family business. Nope. You're learning. Well, at that moment, are you comparing notes with your dad? Are you guys talking about the business? All the time. All the time. We were comparing from hiring processes to technology that they're using to the marketing materials to how they design restaurants. I mean, just the whole nine yards. I was really falling in love with that process and really didn't know if I was going to come back into the family ties at that point.

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28.782) Ultimately, I wanted to own and operate my own business one day, but I may have thought of a more long -term position at Fleming's. And I think being away in Richmond was a little bit too far for me. Okay, well, back to the joke from the beginning. There's one degree of separation in Baltimore, man. Nobody likes to go too far once you're from here. Three hours is too much. I need to come back a little closer. So you're living it at that point. You major, I mean, you're 13 years old, you double majored in it, you're gone out learning in a bigger company, you're... talking about it with your family who's got this local thing going really, really well. Because your family business was doing well at that point, right? In 1988, and they've been cruising ever since. So you're nothing. You're out there working for a different company, learning a different way. Yeah. OK, so what's the trajectory? Tell us about how you go from learning through the Fleming's Group to coming back into the family group. So there was an opportunity for me to be an operating partner at a location in Ohio. And again, that one degree of separation in Richmond's a lot further. than even Ohio. So I wasn't too thrilled with that. And at that point in time, Cosmos, if you know one of our partners at Lips Grill, actually, they were interested in what was Manhattan Grill. I remember. And that space became available. And I think it was amongst the partners, but more so Cosmos, you know, hey, I think another restaurant here would be great. What do you mean? They're right next to each other, a different concept. And then they kind of talked. Maybe it's steaks, maybe it's oysters. And they were like, OK, who's going to run it? And they were like, well, what if we ask Nick? And at that point, that was put on the table. I was like, oh, yeah. I'm 23 years old, I can be a GM and potentially partner down the road of a restaurant now, why not? And it's with the family, so people you trust. With the family, yeah, exactly, absolutely. And how was that transition? That's a question I'd love to hear. How was the transition back in from, because I imagine you're working at Fleming's and you've created some autonomy for yourself. You're your own man, even though you're young, you're your own man, now you come in with the family. How does, not just how does the business change, but how does the dynamic change for you at that point? I mean, I think... I went in very novice and I came out super confident. And it was a nice, another humbling experience to come out on the other side and say, hey, you're actually the head boss. You're in charge of operations, hiring, firing, the whole nine yards. It was a great, humbling experience. So that was a very, you know, it was great to have my now partners and uncle and cousins involved in that. And that helped a lot. But, you know, having Dan Chalsted, who was our chef partner as well, he, you know, with his background, he was actually the...

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49.23) Daniel, Christopher Daniels. I remember, and I saw your, by the way, I saw the little write -up about you in the Baltimore Magazine. Yes, yeah. Less than a year ago. Yes, it was. Great job. I appreciate it. So here's a question. Since our podcast is called, you know, How They Crushed It, and your business is crushing it, I'm proud to say for you, were you optimistic you guys were crushing it? When you came in and started, how optimistic, pessimistic, realistic? Were you in general? Expectations wise, I mean, off the get -go, because of the Libertory brand saying they were open to a new concept and it was so close to a very successful concept, being Libertory's and Perry Hall, it did hit the ground running and we didn't have to look back. It was more so not pivoting what to do when we didn't have sales, but how do you be better and more efficient every day. So the other way would be, oh my goodness, we don't have sales. Luckily, at that point in our career, we didn't have to worry about that. It was just how do we get better? How do we put out a better product? How do we provide a better service for our guests? That was the bigger issue, which I'd much rather deal with those dilemmas than the other way. Totally. But projections and all that stuff, you were, I mean, you guys hit the ground running. Projection? What's a projection? When we first opened, we didn't know what that was. I love that. No projections there, it was just busted out. Well, here's, I mean, here's a question I've asked some other people who are crushing it. You know, you were 23. Do you look back and think that your naivete at the time helped you? Yeah, I think it did and didn't. And certain circumstances there were... I can go back in situations, as long as you're learning from something, I feel like it's not a lost cause. But if you ignore something, I think that becomes something a little more detrimental to future decisions. Yeah, because not knowing what you don't know sometimes means you just put one foot in front of the other and keep going. Yeah, exactly. I mean, that's some of my history. I mean, I look back and say, man, I'm glad I didn't know what I didn't know at that moment. Exactly. Yeah. OK. So you... You guys are going, you're now up and running, you know, I like the joke about no projections, but now it's a real business and you're running the show. I mean, talk to me about that. There have to be highs and lows all along that path. Yes, I mean, not many people get to say they've gone through a pandemic. I mean, so that was a I didn't have a playbook for that after college. Like when pandemic hits, do this. Not that other businesses weren't affected, but restaurants really, really, really had to change the way they do it. I mean, you're we talked about some. Yeah.

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02.734) collect some mutual friends of ours off the air before this. So talk me through it. I mean, that is a curve ball that nobody's ever had a playbook for. No, I think for us, I remember the time that it was announced that we're gonna be shutting down, and I was like, guys, this could be as long as two weeks. Okay, what are we gonna do about it? A year goes by, I'm like, well, sorry, really, projection wasn't good on that one. But we sat down with the entire executive team, the managers, okay, guys, three options here. We either close our doors, and we hopefully just weather the storm, or we... or we decided to kind of pivot and kind of just tiptoe and float by, or we do this full -fledged. And that was rebranding, we changed how we laid out our kitchen, we changed our website, we changed our marketing scheme, we grabbed more technology. So we became an upscale curbside service, even to the point where we would have people in costumes to kind of create little smiles and stuff like that. That's so great. Multi -course pairings that you could grab with virtual QR codes to watch videos of a winemaker talking about the pairing that we gave them. I'm gonna ask you some marketing questions later, but it's, you know, that's what you, I mean, you did what you had to do, right? And I think the biggest thing with your statement was getting everyone bought into the same picture. You know, I think a quote that I always bring up and actually just recently used it today was like, unspoken expectations are premeditated resentments. So if you don't set that expectation with the team, you're gonna already be set for doom and frustration will exist. So... getting the team together, guys, I don't want this decision to be on me because I don't know what's gonna happen from here. But when everyone said, F yes, we said, okay, let's do it. And then just trusting the team members there to get it done. That's powerful. Nick, that's powerful. Say the quote again so they can all write it down. I want you people to write this one down. Right. Unspoken expectations are premeditated resentments. It's wonderful. I mean, that's powerful. And... Did you know that quote back then when you did it? No, no, but I was like, wow, yeah, yeah, absolutely. A couple of months ago, I was like, that's it. That's what that's exactly. It's well put. And so it's in the lingo right now. Good for you, man. And is that one that's said around the Libsgrill staff now? Definitely. Absolutely. Good for you. I love that. I love that. I was going to write it down, but I was too busy just to soak it up. And I will use that one. That'll become part of my regular vocabulary now. Let's stay on the pandemic. So because there's so many business and life lessons through that, I mean,

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18.702) You say you start doing this, but then you said you have me at two weeks and you have me at a year, but the pandemic went longer than that. So what was the trajectory for everything? I mean, the collaboration of my partners kind of working on the back end to any government assistance that we could get, that was nice that individually we could focus on our stores. Each partner has their own store. My father and my mother took a good portion of the, actually, the majority of the responsibility in trying to what was available as resources from the government, which was very helpful at that time. And then just kind of, like I said, just converting the concept and hopefully one day as things progressed and got more and more partial dining, then it was the distance and, you know, got acclimated. And then we've never looked back since. I mean, we were probably about two and a half percent of our sales before were curbside. Two and a half. OK, so now we're close to 10 percent of that being curbside. That's hold on 10 percent now. Now today in 2024. Yeah. So it's an ongoing opportunity now that we focus our attention on when we do menu rollouts, how we package things. the processes and things like that. So, again, that negative experience was something that we could... Yeah, it's another... It's a different... It's a different revenue stream. Yeah, revenue stream, right. Exactly. 10%. Wow, that's a bigger number than I would have guessed. I know. It really is pretty wild. That's great. So, how does LibsGrill become different after the pandemic? Other than, I mean, that's one example. I mean, how do you... The staff, not just the model... I mean, how different... That was it. I mean, the biggest... thing that perturbed me coming out of the pandemic is businesses such as ourselves blaming the market on our labor coming back. Say, oh, people don't want to work. People don't have the same work ethic as before. And never doing that self -reflection that says, OK, well, here's a tarnished industry that's kind of somewhat devious. I mean, the industry is known for that. It's got alcohol at your disposal. So it's got a lot of these temptations. It's got long hours, nights, weekends, holidays. So it's got a lot of these temptations. It's got long hours, nights, weekends, holidays. who would want to work in that kind of environment? What kind of person would you be attracting? So kind of refocusing on what is, not only who is our target audience from the consumer side, but who's our target associate or employee? And really looking at what are we gonna do to be a more suitable employee? How do we set the expectations for hiring somebody? And how do we set the expectations for them coming on that we won't tolerate this? And retaining. And so from then on, it was just, that is all the focus. I think if you spent majority of your time focusing on that, not.

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42.734) and not so much, I don't want to take away from the marketing idea, but it's who you have representing your brand and how you perceive your brand and how your guests perceive your brand is most directly impacted by the frontline associates. You can say, oh, I do all these awesome things, look at me sitting on here, crushing it. But in reality, they have to be crushing it. And I have to be feeding it. No, you do, you totally do. This is what I love, I love this. In true small to more fashion, I have... two relatives that actually work for you and they knew who they are. I'll send this link to them. But, you know, and they love, it's funny, they love working for you. They love, not that that's funny, they love working for your place and they say the same thing. Meanwhile, these are younger people. Look, not necessarily first job. That's a great example. I mean, that's a young person that busts their butt day in and day out. Yeah, and you want to attract their sphere. In your industry, I mean, we sell mortgages, but you can sell your food, not booze, but you can sell your food. to someone who's 18, 28, 38, you know, 98. So you want all that brand and you wanna be crushing it to all those people. So that's one of your big focuses. And it's still to this day. I mean, not only so there's a screening process, then there's how we onboarded people. And our industry was like, I remember sitting down with my father, sorry, and he came in the table, he was doing a thousand things, phones ringing, all right, welcome, you got the job, signed the paperwork, this and that, and then you're kind of like, the expectations weren't set there. So now we're doing a lot of the virtual aspect that came out of COVID. And that was a resource that we didn't even fathom if we didn't go through that, I believe. So we do a lot of our orientations through Google Meets. So that one -on -one interaction with slideshows versus phone calls, this interruption, the guest wants to say this before you know it, they don't feel like they have the attention and the focus on, by the way, day one, this is how I expect our relationship to be. and that was never established early on. So employee focused is, I mean, all the best. Double down, triple down, quadruple down. I love hearing it. Because that's any, but that's any, I mean anybody listening, that's any industry. People have to buy in. They have to be a part of it. You can run a suitable business. Right. But you can't run a great business. You can't crush it. Can't crush it. Well, dude, this is wonderful stuff, wonderful stuff. Nick, I like to always kind of go into, and I held you off a second ago when you were gonna talk about marketing. Look, we want people that are listening to this podcast that...

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04.43) in any industry to take some nuggets away about sales, marketing, advertising, anywhere you go. So, you know, we've heard your story, how you went from 13 -year -old, you know, it's not, by the way, it's not illegal when it's your parents, the way I do it. I'm not a lawyer, but you know. I don't think they're writing up any documents. No, no, no, no, no. So you went from 13 -year -old busboy to double major in the industry, because you loved it so much, to stepping out and ultimately running this place with your family. Talk to me about the highs and lows along the way of marketing, advertising, how you got the word out. I mean, I know you have a family name in the town, which is, I guess, I mean, is that where we start with this conversation? Yeah, I mean, the brand existed since 1988. So that word of now is - Fine dining. Fine dining, right, yeah. So that, I mean, that name really carries a lot of weight, and we're very proud of that, and it's something that my grandparents are very proud of. So that - I had a leg up on I think competition opening up a store if it was just Joe Schmo's on the corner. You mean Johnson's Grill? Johnson's Grill. Hey, I'll go there. That sounds great. Absolutely. But yeah, so I think that the reality was it was a little easier for me. And honestly, I think we have a long way to go from our marketing. I think that we personally in the restaurant have core values that are very synonymous to how we go about standard operating procedures. And I think that making sure that the integrity of how you want to convey yourself is genuine. And I think that... Well, that's one thing that every person we've interviewed says either the word genuine or authenticity. I mean, it fascinates me that, because by the way, Nick had not watched any of our previous episodes before coming in today. I will, I promise. No, but all these best, all these super achievers that are crushing it, all that, one of those two words comes up, they mean the same thing. Yeah. Genuine, people need to know you're genuine or you're authentic. Right. And I hear you loud and clear, but okay, so you launch... LibsGrow, which is, you know, a shortened version of Liberatory's, which has a fine dining. How do you get the word out in the early days that, hey, by the way, this is not what you're getting down the street at Liberatory's. There's no white tablecloths. Right. Yeah. You know, all of that. I think it was, you know, the loyal guests that would frequent the Liberatory locations was a good foundation for us to target to say, hey, just making you aware, you know, if you're not in the mood for the Italian side, there's the steak seafood raw bar aspect. And then for me, it was just making sure that...

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25.198) every guest that came in, we provided that type of experience that would let them be ambassadors of ours when they left. And I think that's the number one part of that. I love that. I mean, I love the word ambassador because word, I mean, look, in any industry, word of mouth, I mean, we can talk about marketing, we can talk about Instagram, we can talk about, you know, targeted ads. It's not the same as an ambassador going out and talking about you. No, not at all. Especially in your industry. Okay, so you got Libs to start you with. You're letting the people know, but what were you, I mean, tactically, what were some of the things you were doing to get word out there in the early days? I mean, obviously, we started with making sure that we created dialogues on social. I mean, we were on the big ones. We were terrible at Twitter. I mean, I think we might even still have one out there. Don't reach out to us. We're not saying anything. But Facebook, Instagram, we wanted to hunker down with that, even to the Google AdWords space world. But... but we found that our market was kind of predominantly on that Instagram and Facebook side. And then making sure that we weren't just posting and posting and posting and selling, but storytelling as well as engaging with our guests. Like there's experiences that they had, and I know we hate to see reviews that are potentially negative, but if you reflect on them, you build on them, you thank that person. By the way, everybody, Nick talks about, that's the third or fourth time Nick has talked about learning. Yeah, I'm still doing that today. No, I'm proud of you for that. I mean, learning, allowing yourself. to look at a negative review. There's a lot of business owners that just hit delete on those. Focus on the positive ones. They are super stressful and we have a team at actually Platinum Reputations that does a wonderful job assisting with us, but I work very close with Mandy in every response and making sure that we actually have a database in Resy that issue tables we contact directly. So if we know we've really dropped the ball and we were actually discussing one today and how one, do we prevent that from happening to other guests? But how do we get that other guest to come back in? Without going too deep, what was the negative experience? And it's funny, everybody, I didn't know I'd ask Nick about a negative experience, but I think this is fascinating on how you turn it around. Yeah, and I'm actually, I hope this group hears this. I mean, so there was an experience, a miscommunication between a catering coordinator and ultimately a fundraising event that we did that led to us being unprepared. And obviously we wanted to make sure that we reached out and did what was necessary. And a lot of the times you see this review, it's written by one person.

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40.11) and one person is not dining, it's typically multiple people, and they're not saying, oh yeah, I reached out to this person, they're good in my book. The person that wrote that review might be okay with you, but there's other guests that aren't aware that you reached out to them. So how does the resolution go beyond just, oh, I satisfied that response, you see my comment as the owner there, we're good, but actually genuinely, do the rest of their guests, who they invited to their occasion, feel like we... gave a crap about them. And that's the challenging part now is like not just responding to that guest, but being sure that we extend that invitation back and have everybody else back in. So I hope that we get the opportunity to do that with them soon. Well, I mean, look, you got the fact that your company is so focused on dealing with negative reviews as much as you are proud of posting positive reviews. There's power there. There's power there. I think that was probably in the early stages. That was the largest struggle, seeing that a negative view has opportunity just as much as... positive, but also sharing in both of them. And I think we as business owners know, we never like, we're like checking things off. So like this, the evening was perfect, great. That's what it should be. But there was a lot of good that came of that that needs to be shared with the teammates, with your managers, with the guests. And I feel like I do a poor job of that. And actually back in Fleming's, I had such an issue with it because I only saw negative, because everything that was great, like I said, good, that's what it should be. Perfect is how we're going for. And then I would not be giving compliments. So. a really good exercise that Dae Chang, I hope you're listening, he said put 10 pennies in your left pocket and when you're walking the floor, you have to move them to your right pocket. But the only way you do that is by giving a compliment to someone that's doing a good job. At the end of the shift, I needed to make sure that all of my pennies were on the right side. And hopefully you keep adding to that and you're not walking around like, but. So you still do, is that still an exercise of yours? Mentally, mentally it is. Yeah, but not having the pennies. Hopefully it's not more than 10 in a day now. Oh, that's phenomenal. That is just phenomenal stuff. That one I'm going to share with our team definitely. That's a great plan. It's really contagious. I mean, good news is really contagious. I mean, as the boss, I think we don't take enough time to kind of reflect on it. I know I don't. And I think it's important to always see the positive, duplicate the positive, reflect on the negative, take the baggage out, make the process better, and move on. I hope the answer to this next question is yes. But I find this fascinating. Is it contagious, do you find?

Direct Mortgage Loans (24:

57.678) Oh yeah, absolutely. When you start passing compliments around your staff on the floor, how did you see it? I mean, everything is contagious. The negativity can also be contagious too. So I feel like, you know, as you represent any brand, I think that it is, that is exactly it. A culture is contagious, you know. Positivity is contagious, but negativity can be too. Yeah. That's a big one, guys. That's a big one. Well, dude, this is great. Let me ask you. So it's the spring of 2024 right now. This is one I always kind of go to. I mean, I love the story, by the way, and I love... the way you guys take your people so seriously, your customers so seriously. But what's going on right now? I always like try to end and get near the end here with something super topical. It's spring of 2024. Forget about where LibsGIRL's going and where it's been. We've covered some of that. What are you doing right now that you think, like right now, that's really making an impact? So our mission statement, a portion of it, and we always read it off in every meeting. is to change a tarnished industry. So changing a tarnished industry and community involvement. And I feel like a lot of restaurants, including ourselves to an extent, open their doors and say, hey, listen, we serve the community, so we're community involved. And honestly, we all in our businesses donate a lot, but we don't know what contribution we're making truly in our community. So I feel like we're trapped. There's no ROI on community involvement. Exactly. And even if it's, I would just like the ROI on what they're doing with that investment, not even how it's impacting mine. And I think that... To be community leader, I think we need to start to measure that a little bit better on both ends and set expectations on our partnerships from our distributors to the people that we are partnering with the community. So the next challenge for us is a loyalty program that involves our loyal guests to make, to have us direct our attention to things that they feel are most impactful direct to their local Lipsquirrel. Your collective community. Not theirs, it's your collective community. Exactly right. But true people in neighborhoods with names. not just organizations. And I feel like that is how I would like to address loyalty, because loyalty is the hot topic that came up. Loyalty, loyalty, punch cards, discounts, and I just, I can't get on board with that. I just not, personally, I'm not passionate enough about that. So, you know, I don't befriend my friends based off of how many times they buy me drinks at a bar. I just, because of the relationship that I have with them, that I know that they have my back, that if I'm in need, I ask them things. So how do we involve our loyal guests into the decision -making process of what's on our menu, how we're interacting in our community?

Direct Mortgage Loans (27:

24.91) even to the point where who we're hiring. So I feel like that's the kind of a loyalty program that kind of combines that. That's great stuff. But it's based, I mean, I'm now going to combine for you. I mean, it's based on authenticity again. 100%. All your constituents, the community, your employees, your customers, especially. Partners. Yeah, I'm sorry. Distributors to who? They have to believe that you are who you say you are and who you act like you are. I mean, that's a weird way to put it, but you know what I'm saying. Yeah, absolutely. No, I think you're right on. If they think you're full of it, they're not going to buy in. Yeah, no. Well, they'll see through it. They'll whisper, whisper. It'll affect sales in a way you don't know. And they just won't believe in you the way. So is that, I mean, how do you feel like that's going? It's at the infancy stages of it. And for me, it's just like before we jump into it and just check it off our boxes, like getting the right team that's passionate inside my group and then collabing with other people that we know would. take a lot of pride in it outside of the group and then kind of creating that. Well, if you ever want an outsider that's a non -restaurant tour that you want to come over and just bounce ideas off of, I volunteer. We could use some crushing it over there. Yeah, well, you guys are crushing it. You are crushing it. I forgot to ask you a question at the beginning though, and since it's how they crushed it, and it's funny. So our company Direct Mortgage Lens is orange, but I'm not baiting you here. Since you run a restaurant, a successful restaurant, what's your favorite crush flavor? Oh, gosh. I mean, in the spirit of authenticity and honesty, I'm not a big crush guy. I really am not. But you sell a lot of them. Sell a ton, yes. Okay, then what's the most, what do you sell the most of? At our restaurant, obviously the orange crush, but we have a lemon basil crush that's to die for. Lemon basil crush, nobody's ever answered? Okay, everybody check that out at Libs Grill. Lemon basil crush. So Nick, you keep saying, I've caught it and I've written in my notes here, you keep saying that we're guests as opposed to customers. And I, you know. Springtime there's a Masters golf tournament. They call them patrons. They never call them customers I mean, is that something that spills over into the whole staff? Is that is that something you guys talk about? It's a subliminal culture thing, you know customers have transactions you come in you dine you pay your bill you leave guests They're welcome all the time guests are your friends You know guests you're made to feel warm cozy and you have all the feels for so so we I don't want Including myself starting with myself that we use that the customer word

Direct Mortgage Loans (29:

45.742) the C word. I love that because by the way, it's authentic again. You didn't know I was going to say this. The word guest just kept coming out of your mouth. And I think anybody listening in any industry, they're guests. They're patrons. They're somebody that are choosing you. They're not a customer. If you treat them transactionally, they feel. They'll treat you transactionally. You hear that everybody? You treat them transactionally, they treat you transactionally. So Nick, I wrote down a couple of the things that it's funny how now that this is our eighth one that a lot of leaders are saying some of the same things. I guess that shouldn't have shocked me, but you said grind it out earlier and grind is a big word that I like to use because, you know, here's one joke I'll make. Do you think this is glamorous? I think. Parts can be, I think from the outside it definitely can be. No, but not, but you know the younger version of yourself, the 13 year old, you thought, I bet you thought it was gonna be more glamorous than it actually is. Oh absolutely, yeah. There's a messy side to the business and every day you get a little bit of it. Grinding's never glamorous, but it's, you gotta wake up tomorrow, because by the way, don't you have to wake up tomorrow and do it all over again? Yeah, absolutely. Hopefully I get to. Always learning everybody. Nick said it two or three times again today, I think that's a huge one. From everyone too, like there's, my grandfather, He said, and I always respect him when he would engage with people, whether it was the president or the dishwasher. He engaged in conversation to learn something, regardless of their title, and I take that with me when I'm interacting with somebody. It's like, you're gonna learn something if you want to learn something. If you dismiss it, you're gonna miss a big opportunity. That's so powerful. And I love the word ambassador, by the way. Yeah, I like that too. I think when I said it, I was like, I like that one, I wanna use that more often. So he didn't plan that one, everybody, but ambassador's a good one because word of mouth is, Word of mouth something all businesses want. But an ambassador is another level way beyond just word of mouth about, hey, the lemon basil crush tastes really good. I mean, that's important too, but if somebody says, you have to try, I'm going to take you there myself. I'm going to take you to my bar, my bar, my restaurant. That's... Amen. Can't be happier than that. And look, I'm blown away by what's in your mission statement, change a tarnished industry. And look, I didn't say it's a tarnished industry. That's you from the inside saying that. And...

Direct Mortgage Loans (31:

58.894) The only way you're gonna change it is to admit, again, be genuine, be authentic around what you think it is. Thousand percent. Well man, this has been phenomenal. I can't thank you enough for coming in. I'm having a blast. I mean, hate that it's ending. Why? We could talk for hours. We do try to keep this bite -sized. We keep it around 30 minutes. I think people look at the podcast and see an hour and 10 minutes and it's a little too much to commit to. But look, you're crushing it. And I hope your customers, guests, Thank you. Can you believe I just did that? Yeah. I hope your guests see this and see how authentic you are, those that haven't met you, because I've been to your place before I knew you and it feels that way. I appreciate that. You should be proud as hell of that. Thank you. But thanks for coming in, man. You guys are crushing it. Thank you. I'm sure you'll keep on crushing it. Our friend Nick Liberatore, check out Lib's Grill. You know, they're easy to find on social. It's probably posted down here below. My friend Tiffany behind the camera can put it on there. But check these guys out and get a lemon basil crush. Tell them Nick sent you. See you everybody.

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Dean Johnson

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