Interview with Sara Finnegan of Edley’s Restaurant Group about giving back, user-generated content, and being a woman in hospitality.
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00:00 - Welcome to Restaurant Influencers
00:02 presented by Entrepreneur.
00:03 My name is Sean Walcheff,
00:04 founder of Cali BBQ and Cali BBQ Media.
00:08 In life, in the restaurant business,
00:11 and in the new creator economy,
00:13 we learn through lessons and stories.
00:15 I wanna give a special shout out to Toast,
00:17 our primary technology partner.
00:19 We are filming today.
00:21 This is a historic day for this show.
00:23 We are filming at Toast headquarters in Boston,
00:27 and we just finished up day one
00:29 of the customer advisory board,
00:31 and I have Sarah Finnegan of Edley's Restaurant Group,
00:34 the chief of staff.
00:36 Sarah, welcome to the show.
00:37 - Thanks, Sean.
00:38 It's good to be here.
00:39 - It's amazing to be in Toast headquarters with this show.
00:44 Toast told me that they believe in storytelling,
00:46 told me they believed in technology,
00:49 told me that they could transform not only my restaurant,
00:51 but 79,000 other restaurants that trust Toast
00:55 to help us with what we call digital hospitality.
00:59 Sarah, for you, can you tell me where in the world
01:03 is your favorite stadium, stage, or venue?
01:06 - Favorite stadium, stage, or venue.
01:10 I haven't been there, but I want,
01:12 on my bucket list is to go to the Metropolitan Opera House
01:15 in New York City.
01:16 That's on my bucket list.
01:17 - Beautiful.
01:18 - Yeah, I'm a big opera fan.
01:19 - I'm a big opera fan as well.
01:21 My grandfather got me into opera.
01:23 So we're gonna go to the Metropolitan House,
01:25 and we're gonna convince Toast.
01:26 So Toast puts on Spark events now,
01:29 and these Spark events are these in-real-life events
01:31 that help restaurant owners get in front
01:34 of other restaurant owners to learn about the problems
01:37 that we have and the solutions that are available to us.
01:40 We're gonna go to the Met.
01:42 We're going to bring other people that are outside of CAB,
01:46 other people that listen to this show, to that Met,
01:49 and I'm gonna put you, just like an opera singer,
01:52 right in the front, and I'm gonna say,
01:54 "Sarah, please tell us.
01:56 "Give us in two minutes the Edley's Restaurant Group story."
02:00 - So I was thinking about that, preparing for this.
02:03 So the story begins back in 2016
02:06 when I first met Will Newman, who's the owner of Edley's,
02:10 and we met to talk about me coming on board,
02:12 and he asked me one question.
02:14 He said, "We talk about, at Edley's,
02:17 "we talk about our Southern soul,
02:18 "which is what makes us who we are."
02:20 They had just opened their third restaurant,
02:22 and he said, "How do we grow,"
02:25 'cause he had big plans even then,
02:26 "How do we grow and keep our Southern soul?"
02:29 Because a lot of people, particularly me,
02:33 coming from very corporate restaurants, large corporations,
02:37 you kind of have that mentality,
02:39 and he wanted to avoid that, right?
02:41 So how do we grow to the size of a large corporation
02:45 and not become a large corporation?
02:48 And so we call that our Southern soul,
02:51 and it really comes down to the people, right?
02:53 So each location has to have the right people in it,
02:56 and even if you have 1,000 locations,
02:58 as long as each location has the right people
03:01 and they're authentic about it, then you keep your soul.
03:04 And then fast forward to this past November,
03:08 this shirt that I'm wearing is kind of a story.
03:11 So we had just opened our third restaurant in 2016
03:14 when I came on board.
03:16 This past November, we hit 20 million in revenue in November,
03:19 closed out the year with 22 million, a huge goal for us.
03:22 We all got these shirts with our patches.
03:24 We're gonna get a patch every year with our new goal on it.
03:27 And we've kept our Southern soul.
03:29 Our Southern soul is more alive than ever before,
03:32 even though we're getting ready
03:33 to open our 11th restaurant in two weeks,
03:36 12 in November, and more to come.
03:39 It's because every restaurant has to have those people
03:42 and has to have people that really buy in.
03:44 So the people are much more important
03:46 than even the food or the atmosphere or the drinks.
03:49 You gotta have the right people.
03:51 - When we think of hospitality,
03:53 we say that humans are the heart of hospitality.
03:56 This is also a technology show and a storytelling show.
03:59 You can't have stories without humans
04:01 and you can't have technology without humans.
04:03 At least we hope not.
04:04 - Right.
04:05 - Chief of staff is a crucial position
04:09 if you're talking about growth.
04:12 What is your recipe?
04:13 - So right now, we are having a few growing pains
04:18 because we have grown so much in the last couple of years.
04:21 So we are trying to take all the things that we do.
04:24 As chief of staff, I wear a lot of different hats.
04:27 You know, managing toast is one of them,
04:29 benefits, payroll, finance, all of that.
04:31 So we're trying to kind of silo things.
04:34 So as we grow, we can bring in somebody,
04:36 kind of take, they take the benefits management,
04:38 they take the toast management, whatever it might be,
04:41 but we kind of have to build off those processes.
04:44 And we're always looking for the right person.
04:46 We're not gonna just add people to our team
04:49 unless they're the right person.
04:50 You know, we grew our marketing team last year
04:53 to four people, one to four in one year.
04:56 - Wow.
04:57 - And the fourth person was not intentional.
04:59 It was because we found someone
05:01 where like she needs to be on our team.
05:03 And so we hired her even though we didn't have a position.
05:06 That's the kind of owners we have.
05:07 They invest in that.
05:09 So it's more about finding the right people as we do that.
05:12 And technology is a big part of it, right?
05:14 We have, you know, as you grow,
05:16 you have to have more technology partners
05:19 and you have to bring in more processes.
05:21 So that's a big part of it as well.
05:23 And toast has been a big part of us
05:25 being able to grow as we have.
05:27 - Was toast originally with the restaurant
05:29 when you came on board?
05:30 - Not originally, we brought toast on in 2018,
05:33 I believe was our first restaurant.
05:35 And frankly, you know, when COVID hit in 2020,
05:39 you know, February, 2020,
05:40 we were poised for our biggest year ever,
05:42 opening new restaurants and then COVID hit, right?
05:45 We did have toast on board.
05:47 And if we had not had the toast online ordering,
05:50 I don't think we would have made it.
05:51 We wouldn't certainly not have made it
05:53 as successfully as we have now.
05:56 And it really helped us because of the ease of the platform
05:59 'cause we were already using it.
06:00 We didn't have to get up to speed
06:02 and throw something together.
06:03 Our customers were used to it.
06:05 They could go on.
06:06 I mean, it really helped us come through that
06:08 and be even stronger than ever before.
06:11 - Have you ever served on a customer advisory board?
06:14 - I have not till this one, no.
06:15 No, it's been a great thing.
06:16 And part of the reason that I wanted to be on the cab
06:20 at first was I wanted to learn about toast.
06:23 And the more I learned about toast,
06:25 the more I learned that the culture of toast
06:28 and the culture on Edley's Restaurant Group
06:29 were very similar,
06:31 even though we're very different sizes, right?
06:33 So Edley's Restaurant Group is a smaller group,
06:35 but we're very authentic.
06:37 The owners really want to hear exactly what's going on.
06:40 Just make toast.
06:41 They really want to know the real stuff.
06:43 If there's something not working,
06:44 they want to know so they can fix it.
06:45 And it's very authentic.
06:47 And I've really been able to kind of communicate that
06:49 to my team by being on the customer advisory board,
06:53 by meeting Chris and Amman and the whole team here.
06:56 And you see how authentic they really are about it.
06:59 And it reminds me of our team.
07:01 And so I think we're a really good fit because of that.
07:04 - Why do you think you were selected
07:06 for the customer advisory board?
07:07 - I have no idea.
07:08 (laughing)
07:09 I don't know.
07:10 I mean, maybe because I was vocal kind of
07:13 when I needed things and talking to our sales rep
07:16 at that time and asking for things.
07:18 I have no idea beyond that.
07:20 - Where did you learn to be vocal?
07:21 Because somebody that's chief of staff,
07:23 that's now essentially the position
07:27 of chief technology officer,
07:28 even though I don't know if you have one or not,
07:30 but the fact that you're here
07:32 on behalf of your restaurant group,
07:34 having these important conversations
07:35 with leadership at Toast,
07:37 obviously means, you know,
07:39 it's funny thing about technology is we all think,
07:42 myself included, I host a show,
07:44 another show called Digital Hospitality.
07:46 I'm talking about technology all the time
07:48 to business owners, restaurant owners,
07:50 and yet I don't know anything about technology.
07:52 I'm just willing to ask a bunch of bad questions
07:54 and eventually get in the right rooms
07:56 and connect the right dots.
07:58 Where did you learn to have the confidence
08:01 in not having confidence in technology?
08:03 - I've always been the kind of person,
08:04 if I don't know something, I don't like that feeling.
08:07 So I go out and find out about it, right?
08:10 So back in 2008, I was with another restaurant company.
08:14 My position was a multi-unit,
08:16 but it got eliminated, right,
08:17 when the, with the real estate fall.
08:20 So I went into restaurants operations management,
08:24 which I had done a lot of roles, but had not done that.
08:26 I felt very out of my element.
08:28 And so I made it a point to learn everything I could.
08:31 I knew the front of the house
08:33 from working in the front of the house.
08:34 I didn't know the kitchen.
08:35 So I learned everything I could about the kitchen.
08:38 And, you know, every detail.
08:40 And so when the line needed help, they called me.
08:42 They didn't call the kitchen manager, right?
08:44 So I've always been that person.
08:46 If I don't know about it, I have to learn about it
08:48 'cause I don't like feeling unsure of myself.
08:50 So, you know, coming on board
08:52 with either a micros or Aloha company,
08:55 I would go and I would learn everything I could about those.
08:58 The same with toast.
09:00 I wanted to learn every little bit about it.
09:02 And I wish I had even more time to do that
09:05 because I want to know every facet of it.
09:07 And I just have that curiosity.
09:09 And how I have the confidence is really just
09:12 because of the team that I have around me
09:14 at Italy's Restaurant Group.
09:16 You know, they empower me to have that.
09:18 It's very, you know, it's a culture
09:21 where we can really speak up and be honest about things.
09:23 And I've been encouraged to do that.
09:25 And frankly, that was probably something,
09:28 I think I was told at one of my first reviews is that,
09:31 you know, Will said, "You have a lot of great ideas.
09:34 "I need you to speak up more."
09:35 And so I really heard that.
09:36 And so I started to do that.
09:38 And so having that culture,
09:40 having that family atmosphere at work
09:44 is really encouraging for me to do that.
09:47 - Do you remember when you realized that your voice matters?
09:51 - I don't remember a specific time,
09:53 but I do remember that feeling of being in a meeting
09:55 with the owner of the company, the president of the company,
09:59 you know, these people that, you know,
10:01 in previous lives I never would have been in the room with.
10:03 - Yeah. - Right?
10:05 And just knowing that I could say something dumb
10:08 and they wouldn't judge me for it.
10:10 - Yes. - And being in a meeting
10:12 where Will or Chris, our president would say,
10:15 "I don't really understand that.
10:17 "Can you explain it to me?"
10:18 And them being humble about that, you know,
10:21 I remember being at a meeting with a banker
10:23 and they said something and Will kind of looked at him,
10:25 he goes, "Explain that to me.
10:27 "I don't understand it."
10:28 - Yeah. - I would have been afraid
10:29 to say that.
10:30 I would have had to say, "Oh yeah,
10:31 "of course I know what that means."
10:33 But I feel empowered now to really say,
10:35 "You know, I don't know exactly what that terminology is.
10:38 "Can you explain that to me?"
10:40 And the same thing with TOAST, right?
10:42 Instead of just assuming that I have to know everything
10:45 and finding out on my own, I can go and ask someone
10:47 and say, "I don't really understand what that is.
10:49 "What is that acronym?
10:50 "What does this do?
10:51 "What does that do?"
10:52 And being in CAB is really empowering for that as well.
10:55 - Huge news, TOAST, our primary technology partner
10:58 at our barbecue restaurants in San Diego
11:00 and the primary technology partner of so many of the guests
11:04 that we have on this show have announced
11:06 they are expanding their business offerings with Google.
11:10 So now if you search on Google Maps
11:13 and you sign up for TOAST Tables or TOAST Waitlist,
11:17 you will have the opportunity to improve
11:20 the digital hospitality experience of the guest,
11:23 allow them to book through the maps
11:25 into the TOAST reservation system.
11:28 One of the biggest difficulties that restaurant guests have
11:32 is when they search for your restaurant
11:33 and they want a table, they do not have an easy solution
11:37 to book a table or to get on a waitlist.
11:40 This is huge news for the restaurant industry,
11:42 huge news for guests,
11:44 and huge news for you, the restaurant owner.
11:47 Check out TOAST Tables today
11:48 and find out the new integrated solution that they have.
11:52 This is something that we've wanted for a long time.
11:54 How do you integrate reservations, waitlists
11:57 into your point of sale?
11:59 TOAST has done it, check it out.
12:01 - For me, when I think back on the lessons
12:04 my grandfather taught me was to stay curious,
12:06 to get involved, to ask for help.
12:08 Asking for help was difficult for me.
12:11 Like as an entrepreneur, it was very difficult for me
12:13 as a business owner, as a man, not knowing,
12:15 like you said, acting, having a question
12:19 that most likely the rest of the room has,
12:22 but you go in with a perception
12:24 that maybe I'm not supposed to be in this room,
12:26 maybe I'm not supposed to ask this question.
12:28 But when you get to the fact of how do you simplify it?
12:31 You know, I have a five-year-old son
12:33 and one of the profound lessons is
12:36 if I can't explain it to my son,
12:38 then what are we really talking about?
12:40 And when we're talking about technology,
12:42 so many of the times is we get lost in jargon,
12:47 industry jargon, and it's our job to slow it down
12:51 and to ask these questions.
12:53 Do you remember, was this something
12:54 that you learned early in life,
12:56 or was this something that you learned
12:57 in your professional career?
12:59 - I think I learned it in my professional career.
13:01 I don't think I grew up that way.
13:03 - Did you ask questions when you were in class?
13:06 - Somewhat, but not as much then.
13:09 I always sat in the front, I was very studious,
13:12 always a good student, wanted to learn,
13:14 but I grew up at a time in school
13:17 where girls really weren't encouraged
13:19 to speak out that much, you know?
13:20 So I don't remember doing that in school as much.
13:24 Maybe in college more, but as an adult
13:28 in my professional career, I've learned that,
13:30 and it's taken a while to learn that
13:33 and to be confident and to speak up.
13:35 - So for this show, for anybody that's new to this show,
13:38 so much of what we do is story.
13:41 It's telling the story on the internet.
13:43 People are really good, restaurant owners,
13:45 business owners, who are great at telling our story
13:47 in real life, or there would be no business.
13:50 You can convince another person of your crazy idea
13:53 to open up a barbecue restaurant,
13:54 or whatever your dream restaurant is,
13:56 and you can convince someone to work for you,
13:58 and you can convince a customer to come in and buy from you.
14:00 But when it comes to telling your story online,
14:03 a lot of times all of us, myself included, we all struggle.
14:06 Can you talk to me about the story of Edley's Barbecue?
14:10 Share the barbecue story with us.
14:12 - So, you know, Edley's, the name Edley's came about
14:15 because of Will, his grandfather
14:18 was named William Edley Newman.
14:21 And when Will got out of college,
14:24 he decided he wanted to open a restaurant.
14:26 He went through some other businesses as well.
14:28 But he decided that he wanted to name the business Edley's.
14:32 And he and his wife were working on the business plan,
14:35 and they're being told, Edley's is a weird name.
14:37 People aren't gonna know what it is.
14:38 You should call it Newman's, 'cause that's their last name.
14:41 And they're like, no, Edley's means something to us, right?
14:44 It means something.
14:45 And still people mispronounce it.
14:47 They'll say Eedley's, or what is that?
14:49 It's a name that means something to them.
14:52 And I think that set the tone for the business.
14:55 It's really about honoring his grandfather,
14:57 who was somebody very devoted to his community.
15:01 And that's a big part of Edley's,
15:02 giving back to the community.
15:04 He learned about treating people the right way.
15:06 And that's a big part, treating our employees,
15:09 our team members the right way as we go through,
15:12 and providing that great food and service.
15:14 You know, that's kind of an afterthought.
15:16 You know, if you provide a great place for people to work,
15:19 if you're part of the community,
15:20 giving back to the community,
15:22 people are gonna come to you.
15:23 And they do, because we have great food
15:25 and great service as well.
15:27 But those three things all have to coexist, I think.
15:31 And that's what's made Edley's so successful,
15:34 is the great product, the great people,
15:37 and then giving back to the community.
15:39 - Tell me more about the community.
15:41 - So this past year, 2022,
15:43 we created something that had long been a dream
15:47 of Will and Catherine.
15:48 That was the Edley's Foundation.
15:50 So we are raising money through a portion of sales
15:54 of certain particular items that we sell.
15:57 We're gonna do fundraisers as well,
15:58 but we give back to local charities.
16:00 Some of our charities, you know,
16:03 we give back to the Contributor Magazine,
16:05 which helps get people out of homelessness.
16:08 The Martha O'Brien Center,
16:09 which has a lot of literacy programs,
16:11 helping people that are disadvantaged.
16:14 We're working with an organization to help people
16:19 that are working their path to citizenship,
16:21 and to help sponsor them.
16:23 And then other events as well,
16:24 but they're all local charities.
16:26 We also created an employee assistance fund.
16:29 And we're asking our employees too, to contribute to that.
16:33 So you could contribute 50 cents a paycheck,
16:36 or $100 a paycheck, whatever you want.
16:38 But that's gonna roll up and be an emergency fund
16:40 for our employees.
16:41 So if somebody loses their house to a fire
16:43 and they have no insurance,
16:44 or they have something catastrophic happen,
16:47 they can apply for funds,
16:49 and it will assist them with that.
16:51 And that's really been a big part of this past year,
16:54 kind of really getting to a point
16:55 where we can kind of channel our growth.
16:58 We've always been a very charitable organization,
17:03 but kind of funneling it where it can do the most good.
17:05 We donate to numerous events through the year,
17:09 food and gift cards, everybody does that.
17:12 But this is a way to really make a difference
17:15 in three or four different organizations
17:17 in the community and give back.
17:19 - What do you think is the most challenging part of your job?
17:22 - The most challenging part of my job
17:24 is really managing my time effectively.
17:28 Sometimes I'm just going from task to task
17:31 that has to be done.
17:32 And there are times when I'd really like to be able
17:36 to kind of step back and really think
17:38 in a more broader terms,
17:40 or be able to really kind of create some kind of vision.
17:43 And that's really challenging for me to find that time,
17:46 'cause there's always a stack of things
17:48 that have to be done on my desk.
17:50 And it's also challenging to try to hand things off
17:53 to other people that I've kind of had ownership of.
17:56 So that's very challenging as well.
17:58 And that's where we're kind of in
17:59 with some growing pains there
18:00 and growing our team as well for that.
18:03 - What does it mean to be a woman in hospitality?
18:06 - That's a great question.
18:08 We've talked a lot about that in our support center
18:12 because we have had several women join us recently.
18:15 And it means something different.
18:17 I've had conversations with our male regional managers
18:21 about interacting with female managers.
18:24 And they'll say, "Well, she needs to just speak up
18:27 "to her general manager."
18:28 And I'm like, "But that's different for you."
18:30 A man, they're trained to do that.
18:34 A woman is not trained to do that.
18:36 You can't have the same expectation of her.
18:39 She needs to be coached more.
18:40 She needs to have some kind of development
18:42 that's gonna help her to do that
18:44 'cause she's very new in the management role.
18:46 And so I think it's really important
18:49 that women advocate for each other and support each other.
18:53 And so we are actually working on creating a group
18:56 within our company and then hopeful to expand
18:58 to other small restaurant companies
19:00 and just a women's support group.
19:02 There's a lot of groups out there,
19:04 but sometimes you go into the larger groups
19:07 and it doesn't really fit you.
19:08 So we wanna create our own group that's us,
19:11 that we're able to kinda speak honestly and help each other
19:14 and hold each other up and to be a sounding board.
19:18 - Will this be an internal group or--
19:20 - It'll be internal to start.
19:21 And then we'd like to invite,
19:23 there's other small restaurant groups
19:24 that we kinda partner with on other things.
19:26 We'd like to maybe invite some of their people
19:28 because if you just have two or three people,
19:31 that could be a little tough.
19:32 But now we've gotten to a point where we have
19:35 a female manager at almost every location.
19:38 And we have, I think five or six at our support center.
19:42 So we've got a good group that we can kinda
19:45 start getting together and creating that cohesion
19:48 and creating that sounding board for each other.
19:50 - So one of the things that I love about your brand
19:53 is the user generated content
19:57 on TikTok and Instagram is phenomenal.
20:00 Everybody that visits Nashville
20:03 can't stop raving about your barbecue.
20:05 Tell me more.
20:08 - So we just had a comment that I saw,
20:10 somebody posted on Slack, one of our marketing team,
20:13 and it said, "For my last meal, I want it to be Edley's."
20:17 Right, if I'm gonna die tomorrow,
20:18 I want my last meal to be Edley's.
20:20 - That's a good review.
20:20 - You know, we just have a lot of raving fans
20:23 and it's one of those things that
20:25 it's really hard to pin down.
20:27 Obviously the food is great,
20:28 but everybody messes up sometimes, right?
20:31 But we do make things from scratch
20:33 and we do really agonize over any little change in the food,
20:37 sourcing out the best brisket, the best pork,
20:41 trying to make sure that if we do make some change,
20:43 is it really gonna fit?
20:45 We use our desserts from our local bakery
20:48 called Colt's Chocolate.
20:49 And a few years ago, we were looking,
20:51 you know, these are really expensive desserts, right?
20:54 We were looking at changing to a cheaper supplier.
20:57 And you sit down with the Colt's pecan pie
21:01 and a generic pecan pie,
21:03 and it's like, there's no contest, right?
21:05 You've got to go with what's better.
21:07 And people appreciate that.
21:08 Even if it's not conscious, it's subconscious.
21:11 They appreciate that.
21:12 You know, our buns come from a local bakery, right?
21:15 We don't just get generic buns.
21:16 So there's thought into every little detail.
21:19 You know, our barbecue sauce is a proprietary recipe
21:23 and Will created this recipe years ago
21:26 and he actually has the folded piece of paper
21:28 in his wallet that's disintegrating as we speak.
21:31 - You gotta frame that.
21:33 He's gotta frame that.
21:33 - I think his wife is gonna frame it,
21:34 or maybe Johnny did.
21:35 - She should get that framed, get that out
21:37 before it's gone. - But he wouldn't tell anybody
21:38 the recipe for a long time.
21:41 And you know, he would go make it in a big batch
21:43 and you know, then it would be there to use.
21:46 And I think there was a story one time
21:48 that he was at church and they ran out of barbecue sauce
21:51 and they called him and he had to rush from church
21:52 to go make it 'cause nobody else could make it
21:54 and he wouldn't tell him how to make it.
21:56 You know, there's a lot of stories about that.
21:58 Catherine, his wife, of course,
22:00 was a big part of the operations.
22:02 She did payroll, she's in labor at the hospital
22:04 with one of their sons and doing payroll
22:06 as she's in labor because nobody else
22:08 could do payroll, right? - That's a restaurant story.
22:09 That's a restaurant story right there.
22:10 - Exactly, so I mean, it's just that kind of thing
22:13 that really, that they really built upon
22:15 and they're just, you know, they're just authentic people
22:18 like that.
22:19 Catherine has a lot of videos we're doing on her
22:22 'cause cooking, right? - Love it.
22:23 - So she takes leftover chicken or pork
22:26 and shows you a recipe to make it home with it.
22:29 She's at her house. - This is on the website.
22:31 - Yeah, yeah.
22:31 - So you're literally building in public.
22:34 - Exactly. - This is something
22:35 that we try to teach anybody that's following the show.
22:37 The reason why we have the guests that we have on
22:40 is because they have the courage to share the secrets.
22:43 - She, you know, she is authentic out there.
22:46 She's got the kids and the dog are underfoot,
22:48 it's at their house, she messes up,
22:50 they just go on with it, right?
22:51 She's not trying to be, you know, anything picture perfect,
22:54 she's just trying to be a mom and showing you what to do
22:57 when you get home and you wanna make something quick
22:58 for dinner.
22:59 And it's just all part of the whole culture
23:02 that is a part of Edley's and the,
23:05 just the authentic love of people and community and food
23:10 that kind of exists.
23:11 - So one of the most difficult things
23:14 for hospitality professionals is that we spend so much time,
23:17 especially as the chief of staff, taking care of your team,
23:21 taking care of the community, taking care of everybody else.
23:25 Very rarely do you take care of yourself.
23:28 What advice do you have and what do you do
23:30 to take care of you?
23:32 'Cause this is a, you know, it's a business
23:34 that we don't wanna burn the candle on both ends.
23:36 - Yeah.
23:37 You know, I've thought a lot about that
23:38 and I've been trying to work on that
23:41 and it's been somewhat successful, I guess,
23:43 but we've had a lot of openings recently.
23:46 I have two fairly new grandchildren
23:49 that I wanna spend time with.
23:50 My adult kids, I wanna spend time with them.
23:53 So I've been trying to carve out time
23:55 when I have to do that.
23:57 But it's difficult, it's difficult.
23:59 And, you know, my kids made me promise, you know,
24:01 you're gonna leave the office by six every night.
24:03 And I'm like, I try to do that.
24:05 I try to do that.
24:06 Some days I don't.
24:07 But what they don't know is I started going in earlier,
24:09 right, so then I could leave by six
24:10 'cause they've got my location on their phone, right?
24:13 They know if I've left or not.
24:14 So you do balance things, but I told my daughter,
24:19 it's like, I love my job.
24:20 So why do I have to turn it off at six o'clock
24:24 if I love what I'm doing?
24:25 And so that's part of it.
24:26 You do have to make time to relax and hang out with family.
24:30 But when you love your job, you know, you wanna work,
24:34 you wanna be there.
24:36 You know, with COVID, I could have worked remotely.
24:38 I went into the office every day
24:40 because I felt like I was a part of something, you know,
24:43 and I was in a separate office.
24:46 So I was still able to quarantine,
24:48 but Will was in the other office, you know,
24:50 and the boys, he brought one of the boys to school
24:52 to homeschool him every day,
24:53 and they would be out in the other office doing recess,
24:57 and he would get on his Zoom meetings with his teammates,
25:01 and they went down to the restaurant
25:02 and said the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag every morning.
25:05 And so, you know, you just, you know,
25:07 so we were talking about COVID.
25:09 I told him, I said, "George and Bo,
25:11 "they're gonna remember vastly different things about COVID
25:14 "because they got to have homeschool with mom and dad
25:17 "and have all these great memories."
25:19 And as adults, we think about all the hardships, right,
25:22 all the difficult things.
25:23 They're gonna think it was a great time because of that.
25:26 So that's just the kind of company we are,
25:29 and I do try to carve out time, but I love my job too.
25:32 So it's not saying it's always easy, but it's satisfying.
25:37 - And what does it mean to you
25:40 that they trust you to sit here
25:43 on this interview for Entrepreneur to send you to Boston?
25:46 Well, technically Toast sent you to Boston,
25:48 but they had to approve of it.
25:50 I mean, what does it mean to you?
25:52 - It means a great deal to me
25:53 because we're part of a family,
25:54 and it means that they do trust me to represent the brand,
25:58 represent Edley's, and because I love the brand,
26:01 and so it means a great deal to me.
26:04 - It's important for any founder that's listening
26:07 to understand that the more that we give other people
26:11 in our organization a voice,
26:13 and that's online and in real life,
26:16 the stronger our organization is.
26:17 And I know that's counterintuitive
26:19 to a lot of the way that founders think and CEOs think,
26:22 but I can't wait to come and visit Edley's
26:27 when I make it down.
26:29 It's gonna be an amazing trip for me.
26:31 So anybody that's listening to the show,
26:33 every single Wednesday and Friday
26:34 on the Social Audio App Clubhouse,
26:37 we meet because we wanna hear your story,
26:39 we wanna hear about your restaurant.
26:41 If you're in sales, if you're in marketing,
26:42 if you're in operations,
26:44 it's a place where we're building community.
26:46 If you're a Toast customer,
26:47 Toast has an incredible community that they're building.
26:50 We're gonna put links into the show notes,
26:52 we're gonna put links for Edley's Barbecue.
26:54 Where can people follow you on social?
26:56 - They can follow us on TikTok, on Instagram, Facebook.
26:59 I mean, we're all over all the socials.
27:01 Edley's BBQ.
27:02 - Edley's BBQ.
27:04 If you guys wanna connect with me,
27:05 it's @SeanPWalchef, S-H-A-W-N-P-W-A-L-C-H-E-F.
27:12 - We are grateful to Toast for having us, hosting us,
27:15 investing in the Customer Advisory Board
27:19 so that we can actually, I mean,
27:21 it's amazing to me to have so many different backgrounds
27:24 of people here that have different restaurant groups
27:27 that are making suggestions that literally,
27:29 since you and I have been on cab,
27:30 we're actually watching these suggestions
27:34 become new products.
27:35 - Yes, they really do listen to the feedback
27:37 and act on it.
27:38 - Yeah.
27:39 The one thing, we do wanna give a social shout out
27:41 and this week's social shout out goes to Catherine Callick.
27:45 Catherine is leading Toast.
27:47 She's responsible for getting
27:48 all of these incredible restaurant owners.
27:50 She's responsible for setting up this interview.
27:52 Catherine, we appreciate you.
27:53 Thank you.
27:55 And thank you guys for listening to the show.
27:57 Sarah, it's been a pleasure.
27:58 - Thank you.
27:59 Thank you for having me on, Sean.
28:00 - Can't wait to come and have some barbecue.
28:01 - Barbecue roars.
28:02 - That's right.
28:03 - Roars Cali barbecue versus KSC barbecue.
28:04 - No, we believe a rising tide lifts all ships.
28:07 We celebrate all barbecue,
28:09 no matter where in the world it is.
28:11 - I agree.
28:12 - Thank you.
28:13 - Thanks.
28:13 - Thank you for listening to Restaurant Influencers.
28:16 The best way that you can help us with the show
28:18 is to subscribe and write a review.
28:21 We love the opportunity to connect with you,
28:24 no matter where you are on the globe,
28:26 no matter what restaurant you are running.
28:28 Please send us a DM on social @SeanPWalcheff.
28:32 If you are interested in Toast,
28:34 if you wanna improve your digital hospitality,
28:37 please send me a DM.
28:38 I will get you in touch with a local Toast representative.
28:42 We appreciate you listening to the show.
28:44 The best way that you can help the show
28:45 is share it with a friend,
28:46 and we will catch you all next week,
28:48 or we will see you on one of the digital playgrounds
28:51 that we call social media.