[Music]
welcome to a beer in business this week
we are with Kyle Noonan and he is the
founder of free-range concepts which is
a restaurant development company but
what you tell me what free ranges in
your own words I know what it says in
words but the passions behind it you can
describe it so much better than I can
sure well we’re at the end of the day a
hospitality company that’s really
operating in the industry industry of
entertainment we like the idea of the
entertainment world because we think
that that’s something that’s gonna be
tough to to replace this idea of coming
together and having an experience but we
approach it from a restaurateur
standpoint where we bring in good food
good service and then we also have this
entertainment component too to
everything that we do our brands are
really cool we we have four different
brands currently all very different
the rustic which is a restaurant and bar
with a concert venue and that’s very
important the way we say it that way
that it’s a restaurant a bar with a
concert venue not a concert venue that
serves food because again that helps
define who we are and that determines
our approach to putting the emphasis and
the effort into the food the service the
hospitality and then yeah by the way we
can we can have 2500 people for a
concert or the same approach we take
with Bowlin barrel or bowling alley we
have three of those locations throughout
Texas and they’re very high-end bowling
alleys but they’re but they’re really at
its core restaurant and bar that has
some bowling lanes as opposed to a
bowling alley that serves bad food and
you know that we’ve all been in their
bowling alleys of the sticky floors and
the bad nacho cheese and stale beer so
you know again what’s defined us is we
took something that was an it was
actually in the entertainment world and
in this idea of going bowling but we
took it from an approach of a
restaurateur and and added an element of
hospitality and care to what we were
doing and that was really just set us
apart in the marketplace because nobody
else is doing it then we have our
concept mutts which I love mutts canine
Cantina which is a dog park restaurant
right store it’s right next door we’re
gonna be growing that pretty rapidly
over the next couple of years and it’s a
membership driven dog park where we take
care of your dog you come let your dog
run around we clean up after the dog and
play with the dog well you get to enjoy
a nice cold beer or a good burger out
out and underneath the note tree well
your four-legged friend is having a good
time so that’s a really unique concept
it’s son of innovative but it’s really
based in simple simple simple idea that
people like to go out and hang out with
their dog and he might as well give him
food and drink what they do they get to
take a little break on in the process I
do they do they do and the general pop
and then the general public’s our last
concept we realized with our Bowlin
barrel concept that we had a crummy bar
next to our original ball in barrel that
we didn’t own and operate and they were
busy all the time and I couldn’t figure
out why and so I went in and I talked to
the owner one day and he said he said
honestly we’re busy because because you
guys are here and and we we get 60 to 70
percent of our business from spillover
from from what you’re from what your
concepts bringing in to the neighborhood
and that was my aha moment that I said
you know what instead of just feeding
our neighbor we might as well be our
neighbor that is really just a spillover
place for Bolam girl because Bowlin
barrel is such a high demand concept
where we might go on a 2-3 hour late at
night and so people can come in get
their name on the list for a bowling
lane go next door have a great meal have
some fun maybe listen to some live music
have some great cocktails and then come
back and finish up and Bowl so what is
free range concept I don’t know we’re
restaurant a company operating in the
entertainment space or we’re an
entertainment company being run by
restaurant tours I don’t know we’ve been
called both but either way I think I
think
so far now you also support Texas craft
beer so what do you have that just it’s
not good drink it it was good
these are two of the 40 Texas brews that
we have on tap two of the 40 what do you
have there so I have the Petit colas
velvet hammer and coming right out of
Dallas Texas and I’ve got revolver blood
and honey that I know for fat comes out
of Austin but it’s all Texas beer and
it’s all cold good all good
you know Tom this is one of the reasons
why we love our business and why we
believe in our business because getting
to just break bread with with somebody
else drink a cold beer you know eat
drink whatever it might be with other
people that’s one of the few things that
I think is irreplaceable right now by
technology technology is gonna affect
and has affected a lot of industries and
it does affect the foodservice industry
to a certain degree but it doesn’t I
don’t see it eradicating the industry
for a long time because this this
experience that we’re having here is you
just can’t do it through your iPhone or
or on your laptop so that’s why we love
this industry and it’s a really great
industry and you know what’s curious to
entrepreneurs all around the world that
like like to watch and and learn from
what we do in value teaming one of the
big questions people always say is when
did you get the entrepreneurial bug and
when did you go do it and your
background is interesting because you’re
in school studying nothing close to biz
right right right yeah I was an art
major of a painting and sculpting major
but I realized very quickly when it came
time to taking girls out on dates that I
needed money and I had to I had to
figure out a way to make money and being
a starving artist is really attractive
and romantic in a movie but in real life
it’s just not and so I had to go out and
get a job and I the the the job I went
out and got was waiting tables I know
you’ve had another guest Rodgers Healy
he and I started waiting tables at the
same restaurant Papa no seafood kitchen
seriously and I
and this is a true story I started about
a year before him and I’ve moved into
management pretty quickly and so he in
he and I have been friends you know for
years now and he he often jokes that I
I’m his first boss because he started as
a waiter when I was a new manager
so yeah Papa Tosi food kitchen here in
Dallas is where we both kind of got our
start and we learned a lot of skills in
the in the industry and I ended up
falling in love with it and never left
but then you went you got a very very
practical and a very good apprenticeship
joining a professional restaurant
expansion company and development
company right right tell a little bit
about that first but then second is what
led you to be flying on this nice career
comfortable seats and everything you had
a good career good thing going but you
said you know what and you open the door
and you put on a parachute you jumped
out to do it yourself
so how did you tell us about the career
long to that point and then what lets
you to get out of the seat put on a
parachute and jump it really at the end
of the day I am grateful that I got to
cut my teeth with such a great company a
company that’s really well renowned and
well we held in high regard for the
operations that they that they’ve really
consistently execute and have done so
for now three decades which is pretty
rare in this industry to have that
longevity you know I learned a lot with
it with the company and and this is one
of the things that I like to teach young
entrepreneurs now is we talk we talk a
lot about motivation you know motive
whether you’re watching motivation
videos or reading self-help books or
whatever it might be motivation is a
great thing and it’s a useful thing and
it’s an important thing but you got to
have the education and and I don’t mean
necessarily through through school you
know just you have to be a practitioner
of your industry and you have to know
your industry you have to put in the
time and the energy and the effort
because motivation only gets you so far
right if you’re an idiot and you
motivate if you if you take an idiot and
you mode
the idiot all you ever motivate an idiot
and that’s no good
so you have to you know you have to have
the education which I was so thankful
that I got for 13 years with that
organization
you know the motivation came from dinner
actually the two brothers Harrison Chris
Pappas who owned Pappas Brothers company
took me down took me to dinner I was I
was running operations for them in
Chicago at the time and I was he I was a
young man I still am a young man but I
was in my early 30s and and the two
Pappas brothers said Kyle look we know
that you’re a a motivated driven hungry
person yeah and we know you have a lot
of ambition and we want you to know that
we love you and you’re a your extreme
asset to this company but we care about
you as a person and we and we want to
make sure that you understand that your
last name isn’t Pappas so you’re never
gonna own the company you’re always
gonna have a place here but you’re
always gonna be an employee and never
gonna own it that was a hard thing to
hear it was not surprising necessarily
but it it was a wake-up call and it and
it made me go wow how much respect do I
have for them to tell me that but also
know I need to start thinking what’s
important do I want to be an employee
and sign the back of the checks or do I
want to sign the front of the checks and
be an employer and what what really
motivates me and I was able to answer
that question for myself pretty quickly
and that was that wanted I wanted to I
wanted to write the check sign the
checks on the front and be the boss
what’s so interesting about that is you
would think a person that position would
say well then I’m gonna go out and open
this little restaurant here but instead
you built free-range concepts that
clearly had a vision beyond one
restaurant it did I mean we Wow we
opened four units and this is where
sometimes you have to be a little
reckless maybe in in business and then
almost have just no fear be bold I love
that we most people would think that
opening a 15,000 square foot really high
in bowling alley in in itself is
extremely ambitious for your first go
you know a multi-million dollar project
we did four of them in 11 months and we
also started a television show during
that time and it was just my partner and
I my best friend from college he and I
were college roommates and we’re still
best friends today and tell me if this
is correct I read that you went from
like two to six hundred employees in
like 18 months 17 months we did we did
we didn’t go from two employees it was
it was my partner and I in my home
office and that’s we still have a
picture of him and I in my home office
and it’s now been only five and a half
years ago that this happened or that
this picture was taken that he and I
were starting the company in my office
and typing manuals and documents and
things like that less than less than two
years later we looked up and we had we
had well over 500 employees and and
several units throughout Texas
she started scaling and a lot of
entrepreneurs will get something going a
lot of entrepreneurs will you know get
nothing going but when you get something
going you can be the dog that caught the
taxi so how did you scale it and what
was critical or who did you have to hire
to join your partner in you so that
going from two to six hundred employees
was structured and it scaled nicely it
didn’t turn into a circus well it’s
still kind of a circus and then he start
up there’s there’s chaos behind the
scenes and a lot of times but you know
we probably could all imagine this this
theatre production going onstage that
all looks finely tuned and perfect but
backstage just just it’s catastrophe and
disaster and people are running around
like crazy you just described the
Academy Awards yeah exactly and then
they announced the wrong picture a year
ago so mistakes happen to to the to the
outward public but you know one of the
most important things that we believe in
and that we pride ourselves in and I say
we I mean our entire team not just My
partner and I is is the entrepreneurial
spirit people that join our organization
whether it’s a c-level person or an
entry-level person they all share the
the entrepreneurial spirit and the and
they get excited about the fact that
we’re building something fortunately
we’ve
a culture of and continue to attract
entrepreneurs that really take ownership
and pride and create in the creation and
the building of something you know I
want to one of my good friends who owns
a well-known publication we were talking
about living in a city but he said he
read he read that the only thing that is
better than living in a great city is
helping to build a great city and that
quote always stuck with me
and I and I think that that’s right I
think that’s accurate at least for me
and and anybody with an entrepreneurial
spirit likes the building of something
and so our team is filled with a lot of
builders and a lot of creators which is
led to our success were you intentional
about your culture or did your culture
happen and you say you know I love what
we’ve established this year let’s keep
what we’ve let’s keep what grew or did
you say no we’re gonna be about these
things and if we do it right the culture
will honestly mean those things I think
it’s both we were intentional early on
and we had some core principles that we
knew we want to operate by but our
culture has evolved over over the course
of the last five years and it’s evolved
in part because we’re smarter now and we
know what’s more important you know but
also because the team that has that has
come together has helped mold that
culture I’ll give you an example our
mission statement when we first started
out when we wrote our mission statement
it was it was it was brilliant it was a
literary masterpiece we we were so proud
of it and they was filled with a bunch
of you know words like like strategy and
competition and superior and things like
this and you know that but there was one
problem nobody nobody could recite it
and I would walk I would walk into our
stores and nobody had any idea what our
mission statement was and over the
course of the next six months my partner
and I just said you know what we got it
we got to make this mission statement
count to where it actually means
something and it is all of our mission
and so we boiled it down boiled it down
we went from you know a paragraph to two
sentences to one long sentence you know
and we kept going and we kept going
until we finally got to what is
currently our mission statement and and
it’s something that we all talk about
every day and our mission is very simple
its to create remarkable memories it’s
not more complicated than that it’s
everybody’s job to get together and
challenge each other how did you create
a remarkable memory today and we talk
about it all the time we talk about the
importance of those words why we chose
the word remarkable because
remarkable is defined as worth making a
remark about so we wanted to not only
create a good memory for somebody but a
memory that they would go out and then
talk about we also in our second last
iteration of the mission statement it
was to create remarkable memories for
our guests we didn’t stop there we ended
up taking out for our guests and just
shortened it to create remarkable
memories because we knew that it was
just as important to create remarkable
memory for each other for one another
for those in our community for our
vendors anybody that came into contact
with us we wanted them to remember us
and remember that experience in that
memory and be able to go talk about it
it’s interesting is people like to make
remarks about successes but it’s also
very valid and very self introspective
and educational to make remarks about
failures but do so in the right way so
two questions first is what is like a
failure a mistake that you made early on
that didn’t go so well and how did you
recover from it and then how do you
handle failures or mistakes with your
people so that you have this thriving
business where people strive not to make
them but they’re not afraid to tell you
what happened because the worst thing is
these mistakes happen yeah and you don’t
know yeah no that’s a great question and
that’s something that we we do talk
often about creating an environment
where if you’re giving your best and you
mess up it’s okay you know but I’ll tell
you in the industry we live in and the
world we live in in the industry we
operate in our mistakes are pretty
evident pretty quick because it’s a
common phrase everybody’s a critic well
in this industry and
think more apt everybody’s a food critic
and with the advent of Yelp and table
opentable google reviews facebook our
consumers talk to us pretty pretty
readily and pretty ruthlessly on the way
home yeah on the way home so we know if
we’re if we’re making mistakes and I can
tell you that as an entrepreneur that’s
probably one of the things that may be
not necessarily that it was a mistake
that we made early on but it was how we
interpreted the feedback from our guests
you know we would get defensive about it
well they just didn’t understand the
physics you know they don’t understand
what we did you know what we were really
trying to know that guy’s that guy’s an
idiot he doesn’t know what he’s talking
about you know what it doesn’t matter he
has his feeling he came in had an
experience and didn’t like it for one
reason or another and left eighty five
dollars on date night yeah exactly so it
really doesn’t matter what what excuse
you have or what reason or how you try
and justify the consumers perception of
you there their perception is there is
the reality and it’s the only reality
that matters and so you’ve got to figure
out as a young company and really is an
old company how do you respond to market
feedback and I think that we’ve had to
learn that over time and understand the
importance of really taking every bit of
feedback every bit of information to
heart and figuring out how we can be
better on the next on the next go-round
if you ever have a chance in Las Vegas
to go to Zappos and take the tour it’s
just over the top what you see but what
you see is there are certain traits in
every employee from finance to design to
everything there are certain traits that
are there and they’re like Zappos trades
this is like the Stepford Wives it’s
there’s just the traits of what makes
Zappos great they’re really careful
about who they hire what are some of the
traits you look for and a minute ago you
mentioned a couple principles so what
are your principles and then what are
the traits you look for in people so
that you know those principles are going
to be upheld I like to boil it down I
don’t I don’t like to over complicate
things and make have a long list of
things that are important
so we’ve really boiled it down to two
things one are you an entrepreneur and
you have that mindset that make up that
that that wiring that is required to say
you know what I’m not worried about what
my job is or what their job is we’re
just gonna get it done one way or
another we and and we are gonna we are
gonna gonna accomplish the task that’s
the first thing and then the second
thing and this is probably the most
important thing we’re in the hospitality
business and in this business that there
there has to be a sense of wanting to
take care of people if you don’t have
that desire that that that outward look
on people and that my instead of if you
want to get what you want in life you
got to help enough people get what they
want in life if you don’t have that
wiring that I just want to take care of
people then you’re not gonna make it
very far with us because we have that
that culture and those are really the
two things that we look at everything
else can be figured out I don’t care
what your what your background is what
your education level is what your
experience level is if you have those
two things you can you can thrive in our
organization you said you hire people
with an entrepreneur mindset what are
one or two maybe traits that you that
you see in people and you say okay
you’ve got it I you can be here as long
as you want if you keep that mindset
sure you know I think I shy away from
people that have titles and that that
take too much pride and this is where I
work this was my degree this is my
background this was my title at my last
job because that really doesn’t matter
if you know if you start initially
talking about those types of things then
then I’m I lose interest pretty fast
so I think that’s one of the first
things but but ultimately there’s a
hunger that that entrepreneurs have
there’s this mindset that I’m gonna go
get it done whatever way by whatever
means and it doesn’t matter what’s going
on in the world it doesn’t not gonna sit
there and make a list of excuses as to
why something isn’t gonna work
I’m gonna go figure out how to make it
work and you can find that in a person
that hunger that passion pretty quickly
within within 30 seconds of meeting them
you’re you you can find out if they’re
excited enthusiastic about what they do
or if they’re more about who they are
and where they’re from and what their
title is and who or who their dad was or
whatever the case might be it really
comes down to can you feel that passion
and that’s what we look for as I had one
entrepreneur say he says Tom have you
ever leaned back in a chair and almost
fallen yeah I once felt that way for
four months straight yeah like you know
what that’s perfect there’s no other
description that can describe that that
am I gonna make in my not gonna make it
what is something saying when you feel
this you know you’re gonna be okay but
push through it because this what you’re
feeling the other side yeah
entrepreneurs most entrepreneurs that
are successful anyway always feel like
that like things are gonna crumble at
any given moment right it’s kind of your
walk in that edge it doesn’t matter how
successful you are you just have that
inner drive that things are about to
happen and and and if I don’t fix it
then we’re all gonna we’re all gonna
perish right and I think that that’s
part of the drive that keeps successful
people motivated and not getting fat and
not getting happy and you know I talk a
lot about how I’m generally in life I’m
a very positive person but in business
I’m I’m I’m kind of glass half-empty and
I’m always looking at okay I don’t care
about the wind yesterday I care about
the challenge tomorrow and how we’re
gonna how we’re gonna get better right
so I think that’s the first thing but
the second thing at probably more than
anything with entrepreneurship and I
learned this from my parents my parents
were hard-working I came from a good
household they they didn’t start with
much but they’ve created quite a bit in
their lifetime but what was interesting
is when they really started to thrive is
during the financially and
professionally is during the same time
that my sister who’s eight years younger
than me was diagnosed with leukemia and
given a 10% chance to live and my
parents
we had every excuse not to do well in
life with that you know but mindset is a
binary decision and it’s either I’m
gonna be a pot I’m gonna take out a
positive approach or I’m gonna take a
negative approach to how I approach
things I’m either gonna be a winner or
I’m gonna be a loser and I learned that
from my parents I’m I’m grateful because
I saw them they said you know what we’re
gonna beat cancer which they did we’re
gonna we’re gonna we’re going to still
thrive professionally which they did and
they had they had that winner’s mindset
that’s something that I think is
probably one of them key ingredients to
our success it’s just about how you
attack the attack today and attack life
that defines your success or your losses
if you can’t take something from that
and put it into your business in your
life you don’t have a pulse you know I
think that was that was brilliant and
I’m glad to hear that your sister’s a
survivor yeah my little sister is a
breast cancer survivor so what I’m doing
coming up on 20 years to all the
survivors and the people that supported
them amen thank you so much thank you I
really really appreciated this if you
had to give you know to management
parting shots real quick
about how you’re managing now as you’ve
you have made it so free-range that’s
got several restaurants out there
they’re thriving they’ve done and now
you’re at this level now you’ve gone
from organizing and originating now
you’re really operating but you’re
staying with this entrepreneurial
mindset how do you manage your people to
keep an entrepreneurial mindset when a
lot of them might feel just like it’s
well we’re just kind of operating day in
day out sure I can tell you that I I
really and my team knows this I’m a
what-if guy and I’m a let’s go guy and
and those are two different things and
I’ll get to both of it when we’re in
meetings or when we’re walking through a
restaurant or when we’re out in another
restaurant at a competitor’s restaurant
or wherever it might be
when I start to say what if my team goes
okay this is gonna be a while because
we’re gonna sit here and roundtable
things for a long time because Kyle’s
gonna go well what if we did it this way
or what if the world was like this or
what if we created this environment or
what
right and so thinking in those my in in
those terms of what if I get really
turned off by people that you ask them
why they do something and they go I
don’t know it’s just cuz it’s that’s the
way it’s always been done and just
because it’s always been done that way
might might be okay but at least know
why it’s been done that way don’t just
do it because that’s the way it’s been
done understand why you do it that way
and if it’s not the best way then figure
out a better way so that’s the first
thing is what if guy because that sparks
a lot of conversations what if it was
like this or what if we did it this way
and then the second thing is the let’s
go guy
it’s always a let’s go do this let’s go
make it happen it’s not I’m gonna go
make it happen it’s let’s go make it
happen and and having that one call to
action but to the mindset of we’re gonna
do it all together is very important and
we always have that that that mindset
here internally at free-range concepts
of let’s go do this together let’s go
accomplish it together because not only
are you gonna your chances of success
are increased exponentially if you’re
doing it as a group but you’re also
gonna enjoy it a lot more in the process
because you get to celebrate the that
the process and the wind with the people
that help you climb that mountain
fantastic loving i well we really
appreciate the privilege of being able
to be here with you I sincerely say that
the privilege of mine all the problem
entrepreneurs all around the world are
going to understand a lot of things
whether they’re operating a t-shirt
company in Berlin Germany or it’s a
housing contractor in Omaha Nebraska
there are entrepreneurs out there
there’s looking for these kernels of
wisdom and encouragement where you are
today and where you were yesterday is is
is so different and as we close what
piece of advice would today’s Kyle wish
you could have given day one Kyle I
would say just be thankful for the
people that hang out or that help you
and
and don’t take anything for granted
because really most of the world doesn’t
care about you and the few people that
do you got it you got to hold on to and
be grateful for and they’re not taking
for granted and all comes down to people
yeah thank you so much so much
appreciate it this is wonderful
come see us next week on a beer in
business this week again it was a Kyle
noon here at free-range concepts creator
of the rustic and if you’re in Dallas
come check out the rustic you will not
be disappointed until next time I’m Tom
Merritt and I hope we left you better than we found you
welcome to a beer in business this week
we are with Kyle Noonan and he is the
founder of free-range concepts which is
a restaurant development company but
what you tell me what free ranges in
your own words I know what it says in
words but the passions behind it you can
describe it so much better than I can
sure well we’re at the end of the day a
hospitality company that’s really
operating in the industry industry of
entertainment we like the idea of the
entertainment world because we think
that that’s something that’s gonna be
tough to to replace this idea of coming
together and having an experience but we
approach it from a restaurateur
standpoint where we bring in good food
good service and then we also have this
entertainment component too to
everything that we do our brands are
really cool we we have four different
brands currently all very different
the rustic which is a restaurant and bar
with a concert venue and that’s very
important the way we say it that way
that it’s a restaurant a bar with a
concert venue not a concert venue that
serves food because again that helps
define who we are and that determines
our approach to putting the emphasis and
the effort into the food the service the
hospitality and then yeah by the way we
can we can have 2500 people for a
concert or the same approach we take
with Bowlin barrel or bowling alley we
have three of those locations throughout
Texas and they’re very high-end bowling
alleys but they’re but they’re really at
its core restaurant and bar that has
some bowling lanes as opposed to a
bowling alley that serves bad food and
you know that we’ve all been in their
bowling alleys of the sticky floors and
the bad nacho cheese and stale beer so
you know again what’s defined us is we
took something that was an it was
actually in the entertainment world and
in this idea of going bowling but we
took it from an approach of a
restaurateur and and added an element of
hospitality and care to what we were
doing and that was really just set us
apart in the marketplace because nobody
else is doing it then we have our
concept mutts which I love mutts canine
Cantina which is a dog park restaurant
right store it’s right next door we’re
gonna be growing that pretty rapidly
over the next couple of years and it’s a
membership driven dog park where we take
care of your dog you come let your dog
run around we clean up after the dog and
play with the dog well you get to enjoy
a nice cold beer or a good burger out
out and underneath the note tree well
your four-legged friend is having a good
time so that’s a really unique concept
it’s son of innovative but it’s really
based in simple simple simple idea that
people like to go out and hang out with
their dog and he might as well give him
food and drink what they do they get to
take a little break on in the process I
do they do they do and the general pop
and then the general public’s our last
concept we realized with our Bowlin
barrel concept that we had a crummy bar
next to our original ball in barrel that
we didn’t own and operate and they were
busy all the time and I couldn’t figure
out why and so I went in and I talked to
the owner one day and he said he said
honestly we’re busy because because you
guys are here and and we we get 60 to 70
percent of our business from spillover
from from what you’re from what your
concepts bringing in to the neighborhood
and that was my aha moment that I said
you know what instead of just feeding
our neighbor we might as well be our
neighbor that is really just a spillover
place for Bolam girl because Bowlin
barrel is such a high demand concept
where we might go on a 2-3 hour late at
night and so people can come in get
their name on the list for a bowling
lane go next door have a great meal have
some fun maybe listen to some live music
have some great cocktails and then come
back and finish up and Bowl so what is
free range concept I don’t know we’re
restaurant a company operating in the
entertainment space or we’re an
entertainment company being run by
restaurant tours I don’t know we’ve been
called both but either way I think I
think
so far now you also support Texas craft
beer so what do you have that just it’s
not good drink it it was good
these are two of the 40 Texas brews that
we have on tap two of the 40 what do you
have there so I have the Petit colas
velvet hammer and coming right out of
Dallas Texas and I’ve got revolver blood
and honey that I know for fat comes out
of Austin but it’s all Texas beer and
it’s all cold good all good
you know Tom this is one of the reasons
why we love our business and why we
believe in our business because getting
to just break bread with with somebody
else drink a cold beer you know eat
drink whatever it might be with other
people that’s one of the few things that
I think is irreplaceable right now by
technology technology is gonna affect
and has affected a lot of industries and
it does affect the foodservice industry
to a certain degree but it doesn’t I
don’t see it eradicating the industry
for a long time because this this
experience that we’re having here is you
just can’t do it through your iPhone or
or on your laptop so that’s why we love
this industry and it’s a really great
industry and you know what’s curious to
entrepreneurs all around the world that
like like to watch and and learn from
what we do in value teaming one of the
big questions people always say is when
did you get the entrepreneurial bug and
when did you go do it and your
background is interesting because you’re
in school studying nothing close to biz
right right right yeah I was an art
major of a painting and sculpting major
but I realized very quickly when it came
time to taking girls out on dates that I
needed money and I had to I had to
figure out a way to make money and being
a starving artist is really attractive
and romantic in a movie but in real life
it’s just not and so I had to go out and
get a job and I the the the job I went
out and got was waiting tables I know
you’ve had another guest Rodgers Healy
he and I started waiting tables at the
same restaurant Papa no seafood kitchen
seriously and I
and this is a true story I started about
a year before him and I’ve moved into
management pretty quickly and so he in
he and I have been friends you know for
years now and he he often jokes that I
I’m his first boss because he started as
a waiter when I was a new manager
so yeah Papa Tosi food kitchen here in
Dallas is where we both kind of got our
start and we learned a lot of skills in
the in the industry and I ended up
falling in love with it and never left
but then you went you got a very very
practical and a very good apprenticeship
joining a professional restaurant
expansion company and development
company right right tell a little bit
about that first but then second is what
led you to be flying on this nice career
comfortable seats and everything you had
a good career good thing going but you
said you know what and you open the door
and you put on a parachute you jumped
out to do it yourself
so how did you tell us about the career
long to that point and then what lets
you to get out of the seat put on a
parachute and jump it really at the end
of the day I am grateful that I got to
cut my teeth with such a great company a
company that’s really well renowned and
well we held in high regard for the
operations that they that they’ve really
consistently execute and have done so
for now three decades which is pretty
rare in this industry to have that
longevity you know I learned a lot with
it with the company and and this is one
of the things that I like to teach young
entrepreneurs now is we talk we talk a
lot about motivation you know motive
whether you’re watching motivation
videos or reading self-help books or
whatever it might be motivation is a
great thing and it’s a useful thing and
it’s an important thing but you got to
have the education and and I don’t mean
necessarily through through school you
know just you have to be a practitioner
of your industry and you have to know
your industry you have to put in the
time and the energy and the effort
because motivation only gets you so far
right if you’re an idiot and you
motivate if you if you take an idiot and
you mode
the idiot all you ever motivate an idiot
and that’s no good
so you have to you know you have to have
the education which I was so thankful
that I got for 13 years with that
organization
you know the motivation came from dinner
actually the two brothers Harrison Chris
Pappas who owned Pappas Brothers company
took me down took me to dinner I was I
was running operations for them in
Chicago at the time and I was he I was a
young man I still am a young man but I
was in my early 30s and and the two
Pappas brothers said Kyle look we know
that you’re a a motivated driven hungry
person yeah and we know you have a lot
of ambition and we want you to know that
we love you and you’re a your extreme
asset to this company but we care about
you as a person and we and we want to
make sure that you understand that your
last name isn’t Pappas so you’re never
gonna own the company you’re always
gonna have a place here but you’re
always gonna be an employee and never
gonna own it that was a hard thing to
hear it was not surprising necessarily
but it it was a wake-up call and it and
it made me go wow how much respect do I
have for them to tell me that but also
know I need to start thinking what’s
important do I want to be an employee
and sign the back of the checks or do I
want to sign the front of the checks and
be an employer and what what really
motivates me and I was able to answer
that question for myself pretty quickly
and that was that wanted I wanted to I
wanted to write the check sign the
checks on the front and be the boss
what’s so interesting about that is you
would think a person that position would
say well then I’m gonna go out and open
this little restaurant here but instead
you built free-range concepts that
clearly had a vision beyond one
restaurant it did I mean we Wow we
opened four units and this is where
sometimes you have to be a little
reckless maybe in in business and then
almost have just no fear be bold I love
that we most people would think that
opening a 15,000 square foot really high
in bowling alley in in itself is
extremely ambitious for your first go
you know a multi-million dollar project
we did four of them in 11 months and we
also started a television show during
that time and it was just my partner and
I my best friend from college he and I
were college roommates and we’re still
best friends today and tell me if this
is correct I read that you went from
like two to six hundred employees in
like 18 months 17 months we did we did
we didn’t go from two employees it was
it was my partner and I in my home
office and that’s we still have a
picture of him and I in my home office
and it’s now been only five and a half
years ago that this happened or that
this picture was taken that he and I
were starting the company in my office
and typing manuals and documents and
things like that less than less than two
years later we looked up and we had we
had well over 500 employees and and
several units throughout Texas
she started scaling and a lot of
entrepreneurs will get something going a
lot of entrepreneurs will you know get
nothing going but when you get something
going you can be the dog that caught the
taxi so how did you scale it and what
was critical or who did you have to hire
to join your partner in you so that
going from two to six hundred employees
was structured and it scaled nicely it
didn’t turn into a circus well it’s
still kind of a circus and then he start
up there’s there’s chaos behind the
scenes and a lot of times but you know
we probably could all imagine this this
theatre production going onstage that
all looks finely tuned and perfect but
backstage just just it’s catastrophe and
disaster and people are running around
like crazy you just described the
Academy Awards yeah exactly and then
they announced the wrong picture a year
ago so mistakes happen to to the to the
outward public but you know one of the
most important things that we believe in
and that we pride ourselves in and I say
we I mean our entire team not just My
partner and I is is the entrepreneurial
spirit people that join our organization
whether it’s a c-level person or an
entry-level person they all share the
the entrepreneurial spirit and the and
they get excited about the fact that
we’re building something fortunately
we’ve
a culture of and continue to attract
entrepreneurs that really take ownership
and pride and create in the creation and
the building of something you know I
want to one of my good friends who owns
a well-known publication we were talking
about living in a city but he said he
read he read that the only thing that is
better than living in a great city is
helping to build a great city and that
quote always stuck with me
and I and I think that that’s right I
think that’s accurate at least for me
and and anybody with an entrepreneurial
spirit likes the building of something
and so our team is filled with a lot of
builders and a lot of creators which is
led to our success were you intentional
about your culture or did your culture
happen and you say you know I love what
we’ve established this year let’s keep
what we’ve let’s keep what grew or did
you say no we’re gonna be about these
things and if we do it right the culture
will honestly mean those things I think
it’s both we were intentional early on
and we had some core principles that we
knew we want to operate by but our
culture has evolved over over the course
of the last five years and it’s evolved
in part because we’re smarter now and we
know what’s more important you know but
also because the team that has that has
come together has helped mold that
culture I’ll give you an example our
mission statement when we first started
out when we wrote our mission statement
it was it was it was brilliant it was a
literary masterpiece we we were so proud
of it and they was filled with a bunch
of you know words like like strategy and
competition and superior and things like
this and you know that but there was one
problem nobody nobody could recite it
and I would walk I would walk into our
stores and nobody had any idea what our
mission statement was and over the
course of the next six months my partner
and I just said you know what we got it
we got to make this mission statement
count to where it actually means
something and it is all of our mission
and so we boiled it down boiled it down
we went from you know a paragraph to two
sentences to one long sentence you know
and we kept going and we kept going
until we finally got to what is
currently our mission statement and and
it’s something that we all talk about
every day and our mission is very simple
its to create remarkable memories it’s
not more complicated than that it’s
everybody’s job to get together and
challenge each other how did you create
a remarkable memory today and we talk
about it all the time we talk about the
importance of those words why we chose
the word remarkable because
remarkable is defined as worth making a
remark about so we wanted to not only
create a good memory for somebody but a
memory that they would go out and then
talk about we also in our second last
iteration of the mission statement it
was to create remarkable memories for
our guests we didn’t stop there we ended
up taking out for our guests and just
shortened it to create remarkable
memories because we knew that it was
just as important to create remarkable
memory for each other for one another
for those in our community for our
vendors anybody that came into contact
with us we wanted them to remember us
and remember that experience in that
memory and be able to go talk about it
it’s interesting is people like to make
remarks about successes but it’s also
very valid and very self introspective
and educational to make remarks about
failures but do so in the right way so
two questions first is what is like a
failure a mistake that you made early on
that didn’t go so well and how did you
recover from it and then how do you
handle failures or mistakes with your
people so that you have this thriving
business where people strive not to make
them but they’re not afraid to tell you
what happened because the worst thing is
these mistakes happen yeah and you don’t
know yeah no that’s a great question and
that’s something that we we do talk
often about creating an environment
where if you’re giving your best and you
mess up it’s okay you know but I’ll tell
you in the industry we live in and the
world we live in in the industry we
operate in our mistakes are pretty
evident pretty quick because it’s a
common phrase everybody’s a critic well
in this industry and
think more apt everybody’s a food critic
and with the advent of Yelp and table
opentable google reviews facebook our
consumers talk to us pretty pretty
readily and pretty ruthlessly on the way
home yeah on the way home so we know if
we’re if we’re making mistakes and I can
tell you that as an entrepreneur that’s
probably one of the things that may be
not necessarily that it was a mistake
that we made early on but it was how we
interpreted the feedback from our guests
you know we would get defensive about it
well they just didn’t understand the
physics you know they don’t understand
what we did you know what we were really
trying to know that guy’s that guy’s an
idiot he doesn’t know what he’s talking
about you know what it doesn’t matter he
has his feeling he came in had an
experience and didn’t like it for one
reason or another and left eighty five
dollars on date night yeah exactly so it
really doesn’t matter what what excuse
you have or what reason or how you try
and justify the consumers perception of
you there their perception is there is
the reality and it’s the only reality
that matters and so you’ve got to figure
out as a young company and really is an
old company how do you respond to market
feedback and I think that we’ve had to
learn that over time and understand the
importance of really taking every bit of
feedback every bit of information to
heart and figuring out how we can be
better on the next on the next go-round
if you ever have a chance in Las Vegas
to go to Zappos and take the tour it’s
just over the top what you see but what
you see is there are certain traits in
every employee from finance to design to
everything there are certain traits that
are there and they’re like Zappos trades
this is like the Stepford Wives it’s
there’s just the traits of what makes
Zappos great they’re really careful
about who they hire what are some of the
traits you look for and a minute ago you
mentioned a couple principles so what
are your principles and then what are
the traits you look for in people so
that you know those principles are going
to be upheld I like to boil it down I
don’t I don’t like to over complicate
things and make have a long list of
things that are important
so we’ve really boiled it down to two
things one are you an entrepreneur and
you have that mindset that make up that
that that wiring that is required to say
you know what I’m not worried about what
my job is or what their job is we’re
just gonna get it done one way or
another we and and we are gonna we are
gonna gonna accomplish the task that’s
the first thing and then the second
thing and this is probably the most
important thing we’re in the hospitality
business and in this business that there
there has to be a sense of wanting to
take care of people if you don’t have
that desire that that that outward look
on people and that my instead of if you
want to get what you want in life you
got to help enough people get what they
want in life if you don’t have that
wiring that I just want to take care of
people then you’re not gonna make it
very far with us because we have that
that culture and those are really the
two things that we look at everything
else can be figured out I don’t care
what your what your background is what
your education level is what your
experience level is if you have those
two things you can you can thrive in our
organization you said you hire people
with an entrepreneur mindset what are
one or two maybe traits that you that
you see in people and you say okay
you’ve got it I you can be here as long
as you want if you keep that mindset
sure you know I think I shy away from
people that have titles and that that
take too much pride and this is where I
work this was my degree this is my
background this was my title at my last
job because that really doesn’t matter
if you know if you start initially
talking about those types of things then
then I’m I lose interest pretty fast
so I think that’s one of the first
things but but ultimately there’s a
hunger that that entrepreneurs have
there’s this mindset that I’m gonna go
get it done whatever way by whatever
means and it doesn’t matter what’s going
on in the world it doesn’t not gonna sit
there and make a list of excuses as to
why something isn’t gonna work
I’m gonna go figure out how to make it
work and you can find that in a person
that hunger that passion pretty quickly
within within 30 seconds of meeting them
you’re you you can find out if they’re
excited enthusiastic about what they do
or if they’re more about who they are
and where they’re from and what their
title is and who or who their dad was or
whatever the case might be it really
comes down to can you feel that passion
and that’s what we look for as I had one
entrepreneur say he says Tom have you
ever leaned back in a chair and almost
fallen yeah I once felt that way for
four months straight yeah like you know
what that’s perfect there’s no other
description that can describe that that
am I gonna make in my not gonna make it
what is something saying when you feel
this you know you’re gonna be okay but
push through it because this what you’re
feeling the other side yeah
entrepreneurs most entrepreneurs that
are successful anyway always feel like
that like things are gonna crumble at
any given moment right it’s kind of your
walk in that edge it doesn’t matter how
successful you are you just have that
inner drive that things are about to
happen and and and if I don’t fix it
then we’re all gonna we’re all gonna
perish right and I think that that’s
part of the drive that keeps successful
people motivated and not getting fat and
not getting happy and you know I talk a
lot about how I’m generally in life I’m
a very positive person but in business
I’m I’m I’m kind of glass half-empty and
I’m always looking at okay I don’t care
about the wind yesterday I care about
the challenge tomorrow and how we’re
gonna how we’re gonna get better right
so I think that’s the first thing but
the second thing at probably more than
anything with entrepreneurship and I
learned this from my parents my parents
were hard-working I came from a good
household they they didn’t start with
much but they’ve created quite a bit in
their lifetime but what was interesting
is when they really started to thrive is
during the financially and
professionally is during the same time
that my sister who’s eight years younger
than me was diagnosed with leukemia and
given a 10% chance to live and my
parents
we had every excuse not to do well in
life with that you know but mindset is a
binary decision and it’s either I’m
gonna be a pot I’m gonna take out a
positive approach or I’m gonna take a
negative approach to how I approach
things I’m either gonna be a winner or
I’m gonna be a loser and I learned that
from my parents I’m I’m grateful because
I saw them they said you know what we’re
gonna beat cancer which they did we’re
gonna we’re gonna we’re going to still
thrive professionally which they did and
they had they had that winner’s mindset
that’s something that I think is
probably one of them key ingredients to
our success it’s just about how you
attack the attack today and attack life
that defines your success or your losses
if you can’t take something from that
and put it into your business in your
life you don’t have a pulse you know I
think that was that was brilliant and
I’m glad to hear that your sister’s a
survivor yeah my little sister is a
breast cancer survivor so what I’m doing
coming up on 20 years to all the
survivors and the people that supported
them amen thank you so much thank you I
really really appreciated this if you
had to give you know to management
parting shots real quick
about how you’re managing now as you’ve
you have made it so free-range that’s
got several restaurants out there
they’re thriving they’ve done and now
you’re at this level now you’ve gone
from organizing and originating now
you’re really operating but you’re
staying with this entrepreneurial
mindset how do you manage your people to
keep an entrepreneurial mindset when a
lot of them might feel just like it’s
well we’re just kind of operating day in
day out sure I can tell you that I I
really and my team knows this I’m a
what-if guy and I’m a let’s go guy and
and those are two different things and
I’ll get to both of it when we’re in
meetings or when we’re walking through a
restaurant or when we’re out in another
restaurant at a competitor’s restaurant
or wherever it might be
when I start to say what if my team goes
okay this is gonna be a while because
we’re gonna sit here and roundtable
things for a long time because Kyle’s
gonna go well what if we did it this way
or what if the world was like this or
what if we created this environment or
what
right and so thinking in those my in in
those terms of what if I get really
turned off by people that you ask them
why they do something and they go I
don’t know it’s just cuz it’s that’s the
way it’s always been done and just
because it’s always been done that way
might might be okay but at least know
why it’s been done that way don’t just
do it because that’s the way it’s been
done understand why you do it that way
and if it’s not the best way then figure
out a better way so that’s the first
thing is what if guy because that sparks
a lot of conversations what if it was
like this or what if we did it this way
and then the second thing is the let’s
go guy
it’s always a let’s go do this let’s go
make it happen it’s not I’m gonna go
make it happen it’s let’s go make it
happen and and having that one call to
action but to the mindset of we’re gonna
do it all together is very important and
we always have that that that mindset
here internally at free-range concepts
of let’s go do this together let’s go
accomplish it together because not only
are you gonna your chances of success
are increased exponentially if you’re
doing it as a group but you’re also
gonna enjoy it a lot more in the process
because you get to celebrate the that
the process and the wind with the people
that help you climb that mountain
fantastic loving i well we really
appreciate the privilege of being able
to be here with you I sincerely say that
the privilege of mine all the problem
entrepreneurs all around the world are
going to understand a lot of things
whether they’re operating a t-shirt
company in Berlin Germany or it’s a
housing contractor in Omaha Nebraska
there are entrepreneurs out there
there’s looking for these kernels of
wisdom and encouragement where you are
today and where you were yesterday is is
is so different and as we close what
piece of advice would today’s Kyle wish
you could have given day one Kyle I
would say just be thankful for the
people that hang out or that help you
and
and don’t take anything for granted
because really most of the world doesn’t
care about you and the few people that
do you got it you got to hold on to and
be grateful for and they’re not taking
for granted and all comes down to people
yeah thank you so much so much
appreciate it this is wonderful
come see us next week on a beer in
business this week again it was a Kyle
noon here at free-range concepts creator
of the rustic and if you’re in Dallas
come check out the rustic you will not
be disappointed until next time I’m Tom
Merritt and I hope we left you better than we found you
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