45 Years of Restaurant Operations Lessons: Profit, Margins, Labor & Marketing
What separates successful restaurant operators from the ones constantly struggling?
In this episode of the Restaurant Rockstars Podcast, Roger sits down with Ben Fischer, a restaurant veteran with more than 45 years of experience opening, operating, scaling, and selling restaurants.
Ben has truly lived every side of restaurant operations.
From slinging hash and taking out trash to building successful restaurant concepts and launching a full-service marketing agency, he shares practical lessons independent restaurant owners can immediately apply to improve their business.
This episode covers restaurant leadership, labor management, staffing, systems, marketing, guest experience, pricing strategy, and the operational realities of running restaurants today.
If you’re an independent operator dealing with rising costs, staffing challenges, operational stress, or inconsistent systems, this episode delivers real-world advice from someone who’s been through it all.
In This Episode, Roger and Ben Discuss:
Restaurant Operations & Systems
Why successful restaurant operations begin before opening day
The importance of leases, location, and construction costs
Why systems create operational freedom
Cross-training strategies that improve efficiency
How strong operations reduce labor pressure
Restaurant Leadership & Staffing
Building a dependable restaurant team
Why culture matters more than ever
Hiring mistakes operators continue making
Leadership versus simply being “the boss”
Why some employees should stay in the roles they excel at
Restaurant Labor & Cost Control
Managing labor costs without hurting guest experience
Why food and labor remain the biggest controllable expenses
The importance of monitoring KPIs and daily performance
Menu pricing and customer perception
The danger of overpricing your restaurant
Restaurant Marketing & Guest Experience
What creates restaurant “vibe”
Why hospitality still drives loyalty
Ben’s thoughts on loyalty programs and discounting
Marketing strategies that actually generate ROI
How restaurants can stand out from competitors
One of the biggest takeaways from this conversation:
“A smaller profit and a return customer is better than a one-time profit from a one-time customer.”
That mindset says everything about building long-term restaurant success.
About Ben Fischer
After decades in restaurant operations, Ben Fischer founded ZivZo, a full-service marketing agency specializing in restaurants, hospitality brands, social media marketing, websites, video production, animation, and digital advertising.
What makes ZivZo different is simple:
They understand restaurant operations because they’ve actually lived them.
Connect with our Guest:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bensonfischer/
https://www.facebook.com/ZivZoVideos/
-
Today's guest is Ben Fischer, a real operator's operator. This man has 45 plus years of experience in multiple concepts, restaurants he started restaurants he's operated, restaurants he's sold. We talk about everything. He says he's walked a mile in every operator's shoes, more than a mile. He has slung the hash, taken out the trash, and we talk about financials and running a business.
And leadership and training, and team building and menus, and write down to leases and everything that's important. Everything you're doing today, this man has seen and done well. So there's so many takeaways in this episode. Marketing of All Things, he is an expert. He is the founder of the ZivZo Marketing Agency, which will also talk about full service, advertising, marketing, video animation.
They do it all and it's all based on 45 plus years of operating experience. stay tuned 'cause there's so many nuggets of powerful information in this episode.
From my experience, lots of marketers talk a good game, but they fail to deliver ROI. Zivzo is not just a full-service digital marketing agency, but industry pros that specialize in restaurants and a strategic decision to move your business forward. Zivzo excels in marketing, advertising, video, and animation production that brings your restaurant to life and enhances your brand visibility.
Go to zivzo.com. That's Z-I-V-Z-O dot com.
Ben,
You are a restaurant marketing guru and you've got 45 plus years of experience with all sorts of concepts, and I wanna get into a little depth. But before we do a light moment, tell us a crazy restaurant story.
So I had a restaurant in Crystal City which is Arlington, Virginia. And this is the home of all the government contractors like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Northrop Grumman, all those contractors. And this was, I had a restaurant in the area.
And actually in the middle of crystal City and we derived 85, 90% of our action from the contractors and all of the employees. After nine 11, the government wanted to move a lot of these contractors out in Northern Virginia because there's just too many of 'em, too close, and they were afraid that if something happened, they'd all get wiped out.
So. In a matter of 60 to 90 days, 80% of the population was gone, and I had a thriving restaurant. One day, 90 days later, I, I was dying. I mean, it was, it was bad.
So that
So,
pandemic before the pandemic.
oh yeah, this is before that. This is, this is after, this is like 2009, 2008. After the after 911
You almost expected like everything was gonna somehow. Finish story.
Wait, wait, wait. The story is, the story is I am actually on the phone now, understand this, I've never closed a restaurant. I never had a problem selling a restaurant. I've always been able to make money either operating it or selling it, or both. But in this situation, I couldn't find a buyer. and I was dying and, and I was on the phone one day talking to a moving storage company about moving the equipment.
And lo and behold, this, this fellow walks in and he says, do you wanna sell your restaurant? Right? So I go, yeah, I, I, I would consider it, he would make me an offer. So he made me an offer that was beyond belief. So of course I accepted it. And I got lucky and he paid all cash, which is rare when you sell a restaurant.
And it was like, it was a miracle. It, and I've never, I've ne I've sold all my restaurants and, and I've never a, had a cash deal, a hundred percent cash. It's always a certain amount down in paper over time, but in this case, it was all cash. And I was dancing in the streets over that, and I was, it was unbelievable how, how lucky I got.
Awesome, awesome I've been in a situation myself twice where I had a restaurant that I needed to sell and somehow something works out and even though a first deal falls apart, sometimes a second deal is better or the first deal doesn't happen, and then a couple of other deals fall apart and then the first deal comes back and that happened to me.
So you got so much experience, multiple restaurants. So obviously you mentioned making money, which is important to an entire audience.
But what do you consider to be the essential operating systems of any successful restaurant? Ones that you've started or just you know, what you've considered to be essential?
Well, you say operating systems. I think, let me, let me go at, at it from a different angle. I think, I think the the most important things. And actually the, the, the future or the success or failure of a restaurant can be based on two items. You know, your lease and your cost to construction, cost to open. So if those are outta whack, if you overpay for a lease or you don't have the right you know, you know, language in there to protect yourself term all the different things that go along with the, with the lease and you overpay to construction.
Your estimate price to open is double what you expect it to be between your rent and your note. You know, if those numbers are outta whack, you're never gonna make any money. And 99% of the times you won't make any money if your rent and note exceed 25% of your gross sales.
a foundational thing to set in place when you're thinking about signing a lease and knowing what your projected sales are gonna be, and all those things need to align because like you say, it's one of your biggest expenses if.
Yeah, I mean the, the lease, you know, look, if you don't have the right provision at a lease to sell your restaurant, you're, you're, you're in trouble. You have a short term lease and you're doing gangbuster business, the landlord's gonna know about it and he's gonna jack your rent up. So the, you know, the, the lease is, is, is important.
And also the, the, the location you want to be on Main and Main, not a half a block away you know, a half a block from success, right? So those are a few things that you know, come to mind. But you know, when, whenever you open a restaurant, there's a lot, a lot to consider. It's a massive project, as you know, and you know, there's, I always used to leave, you know, a 20% add-on figure.
'cause you know, there's so many things that just hit you that you didn't expect. And you know, so after all the restaurants I've opened and, and I know. The key to my success and, and the reason I was able to sell some restaurants. Not all my restaurants were, were winners. I had some dogs, but I was able to sell them and come out because I knew how to build a restaurant cheaper than anybody.
And, and, and that's because I was, I was the gc. I ran my own construction jobs and probably saved half the money that a GC would charge to, to, to build that same space. And if anybody has any background in construction, I would highly recommend that they GC their own jobs. It's not that hard.
You know, just, just, you know, GC is like having, you know, employees and you're always calling 'em at seven o'clock in the morning, where are you? I gotta get this restaurant open, kind of thing. No different than where's my cook, right? So, so that was a lesson I learned at gc, my own jobs early on. And that gave me an advantage you know, to reduce my risk factor by having less dollars into the project and.
Than most people would have,
So a lot of people open this business thinking, oh, I'm a great chef, or a cook or whatnot,
But suddenly they find out it's so much more than just about the food.
Well, you know, I always tell, I always, when people say to me, you know, I want to open a restaurant. My first response is and you know, everybody wants to open a restaurant and own a restaurant until they do. So, you know, if you're really not geared up and understand the business, understand the business side of it.
I tell people, go put your money and, and buy some stock in McDonald's and forget about it. You know, running a restaurant is a 24 hour, seven day a week, you know, job. I mean, it's, it's, you know, it's not an easy business to be in. That's why it has one of the highest failure rates. It is a, it is a monster to, you know, to run, you know, especially if you're running multiple operations, it's, it's, you know, you're, you're living it, you know, there's no, there's no Saturday nights off, you know, so you're there 24 7, either mentally or physically operating your restaurant.
So e even with chain operations, you know, there, it, it, it takes a lot to really. Be involved, know what's going on, and, and to turn a profit, especially in today's world.
You're speaking about all the operators out there tied to their business, missing their kids grow up, buying themselves a job versus. Running a business. And that goes back to what I asked about systems. If you can systemize your business, empower your team to run the place like they owned it and had to pay for it, and then incentivize them to execute, learn the business and execute that business, then you can go out and do other things.
And that was the secret to my success in this business. I had multiple restaurants. Not because I was tied to it 24 7, but because of my team, this foundational dream team, I called them. And then you have the 30,000 foot view. And I was so gratifying to be a customer in your place and just walk in, not be working there but sit there as a customer and just watch what's going on and see your staff shine, your guests having great experiences and the online reviews and all the accolades that go with it.
And then incentivizing people to. Have a piece of that action,
It all boils down to systems and control.
right.
Having those systems in place, having the control and having staff that knows how to manage that control and, and also cross training everybody you know, the more they know, the less you have to. Worry.
Yeah, that's absolutely true. And that's another great point and we cross trained a lot of people to do multiple jobs, and that was a backup plan, or somebody got hit by a bus or they got the flu. It's like we had competent people that could step into different jobs, even in a minute's notice.
Sure.
training, some people will consider that a cost, and I consider that investment and that
Right.
more than once. That was just a really.
Well, I think, you know, if you have a problem and you have cross-trained people. It flows, it just gets you, gets through the night or with that, having that, that, that staff trained well, and, and believe it or not, you're, if you cross train your staff and they're well trained, your labor cost is going to go down and, and that's a key factor.
The more they know, the more they can do, the faster they can do it, the better they can do it. And the less dollars is gonna run you. 'cause you can get away with less people. If they know what they're doing
And that kind of lowers turnover because you're increasing satisfaction of your team if they're not doing the same old job day in and day out. And if you give
right.
opportunity to learn new things, take on additional responsibilities. But don't get me wrong, not everybody wants to do that. I get, I give an example every once and again, I had a line. It was just a stellar line cook. And he worked for me for 15 years and that's all he wanted to do. And this guy, no lie, could have 20 or 30 stakes on the broiler. Everyone would come out to perfection. And this guy was just a superstar.
And I applauded that.
Don't discount someone that does a stellar job
if they're doing a stellar job and they don't wanna move up, then leave 'em alone and everybody's happy. I mean, finding a good grill man or a cook in a certain situation or line cook. Or broiler cook. I mean, you know, finding that quality that can, that can do it right is, is well worth making him happy and not pushing him to do something he may not be good You know that kids often determine where the family dines out, and they want the fun place. If you're a kid-friendly restaurant, GrubLab is completely reinventing kids' menus. Imagine licensed NBA, NFL, and Hollywood brands in augmented reality that brings the characters to life right at the table and collectible menus that rotate every few months so there's always something new with your look and your logo, all just $99 a month.
With GrubLab, families stay longer and come back more often. It's a real loyalty driver. Go to grublab.co to get started. That's G-R-U-B-L-A-B.C-O.
Yep, you're right. So that's leadership. It's like recognizing talent and either leaving it alone or encouraging it to grow and nurture and develop into more than what they are now.
Well, not everybody's built to be a manager, right? Or an owner. And what you're saying is so true because, you know, a lot of people just are good at what they do, and they're not, they don't have the capacity or the, or the want or need to grow into a different position.
Let's talk about some finances. Now, you either did it yourself or you had a good handle on it, but what was really important for KPIs in the restaurants that you owned to make them successful? That was a business unto itself.
Well explain what you, what you see as KPI first.
So for me it was vitally important to take a regular inventory to calculate prime costs and daily break even, and watch those numbers and watch them closely. And if there were any spikes in labor from week to week based on what I called the sweet spot, if there were any
Right.
food costs, that was the sweet spot. biggest needle mover for me was. Figuring out that my menu originally would have a different profit in each category. Sometimes a fairly sizable spread and really tightening that menu. So we really didn't care what we, as long as we were moving all the product, we cross utilized ingredients. We didn't have waste or spoilage. We had minimal theft that really kept our costs down, but it was really focused on maximizing profit across the entire menu and having lots of table turns that were efficient, of course, so that we throughput. To me, those were financial KPIs and systems that we've monitored pretty closely.
you're, you're always fighting food and labor. Those are your, your main, you know, variables. A lot of your fixed costs are, are fixed. You can't change your rent. You know, there's certain things you can't, you know, you're not gonna, no matter how much you want to do, make changes and, and lower the cost so you can't do it.
Food and labor is, is a controllable that management can, can watch daily. Like, you know, I would always do inventories. I'd always have you know, the managers, you know. Oversee the labor and I'd give 'em guidelines, you know, what, what, what the labor should be. And, and I broke it down for 'em by the hour and by the employee.
And you know, depending on, on the situation, I could say to a manager, you know, you should have no more than 12 people on that shift. Based on the average, you know cost per hour and how many people, and the, based on the, the, the volume, you know, I mean, it's, you gotta calculate it and a lot of time you gotta spoonfeed it to people until they get the, the, the understanding on how you're thinking.
And once they do, then you can back off and, and things should hopefully run, run smoothly. But it's not always the case. I mean, we all have had managers that you depend on. I had a, a manager that I trained for. You know, three or four months for a new restaurant we were opening and opening day.
He didn't show up, so he overslept
That's a common story these days, especially since the pandemic or people, signing up for interviews and then not showing up
Yeah. Well, one of the things I did when interviewing people, the first thing I look at is their, their past employment and how long they stayed at the last job. So if I see an, you know, an application that had 10 jobs in two years, I don't care what you're telling me, I'm not hiring you. If you can't keep a job, then you're gonna do the same thing to me.
Right. I've, I've never had anybody I interview tell me that they're never gonna show off for work or they're gonna steal from me, or they're gonna over pour the, the whiskey at the bar. You know, maybe I'd hire that guy. At least I know he's what, what he's all about. But no one's ever sat in front of you and said, I'm really bad at this.
I'm not gonna be reliable. You know, everybody's wonderful when you interview 'em and it got to the point. When you do enough, if you do enough interviews, you just, you know, you just say, look, all right, I'm gonna give you a, a week. Let me see what you can do. Don't tell me what you can do. I'm gonna watch. We go see what, let me, let me see what you can do.
You know, but that's after I, I qualify them that, you know, they can hold the job. I mean, that's the number one thing to me, is when I get people, you know, for interviews and they've had, you know, like I mentioned earlier, you know, 20 jobs in two years, you know, they're, they're. You know, if you see that, do yourself a favor.
Don't hire that guy or, or that woman,
No.
either one,
I always had the best luck by recruiting, not hiring, asking my best people who they knew that would fit our culture
we wanted to build this dream team where people felt like family,
I hear you loud and clear. I mean, you know, I always to tell people, you know, I'm not firing you. You fired yourself. You didn't show up. You did a bad job. I caught you walking out the back door with a case of wine.
Yeah,
know, you
I've seen all those things too, for sure. But yeah, it's part of the business. Again, I think you're talking about being the boss versus being a leader, and there's a big difference there. Let's talk about some of your success. You've got so many concepts. We obviously can't talk about all of them, but don't you cherry pick a couple of your favorites or some of your most successful concepts, and tell us about them and what set you and those places apart from the competition, what made them special?
Listen closely in a professional kitchen and you'll hear it, the sound of bacon doing its job. That's why operators are choosing Smithfield Select Bacon. This premium ready-to-cook bacon will elevate your menu and your bottom line. Smithfield saves you time, labor, and back-of-house costs, all while satisfying your guests.
We're talking thick-cut, crispy, and delicious bacon that looks and tastes like it was freshly cooked from raw, but you can just heat and serve. Your guests don't usually compliment the lettuce, but they always notice the bacon. Visit smithfieldselect.com for samples to order.
Well, I, you know, started out doing a lot of quick service. And I found that, you know, as I grew with the business you know, anybody in quick service wants to move up and have a full service restaurant with a bar, and I did that. And I found that after doing a number of those full service type operations, I realized how easy quick service was compared to full service restaurant operation.
So I think that's, that's one lesson I learned. What separated me from the rest. And I, and I think the simple answer is I believed in having fresh food. I believe in making as much of the food as as possible. And, you know, and, and rather than buying the same product, the guy down the street has coming off the, the Cisco truck and you warm it and it's, you know, what difference, what difference are you than them?
And the answer is when you're making product yourself, you know, I mean, coleslaw, biscuits, I mean, whatever it is. If you make it on premise and you make it yourself, it's, the quality's better, the freshness is better, and the customers know that the, they taste the quality. So what I would always tell people that are in the restaurant business, you know, it's it, and their answer to me is, well, I'm gonna have more labor, right?
And my answer is, you're paying Cisco to bring it in and the labor for them to make it for you. You. So if you made it yourself, your raw costs are much less, you're gonna have a little more labor. But your labor a lot of times is there anyway in the morning. Getting set up, doing the prep and for them to do some other task is not really gonna have a dramatic effect on your labor.
So if you make the product yourself, that differentiates you having fresh product, I don't care what it is, a fresh salad. I mean, I see people buying the salad mixes. You know, pre-done, I mean, come on, it's already three days old. By the time you get it, it sits in your walk walkin box for two days, and then, then it's, you know, it hits the table and it looks like it's a year old.
So, you know, it, it's all about service and quality when it comes to any kind of restaurant, and, and the quality speaks for itself. If the quality's good and if it's bad, that also speaks for itself as well.
The biggest challenges operators are having right now is continuing to offer and provide value for dollar spent amidst shortages and rising costs. The highest labor we've ever had to pay spikes in, the cost of goods, all these things. But as people are not gonna be happy when the cost of their omelet is 30 bucks, their cheeseburger is $40.
It's like there's a point where you can't continue to keep raising prices. What's the balance there? As an expert in this business, what advice would you give people that are struggling with that?
Well, well, the whole model for the, you know, I call it the pie. The pie has changed, meaning you get, you know this slice goes to labor. This slice goes to food costs. This slice is, is profit. Well, that model's out the door. The new model has changed because the labor's so high. And all the, the differentials of of the food costs are, have all changed.
So the whole models change. But I think there, there's a limit to, and I think, I think during the pandemic and after the pandemic and through today, I think a lot of operators have have exceeded their pricing. Which is turning off a lot of of customers. They're, they're, you know, they're not happy going to a restaurant and you're, you're paying, like you mentioned, $30 for a hamburger, and at the bottom of the menu or on the check, you see an extra 3% for operational cost, whatever, you know, as a, as a, as a former restaurant man.
It I, that bothers me to see that three or 4%, you know, build it into the price and, and, and don't tell people, oh, well the prices are fluctuating. Well, that's the restaurant. Business prices fluctuate every week. it's just basically saying to a customer that, that extra three or 4% at the bottom of the check is, I wanna make more money and I can't, I, I, I wanna make more money and you're gonna make my profit better by paying that three or 4%.
Where to me it's like buying a sandwich and they're charging me an extra dollar for tomatoes. Well, come on, build it into the price. Make your price competitive. We know that the food costs are higher, but they're not that much higher. You know, the cost of chicken is, is from five years ago isn't that much different from today?
I mean, I go in a restaurant and I order half a chicken. It's $35. I know that chicken costs $4 and half of it's two. Right. So you put your, your sides on the plate, whatever it is, you're in the plate for three, $4. You don't, you don't need to get $30, $35 for a half a chicken and, and still make profit. You could sell it for less.
But I think people are using the, the economy and what's going on in the world as an excuse to get away with raising the prices that are just far beyond what they should be. Be, and I think they're hurting themselves doing that.
I
that's.
with you. I think you're sending your guests to the competition. One, you're bringing up a really good point 'cause I've seen a couple of menus lately where the operators are trying to pass on the credit card fees to the guest if they choose to use a credit card. That was always a cost of doing business.
It's a convenience thing. I get that a majority of the payments are credit cards, but it's like that just puts a bad taste in the guest's mouth when now you wanna whack 'em two or 3% just because you're using a credit card.
The credit part, the credit card part does not bother me as much as the 3% for, for health. insurance.
It's like, come on man. I mean, you're in business. I mean, I could, I could put a list of 20 items on my, on my tickets of what? Of how I want to charge you extra, but I don't, 'cause I want to keep you coming back.
So, you know, I just believe that a smaller profit in a return customer is better than a onetime profit from a onetime customer. So there is a limit where I think a lot of operators have exceeded that limit.
Let's shift gears because you are of course a marketing expert and we're gonna talk all about your agency in a moment. But I used to consider these things that set my restaurants apart from the competition hooks. These things that capture the guest's imagination where the phones come out and they spread things on social media and it really sets your place apart and it draws business.
Did you have any really big hooks in your restaurant that you know, nobody else did, but you did it? And it's like people appreciated it. Your guests would come in because of those things.
it's, it's funny how to, in today's world with the, the internet and Instagram and all the crazy stuff you see online, TikTok, you can create a vibe. A lot easier now than you could have. 20 years ago when I was slinging hash and taking out trash, it was a different world than it is today. I sold my last restaurant in 2015 and a lot's changed since then.
And I, I think that that being able to create that vibe, that hip place to go, the ambiance, the look, the feel that has more draw than a lot of times the food. Like, it's just the vibe is created and sometimes it's just actually not, most of the time I think it's pure luck and if you can get on that wave and get that vibe somehow, I think that will, you know, certainly benefit you at the end of the day.
How to create that vibe is something that we do for people. And it's all in, a lot of it's in the marketing, but again, a lot of it's luck. A lot of it's just being at the right time, the right place, the right location, you know, all the stars aligned and you know, so a lot of it, it, you know, it is something that you can't control, but if you're able to push the vibe and, and get it going in some format, then I think you're certainly gonna benefit.
Catering is a powerful profit center for your restaurant. But are you still juggling catering orders through email, phone calls, and scattered messages? Guess what? Your customers notice. One missed detail, one wrong delivery, and suddenly a new or even repeat customer is ordering from your competitor.
Rally Catering puts all your orders in one place, online, organized, and accurate. Your team know what to do. Your customers can order anytime. Say goodbye to chaos and say hello efficiency. Stop losing orders. Keep customers happy. Make catering simple with Rally Catering. Get a free demo at rallycatering.com/rockstars.
Talk about loyalty programs because every restaurant seems to have one, and a lot of them are like old school. I don't see the punch cards anymore, but it's okay, buy five sandwiches and get the six free whatever.
Right.
That's old and tired. It's is there any really dynamic loyalty program out there
I find that loyalty programs never work. The way you expect them to work. And I'll give you an example. I go into a, a new restaurant. I was there maybe once after they open and the waiter comes up to me with the check and he says, you have a, you know, a hundred dollars worth of points. So the check is $10.
And I'm like thinking, and I said to him, this is my second time here. There's no way I could build up, you know, so. I happen to know the owner and I, I sat down and talked to him and, and I explained to him how his loyalty program, it's not working properly 'cause it's, the numbers aren't right. And I think that's an ongoing problem that, that a lot of the systems don't work as well as they should.
And, and then it's, it's, it becomes a burden to the restaurant. operator to have these loyalty programs and to keep track of it and to make sure it's right and make sure it's working right and promote it. There's a lot of effort that goes into a loyalty program that I think is wasted. What's the best loyalty program out there?
They all say they're the best. Everybody's got the best loyalty program. I don't know. You know, it is just, it's, it's, it's, you know, loyalty programs are shot in the dark. You know, once you start working with it, you'll find out all the, all the pros and cons and, and you know, I think that platforms like Toast have developed loyalty programs that seem to be working well.
But they, they've gone through a lot of, of time and expense to develop those programs and to get 'em to work properly. I mean, every POS system has a loyalty program built in, so. Which one is better? I can't give you a straight answer 'cause I, I don't have the experience of working with all these different POS systems.
So, but I will say, be careful when you, when you pick a POS that has a, has a loyalty program and make sure it works to, to your satisfaction. Everybody's restaurants.
There's a lot of this industry that relies on discounting. What's your what's your thoughts on that? I learned a long time ago that once you discount something, the guest never feels like they want to pay full price
I call it discount horse, coupon horse, and I think, you know, coupons are a vital part of the fast food and fast casual side of the business, but I don't think it's the right. Answer to, to generating traffic in the nicer, you know, restaurant full service restaurant bar operations, because it cheapens the overall look and feel of the restaurant.
If you keep banging out coupons, you know, $20 off, $30, you, you fall into that, that you, you become addicted to the coupons because they do work, but you're cutting your profit to. You know, to get 'em in the door. And I think there's better ways to market your restaurant on the, you know, full service side than coupons on the fast food side.
That's the game you're. You know, you look on, look at the, the, the big food chains that are Burger Kings, Popeye's, dominoes, and even the fast casuals like Kava or, or, or you know, many others. But they're geared for that discount, that coupon people are looking for that I don't, I don't see them looking.
They're not that interested in coupons if you're going to a high end sit down restaurant, full service. So, I, I, I discourage people. In that side of the business for using coupons, there's better ways to do it, but on the, on the quick service and fast casual, it is what it is.
you sold. Last restaurant you said in 2015, and then you transitioned into full service marketing agency. Where'd the
Yes.
come for that? And did you always have a passion for marketing and you had so much hospitality experience, you just knew you could help other operators? Tell us about the startup and then tell us all about Zivzo and what you specialize in
Well, you know, it's, it is, I was always good at getting my restaurant's, marketing and, and press, and I just happened to have that knack. But when I, I, I got into the marketing advertising business, not. Because I kind of fell into it after I sold my restaurant. I had people coming to me, my friends that had restaurants, and Benny, what do you, what do you think we should do with this?
Or how do you handle that? And it just kind of developed, you know, naturally I started out, you know, initially strictly doing video. And then I found that, you know, video's a one off, they come, they do their video, you don't never see 'em again. So then I branched out and started doing social media marketing and then it just grew.
So we, we pretty much do every kind of marketing there is from websites to social media marketing to video production, even animation. So it, it just kind of blossomed out of, out of just helping a few of my friends. And it's grown over the years. It's grown pretty well.
Do you have a specialized approach, you're probably working with clients personally, but you have a whole team of experts as well. Let's just say an audience member is interested in working with you. What's the engagement look like and how do you get to know their business before you can formulate a brand strategy and all those kinds of things that are so important to marketing?
The thing that we do is we spend time learning about your business, and that's the key. the more we know about your business, the more we're gonna understand how to make it work better. And we also, we also do consulting in, in combination with the marketing. So we'll do, we're, for example, we're doing social media marketing for one company, and I see something that has nothing to do with marketing.
I'm gonna tell you. So you get, a lot of times you get the benefit of, of working with us because we will tell you things that a typical market agency has no idea about. I'm a restaurant guy. You know, we have clients that, that are not restaurants and, you know, I have porta potty companies and I have heart and lung transplant surgeons as clients and everything in between.
But we do a lot of restaurants. 'cause you know, like I, I, I said I, you know, I, I was slinging hash and taking out trash for 45 years. I've walked a mile in every operator's shoes, so I understand their, their pain points better than most, you know, executives in the marketing business. So there's a lot of things that, you know, that why we're good at restaurant markets 'cause we understand the business.
But every restaurant's different. Everybody has a, a little nuances and you need to understand that in order to handle the marketing and how to, how to get people, you know, to drive people to that restaurant or to have 'em pick up the phone and make a delivery or, or pick up, you know, carry out. It's all in, it's the knowledge of understanding how the business works.
And if you, if anyone hires a, an agency and they don't take that time to learn about the business. They're not gonna be able to, to provide you with the services that you're really looking for. And the returns is the key to the show. I mean, it's all return on the investment if, if we don't get our clients, and I don't care what business they're in, if we don't get a return on their advertising budget that they spend monthly, they're gonna fire us.
So we have to give you a restaurant owner or any kind of business we handle and make sure that you're getting your money's worth, you're getting your bang for your buck, and you're getting return on your investment. And you can see the, the increases or whatever we're promoting at the time, you can see it's working and you know, pretty quickly if it's not working, you know, there's no science to it, that's, you see people and coming in and dollars going up and sales going up, or you don't.
So it's, it's pretty simple to, to follow.
trust factor there because we're talking about decades of hard won experience. I like the fact that you walked a million miles in those shoes. I mean that absolutely is
Hey, look at me. I'm only 30 years old. I,
That's awesome. So that's ZivZo.com And Benny, it's been my pleasure having you on the show. You've offered some great value to our audience and we covered some ground talking all about what makes a great restaurant tick and what worked for you. Thank you for being here.
I appreciate it and I'll talk to you soon.
was the restaurant Rock Stars podcast. Thank you so much to our audience for tuning in. Thank you to our sponsors this week. Can't wait to see you in the next episode. Stay well, stay tuned, and I will see you then. That is a wrap.
Catering is an excellent added profit center for your restaurant, but it’s all in the details. With Rally Catering, customers browse your packages and pricing to order instantly. Orders arrive complete and ready to approve, with kitchen-ready production sheets and packing forms. Grow your catering business without missing a beat and without the chaos!
ZivZo Marketing, Advertising & Video Production: ZivZo is not only a full service marketing agency, but restaurant industry pros specializing in animation and video production that brings your restaurant to life.
Smithfield Culinary serves up perfect proteins for every dish and every daypart like Smithfield’s new ready to eat select bacon, Its premium, ready to cook bacon that will elevate your menu and your bottom line. Smithfield Select saves you time, labor and back of house costs all while satisfying your guests. When you partner with Smithfield, you serve what you love and your guests will love what you serve.
Grub Lab completely reinvented the kids' menu. Imagine NBA, NFL, and Hollywood brands in augmented reality that brings characters to life right at the table, and collectible menus with your look and logo that rotate every couple of months, so there's always something new. Families stay longer, spend more and come back more often. Turn your kids' menu into a real loyalty driver.
