Welcome to In the Weeds, our series in which Dallas restaurateurs explain behind-the-scenes aspects of the food service business—parts of the job that customers never see.
Today, our panelists are talking about the challenges of going from one restaurant in one location to owning multiple businesses. They speak from a wide range of experiences as multiple-business owners, from the creator of a growing regional chain to the operators of some of the State Fair of Texas’ most successful booths.
Meet our experts:
- Sawsan Abublan, co-owner of fast-casual chain Shawarma Press
- Tanner Agar, co-owner of upscale restaurant Rye and cocktail bar Apothecary
- Jon Alexis, restaurateur behind TJ’s Seafood, Malibu Poke, Escondido, and Ramble Room
- J.R. Muñoz, owner of the bars Will Call and Elm Street Saloon
- Khanh Nguyen, restaurateur behind ZaLat Pizza and DaLat
- Brent and Juan Reaves, co-owners of Smokey John’s Bar-B-Q as well as the Smokey John’s and Ruth’s Tamale House booths at the State Fair of Texas
Each of them talked about the growing pains associated with the move from one restaurant to two (or dozens). Here’s what they had to say. (My comments and subject transitions are in italics.)
Read part one: What Must Happen Before a Restaurant Can Open?
Part two: How Do Restaurants Choose Their Locations?
Part three: What Are the Most Surprising Hidden Costs of the Restaurant Business?
Part four: How and When Do Restaurants Decide to Raise Prices?
Part five: What Is the Right Number of Employees for a Restaurant?
So, what happens when you open a second location?
J.R. Muñoz: More problems!
Sawsan Abublan: Of course, the stress level doubles.
Jon Alexis: I remember somebody telling me your work is not going to double, it’s going to square. And that’s true.
Tanner Agar: I didn’t think there would be anything harder than opening up the first one. And I was wrong. It was much harder to open the second one. The [first] restaurant was still so dependent on us to help operate it every day. So we had to find time outside of running our restaurant every day to build the new restaurant, hire the people, get the resources in place.
Khanh Nguyen: If you’re running one restaurant, that’s flat out. It’s your whole life. You don’t have any corporate functions, you don’t have anybody that doesn’t already have a full time job working at the restaurant. Now you’re going to have to figure out how to set things up with vendors, designing the space. Where are you going to get the capacity to do all those things?
Sawsan Abublan: You can’t clone yourself. You can’t be in these two locations at the same time. You have to trust your leadership. I think that’s why the stress level can go a little bit higher, because you really want to be in both locations, 24 hours a day.
Brent Reaves: The biggest thing that gets harder is staffing. Finding people that are competent, and actually enjoy the industry. Barbecue is not burgers. Everybody can flip a burger because it’s uniform, every patty cooks the same amount of time. But with barbecue, no two briskets are like, no two ribs are alike. If you want to have a quality product, it takes someone who actually cares about the product and wants the product to be good.
The biggest headache we face is especially for the State Fair. You’re looking for someone who is available for 24 days. That’s actually nuts. We have 18 managers for the Fair this year. Just manning calendars, schedules, that’s more of a headache than anything else. [This interview took place shortly before the 2022 State Fair.]
It gets harder, but then it gets easier
Oddly enough, many of our restaurateurs found that things get easier, rather than harder, as you continue to expand your business. Both because they’d gained experience and because they were able to ascend a level, from daily hands-on operations to overseeing a competent leadership team.
Jon Alexis: There is absolutely an economy of scale. Having four or five restaurants weirdly is easier than having one. But having two is harder than having one. It’s a stepping stone.
Not only by the time you go from one to two to five, yes, it’s gotten easier, but if you did that, you are 10 years smarter. Well, I haven’t gotten smarter. I have people who’ve worked for me for 10 years who’ve solved all these problems [before].
Tanner Agar: If you have 10 restaurants, you have a company that exists outside of you. That was our biggest problem. Our company feels more like a startup. I tell guests it’s more like a band.
Sawsan Abublan: I think things get easier, not harder, because the second time around you know what to expect. If you have your processes down, you’ve learned from your mistakes already and now it goes smoother.
The other thing that I noticed was also easier is the fact that your vendors know you. You have existing relationships. So when you’re going to start a contract with the food companies, or you want to get furniture, you already have those relationships.
J.R. Muñoz: Honestly, it kind of does get easier. Everybody’s like, “oh man, you must be just swamped,” and I’m like, “no, actually my schedule is a little balanced out now, because I’m not stuck behind the bar here five nights a week.”
I still like to bartend here [at Will Call] on Wednesdays because we have the acoustic artists in. My regulars know they can come get drinks from me on those days. Saturdays I do it because it’s the busiest day. It’s funny because if it’s a Saturday night, I’m showing off behind the bar, doing moves, I’ll pour from behind my back or whatever. But if someone comes in next time and I just pour a drink regular, they’re like “man, I just told my friends you’re gonna throw bottles and shit.” I’m like, “Oh my bad, dude, come back a couple shots later.”
But it does get easier, especially with all my concepts being in the same neighborhood. We almost opened a Will Call in Fort Worth, and I’m glad we didn’t. As much as I’d really love to, I can’t imagine like the back and forth. If I need something at Elm Street Saloon, it’s 200 yards away. The fact that everything’s in the same neighborhood makes it even easier.
Jon Alexis: You don’t have to absorb every cost twice. You start to add layers of revenue without layers of cost, and in theory that extra revenue can allow you to add layers. In one restaurant, you can’t have an accounting director who can make your life easier. You can’t have a CFO. The more you have, you can add the pieces you need to run them better. A bigger boat doesn’t sway in the waters as much.
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