Michel Falcon, founder of Brasa Peruvian Kitchen, is a restaurateur, author, and keynote speaker who has used unorthodox tactics to build his brand. From launching a hotline phone number so people can learn about Peru, to applying strategies inspired by Netflix, he’s taking a unique approach to the restaurant industry.
Watch now to learn about deep family roots, thinking outside the box, and why you won’t forget 1-844-GO-BRASA.
Sponsored by:
• TOAST - All-In-1 Restaurant POS: https://bit.ly/3vpeVsc
Watch now to learn about deep family roots, thinking outside the box, and why you won’t forget 1-844-GO-BRASA.
Sponsored by:
• TOAST - All-In-1 Restaurant POS: https://bit.ly/3vpeVsc
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NewsTranscript
00:00Your father had a restaurant and there was tension. Can you share that story with us?
00:05Not many people know this story not even my closest friends. It's deep. I told you I do deep I do deep work
00:11You do this is CIA
00:14FBI stuff. I'm pretty certain, you know my social security number, but
00:19Welcome
00:26To restaurant influencers. I am your host Sean Walsh
00:29F this is a Cali BBQ media production in life in the restaurant business and in the new creator economy
00:37We learn through lessons and stories
00:40I'm really excited because today I have Michelle Falcone. He is the CEO and
00:47Founder of Brasa Peruvian kitchen. He's also an author. He's also a speaker. He's also a podcaster
00:54but he's a restaurateur and
00:57He came with a recommendation. So every time that I get recommended somebody for this show
01:03This is our our big show with the biggest reach. We're grateful if you're new to this audience, welcome to the community
01:09But if somebody gets recommended they have to get vetted first
01:12So I did a digital deep dive on on Michelle and he passed the test and I can't wait to
01:18Get into some of the lessons and some of the things that he has to share. So Michelle welcome to the show
01:24Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. You're building the Peruvian kava. Is that
01:30accurate
01:33Look covers
01:35Just great
01:38Somebody said that a reporter from the New York Business Journal, I'll let them say that it's very flattering
01:45Sure, there's some similarities to it, but I got to earn it to be in the same breath as kava, but fast-casual
01:53Bowls and salads what makes us a little bit different than some other fast casuals is I really like the smoothie business as well
02:01And if it's really naturally with us because Peru is the superfood capital of the world
02:06There's like camu camu berry grown in the Amazon has more vitamin C than anything in the world
02:12And it's about the size of a cherry
02:14We have a smoothie on our menu that after drinking it you would have had the vitamin C equivalent of 10 oranges
02:21Just because of this one
02:24super food grown in Peru
02:26But sure
02:27yes
02:28you could perhaps say that but I really admire what the team at a cover are doing and
02:33Definitely blazing a trail and it would appear that Wall Street really likes them, too
02:39Well, I want to give a special shout out to toast our primary technology partner at our restaurants here in San Diego
02:44Cali barbecue, but for giving us the platform the stage to have conversations like this
02:49I'm gonna ask you where in the world is your favorite stadium stage or venue?
02:56To my ever dismay I'm gonna say Rogers Arena in Vancouver because to my ever dismay
03:02I am a Vancouver Canucks fan through and through and that is where I've had some of my greatest memories being a fan
03:102010 Olympics team Canada
03:142011 at Vancouver Canucks, although they didn't win the Stanley Cup
03:18and most recently
03:20with
03:21The playoff run that they had I would say there. Okay Rogers Arena. How many does it seat?
03:2816,000 something like that. Yeah, give or takes. Yes. Okay. Let's go to Rogers Arena. We're gonna rent it out
03:34I'm gonna talk to entrepreneur talk to toast
03:37We'll get some more sponsors involved, but we like people that play the game within the game. There's the game of running restaurants
03:44There's the game within the game, which is actually once you start running restaurants
03:48You realize it's such it's such a bigger task as an entrepreneur and business owner than just what happens inside the four walls
03:55We're gonna pack the arena, I'm gonna give you the mic TEDx style, but I'm gonna say Michelle I need to know a story
04:02About your biggest failure as a restaurateur
04:09Real estate selection I
04:12swung and I missed on one location and
04:16we have
04:18Been able to salvage it, but this is what I learned
04:21About real estate selection with restaurants
04:24You can pioneer a neighborhood and pay less rent
04:27Or you can pay a little bit more rent and have foot traffic right at your front door. Danny Meyer. There we go
04:33Is that what he said? That's what he said. Yeah. Oh, no way
04:36I genuinely a massive fan of Danny Meyer and I did not know he said that well
04:41I know that because I picked a shitty location
04:44Restaurant
04:46So, I know it all too well, yeah, so look the don't celebrate
04:53Quote-unquote cheap affordable rent because that extra effort
04:59Is going to go you're gonna have to put forth extra effort to pound that drum and let people know that you exist
05:05I am now of the school of I will pay for the foot traffic and you know
05:10Chalk that up to marketing and well, you know everything within reason, of course
05:14but that was a big miss and
05:17Although we have been able to get this location to where we want it to be
05:21It required a lot of effort, but it did teach us a lot of things of how to market differently
05:28more guerrilla marketing style, so now we have that in our repertoire in our back pocket, but
05:35Really state selection, you know making sure you know the demography
05:39Do your target audience is your target customer actually living working in the area?
05:46So that's how I would answer that question, which which location was this which restaurant?
05:51This is one of our brass approving kitchen locations. Oh, really?
05:55yeah on a street called Bloor West and
05:58There was a challenging now on the other side of it
06:03We have proven a model of doing really well in office towers
06:08so Brookfield properties is one of our real estate partners and
06:12It's great. It's uh, you open the doors and you've got all your customers right there
06:17And so be it that you have product market fit have a great guest experience
06:22Cleanly clean restaurants, you're gonna make your money and then of course comes the challenge of managing your cogs
06:29Which we should all be
06:32aware of how to do
06:33100% bring me back to
06:37This specific time so I heard you on a show share
06:41your father had a restaurant and
06:46He came home when you were in the 10th grade and there was tension between him and your mom and
06:52Can you share that story with us?
06:54Not many people know this story not even my closest friends. I don't even remember where I share
06:59It's deep. I told you I do deep work
07:03You do this is CIA
07:06FBI if you put it out on the internet, someone's listening and someone's watching. Yeah. Yeah, Google never forgets, right?
07:13I
07:14Was in the 10th grade. So I was likely 16 years old
07:17My father had always been in restaurants a general manager of you know, the Four Seasons restaurant in Edmonton moved to Vancouver
07:24worked in some notable restaurants as a general as a general manager and
07:29And
07:30one day had an opportunity to
07:33Buy a restaurant off of the current operator and now this is in Vancouver and he did
07:41To this day, I don't know how the deal went sideways
07:45but he was laden with somebody else's debt and
07:50unfortunately, he wasn't able to
07:53Service that debt and had to file for bankruptcy. So it was the first time I'd ever seen my father cry and
08:03Now that I'm older so 16 year old me didn't comprehend really what was going on
08:12But now that I'm much older being 39 and have responsibilities of my own
08:18on
08:20Larger scale than I did back then. I could only imagine the defeat and hollowness my father felt
08:28You know, my parents are both alive today, and I'm so thankful
08:32they
08:34Are the salt-of-the-earth people and just got dealt a bad hand
08:39Now you would think I would never want to get into restaurants because I might have haunted me
08:44But and that's not the case
08:48But I'm also not using it to you know
08:51Seek vengeance on the Falcon last name
08:54But it does drive me and I know that my father had always wanted to bring Peruvian cuisine to
09:02North America more so than it had been back then
09:07And by no means is Brass Peruvian kitchen traditional Peruvian cuisine where the fast casual version of it
09:14But I think of my dad, you know very regularly include him on
09:19Decision making and just run things by him. Maybe maybe not on the decision making but I let him know what is going on
09:26because I want him to feel like he's a part of it and
09:30that you know was a very pivotal moment in my in my
09:35Childhood that drives me today
09:39So I I want this to be successful for many reasons and one of which is our is for my parents
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10:23Bring
10:26Me deeper into the Peruvian story of why you want to popularize Peruvian food
10:33Not just in Canada in the United States, but globally
10:37well, I
10:39feel that there's a massive there's a straightaway somebody's going to
10:44Take this opportunity to build a brand that is North American friendly
10:50You know many things about Peru have not been marketed in a way that I think is beneficial for awareness
10:57So Peru is the superfood capital of the world as I mentioned earlier
11:01potato capital of the world with over 4,000 different types
11:04Organic quinoa comes from Peru like the large global supply of it organic coffee as well
11:11And it goes on and on and on Nobu restaurants or Japanese proving a restaurant chef Nobu got his start in the 60s in Lima
11:19To the top 10 restaurants in the world are in Lima right now again, it goes on and on and on
11:24I would need not much more time to unpack everything
11:27but I see a great business opportunity and
11:32In Mediterranean food is doing its thing right now, right with with kava
11:37time
11:38Naya brands, I I really admire and revere and I am betting my career that Peruvian
11:46Cuisine is going to have its time under the Sun next at a scalable fashion one
11:51where a billion-dollar company is going to be created in this category and
11:56I
11:58In this format, we are the first we are not the first
12:03Fast food Peruvian, but we're the first fast casual with a menu like ours that is very friendly to the North American customer
12:10Who is active?
12:12Exercise our customer type because our target customer that frequent our restaurants multiple times a week are between
12:2023 and
12:2245 years old they're actively
12:24Exercising they have Equinox memberships. They're well-traveled so that new flavors aren't foreign to them
12:32And it's it's a great customer. They're often seen wearing Lululemon or aloe clothing and we've created a menu that really speaks to them
12:40And
12:42we will win you over on the flavor profile and the health elements of it, but also
12:48We want to create a brand by making you a more informed individual
12:53so on our website through our social media through our email marketing, we're gonna educate you and teach you things like
13:00Camu camu berry and how quinoa comes from Peru and how Paddington bear is
13:05Peruvian and all these little things that will build the brand
13:08But at the end of the day we're gonna get you to come back because of the flavor profile and the health health components
13:13of it
13:15We are
13:16flavor first
13:18Supported by nutrition is how I describe our menu chef Guillermo our director of operations has a
13:25master culinary background
13:27And we would be doing the country of Peru a massive disservice if we did not have a strong flavor profile
13:33You can come and eat light at Brasa, but you can also throw down as well
13:37You can get rice and potatoes and short rib and all these good things. It really depends
13:41I like the versatility of having a menu like this
13:45But I will tell you as well
13:47I'm very proud to be Canadian Peruvian
13:51But there it wasn't always that way
13:53When I in elementary school, I was the only Peruvian kid in the school
14:01one of few people of color in the school and
14:04I was the only child in my grade at least
14:08That would come with Tupperware with food that needed to be microwaved
14:13So my arroz con pollo and like Peruvian dishes leftovers from last night, and I used to get picked on
14:20by you know
14:21Stewart the guy next to me that had a ham and cheese sandwich and my you know food kind of looked like it was still
14:27alive and
14:29So I would go home and tell my parents like don't speak to me in Spanish speak to me in English because I just wanted
14:36to fit in and
14:38You know, I've forgiven myself, you know, I was seven years old
14:43but now I do feel a very
14:47strong sense of pride and
14:49Ownership of helping people know about the culture like we want to introduce millions of people to the flavors of Peru
14:57But also introduce them to the majestic culture of the country whether it's the art or the graffiti or the tourism you name it
15:04We we want to lead that and play our part and we donate
15:09$10,000 to urban farming projects in Peru for every restaurant that we open so that farmers in Peru can buy new equipment
15:17and we want to do our part now with that all being said our biggest critics are Peruvians and
15:23And
15:25And it's you know, I'll be honest like it's very frustrating
15:31but I
15:32You know, nobody tears down a Peruvian better than a Peruvian person and it extends unfortunately all throughout South America and South Americans
15:40Will tell you this
15:42And in the early days of building the company, I would talk to my parents to say what what's wrong?
15:46Why they're so they're vicious with their comments. Yes. Like where did I ever say? It was traditional Peruvian food nowhere
15:52We're very intentional in not misrepresenting ourselves
15:55But we what we are doing is introducing thousands and thousands of people in
16:00Toronto and New York to flavors that they've never had before and ingredients that help supports a country
16:05You know, we're supporting farmers in Peru and in many other things, right?
16:09You know, we have a culture of paying more whether you're proven or not
16:13And you know, we have found our path we're staying in our lane
16:17We know who our target customer is and if you want to support us great
16:21We would love to have you but if you're going to criticize what we're trying to do, well, we're just going to move past you
16:29It's so interesting to hear your story learn about brasa
16:34Some of the conversations that I've had with other brands that are unapologetically
16:40leaning into their roots
16:43some immigrants some families of immigrants parents were immigrants grandparents were immigrants but
16:49Understanding that, you know, even for myself. My wife is Bulgarian. We go to Bulgaria every single year
16:54you know, we have dreams of maybe one day if we're crazy and like the
16:59Media thing and the barbecue thing don't work out
17:01Like let's do a fast casual Bulgarian concept because you know, that is interesting for us
17:06But to your point the biggest critics and there are Bulgarians in San Diego are the Bulgarians
17:11Like they make the best kofte. They make the best, you know
17:16Shopska salad like all of the traditional dishes will never be the right way that grandma made them
17:22You know and I'm coming from someone that we do barbecue in California
17:26which is an oxymoron for anyone that comes from the barbecue meccas of the United States whether you're in Texas or Kansas City or
17:32Memphis or the Carolinas they've been laughing at us for 16 years
17:36But our goal is to bring more awareness like we've never said we're the best barbecue
17:40We believe a rising tide lifts all ships and I think what's admirable for me is
17:45That you don't think of yourself as a restaurant you think of yourself as a ambassador to Peru
17:53understanding that I can call your 1-800 number and
17:57I can go to option two and you're gonna tell me and my family travel tips for when I should go to Peru and
18:04What I should pack and what I should go see
18:07That's nowhere in a restaurant model handbook, why do you do that?
18:13because I'm trying to build a company that the restaurant industry has never seen before and
18:18To do that. It has to be experiential. I
18:22Want to impact tourism by way of brassa to the country now
18:27Are we gonna be the biggest driver of tourism?
18:29No
18:29but what we have done already is convince people that have been sitting on the fence to actually make that trip and they've shared their
18:35Experiences with us and that is the part of the brand building
18:39Mm-hmm. We sell commodities every single one of us, right? And so how are we going to differentiate?
18:48what Sean's referring to is our 800 number so one eight four four go brassa and
18:54One of our team members is going to answer the phone. We've centralized all of our phone calls at quote-unquote head office and
19:02Call us if you're in Arlington, Texas
19:07Where we don't have any restaurants call us and say where's the best Peruvian restaurant in Arlington? I can't tell you
19:14Where that is right now, and I have no idea why I just picked Arlington, Texas
19:19It was the first city that just came to my eyes
19:23But we'll find it for you, right if you're going to Peru in three months
19:29Call us email us and we'll tell you we will send you a PDF of the best cafes to go to the best restaurants to
19:35Go to and in some cases we will help you book the hard-to-get reservations
19:41We want to be that conduit and stepping stone for people that are like I didn't know Peru is this cool or special
19:49believe me it is and
19:51this is the path to a
19:54billion dollar successful company and
19:56I I would just part of it too is self-serving. I don't want to get bored while building this
20:03I know how to build restaurants. I've done this before
20:06but I want to do it in a way that's just
20:09Paradigm shifting and have people being like you're doing what that doesn't make any sense and guess where I learned from
20:17Restaurants that are sorry businesses that aren't restaurants zapos.com gave me the idea of the phone
20:26The 800 number. Hey, I went there in
20:302008 the CEO of the company that I was working with at the time
20:34Sent me to Henderson, Nevada to go investigate what was going on at Zappos because they were having this phenomenon of like just PR
20:44Mania for their customer service and I sat next to an agent that told me that yeah, we've had eight hour phone calls
20:50We've had people call in asking where we can buy pizza in their city like just random the randomness now that
20:58ladders up
21:00In the short term, it doesn't pencil out of course, right?
21:04It's not at all
21:05But doing the unscalable thing is never scalable until you realize why you're doing it Gary Vaynerchuk
21:13Says something similar to this as well like doing the unscalable and I've heard many different variations
21:19But it ladders up to an experience that has never been seen before a great
21:24Legendary customer experience is free marketing and free PR. All right, we I
21:29Revealed the pay of every single one of my employees and got and I did it for a my rate of different reasons
21:35But one of the reasons why I did it and I'm being extraordinarily honest
21:40Is because I knew I would get tens of thousands of dollars of free PR and we did now, please trust me
21:46That was not one a reason it was further down the line
21:50but if we are going to create businesses that have never been seen before let's do it where there's an
21:56economic benefit for us and
21:59you know
22:00Again, it's just fun
22:02Like you think about like I have whiteboard sessions is a whiteboard to the left of me right now
22:06and I just sit there and just brainstorm and I'm just like the further I
22:12get away from
22:15Real life in that I'm like this will never work the closer I am to success
22:21because that's
22:23invention
22:24right
22:25We we toss around the word innovation a lot in in different industries
22:29Is it really?
22:31Innovation or is that just an iteration of the past like think bizarre, right?
22:37You know when I brought to my team saying we're doing 800 number. They're like really? All right, let's do it
22:44Yeah, it's kind of fun
22:46No, I love it
22:50Talent density
22:53Netflix
22:54Yeah, so I will continue to
22:58Trumpet this book to anybody that will listen no rules rules
23:04co-authored by Reed Hastings the former CEO of Netflix and Erin Meyer and
23:10That will Sean if I come on the podcast in ten years if you're still doing this
23:16I will still be telling you and I'll still be doing this. This is for this is a forever storytelling forever
23:22All right, and you will you will come on you will come on the podcast again. That's for sure. Okay book market
23:30It was one of those books that
23:33Totally shifted my way of thinking and I read it at the right time
23:37So in Toronto where I started I now live in New York with my wife and building brasses here
23:43But we did start in Toronto during the pandemic and not many people know this but
23:47Toronto outside of China was the most locked down city in the world and we had three or four opens
23:52lockdowns and
23:54I had nothing but time
23:56Because I couldn't open the business. So I picked up this book
24:00I read it and
24:01Talent density is something that I read in the book and it's a description of how Netflix manages their talent
24:08so their talent is primarily, you know engineers, right and
24:12Talent density is pay people more have fewer people
24:17Because these individuals are equal to one and a half people and that's hence the density part of it. I
24:24Read it and I said
24:26Why couldn't this be applied to restaurants if we remember during the pandemic many people had a hard time recruiting
24:34Right, they're saying nobody wants to work anymore
24:37All right. I can't fill these roles
24:39well
24:40Nobody wants to work for minimum wage or near that and for uninspiring leaders
24:47So when I thought hmm, I wonder if this is the solution to high employee turnover in our industry
24:55So I did a kind of
24:57back of a napkin
25:00Feasibility study and I said what if I started paying X and
25:05We had this many people at this much revenue
25:09What would our labor percentages be and can I hypothesize that our employee retention would go up?
25:17Whether it's engineers or frontline team members of restaurants
25:21It does not matter because it is human behavior to want to be paid
25:27Fairly and recognized for your work. It does not matter whether you're coding or
25:33barbecuing
25:34So I said, I'm just gonna do it and I had some
25:40I stress tested it with a couple friends industry peers and they said that it's not gonna work and
25:47I said, well, I'm gonna do it anyways, and I did and
25:50Last year
25:532023 our
25:56year-over-year
25:57Employee turnover was only 17%
26:01Our labor percentages are sometimes dip below 20% Wow now with that being said
26:10You have to really manage
26:12The performance not, you know, you hear of yearly reviews forget about yearly reviews
26:18Forget about quarterly reviews. We do it weekly by this methodology
26:23I called the traffic light model and my management team ripped through their payroll
26:28By way of conversation and allocate somebody in red yellow or green you can imagine red means termination yellow means the knees coaching
26:34green means
26:37Do they need to be promoted do they need a raise because how many times like Sean you probably had this in your career
26:43I know it happened to me. I left over a dollar
26:46I was a dishwasher at Red Robin restaurant in North Vancouver, British Columbia, and they wouldn't
26:52Promote me and I was the best dishwasher like North America ever saw I think but um, I was like I want to be promoted
26:59I want to be promoted finally. I just said I'm quitting and they're like no no, no, no, we'll keep you
27:02I was like, nope. I'm gone. Are you lost you lost me over a dollar an hour?
27:07Yeah, right thing and you and I both know how much does it cost to actually replace a person?
27:12Thousands
27:13Right. Yeah, so I don't and but on the humanity side of it, too
27:18No, forget it with the operational part for a moment on the humanity side like it sucks to be
27:24Your work be neglected
27:26It's very uninspiring
27:28So we want to catch you doing things well, and that's what the traffic light model
27:35methodology is to managing performance and
27:38I think
27:41Most companies are
27:44Villainized as employers and
27:47Some probably deserve to be because they aren't you know of the people first culture
27:54mentality
27:56But when you are genuinely
27:59Working hard to pay more coach motivate grow. You really have a leg to stand on to demand performance
28:09And then when the market
28:12Hears of how much you pay and that's more than your peers
28:17You're gonna get a lot of people applying
28:19So the top of funnel recruiting isn't an issue we have on average between Toronto, New York. We have
28:27nearly a thousand applicants per month apply to work with us and
28:32Yes, well look like we pay more rain people see like no we put
28:38How much we pay in the subject line often?
28:41It's buried at the bottom because more often than not because you pay little right? So you're shying away from it
28:46No, I'm gonna pound that drum and I'm gonna let you know
28:49So a lot of people apply and then we have a methodology to make sure that you know, you know, very few people
28:57Very few people actually do get employment with us because our retention is so high
29:03But you know look
29:06When I saw my
29:08Our mission statement, which I have rephrased
29:11Why we exist statement goes like this and I'm not looking at cue cards or anything. It's stitched into my brain
29:19to build a company that the world needs more of
29:22One where everyday people are empowered to make great money
29:27achieve career growth and
29:29Help close the income equality gap
29:32Now I
29:33Said I thought about my parents when I wrote that like the salt of the earth people like Sean
29:38I hope you get to meet them one day. They're the best humans on earth, right?
29:42Not a bad bone in their body, but yet they got the short end of the stick economically that upsets me, right?
29:48and there are you know
29:49Can we stop?
29:50Celebrating Elon Musk and others like that and celebrate the people that actually power our businesses that come to work
29:56honestly every day not to suggest that they the aforementioned people don't but
30:01I want to celebrate the people that are like my parents who came worked hard raised great children
30:07And you know that notice in our mission statement, there's nothing to do with food at all or Peru
30:14It's if I can figure out the employee part
30:17Everything else will get sorted out
30:20And you know how we say we're in the every we're in the people business
30:24We are we truly are maybe more so than any industry
30:28But we need to make sure that our actions match our words
30:33So this show we're obsessed with storytelling lessons and stories
30:38What have you learned? Can you share a story about?
30:42why
30:43You have focused on podcasting not just showing up on other shows, but also personal podcasting
30:51Well, truth be told I don't write that well, it's a struggle for me I like the audio element of it
30:59but I
31:01the animation of being able to
31:05Use your words to be able to tell a story has always resonated with me
31:12It's just the best Avenue and channel to be able to do that
31:15I can have dialogue with individuals like we are right now for hours on end
31:21And you know, that's that's been my method. I like the back and forth to be able to unpack stories in real time
31:30No scripting as well like we're doing right now
31:33It just the level of authenticity like there's a reason why podcasting exploded and perhaps it should have been around a lot sooner than it was
31:41But just just dialogue like right now. I feel like I'm in the same room as you. Yeah, and
31:46It's hard to do that through other methodologies
31:50So yeah podcasting is the right way. What's the heart? What's the hardest thing doing a podcast and running your business?
31:59It's a good question the hardest thing
32:04Perhaps finding the time
32:06The hardest thing
32:09Perhaps finding the time now with that being said
32:13What gets scheduled gets done?
32:16Everybody has the same when when somebody says I don't have the time to do this, whatever it might be
32:22Thank you
32:23You you do have enough time. You're just choosing to spend it somewhere else and that's fine
32:30Just don't say you don't have the time for it
32:33So most restauranteurs, which I wish they would
32:38Listen to this episode go check out your website
32:42You have your own website
32:43You obviously have a restaurant website the restaurant website helps you drive revenue for the company helps you share the big mission
32:49But you also believe in a personal brand. Can you share?
32:53Why do you have your website? Why do you go give keynote speeches? Why did you write your book?
32:58Why are you podcasting why is it important for a restauranteur that's listening to this show?
33:03Um to take that next step
33:081a
33:10Is if you're going to be a leader of the company, you have to be the company's best recruiter
33:15Yep, people have to want to join you
33:18and
33:19um, that is the the the number one reason why
33:24I believe building a personal brand is very important
33:28regardless of regardless of industry
33:31um, I've like look at the people that have you know, kind of come before us like
33:36We mentioned danny meyers earlier, right people have wanted to come join him and and build
33:43Uh something with him because they feel like the values align
33:48And not everybody is supposed to work with you
33:51Being very vocal about the values of your company why you come to work let people self-select themselves
33:59And I regularly get linkedin messages of people wanting to join
34:05sometimes it's
34:06Uh, not the right time
34:09you know, i've been flattered but people from sweet green and chipotle have reached out and
34:13You know, i've been candid and saying I would love to have you. I just can't afford you yet
34:19But let's keep in touch and you know, this is you know personal brand building
34:24um, I started
34:26so the
34:27Website you're referencing is just my first name and last name.com
34:31um
34:32To go along with brass of peruvian.com
34:36But I also have another url
34:38teams by michelle falcon.com
34:41Because in my previous life, I used to be a management consultant and companies, you know as big as verizon wireless
34:48Would hire me to figure out their company culture employee engagement and customer experience strategies
34:54And but I put that on the shelf to get into restaurants full-time
34:58um, you know, I joke that I went from 98% margins to 20, um, and uh,
35:04A lot more work, but I love the industry
35:07um
35:09but
35:10i've had recently
35:12Uh individuals from the restaurant industry asked for coaching
35:16Uh, but also uh other industries as well. So once a week I coach people
35:21Uh all my strategies give them all access to that
35:24um, and it's it's interesting that it doesn't matter about the industry, you know, we talked about
35:30It was referenced that you know being in the people industry
35:34If you have employees and you have customers who are human beings
35:37You are also in the people business regardless of whether you serve a barbecue
35:42peruvian influence, uh food or
35:45um
35:46A root canal because you're a dentist
35:48Um, it's human behavior that we are managing here both on the employee and on the customer side
35:54And it's interesting because like some of my best lessons come outside of the restaurant industry and I asked myself after i've self-educated
36:03Could this be impactful in the restaurant industry this strategy that i've learned like talent density or something else?
36:10And could I put my own spin on it so that it makes sense?
36:13So with the group coaching it's like all sorts of industries in that and that's beneficial because if you're going to create
36:20A business that's never been seen before in your industry
36:23You got to look outside of it and reimagine what that what that looks like and it's exciting it
36:29You know, it should
36:30Get your heart rate up a little bit
36:33So we believe in smartphone storytelling
36:36We believe that every every person every human that's walking if you're listening to this watching this
36:41You are a media company you don't need to ask for anyone's permission
36:43We have all the technology at our tools, but I want to get into michelle falcon's personal tech stack
36:49So are you an iphone or an android user?
36:52iphone which version
36:55I don't know
36:57I got was the last time when was the last time you upgraded a year ago a year ago
37:02Okay, do you always do you update your software frequently automatic updates? Yes, I do. Oh, come on
37:09I'm a regular functioning human of society. Of course. I just i'm just asking the questions here. Uh, how many emails do you get a day?
37:18More than I know i've hired an ea recently. I don't want to know any tips on ea
37:25Any tips on onboarding an ea?
37:28I do
37:29It's as simple as this
37:31Read dan martell's book buy back your time
37:36So dan martell is a tech investor tech
37:41Very recognizable in the tech space
37:43Um, and he's an investor in abraza and it's his first restaurant investment ever
37:48And uh, you know, he's like i'm investing in the person. I know nothing about restaurants. Um
37:55Read that book
37:57It's essentially going to give you all his tips and strategies
38:01Not just on how to onboard an ea but to buy back your time because how much and this is
38:08perfect for restaurateurs
38:10How much time do you spend doing things that you begrudgingly do because you don't like it?
38:17You're not an expert
38:19You know, it's administrative
38:21There's solutions for that, but you got to create a plan to finding those solutions
38:27Now let's spend more time doing the work that lights us up
38:31And more often than not it lights us up because we're good at it
38:35And it moves the needle it makes us more money
38:40Or whatever the outcome might be. Um
38:43so
38:44In short dan could describe it better obviously in his book or even type in dan martell executive assistant into youtube
38:51I think there's an 11 minute video one could watch
38:54Um, yeah
38:56Everybody should watch this video. I'm, so thankful. I have dan in kind of my back pocket as an advisor, but uh, yeah the ea
39:04Uh is the protector of your time if somebody wants your time
39:09Uh, or wants the response for email they have to get through the ea first and he gives a good example that like in the
39:1580s let's say or 90s an executive assistant was stationed outside the officer's office
39:21You couldn't just walk into the ceo's office, but yet we just let anybody email us, right?
39:27I'm so close to deleting email from my phone. I'm not there yet, but i'm going to soon. Yeah
39:34Are you on slack?
39:36The company is on slack, too. Yeah, i'm on slack. So you're not deleting slack. You're not deleting slack
39:43You're just getting rid of
39:45I want to get rid of everything to be honest like I I kind of want to be a recluse. Um, really
39:52A little bit a little bit. I'm actually no text messages. No phone calls. Oh, I hate text messages
39:57Really group chats. How about group group text messages even worse?
40:02right
40:03even worse
40:05I'm in a group chat with my friends from high school. Yeah, and I don't know. I don't think any of them really work
40:12Yeah, um, I I I usually ask like does anybody work in this chat? No, they're the best people in the world, but um
40:21Dan went to go spend time with Richard Branson. Um,
40:25maybe about a decade ago and he shares this story better than i'm going to but uh, he said
40:31One of the best things that he learned is his relationship with his ea
40:36where every morning it starts with a one-hour meeting with
40:40Richard Branson with his ea and the ea would be like
40:44I don't know how to respond to this email or what do I do with this?
40:47But the rest is taken care of and they would start that day
40:50And then he wouldn't have to look at email or communication for the rest of the day
40:53It was just that one hour at the beginning and they kind of just strategize for the day
40:56Just keep me in the know. All right, and um so far so good. Um, i'm enjoying it. Yeah, I I I do not like email
41:05whatsoever I implore
41:07everybody listening
41:09And it's going to be a number that you really regret and but it's going to
41:13Let a fire under your butt to find a solution how much time do you spend on email?
41:18It's probably a number that you're just going to shake your head at
41:21And I don't know anybody that's like, oh, I love responding to emails. I'm so good at it
41:28Um, no, we have to be recruiting
41:32building
41:33Fundraising whatever the case might be like we have to be growth mindset leaders and email and responding email is not one of them
41:42Do you take photos or videos on your phone
41:47Photos of videos describe that what photos or videos do you take photos or videos or both?
41:53I would say both
41:54both maybe
41:56photos more than videos
41:58Are you they're all my dog? Are you posting content directly to your instagram page?
42:04me yes for my personal
42:07and
42:08But uh brass is social not me
42:11And did you when you started were you posting for brass social or did you always have somebody running that account?
42:17It was me. Yeah, we started off in a
42:21Ghost kitchen pop-up
42:23Everything was me
42:24I'm a solo founder not to suggest that i've built this by myself because that would be totally false
42:30I have such a phenomenal team, but i'm a solo founder and I needed to try everything at least once right?
42:36um
42:37And now I am not behind the social at all
42:42Um, actually my wife and this terrific person
42:45Named rachel in new york. She goes by the carboholic
42:50on instagram
42:51Yeah, if you need if you're coming to new york you go follow rachel in the carboholic. She's got a dial. She's my favorite
42:59favorite
43:00Food influencer and if there's any reason to have her on this podcast, I highly recommend it
43:05She's salt of the earth salt of the earth person. I'm so thankful that I met her amazing
43:10Uh, where can people follow you? Where can they get the book?
43:14Obviously, we'll put links for the website and for the restaurant
43:17Yeah, number one thing if you're listening to this show call the 800 number call the 800 number listen to michelle
43:23He'll tell you a bunch of facts about peru if you press option three option two
43:29You get to talk to somebody about your trip to peru
43:31Um, but where else can they connect with you?
43:34I'm i'm pretty certain, you know my social security number but um
43:39Just be careful what you put on the internet. I'm telling you
43:43I uh, yeah, look my parents
43:46Blessed and cursed me with this name
43:49Michelle falcon throw it into google instagram linkedin. I think i'm the only one on the planet with this name
43:55Um, so wherever you spend your time i'm probably there also
44:00Uh at the very least just say hi
44:03um, I
44:04I if you come to new york
44:06My wife and I have a phenomenal list of places to go to that aren't on the eater lists
44:13We like finding places that are under the yeah under the radar
44:17um
44:18And yeah, say hi if you're in toronto, I got a list for you there too
44:23Vancouver as well. Um, and just say hi and like if there's a challenge you've got
44:29related to you know customer experience or
44:32Employee turnover or anything on the engagement side
44:35Shoot me shoot me a message. I would love to be able to try to find a way to help. Um,
44:41It's a it's a tight-knit restaurant community that we're in and you know, every there's enough customers for everybody. Um,
44:48and I think
44:50There's a there's really great feelings. Um,
44:53And sentiment that goes toward being able to support somebody
44:56Um because somebody helped you one time, uh, you got to pay it forward so that's my offer
45:01Shoot me a message. I love it. And if you guys are watching this we wanted you to join our live show
45:05So we do a live show rising tides live
45:08That's on our youtube page cali bbq media every wednesday every friday 10 a.m
45:13Pacific time 1 p.m. Eastern time 6 p.m. London time
45:16We've got an incredible community of digital hospitality leaders all over the globe. You want to reach out to me?
45:21It's at sean p walcheff. We're going to put all of michelle's content into the links into the show notes
45:28Um, give them a follow michelle. If you make it to san diego, please say what's up. I would love to
45:34Treat you for some barbecue and that goes for anybody that's watching this show a rising tide lifts all ships. So
45:40Um, we appreciate you and stay curious get involved and don't be afraid to ask. I'll get you guys next show
45:46Thank you for listening to restaurant influencers if you want to get in touch with me, I am weirdly available at sean p walcheff
45:53sh awn p w a l c h e f
45:58Cali barbecue media has other shows you can check out digital hospitality. We've been doing that show since
46:052017 we also just launched a show season two family style on youtube with toast
46:11And if you are a restaurant brand or a hospitality brand and you're looking to launch your own show
46:17Cali barbecue media can help you recently. We just launched
46:21Room for seconds with greg majewski. It is an incredible
46:25Insight into leadership into hospitality into enterprise restaurants and franchise franchisee relationships
46:33Take a look at room for seconds
46:35And if you're ready to start a show reach out to us be the show
46:39Reach out to us be the show.media. We can't wait to work with you