Owner / Operator at Lone Wolf

The very first job I had was a busser at our local steakhouse. It wasn’t glamorous, but what started as a summer position to make some spending cash became a full blown fascination with the inner workings of restaurants.

After my first promotion, I realized that I was valued for my work ethic and I was working side by side with some of the industries toughest cooks day in and day out. The enthusiasm was contagious and I was treated as an equal at 15 years old.

Working at the casino was perhaps one of the most challenging positions I had. It was grueling 80-90 hour weeks. When my wife gave birth, I was instructed to return from my paternity leave because the department was short staffed. It was that moment that I realized that I was being taken advantage of and I never wanted to feel like that again.

Having diversity across from a socio-economic standpoint has given me the opportunity to view the world from a lens other than my own. It’s given my team also the same opportunity to reminisce and relate to each other better. Breaking down barriers about complex social situations and having each other’s backs.

Burnout is a byproduct of striving for perfection. Taking the time to find pleasure in anything outside of work means disconnecting in some form. For me, it's driving somewhere and listening to my favorite podcast or putting on the radio as background noise. The ability to get out of the house, away from the restaurant and just turn off my phone for an hour is sometimes all that I need.

Truth be told, I haven’t found a work/life balance and likely never will. This isn’t to say it’s impossible, though for a new business owner, you never have a healthy balance for the first few years unless you have partners who have your back and I don’t have partners in this venture.

Toast as our POS, table management and marketing tool all in one. Coupled with social media (Instagram) we are constantly checking our numbers and doing what we can to remain relevant.

One of the most noteworthy and also easiest changes I made was the decision to buy all new equipment for the kitchen and bar. We had just purchase the contents of the building and expected things to work and they didn’t. So I put it to a vote with my team, do we pull the trigger and buy all new equipment to make their lives easier and risk financial ruin or do we try to limp through for 6-months with broken equipment and save some money in the short run. We ended up choosing the former and their morale had never been higher when they saw I was willing to put my money where my mouth is and not settle for mediocre.

We all have weaknesses and the only way to overcome those weaknesses is to have someone encouraging you to do better, daily.

Building out Lone Wolf, our newest venture, in just two months is an accomplishment that could only have been achieved as a team. While the majority of the construction and buildout was done by me, I also had my wife and several team members who helped with smaller tasks that ultimately let me focus on the bigger picture.

I can't live without my sense of humor to do my job. If I ever was to lose that, I wouldn’t be able to be who I am and do what I do.

Never stop reading, listening, and asking questions of others.