How BarTaco Scaled to 35 Locations Without Losing Its Soul

Anthony Valletta, CEO of BarTaco, joins Restaurant Leaders Unplugged to share how his team built one of the most unique and people-first brands in casual dining today. From his early days washing dishes to leading a fast-growing concept with over 35 locations, Anthony talks about:

• Building culture at scale without becoming another big-box brand
• Creating a “next-gen casual” dining experience
• How AI and guest data are shaping future loyalty and personalization
• The bold wage equity model that’s transforming team dynamics
• Lessons in humility and leadership from a career across Michelin stars, startups, and corporate giants
  
  

Whether you’re a restaurant operator, emerging leader, or brand builder, this episode is full of strategy and heart.

🎧 Connect with our guest:
 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bartacolife/

Website: www.bartaco.com

 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonyvalletta

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Transcript

​[00:00:00] 

Anthony, welcome to the Restaurant Leaders Unplugged Podcast. It's really a pleasure to have you here. Thanks. Excited to be here. Anthony, so let's start with your story. 'cause we, love to learn more about your backstory. I know you've been in the hospitality business for quite some time.

Yeah. Pretty impressive career and working with all these different brands. So can you take us back what [00:01:00] drew you in? How did you get started? And what happened? Yeah, try to give you the Reader's Digest version, but when I was young, I always had just this tie to restaurants.

My grandfather used take us out all the time, and I'm like, man, this is such a cool experience. So he always, looked like the mayor and everybody knew him, and I said, I wanna be the guy that makes people feel good in restaurants. And yeah, I, my first job was, washing dishes as the story goes when I was young, working for a guy that started bertucci back in the day in the northeast.

And just kinda got the bug and went from there. I went to college for it. I studied abroad. And worked with some companies out in the UK and in Europe. When I came back, I worked for what was Rare Hospitality is now Darden with Longhorn Steakhouse and was in for seven years and learned all the, big box secrets and corporate consistency, things of that nature, and decided that wasn't really the route I wanted to go long term and jumped in the independent world and started a restaurant group and.

Three restaurants in two years is challenging let alone, just doing wonder. It's pretty crazy, man with something else. But it was great, learned a lot, to go where you've got a big corporate team and has all the answers and then you have to have all the answers at a young age.

It's very humbling. But it was great. I learned a lot, made a, got a lot of great connections. Really got the nitty gritty of what makes brands successful and work and be community driven and, I left them to go work with d Frisco's Restaurant Group was like the, one of the prime points in my career, in my opinion, of just my experience.

I'm like, I spent seven years watching this company blossom into this behemoth of a steakhouse. It was just amazing that our GMs were like entrepreneurs. They could kinda run the restaurant the way they wanted to. And I covered Boston, New York, Chicago, DC. Denver and just got to really, see the landscape of multi-unit and that high-end clientele and private events and all the things that come with it.

And departed from there during a CEO transition and worked for a Michelin chef outta San Francisco Michael Mina which was just. Next level to work next to an individual like that. When you get into that level of dining and sophistication and just really like the thought that goes into it and the story behind every dish and every ingredient and every picture.

It was just, it was really impressive. And I spent some time with him trying to expand out a concept where partner relations, Steph Curry. And kinda work on real brick and mortar. Most of his restaurants were RMAs and management contracts spent a couple years with him until that lovely word we talked about COVID hit.

And I diverted out to Denver and worked with a restaurant tech startup called Bird Calls, a COO for them for a while. We built tech for in terms of guest interaction. K-D-S-P-O-S was all custom built and all locally sourced. More kind of QSR style brand but killer designs by Michael Sue and just some beautiful restaurants.

And then, my wife wasn't a big fan of Denver, so she wanted to get back to the Northeast, and I came into Barta and Barta. One of my mentors used to be the CEO. I knew the brand just followed Barcelona Barta for many years, and coming up on four years, been with the brand and took over as CEO recently and.

It's been incredible, like just learning this. We thread the needle between everything I've done in my career. Like we've got fine 90 elements in terms of expectations and quality of food and service, but the casualness of brands I've worked with and it's been just an amazing challenge in corporate and tech and grow.

I, I came on, we had 19 units. We just opened up number 34, hook up 35 in two weeks. Wow. Rapid growth for, three and change years. Yeah. Yeah, covered like international QSR Michelin dining. I've. I'm collecting my Bingo card at some point. I'll have 'em all.

But it's been great. I've loved every one of 'em has really, shaped my career and I've enjoyed every part of every job I've had so far. I can't say one bad thing, so I'm lucky. Yeah. Oh, no, pretty impressive career Anthony, and I think it's just, I think everything that happened.

In, in the past for you, just sets you up for what, whatever what you're doing now. And I think that's just hundred percent, for everybody in this career. So Anthony, so what stands out, with Bar Taco, which is makes it so different? 'cause I know it's a, it's pretty unique in its concept, right?

Yeah. And what, how you guys do things. What do you see, what do you see that's different and that you really, that stands out for you? Yeah. There's a handful of things. I think the most interesting thing is the story, how Barta was actually created is, it, initially it wasn't a restaurant. The original founders wanted to find a place and they started with how it was gonna feel. Like when you walked into this business they wanted to build, what was it gonna feel like? And they wanted it to feel like this kind of escape feeling that you're sitting on the beach of Uruguay or somewhere in South America or and just being able to unplug and it felt like this.

Beautiful beach house, but very welcoming, not where you feel like you, you gotta prance around. And it would be a combination of art and lifestyle and just the music and all of it. Just had this really beautiful, friendly, not familiar, but super comfortable environment.

And as I started putting it together the original founders were, came back from Chip, from Uruguay and there's a 95 in Connecticut. There's a stream of Mexican taco trucks. At the time, no one was doing tacos like this. It was Taco Bell and Chili's was doing like more fajitas right at the time.

But there was nobody doing tacos in a full service environment. Why not? Why couldn't we bring the street food, elevated street food, not just in, in South America or Mexico, but from around the  world. We've got Asian influence and things like that. How do we bring it into a restaurant and how do you take that feeling that you walk in?

And turn that into a restaurant like no one's ever seen. And we spend just as much time we call it lamb lights, ambiance music, and bathrooms is a big thing. But we spend more time on just how it feels in the restaurant, the music levels, the lighting, the live plants that we have, and the way every seat is positioned, making sure that all your sight lines, you're not getting distracted by, employee pictures and all the other stuff like that.

But we really are maniacal about the details. And I think that combined with the fact that our experience, we have like sushi cards you can order from, and we also have digital technology. You can order from, you can order however you'd like. Some of the newer generation enjoys the tech.

We see that in, kavas and McDonald's and Chipotles of the world. That's an option. People that, that are would rather just use their phone and order quick and be done. We have traditional service that we do with our sushi cards and servers. I think the fact that we're a little dynamic.

With that feeling. It puts us in a really different class of restaurant. Yeah. A hundred percent. Anthony, I've been to a couple of your locations and really that's very interesting. I didn't know that the whole way that you guys, the concept was created Yeah. Was through focusing on feeling first.

It's incredibly interesting, especially now I would say Anthony, because of the ways that are things go, that things going on in the restaurant industry. As, with, labor costs, all that stuff, it's becoming, hard in terms of margins and being differentiating yourself from everybody else.

A hundred percent. And I think you guys do a tremendous job when it comes to differentiation because it's exactly what you're talking about. It's the feeling that you get when you step into a location right. Into Bar Taco and that and Exactly. Had that feeling. It was the one in Tampa. Oh yeah. In a, and I remember walking into this place and it was the first time. It is holy crap, like this is a cool, this is a cool vibe. I like being here. You know what I mean? And then the Miami one's a little, it's a little rowdy, but just 'cause I'm getting older, I think, but like everybody there was having a great time, yeah. And and it's just about, that's what sets you guys apart for sure. Yeah. Amongst other things, but you were talking about, okay, it's 35 locations, Anthony, of course now you're stepping, you stepped [00:08:00] as in CEO I'm assuming that transition is quite an undertaking, right? Like the behind the scenes thing.

Sure. It's Hey Anthony, here you go. Yeah. And now you're doing all of this. So as you scale and then it gets been scaling it's, I know it's complex because you guys are known for being a people first culture. That's right. And, how do you, are you guys continuing to invest.

In keeping, maintaining this culture as you scale and, what role does it play in your growth? That's a great question. I think it's the most important piece of growth. It was funny, we were meeting with a developer a few months ago and they asked a question. They said how do you make sure you stay bar Taco and don't become the next big box restaurant?

And it's, that's honestly what keeps me up at night the most. Because I think a big part of. What our brand is it's, it is our people, it is our culture. It's, you can build a beautiful restaurant and have great food, but if the people there aren't living the vibe you want, then it's just on the restaurant.

And for us we invest a lot into our people in terms of. Development and [00:09:00] not just development of, how to write a schedule, how to read a p and l. That's table stakes. We spend more of our time on true leadership development, individual development. We had executive coaches for a lot of our team down to the director and manager level, like actually spending time with them.

Coaching class. We've built we call Barta University internal, that we've, we actually have part of a masterclass to do classes in terms of things that are. Certain groups of people can work on their personal development. We've, we really try not to take the blanket approach, which I think some people do, of here's a great training program that everybody can go to.

We try to look more individualized and look at each person from a sous chef to a director, to a vp. And say, where do you wanna improve yourself? Where can you improve yourself for the company? And how can we give you the outlet and resources to do that? That's, going to conferences, going to seminars.

So we really look at more personalized development programs, and I think that gets people to buy into the brand more. The tenure we have is. It's amazing. We have an employee approaching 22 years this year. [00:10:00] We have another employee at 17 years. Wow. We've got a handful at 10. Those people have built the brand.

They're, that they are the DNA. And we really spend a lot of time celebrating that success. And I think the other thing that really makes our culture of a different is we celebrate failure in a weird way. Like we, we want people to try things. We want people to not feel like they're pigeonholed.

I always say, I'll give you the guardrails. You drive in any lane you want. And a lot of times everybody has to drive in one lane at one speed at 10 and two. And I think that's what you lose identity and brand when you do that. If you let people scrape their knees and bump the car a little and drive fast or drive slow that's where good ideas come.

And I think that environment spills down to the restaurants and. We just tell 'em whatever it takes to make the guest happy, get creative and do, and those stories, wow. We share stories every day of we'd say, we call it guest for life. What's your guest for life story? And if you don't have one, then we didn't have a good shift.

I don't care if we comp sales, if we hit labor, if we didn't make a guest for life, then our job wasn't done. I think those things are starting, to your point, getting [00:11:00] lost in the labor shrink and the commodity and everything else. Something has to give and the people are doing too much.

Intensive work and we're trying to get back to giving them more time to do the good stuff. That's fantastic, Anthony. It really, it's pretty unique, honestly, especially what you're talking about with providing like personalized, help and growth and where they wanna develop.

Yeah. I'm actually haven't heard of it restaurant company that's actually doing that. Yeah. Because it's, because it does require resources. Yeah. No, but that's great man, because it's, that requires a lot of resources and a lot of, a lot of processes you gotta set up in place. And that was my leading on to my next question 'cause and I think you answered it right now, usually right at the executive level, we come up with the ideas of how the culture should be, the values and all these things, right?

But then when it really gets down to the nitty gritty and for that to trickle down all the way to everybody in the company, at the restaurant level, it becomes pretty tricky. Sure does. Because how do they really. Do they really live [00:12:00] and represent the company values? And at the end of the day, your team is your, it represents the brand.

That's absolutely right. And it's your best restaurant's. Marketing absolutely is. So how do you guys go about making sure that trickles down, to the lower level? If you may, so to be able to have a cohesive guest experience? Yeah. For us, we're in the restaurants all the time.

That's the name of the game. A lot of our directors, a lot of restaurant groups, directors have 8, 10, 12, 16 stores. It's hard to manage. Your people the right way. I understand. Make sure the message is getting lived all the way down to the bottom. We're in restaurants all the time and I was in three of my restaurants in two different states this past week alone.

And I, and when I go in I talk to the hourly team. I met three amazing hourly employees in Boulder and two other ones I had met before in, in Denver. And I just ask 'em, what do you like about Barta? What's your favorite thing? What would you change if you had my job? How can we do a better job supporting you?

And those questions, I think, [00:13:00] give. All of us, not just me, but the executive team, the director team. He gives us the insights that we need to be able to be armed to make great decisions for our people. I think when they realize that there's a voice of Hey, my voice actually matters and they're gonna do something about it.

We create this culture of being able to speak up and challenge like it. It says in our company ethos, we call him touchstones. It says The dishwasher should be able to call the CEO and tell him he is doing a bad job. And we try to find ways to ev and it's hard, right? It's not a perfect world, but we try to find ways to open up those means for everybody.

And I think that's how we make sure it's distilled down is we actually go down and, the expression we use, we sniff own pits. Like we get in the restaurant, we said we want this to happen, but is it really happening? The only we find out is to get in the restaurant and do it. And that's a huge way that I think we've made, we've gut checked ourself.

Of get in the restaurant. If we want new initiative, go in, not announce and just say, how's it working? And ask for feedback. I think that's a little bit different. Most people [00:14:00] have been in the operation for a long time. They say, I know the answer. We're gonna get together with a couple people, we'll build it out.

We push it out, and it's nope. This is how it's supposed to be. And I think if you don't ask for feedback, you never get the best version of yourself. It's a big part of how we operate. We're a little bit different than most in that regard. I think that, yeah, very introspective, like very much we look for the 1%, not the 99. And that's some, that's hard for some people. We don't necessarily always we'll slap hands and celebrate, but we're also like, where'd we miss? What's that 1% we could have done better? And we're relentless about improvement and I think. It can be tiring, but it's great for the guests and overall it helps create a good culture for the team.

That's interesting. It's fantastic actually, Anthony. So Anthony, I know that also, the concept is been referred to as next gen casual. Yeah. And that's kinda like the term thrown around. Can you define the term of Next Gen? Like it just for people that might not be familiar with what it is, 'cause fast, natural Nation, Canada, like all these different terms now sent in.

What do you think, consumers are also, the next thing is that, what do you think consumers are [00:15:00] looking for in this modern dining today? Yeah, I think, listen, the fundamentals haven't changed, right? They want great food, they want great service in a great environment. That's, that'll be their long past my time.

But I think the next gen component is you think casual dining, even before COVID was under a lot of pressure, like labor pressures, you mentioned 'em earlier, like something had to fundamentally change in the casual dining market. Both for the guest and for the operator to, to make it still profitable, to be growing casual dining, restaurant concepts, as well as for the consumers still get the experience they deserve for what they're paying.

Because what people started to do was they would trade down to these fast casual world. It's I'm actually getting the same experience, but it's less money, so that's where I'm gonna go. It's more about value, less about cost and casual dining was bringing cost up and service down for a long time.

So we fit in this middle ground of we're not fast casual, we're still casual, but we brought in some level of technology to be able to enhance the experience. We brought in a lot more technology [00:16:00] for our team to spend more time with the guests, to be able to create a better experience, and we live in the middle of these two worlds and like this is the next generation of casual dining and that there's an incorporation of tech that doesn't take away from the human engagement. But it enables us to not lose execution and service execution, hospitality. Yeah. And it allows us to, to still maintain margins, to, to an extent with all these things that are going on.

The term came up and it feels like it fits us. I'm not sure how we might define it, but for us, that's where we sit. It's yeah, no one's doing a lot of this yet, but we get people asking often, like, how do you guys do that again? And more are starting to pick up on it.

So we see this as the future of what casual dining will morph into in the coming years. A hundred percent. I couldn't agree more. So what are some of these, that's an interesting topic. And so what are some of the, you're talking about tech implementation? Yeah. Without taking out guest experience, what are some of the things that you guys have implemented in terms of technology and also, I mean that you have now and where are you guys heading?

'cause AI is getting pretty interesting. [00:17:00] Sure is. And it's not just interesting, it's getting. Creepy. Weird. Cool. Interesting. It sure is. You know what I mean? So sure is. So what are you guys, what are you guys doing? Yeah, and we've got a handful of things. We initially post COVID, we went to QR dining, so not even just doing the menu, but it was a full order mode.

On there, and we still have that as an option today. But what that allows us to do is that we're able to utilize AI in a future state. We're gonna be able to customize a menu to you. So if you are Celiac and you were to scan into our menu, the entire menu's already customized to you. So you don't have to ask any questions, adjusting the items, it's we're customizing to you. If you come in every time and you always get a rep of tequila we're gonna have that tequila on your table, ready to go for you. It's, that's not revolutionary, but the thing is, the convenience and customization of it, I think is I think a lot of what we're looking to do too with the technology is like loyalty programs have been touted for a very long time and I don't think anybody actually has a good loyalty program.

I think they have a good frequency program. Starbucks gets great credit [00:18:00] for an amazing app, but on my 10th visit, it's just my 10th visit and I get a free coffee and I don't get thanked. There's nothing else. We're really trying to find ways to customize and personalize messaging to people where it feels like, wow, this message was meant just for me.

This was customized on my historical data, my information, and I feel like you're only talking to me even though I might be talking to the masses. And that's where AI's played. A massive component in it. And on top of for r and d piece, we use a lot of, because we own about four and a half million individualized records on our guests, we have so much information in terms of what impacts frequency, what impacts basket, what impacts sentiment, and we spend.

More time than I would probably like to admit, really analyzing this information with AI and saying like, how should it shape the future of what we offer on the menu? Or pricing on the menu. How we're really marketing to our guests. So that's in terms of a guest component.

And then a really interesting that we've done work with a company called So Link, it's a a camera system, but they've brought in. An immense [00:19:00] amount of AI to the point of where we're able to track more behaviors than I should probably share publicly. This is where the creepy thing goes into. But we mo, we monitor so much in terms of traffic pattern flows and employee flows and guest behaviors, and we're able to do secret shoppers via a camera now.

Like without the guess. It's just, it's fascinating. We can monitor times. Of everything from drink times to expo times to table turn time. Everything is done just the snap of your fingers. And then we've also built proprietary tech for prep, management, prep, quality and efficiency that no one else has done yet.

So we're able to monitor the individual employee's performance. Benchmarked against the entire company. So now I know, hey, I need to go coach this person and this is my rockstar. And I can see quality and consistency. So we're, and that's just scratching the surface. There's a lot more that we do, but we always try to find ways to partner with tech that is going to enhance the employee's time to spend with their [00:20:00] team or with their guests.

Or make less friction for our guests. That's where our goal is as we look forward with technology is it's coming fast and furious, like you said. It's gonna be crazy what's gonna be possible, but that human interaction is something we never wanna replace. That's the most important part of think of a dying experience.

Yeah, of course. Absolutely. It's not gonna replace everybody's looking for that human connection at the end of the day. I think that's hospitality, with everything. But I think yeah, leveraging AI as your. You just mentioned in all these different ways, just makes the guest experience even better.

Yes. So now ways are gonna be, like the whole sta is gonna be higher, right? In terms of Yeah. The standard of how things need to happen. And if we don't get on board, the industry isn't get on board, man, that's gonna be, tough. It's, and it's going so fast that you can even be on board and feel like you're swimming behind it.

'cause it's just going so. A hundred percent. And listen I subscribe to all these newsletters for AI stuff. I always feel like I'm behind. I'm [00:21:00] can't keep up. You really can't. So much can't. It's wild. Anthony, I know you guys have also, implemented a pretty bold move when it comes to like wage equity program.

Not sure if that's still a part of what you guys are doing. Can you share a little bit of how that works and the impact that it has on the business? Yeah. So we, we ran like basically a fully pooled house. And there's a few states we're not allowed to do this, but most of the states we operate in, we are.

And effectively when we went to this digital dining post COVID, there wasn't a server. So that tip was able to be utilized at our discretion and we basically split that evenly amongst both the front and back of house. So everybody on a particular shift made the same base wage. They all split the tip pool.

So you and I made the same amount per hour worked for the same night. And what it did was create this incredible team environment where two things happened. Like one, the teams that jelled just operated at such a high [00:22:00] magnitude that they were making more money than we ever thought, and they were making more money than they could make anywhere else.

We had dishwashers making. And, $30 an hour or more. What also happened, which was fascinating, is because they started to understand I'm splitting tips with the person next to me if they're not holding their weight. It became this self-governed, like accountability inside the restaurant of.

Sebastian wasn't holding his weight. We knew about it and not because we had to know his leadership. 'cause the team's like this one not so much. And it really increased our productivity. We saw, we measure it by sales per labor hours, our efficiency, we went up by $15 over the course of time with this model which was remarkable.

Insane. So there was a great efficiency that was found. We've been adjusting into. More of that service element now. But the biggest component we shifted back to that was how do you maintain this kind of equity component of wages so that there isn't too much disparity. Our goal was to make sure that the, that every [00:23:00] employee in the restaurant made a living wage.

We didn't want them to feel like they had to have three and four jobs. And that's gonna always been our target, is to make sure that we're taking care of the team that takes care of our guests. That's an incredible story, Anthony. And I'm assuming so, so that's still. Implemented. That's the way that the restaurants work.

That's right where you can. Wow. That's pretty cool. Yeah. And so an Anthony, can you give us a peek into then what the next few years for Bar Taco will look like? Yeah, we've got some growth coming up. We just opened in Jacksonville. We opened a new concept as well in Jacksonville on a rooftop there.

We had a couple of openings this year, so we'll continue to infill some markets and look at some new markets. But I think in terms of, the brand, we. We love the brand. We think it's really strong, but we want to continue to find ways to lead. At this level of dining in terms of guest experience and engagement.

We've got a handful of ways that we're doing 'em, and I wanna, share too many of the trade secrets of what we're going on behind the scenes. But yeah, for us it's, we've, we wanna be synonymous with the leaders and guest experience in the casual dining market, [00:24:00] and we spend all of our time thinking about it, ideating behind it.

That's where I think the next couple years will be for us, is that you're gonna see. Some incredible experiential items go on because I think that's where a lot of the world is going is there's the value piece, which is very dominant as we all know, from all the articles that are going out.

But I think more than the value is what you get for the dollar, and that comes with experience. That comes with events that are going on at the restaurant or unexpected prizes or surprises and delights that come at the restaurant. Those types of things and experiential dining, I think are really what we're gonna put some time behind.

I think that's really what guests are gonna be excited about. So lots to come in terms of what we've got on the horizon for the next few years. Very cool. Very cool. And Anthony, let's I just switch gears here really quickly. 'cause of course this is the Restaurant Leaders Unplugged podcast, right?

It's about leadership as well. And of course you're in a leadership position and leadership, it is not just about guiding the team, it's really often defined by tough moments, right? That we live through as leaders. Can you [00:25:00] share a time. For a moment that you've had just one of your most difficult times as a leader in your career.

Yeah. It's actually a funny story. It was very early in my career, but it still makes impact now. I was I got promoted to be a general manager at a very young age. I was the second youngest employee in the restaurant. Expected to lead a team of people, some that were like my parents' age.

And I followed a GM that was there for a very long time. He was a very well known guy, built a great culture and as a young. Probably overly cocky and confident. Kid, I thought I'd conquered the world already. And I got frustrated that my team kept saying, when was here when was here.

And I said, he's not coming back. And if, if you guys don't wanna be here, you'll have to be here. And I walked into my office. It was before a Friday lunch service. And a young girl named Adrian, I forget her name, knocked on my door and she said Anthony. I said, what do you mean Adrian? She said everybody left.

I said, what do you mean? And she said, they're all gone. And my lunch team walked out on me. They called me, they called my boss. [00:26:00] Luckily I worked for a big enough company where I called my boss. I was like, I made a really big mistake. And we staffed the restaurant and I, I apologized to my team and, I look back now and I can chuckle, but at the time.

Again, a very young age as a leader it, I've learned not only the power of your team, but the power of the team being behind your message at a really young age. And knew that, that team was behind the previous leader for what they had built in terms of culture. And they were not behind my messaging, nor should they have been the way I was running at that time.

But it taught me an amazing lesson in, in being humble and humility. And the power of taking care of your people the right way, you gotta push 'em and you gotta hold 'em accountable. But at the end of the day, we hire employees and humans show up to work. And that's often forgot. And I didn't know that at a young age I was naive.

And while it was such a young age, it's never left me like I to this day. As running Barta now. That that never will leave that message. And there's been plenty of other hard times, but that by far was the [00:27:00] most impactful experience in my life. And I'm thankful it happened at such a young age.

I really am. That's a great story. Sorry. And briefly back to thinking about a similar story that happened to me when I was in the business and, it was kind similar scenario. I thought I was like doing things well and basically, my at that time was my partner and boss as well, who was the CEO of the company.

He is Hey, seems like you're not really doing a great job here. And he puts me in front of all this, everybody that the team in the restaurant's okay, one by one. Yeah. Go and say what this guy's doing wrong. And I was like, I was just like, geez, I wanted up, crawl under the earth, man.

I was like, this is tough, man. Literally, ugh, I gotta listen to this. And I, 'cause I thought I was hot shit. Like at some point. Yeah. Oh yeah. And it's, and it wasn't true. So the hu humility component, Anthony, it's huge. That's it's huge, yeah. As being leaders, it requires self-awareness and awareness of others and absolutely.

So Anthony, what are some of your values as a leader that you think that you try to. Follow and stick to and that also of course, make, I think will trickle down to it [00:28:00] into the company. Yeah. I mean there's a handful of things. I think the one thing comes down to the fact of just being ethical in business and then my people and like caring about that side of the thing has always been important to me.

Yeah we're gonna do things the right way. We're gonna do what we say and say what we do. I don't believe on, in dog and pony shows, I don't believe in dressing up the pig. To me it's this is what it is. Let's call it black and white. Let's, it's just not trying to beat around the bush.

It's always just been a big part of what's important to me in terms of a value. I also am huge just on transparency. I these political games that are played in so many companies I saw it when I worked for Big Box and, it's all politics. And politics get in the way of getting things done.

To me, it's if someone's not doing a job, I'm gonna tell 'em, if they're doing a great job, I'm gonna tell 'em and I want them to do the same thing for me. And I think that's a really big thing. It's just being honest and open. Obviously I shared that humility is an important piece for Yeah.

For many reasons. But I think the one that really resonates with me, and it's a part of the brand too, which is what draw me to it, is like we say in our ethos, like we are good [00:29:00] people. And I think that's a huge piece that's often forgotten. Like you look at, we've all had leaders that have driven us hard, but you look back and wow, I was really thankful for that person because they were probably a good person.

They may have pushed you hard, may have been tough on you, but it was most likely because they saw something in you that you didn't see in yourself. I value immensely like the power of push. Meaning you're almost there. I'm, my job is to push you up that ring. I've had managers that joke and I say, just so I'm about to touch the bar.

You move it up a ring. I was like, because you can do more. And then when you do it again, like you build this kind of confidence in yourself, yeah I really value kind of pushing limits in, in doing it in unconventional ways. A long answer. Sorry. It was a great question though. No that's a great answer, Anthony.

So personally for you, Anthony, like what do you do to stay, I guess I, I'm sure that the word is right. Not only engaged, but like how do you improve your leadership skills and how are you improving yourself as a person to be the leader that you're needed to be? Not just in this role, but [00:30:00] of course.

And they were talking before the, we started the interview. Yeah. As a father. Yeah, because. I think that's the toughest job in the world Sure is. For me, I think a mother's is a harder Oh yeah, no, they've gotta speak. They gotta speak. You know what I mean? But, so yeah. So personally, what are some of the things that you do, books mentors, like what are the things that you do to keep yourself in check and grow?

Yeah. Yeah, there's is a list. Books a hundred percent. Looking, I've got three next memo. I always am usually reading like two books and one audiobook. So three at a time. I actually started a book club with team members of my company that like, it rotates so we can continue to read and grow together.

But I read a ton, like a lot of podcasts like things like that, just of other leaders in the industry. I've had an executive coach for a number of years that's been just really helpful. To navigate, those challenging situations. As a, as an unbiased opinion I've been fortunate to have a handful of really good mentors in this industry.

That I keep good contact with and they've helped, guide me and inspire me. But I think a lot of it, [00:31:00] learning comes from like the network and from my people. I just, I listen to earnings calls all the time from all these companies, and every call is oh, that's it just gets the mind going and get you thinking outside the box a little bit.

Yeah. So that kind of keeps me going in terms of that. And the last piece I mentioned earlier is I asked my team, my, my team I have this. This routine practice in the company. It took 'em a while to get used to it, but about every three to six months, I bring my team on a call and I say, I want you to tell me everything that I can do better as a leader for you.

And this is there's no retaliation. This is truly honest. I'm not gonna say a word, I'm just gonna listen. The first time, I already was like, no chance. Like I, I'm not telling my boss where he's messing up. And it got to a point where it became normal. And not only did I enjoy the feedback, but I was able to act on it and it let me know, hey, I have a gap in terms of I know communication.

And I would then say, okay, I'm gonna read some books on, I'm gonna go to seminars on this. I'm gonna talk to that effective in this. So I've really shaped what I've focused on as a leader based off of real [00:32:00] feedback. The 360, I guess term technically. I go direct the team let me have it.

And once one or two speak up, they, now it's normal, everybody. And at first it was awkward and like the first call for somebody new is awkward. But I love it. Like I think it's one of the best things I've done with my team and I think they enjoy it. Get a chance to unleash on me for an hour or two.

So I admit that's great. And I think that's, it's very wise because that's, we're talking about humility and that's the only way that we could look at ourselves. Many times. That's 'cause we're blindsided. Yeah. We can't really see, we just go, we have these certain patterns where you're thinking and we're just like, behaving in a certain way and we overlook these things.

Having that openness and humility to allow your team to be that honest with you. I think it's it's not only, it's great, but it's the it's a path to growth. Yeah. And that applies also Anthony, everywhere. Have you asked your wife, like what she really, honestly thinks about you?

I don't have to ask her. She'll I'm abl Yeah, she tells me she tells me without any ask. So yeah. So I try to apply that as well. Okay. Let's have this meeting. It was a lunch. She's like. Where are we at? You know what I mean? Yeah. And it's okay, let me have it, 'cause they won't say everything at once, but, oh no. But it's been helpful. Yeah. It de it definitely helps. But it's, and that, like you said, it's a challenge too. It's a challenge to balance it. Yeah. At home too. Yeah. And, need to hear that feedback. I, my kids are young. I still ask them and still try to be en engaged with 'em as much as possible.

And they, they'll tell me, they'll tell me as well, which is good. Yeah, no, of course. And Anthony, what advice would you give operators or raise raising leaders that want to move from where they're at to really leading brands and getting to these these high roles? Yeah, it's a great question.

I, I think a lot of times when you get into certain roles, especially in operations in particular you get caught up with the X's and O's. This has gotta be here, this gotta be here. I wanna be the best at keeping things in line. That's just that operator mentality component. But I think a lot of times, because this business is so consuming 24 7, right?

You joke in the beginning it's Friday, but that's really when we get started, that's when our business kind of peaks up. You don't get as much of an opportunity to really zoom out and you need to get to 30,000 feet to be able to fight at five feet, right? I oftentimes don't see it. A lot of times they rely too much on their boss or their boss's boss to do that for them.

And at least in my opinion, people that I, constantly look for development and growth and future potential are those that are challenging the norms. I think that's a big piece that some people are afraid to do. It's my boss, I'm gonna do us, I'm gonna do it better than he or she expected.

I'm gonna excel. And that's good to a certain extent, but I think to lead brands, to really be industry leaders, to make a statement, to stand out you gotta, dare to be different. And by doing that, you gotta be able to challenge and fight and think outside the box. And that's not easy for people to do.

You just get so consumed with a day to day. And I think that's crucial and I think it's really important. To make sure you've got good mentors. Yeah. Too many people think they have to wait till they get to a certain level, and at that point they, it just comes, it's great. It's incredible.

I'll tell you I've said so many people, and I, it's so easy. I ask people and they just say yes. I said, it's because people sell the mask. It's like you think about how many amazing people in our industry and amazing leaders are out there, and how much help they're willing to give in so many ways, and people rarely ever ask.

So it's welcome. Like I, I, I have a few people that I mentor and I love that time that fills my tank. It also gets, it gets me going. It gets my juices flowing. And I think it's, the biggest thing I people missing is they just think, I'm just gonna get really good at my job and I'll just get what comes to me.

It's you gotta get out there and find something that's gone through it, talk to them and let them help you, mentor you through the way. I think that's been my success. I've had, they said earlier, I've had amazing mentors. And they've helped guide me through some of the tough times in my career.

And I think I've been able to excel because of their mentorship. A hundred percent. Anthony, I mean it's, I love everything that you're saying and you're pre preaching to the choir here but in terms of we just need that, right? We need that support. And it's like we're talking about humility again and again.

Again, it comes up. 'cause that's the only way to grow. That's right. By being honest with ourselves and then just getting outside help and recognizing that we can't do it alone. Yes, exactly. I think we're just as strong as our support team or group. A hundred percent. I tell my team you can do the job without me, but I can't do the job without you.

Yeah that's the true reality and that's you gotta be able to embrace that and, lead that way. That's great Anthony. Anthony f final question. So yeah, if you could define your legacy at Bar Taco in one sentence. Ooh. What would you want it to say and why?

Oh man. Yeah, that's a great question. You define my legacy Mar Taco in one sentence. Wow. I'd say constant gentle pressure with amazing people support. That'd be it. That's a great answer. That's a hard one. That's a great, that's a great finishing question. You summarized everything we just talked about in one sentence. See, we talked so much shit and now this is the real.

Yeah, just do that. That would've been it. That's awesome. So thanks. That was great, Anthony. Thank you so much, man. It was, thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. It's really a pleasure to have you. I think we got some amazing insights here that we'll share with everybody. So Anthony, so if if somebody, of course they'll find Bar Taco in light.

I think everybody knows about Bar Taco. Any like the new concepts where were they if somebody doesn't know about 'em to go see? We have one new concept. It's rooftop in Jacksonville in Five Points just to open up on Wednesday. Okay. And we've got long Island openings up in first week of April.

Cool. We'll definitely check that out. All right, Anthony. Thank you so much. Thanks again. Appreciate it. All right. Take care.