The founder of Pihakis Restaurant Group explains how it’s possible to scale high-quality, chef-designed menus without passing the cost on to customers.
Restaurants: They’re a little art, a little science — and a lot of math.
So says Nick Pihakis, the veteran restaurateur who is the founder of Birmingham, Ala.-based Pihakis Restaurant Group. His group includes six concepts, two of which have James Beard Award winning personalities behind them: Rodney Scott’s BBQ, with the renowned pitmaster out of Charleston, S.C., and Joyland, a fast-casual concept in partnership with chef Sean Brock.
Pihakis — who cofounded of the barbecue concept Jim ‘N Nick’s — is committed to building one of the South’s most impressive restaurant groups by pairing his expertise at scaling restaurants with concepts featuring chef-designed menus. He joined the latest episode of Take-Away with Sam Oches to talk about solving an important restaurant equation: how restaurants that are laser focused on high-quality foods can scale without diluting the brand or the menu.
In this conversation, you’ll learn more about:
An obsessive commitment to efficiency is key to scaling high-quality concepts
Your opening staff should be the best-trained staff you’ll ever have
The restaurant business is just a math equation
People make places
Operators must decide whether off-premises business is worth lowering quality standards
A diverse portfolio of concepts can help you maximize impact with guests
Contact Sam Oches at [email protected].
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