“Back to Basics” with Rachael Nemeth
Back to Basics podcast cuts through the noise to focus on what matters in hospitality. Join Rachael Nemeth, CEO of Opus Training, as she talks with service industry leaders who are shaping today's workforce.
“Back to Basics” with Rachael Nemeth
EP15: How to Scale Hospitality Without Losing the Human Touch
"If you want to scale hospitality, don’t add more tech—make people feel seen."
Anthony Valletta, CEO of bartaco, started flipping pizzas at 13 and spent two decades across QSR, premium casual, and Michelin-level dining before taking the helm at bartaco. In this episode, he joins Rachael Nemeth (Opus Training CEO) to unpack how he delivers full-service hospitality at fast-casual labor costs, rethinking roles, building wage equity, and using tech only where it removes friction instead of replacing connection.
Anthony breaks down bartaco’s service-leader model, why QR ordering supplements rather than replaces hospitality, and how reinvesting labor efficiencies into leadership development lifted guest sentiment. He shares how wage equity reshaped teamwork, the two traits every growth brand needs (grit and adaptability), and his interview litmus test: Would you have a beer with them?
Whether you lead five restaurants or fifty, Anthony’s blend of curiosity, empathy, and discipline offers a real-world playbook for scaling hospitality without losing its soul.
Key Takeaways
→ Tech That Lifts People: QR and handhelds cut friction (reorders, pay and go, Apple Pay) so servers can focus on connection.
→ Service Leaders Drive Sentiment: A salaried bridge role improved consistency without inflating labor.
→ Reinvest the Win: Labor savings funded coaching for every manager.
→ Wage Equity That Works: Shared upside, including BOH, built true team service.
→ Hire for Grit + AQ: Fast-moving brands need adaptability and learning agility.
→ Train the Feeling: Teach teams to read sound, light, and pace before grabbing a playbook.
→ Clarity Over Complexity: Simplify communication to keep focus on guests.
→ The Frontline Asked for Opus: Teams drove the shift to a 360° learning hub.
Perfect For:
Operators blending full-service hospitality with fast-casual economics, L&D teams modernizing training, HR designing equitable comp, and leaders scaling culture, not just units.
About Anthony Valletta:
CEO of bartaco. A 20-year industry veteran who’s worked every role from pizza line to Michelin dining, he leads a 33-unit brand known for pairing tech with genuine hospitality, championing wage equity, and developing leaders who walk the floor.
Time Stamp Chapters
00:00 Intro + Anthony’s path
02:48 Why hospitality hooks you
04:55 QR without losing the human touch
05:51 The service leader role
07:09 Using tech to reduce friction
08:05 Memory vs. data
11:23 Handhelds with history
13:38 What guests actually want
15:07 Wage equity + pooled upside
19:59 Scaling and competing for talent
20:29 Hiring for grit + AQ
23:35 The interview litmus test
26:27 Turnover + development
29:38 Training the feeling of a room
33:14 Why bartaco moved to Opus
35:32 Lightning Round
About Us
Opus is the hospitality training platform for the frontline. Train 100% of your team in 101 languages on the job and get the frontline intelligence needed to drive your business.
Keep the conversation going with us on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/opus-so/
About Us
Opus is the hospitality training platform purpose-built for the frontline. Train 100% of your team in 101 languages on the job to quickly get them up the productivity curve. With full visibility across your workforce, you get the frontline business intelligence needed to drive your business.
Have an idea or experience you'd like to share? Keep the conversation going with us on LinkedIn!
Hello everyone, I am Rachel Nemuth, CEO of Opus. Today on Back to Basics, I'm talking with Anthony Valletta, CEO of Bar Taco. Anthony started at 13 flipping pizzas and worked every restaurant position through high school, much like me, actually. And that foundation really led to 20 years of cross-find dining, premium casual QSR before he joined Bar Taco. What really draws me to Anthony, not only as a colleague, but also as a friend, is his story. And he's solving a tension that every operator faces, which is how do you deliver hospitality at a fast casual labor cost? And at Bar Taco, he's really reimagined the service model, rethinking traditional roles, implementing wage equity, using tech strategically, while also amplifying human connection rather than just kind of replacing it. So the model's working, it's scaling by five to six new locations annually. I'm really excited to dig in with Anthony and talk about what operators can learn from him. Anthony, welcome to Back to Basics.
Anthony Valleta:Thank you for having me. It was a very nice introduction.
Rachael Nemeth:I like to fluff it off a little bit, get you excited. So maybe let's just start with the basics. I'm really excited to dig in on kind of bridging full service and fast casual models. But tell us a little bit about yourself, a little bit about Bar Taco.
Anthony Valleta:Yeah, uh I mean I think it covered kind of like the history in a very good fashion, everything from domestic international QSR to Michelin dining. So had a lot of stories. You know, Bartaco's been around. It's our 15-year anniversary this year. We've seen quite a lot in 15 years, growing quite a lot as well. But uh it's meant to be kind of that escape restaurant. I mean, it was really started kind of on accident. It was supposed to be a surf shop. We really started with what the restaurant was going to feel like when you walked in, and it felt like a surf shop, and then they were gonna add pizza and maybe tacos and maybe alcohol. Like that's actually a restaurant that has surf stuff in it. And it just started to evolve, but I think that we've always kind of gone for 15 years, so it's been about how you feel when you walk in. It's the vibe, it's the ambiance, it's the decor. We always put that kind of first. Like, how does it how does a guest feel when they walk in and leave? And everything else that we do, whether it's food, beverage, and design, accompanies that. So uh it's been really fun and really exciting. I think it's a yeah, it's been a fun brand.
Rachael Nemeth:I gotta say, I love a good surf bar.
Anthony Valleta:So we've got it for you.
Rachael Nemeth:All right, so you started in the industry at 13. You started by making pizzas uh at at I think at an indoor sports facility. That's correct. Um and then you worked pretty much every position through high school. The obvious question here is what did those early years teach you about hospitality and and what's the through line to what you're practicing today?
Anthony Valleta:Yeah, I mean, early on it just it hooked me. Like people just say you get you get that bug, it's just in you. And I think with with hospitality early on, the two things I love is that one, no two days are ever the same. Um like my dad was uh worked for Price Rod's Coopers for his entire career and you know did well and enjoy it, but to me, I'm like, man, I just I don't want to go back to the same pile on my desk that was there yesterday. Every shift has an end. So you have a bad day, you have a good day, but there's just constant learning. I think the other thing with it is just like you get to be the jack of all trades in so many ways. You work in so many different departments. It's marketing, it's HR, it's learning, it's operations. And then even in the external port, I mean, you're you're networking one day, you're you're focusing on kitchen operations the next day, and it's just so fun. I don't think anything that's changed. Uh it's it's always been kind of the foundation of the way I look at the industry. And hospitality to me was just it's just fun. I talk to buddies of mine, they go, my death's not as fun as yours. Uh and obviously that's all the nonsense that we do with behind the scenes, but just we get to experience life's best moments with people. Like we're we're held responsible to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and promotions and all these things. And we get to be a part of people's lives in ways that no one else can. And to me, that's just I don't know, it's it's never left. Like in my heart, it always feels like the best thing to do. No matter what else is out there, any other job. This just always felt like what I wanted to do from when I first got hooked at an early age.
Rachael Nemeth:That was actually the thing I loved about the industry, also, is that I could go home and turn it off. I could come home, I could drink a beer, I could watch show. Yeah. And I could leave it behind. And you're you still care about the work that you're doing, but but it's it's very physical work, even if you're in the C-suite. But something that you just talked about really struck a chord with me. I know that you've been really reimagining the surface model at Bar Taco. So maybe just for listeners here, what does that actually look like? And maybe give us a sense of like what it looks like on the floor versus a more kind of traditional full service restaurant.
Anthony Valleta:Yeah. Um, and we've gone through a handful of iterations, but kind of a short backstory. We in COVID, everybody went to QR codes and menus on PDFs, and we all remembers that terrible time. But we got to partner with a company called OneDine early on and realized that there was probably more to it than just a PDF QR. And they were a smaller company at the time and basically said we can just do QR ordering. We saw it in Q in QSR. They were already doing it. You had screens and monitors that people were very comfortable with. So we wanted to be able to reduce the friction for the consumer, but also make them feel safe in a time when it was very strange. But the one thing they never wanted to ever replace was hospitality, it was human-to-human connection. Um, sure, we could have just put those in and gone away with a lot of staff and managers and said just figured out and become more of a fast casual. But we've always been guest first. So we created a position at the time called a service leader. So they were effectively a bridge between a server and a manager. They were salaried, they were bonused. They were actually bonused weekly based off top performers. Um, if we really made this a big thing, every table was tied to a service leader, like you would assign a server, a section, open table. And we monitored feedback. We were getting hundreds of surveys a day from our guests. And it was the first thing we did every morning as a company. We watched these surveys, we tied into our service leaders, and we really coached them up. But your only job every day is to engage the guests. You don't have to bring in orders anymore. Like we have food runners running food. Like your job is solely to stay in a section, engage with the guests, and create amazing experiences for them. And we were able to, in the time, you know, the year post-COVID, we were 92% staffed. We had like a four point 4.6 or 4.7% sentiment out of five when most people were struggling to just get food at the table.
Rachael Nemeth:Sure. Yeah.
Anthony Valleta:And we were able to come out really quick and say, there's something here, there's something to this, right? As technology continues to evolve in our business, we wanted to find the right way to take it on that that didn't replace that. And over the past couple years, we've evolved that great, we're continuing to evolve that. Is how do you really keep the convenience of, you know, I'm out with my kids and they're freaking out and need to get out of here and pay and also flag down my server? Well, great, let's introduce Apple Pay, which we're doing now. How do you make sure that if uh if you have a server and that server is tied up taking a large party order, I just want to reorder beer? How can I do that with ease? Well, we're finding that solution. So we're looking at all these touch points that us as consumers and restaurants for years been like, God, wouldn't it be nice if I could just push a button and have this happen? We've tried to incorporate that, but never at the sacrifice of engagement hospitality. So every point was really a supplement. So when we found savings from the labor model that we first did, instead of just putting that to the bottom line, we reinvested that in our team. Every manager for two years in our company had an executive coach, like a true executive coach. And to us, it was about developing the individual of how do you become a better leader, you know, better at home and at work, and really work on engagement because we hear a lot in today's workforce, like, oh, it's hard for people that want to engage and hard to find people that can do that. I don't know that it's hard. I just think they haven't been taught the same way that we were taught because we had to do it when we were at that age.
Rachael Nemeth:What is that difference, though, between the way that they were taught and the way that we were taught?
Anthony Valleta:I mean, we you think when when I grew up in the industry, like there wasn't the technology was a point of sale system that had little buttons that were worn out of. I mean, yeah, that's exactly right. I mean, so so the only way that we could really understand a guest was to get to know them and remember them. Right? It was I remember the old school reservation book that you wrote in, and you move back pages. Oh, Rachel came in last Saturday. What if, oh, she was this, okay, I got it. I mean, everything was written down. So you were forced to develop these skills that today are just automated for you. And that's great. It's amazing that now Rachel comes in and I have everything except for her social security number if I want it to come in when she died. So I can customize her experience, but not having to fact find that, I think the ease of access to information doesn't make you as proud to have it. I think when I, you know, when I was in the industry early on, I was so proud to say, oh, guys, that's Rachel. She's a COVID. Yeah, I mean, it was so it was really this team effort where one person didn't have to remember everybody. But as a group, our job was to recognize and engage those moments. Now it's like just put the name in the system. And then and then it's like, do you really want to do something with that? And you have to train them to do some of that information, which you can do. But I think the pride you get when it's like I spotted Rachel first because I remembered her. Now all of a sudden I want to I want to continue that trend because my boss or or whoever realized, like, hey, great job.
Rachael Nemeth:And that's what you're really incentivizing, right? It's like I want you to know these people. But I think most operators that are listening are really thinking hospitality is expensive. And something you said earlier is, well, we found actually savings in our labor. So I think you're proving that hospitality isn't expensive. Outdated service models are expensive. So can you just break down the economics for us?
Anthony Valleta:Yeah, I mean, basically, because we've been able to use technology in this aspect, the efficiency of what one, let's just say server, for example, can do. In a traditional model, they can take, call it three to four tables, whatever, depending on the level of service you're at. Because they're doing everything. Like there's no, there's not much to they've got handhelds, the best thing they've got. But that just eliminates steps, not a lot of time. Putting some of this in the guests' hands, the part that they enjoy, now allows our staff to take six to eight tables. So now I've already reduced down, like for every two servers, I need one. That's just one example. It's just magnifies in opposition.
Rachael Nemeth:Yeah.
Anthony Valleta:But but I haven't sacrificed the engagement. I've actually increased our our guest sentiment for the past few years has has gone up year over year over year. We have not yet to regress. And we're like a four, seven, eight year to date this year. So we're we're providing better guest experiences and better engagement with less labor, but really focused labor on the fact is your job is strictly to do X. And the servers know their job is to really engage. And I think the next iteration, a little look under the hood that we're working on now, that we're at we're at a pilot phase right now, is we want a handheld to take that information and immediately push it to the handheld. So now, as a server goes through a table, I have all the historical information about Rachel's order. Now, if I'm really good at my trade, I go in and say, I've got your margarita spicy on the way with no salt, and now you're gonna have it start off. But you want the guac as well? And it's like, wow, that's the magic. It's it's it's not, and I think when we first started with this, it was a little creepy years ago, be like, how do you know I want like, but people now understand that data's there. Like they ever's accepted to a certain extent, that some information is there. So I think when it's a level of engagement of I've got your drink on the way, it's great to meet you, I'm Anthony, take care of you. You've automatically created this dialogue where wow, they're really here to listen to me. What else should I tell them? And and we start learning more. I think that's that's the unlock. That's the the magic formula that I don't think anybody has perfectly yet, nor do we, but I believe that's where everybody's going. And we're gonna see more of it.
Rachael Nemeth:That last part is exactly what's going through my mind. I'm thinking the other day, I went to a popular clothing retail chain to get like a couple of shirts. And imagine how that level of hospitality, because even in other industries, people are hospitality forward. You know, I think restaurants get the H-word, but it's really everywhere. And imagine what would have changed if a salesperson, uh someone on the floor had walked up to me and and had known my purchase history and said, listen, like I can recommend this for you. This is a new line that we have out today. So that's a really interesting concept that I can see transferring across any sort of guest-facing role, whether it's in fast casual, fine casual, fine dining, what have you. I don't know if fine dining wants to have handhelds just yet, but like maybe behind it.
Anthony Valleta:You're right. I mean, it's it's the book, Hug Your Customers Here Reddit, it's the same philosophy. I'm I I actually went to an event at their retail shop. And it's like they took notes for years before anything was even in existence, and that's how they created this luxury retail shop because they knew your size, your taste, your preference, and then they would reach out and hey, Rachel, there's some new shirts that came in that we just got that are the ones you bought around discount. Do you want me to put us a few aside for you? It's the little things that people I think are trying to overcomplicate our business. And when technology comes in, it's like, oh, we can do this and this and this and this. And you get into like analysis paralysis.
Rachael Nemeth:Yeah.
Anthony Valleta:Like at the end of the day, guests want to come in. Yeah, they want good food and good service, of course. But this want to be recognized and appreciated.
Rachael Nemeth:Yeah.
Anthony Valleta:That's really what they want because they're spending their dollars with me or a QSR or Michelin Dunn, they're choosing to spend their dollars at my restaurant. My obligation is to make sure those dollars to them feel very well spent. And all this other stuff, I think, is getting in the way of just looking someone in the eye, shaking their hand, saying thank you, and delivering on what your promise is. If you death, like you should win seven days a week. Really, it's like everything's just like a secret sauce. Like, there really isn't. The industry hasn't really changed in terms of people are going out to get a great experience. That's gonna be there forever, no matter how involved tech is or not. And I think sometimes we get distracted.
Rachael Nemeth:Yeah, we're definitely like beyond the tech boom in the industry and to a place where I see a lot of people resorting back to just like grassroots hospitality. I think um you also have done something interesting just in in your um economic model, in that you're paying folks you know $20 to $40 an hour. How does wage equity actually pencil against traditional tip tip models? Like what's the benefit?
Anthony Valleta:When it when it first started, the idea was you know, we really wanted a team mentality. And I think a lot of times when you start having heavy differentiation in terms of pay or server sections, or you want to we reward loyalty always, that's important to us. But we're doing the same job each day, and we're all contributing to guest experience, and we all should benefit from that. And when an entire team is making relatively the same amount of money per hour and they're all involved in TIPS, and they all get to split that, they all want to be involved in making sure service is great. TIPS is the acronym for to ensure proper service. So if everyone has an impact on ensuring proper service and driving that number up, not just the server, which traditionally is the one that always is highly impacted, they all want to work together to make sure they're doing things, in my opinion, to go above and beyond. So when we built that core philosophy, that was a huge component. Is hey, you all have impact on increasing, or for that matter, decreasing your wages, hopefully not. And in the team, it's not, well, I don't have a good section like they do, or they make more money than work is hard. And honestly, the hardest working people in the restaurants are the dishwashers, and they get paid the least in every restaurant in the world. So being able to make sure they were paid above market helped us attract really good talent. And we've evolved that model. We're continually working on how we can kind of adjust because some things just need to be adjusted. But I also think in the world today, there's so much inequity of pay, and a lot of it talk about salary component, but it doesn't stop there, it's everywhere. So for us, if we're going to have pay structures, it there needs to be really good discipline around why. It's not just a uh I like Rachel and I give her a buck. Like there needs to be really clear indicators of if if you perform at this level, no matter who you are, you should be paid at this level. And and it's not it's never a perfect black and white scenario, but we try to create ways that recognize great performance, continue to reward great performance, and really work on what we think is even more important, is like total comp. Because everybody talks about the dollar, but they forget about there's a lot of other things, at least in my opinion, that the upcoming workforce is valuing more than the dollar. Um I just talked to an assistant manager yesterday, great kid out of Virginia, and I asked him, I said, hey, I'm just curious from your perspective. He's been on this like started the server, mostly up. I said, What's important to you in terms of total compensation? Not just the paycheck, because that's important, but like, and he said, All the things that you guys offer, I think, is great. It would be awesome just to be able to have a telephone reimbursement. I'm like, okay, good enough. And it's minor, but I think we have these conversations so often that we've offered things from, we offer Duolingo to our entire team for free. Just you want to learn a language? Great, we'll give it to you. And it was so small, but it's amazing how many people are engaged. We're like, oh my God, I love this. So I think for us, it was like, how do you how do you make it not only just fair and equitable across the course of what's being taken home in a paycheck, but fair and equitable to understand that our our workforce, we're managing such a variety of generations, the largest amount of generations in one workforce that we've ever seen. And everybody wants something different. So, how do you make sure there's an equity too, of not just saying, well, I'm focusing on my younger staff and getting what they want? Meanwhile, my staff that are might be you know in their in their 50s that has a different needs, like, well, I don't feel like I'm hurt. So it started at kind of equity of pay and has now moved into equity of offering and making sure that everybody feels like they're heard, there's something for them in our company, and that we recognize that hard work is not just paid in terms of a dollar, it's paid in terms of other benefits we can give them. So it's it's been an amazing transformation and like honestly great conversations, and we have an incredible team that that leads this and continually pushes on. Here's something that we should do, and here's something else we should think about. And I think that's I believe that's the wave of the future for compensation. And I think people are getting the one where I have to pay so much money for a sous chef and labor is so high. Labor's gone up forever.
Rachael Nemeth:It will continue to, yes. It doesn't come down, it goes up.
Anthony Valleta:Yeah. Um, but it's like how how do you supplement it to make sure your team feels like that dollar is really lower.
Rachael Nemeth:Right. Well, and and restaurants are competing for market share for customers, but also for employees, and you have to find some way to attract folks. I think there's always been this um sort of loosely held truism about well, we need to offer benefits in the industry, but you found a way to do that through um kind of affordable perks and and other offerings that really speaks to kind of what you're trying to build and how how you're achieving what you are on the guest satisfaction side. I want to peel back a little bit and talk about people and culture at scale. You guys are growing fast. Remind me how many locations you have now.
Anthony Valleta:32. Uh, yeah.
Rachael Nemeth:Okay, yeah. This isn't like a mom and pop restaurant on Long Island, and you've just been able to spend all of your time and energy on one unit. Like you're you're actually thinking about how to scale this model. So let's talk about the people who are on the floor. Walk me through your ideal team member. Like, what specific qualities are really signaling someone who can thrive in your model versus like who are the folks that might struggle within it?
Anthony Valleta:Yeah, I mean, for us, there's two things that we look at heavily. I think one is grit. We move really fast. The goalpost always moves. Yeah, that's just who we are. They're not they're like you're they're never gonna stay in one spot because of places that stay in one spot, I hate to say it's the ones going bankrupt now. That's been that's been years of bad habits, not everybody. But so you need to have some grittiness. And we look at the fact of adaptability quotient, meaning things are constantly changing, they're constantly evolving. And what is your response to forever change? Because that's that's the way we run our company. You fail fast and forward, I believe that. I ask that question all the time. Like, what have you failed at, really failed at? And we celebrate those failures. But but you have to have a high adaptability quotient to work within our company so that we can continue to progress and move forward, but not lose our culture.
Rachael Nemeth:Because Couldn't you say that about any part of the industry though? Like, doesn't that part of the industry require adaptability to some extent? And why would it require more at Bar Taco? Or is it the same?
Anthony Valleta:I think I I think you're right, it does. I think the difference with us is that we still act like a mom and pop. Like you go to some of these these brands that grow at scale, or some of these brands that are somewhat established, and it's like, here's your playbook. Stay, stay in the lane on 10 and 2, and you drive 65 miles an hour down the highway. And if you do that, good job. Like you're you're gonna succeed here. And and every now and again, maybe you drive a little faster, a little bit slower, but but don't go too far off kilt. We give you guardrails. And I don't care if the highway is 16 lanes wide. Like drive any lane you want, as fast as you want, slow as you want, or car you want. Just don't go outside the guardrails because that's our brand, right? We don't want to impact the brand. And we really believe that we've changed so many things in our company because of feedback from hourlies, because they push the limits. We we encourage our team to act like the mom and pop of like, go out and try something. Don't don't go outside the boundaries, but try whatever you want inside there. And some of the best evolution of our brand, both from an operation perspective and from a guest perspective, have come from our team having the freedom to do that. But to do that means that you have to adapt quickly and you have to be able to adapt to failure because you might need to try something where say, it's okay, didn't work, move on, or that worked, okay, everybody's gonna do this now. And I don't think a lot of companies of of our scale and size work that way. It's a slippery slope. Like you have to, it has to be embedded in your culture to allow that to be normal. And we're not perfect at it either, but we work really hard to embrace that mentality. I think if you want to do that and constantly innovate, like we're trying to do, you have to have a really high AQ and you have to have grit. Like if you don't have those two things, it's really hard to flourish and feel like it's a place for you. Some people just want to go in and there's that people have left us and like they want to go in and turn the key and chat with a few tables and write a floor plan and go home, and that's okay. But that's just not who we want to be.
Rachael Nemeth:So then how do you interview for this? How are you coaching your managers to you know what's the question that they need to be asking or what's the process that they're following?
Anthony Valleta:The advice I always give to my team, and I always say this when it's the people that that I interview, like when you get to the point of you like the candidate, the next step in the interview is to talk him out of the job. Like literally, I mean, like at that point, you know, there's I look at interviewing as a little bit of a sales process, and then it's a you don't want to buy this process. Like some of the brand, some of themselves, it goes both ways, all of a sudden you're both smitten, and it's like, oh, good, the first date went great. Now it's like, let me title the bad things you don't know about. Like, yeah, not in a bad way, but more, it's like I I want them to know, hey, listen, our goalposts move a lot, and and we move fast and we change a lot of things, and just when you be comfortable, we want you to live in a world of uncomfort and we're very transparent, and and we're gonna tell you good and bad, like where you miss. And we focus on the 1%, not the 99% that's going great. And like we tell them these things, not to say that we're we're by any means a bad place to work, think we're a great place to work, but we're really open of who we are. And I think at that point, it's like if you want to come to a place that's gonna push you beyond limits, and you're gonna work really hard and you're gonna be uncomfortable, but you're gonna learn a whole lot. My goal is that when someone comes on board with our brand, and and if if they leave, no matter what they do, they leave a better person and a better leader. Those are the two things I care about. Like I everybody focuses a lot on like, I need them to be the best bar taco server. I'm like, no, I need them to just be the best hospitality individual that they can be. And if that's with us or somebody else, you know, I hope it's with us, but obviously I want them to leave as a better individual. And that's really what we look for. But it's like that's the key. Like, yeah, you can you can tell those behavioral questions and things you do. And we interview guys and they're they're fine. Like it, but but nothing can teach you when you're at a table with somebody. Like my my ultimate test, I would say if you're on the fence, would you go up for a beer? And if you hesitate to say yes, don't hire. I don't care the position, I don't care if they're washing dishes or busting tape. There's just something like, you know, you sit with somebody and talk, they're like, yeah, this makes sense. That's what they're gonna do with your employees and with your guests.
Rachael Nemeth:Right.
Anthony Valleta:So it's like there's all these people come up with all these great guides and things, and and we, you know, we use them to an extent, but to me it's a litmus test. Like, do you want to have a beer with them? And are and do they really, if you can't talk them out of this job, you've got somebody good. Like you really have found somebody solid.
Rachael Nemeth:You know, something you just said made me start thinking in this vein. Ten years ago, if I talked to any CEO, they would not openly share that they are not concerned if their team gains skills at their business and then moves on to the next. And I'm hearing it more and more. Is it because, and the question I'm asking myself is like, is it because I'm only talking to progressive CEOs who are like game changers? Or is this actually a changing sentiment in the industry and perhaps beyond? Where we've sort of said, well, like turnover is is just natural in the industry. It's gonna happen, but let's have control over the kind of skills we develop while we have the people in front of us.
Anthony Valleta:I think it's a great question. I think I think more and more CEOs in the industry have to be progressive. I think they're they're recognizing, I think there is a shift of that. So that might be part of it, but I think I think that's a necessity in our world today. But I think the the thing comes, yes, turnover is inevitable. I mean, we we've we have a great team, I'm proud of that, but people leave. It just it happens. And I think people understand that in order to attract some of the best talent in today's workforce, different than 10 years ago, very much so. 10 years ago was if I make good money and I have a stable paycheck and a stable job, and I know I can be here for the next 10 years, I'm good, I don't really need to go anywhere unless you upset me. Um, I think now people are staff is looking for that. They're looking for someone that cares about who they are and cares about their development and their path.
Rachael Nemeth:Is that a generational thing?
Anthony Valleta:I think it's generational, I really do.
Rachael Nemeth:Yeah.
Anthony Valleta:Um I think some of the CEOs, I'm not, I don't mean I'm not speaking ill, but like I think some of the CEOs that have been in this industry for a very long time and are probably on the tail end of their career, it's too hard to recognize how far that gap has come. I think when you're seeing some of the CEOs that are the up-and-coming leaders for the next decade in our industry, they see that, they're attached to that, and they realize the benefit of that. And I think that's where we're gonna continue to go. I think people really they they they care. Like I had an employee, he worked for us for seven years, since there's a second step with us, and he decided he wanted to move on to try something different, different level of dime. And I said, I'm I'm happy for you. Like, you know, we we've spent a lot of money invested in him, and I said, Let me know how I can help you out. Send me a resume, I'll send over to some of my contacts. And he said, I feel very uncomfortable sending you my resume. I said, I said, No, listen, you you have helped us immensely. You've pushed me on the brand, and I'm proud of what you've done. I'm happy that you feel you've grown and you've grown enough to recognize that you just want to try something different, and I'd be happy to help you out. And it was like that exchange, I think he's kind of got that old school mentality of I'm leaving it. You're not, you're like, you're not gonna talk to me. And it's I just think the world's changed a lot. And and I think we all realize it's a small industry, and it's all connected at some point or another. And I really think that's vital in in the coming ages of leadership for us. I don't think. I think we'll see more, but not less of it.
Rachael Nemeth:Well, to stay on this topic and kind of round out this view of hospitality, but hospitality in service of scale too, your model really requires soft skills here, arguably more than other guest-facing positions, you know, reading guests, creating energy, um, you know, managing the room. So, how do you actually develop those skills within a fast casual time frame and with the kind of budget constraints? You know, some of these skills can take years. How do you ramp someone to get to that place?
Anthony Valleta:No, it's it's a great question. And there's there's no way to ramp them faster. I think the key for us is the restaurants themselves, we create kind of discipline in systems in order to keep some of the most important things in check daily. And I think more of it is teaching the feeling. It's less about getting the skills. I mean, it takes. You're exactly right. It takes years to develop some of these things. But using examples, walking through and telling telling a manager to close your eyes in the dining room and telling what it what it feels like. You can't accelerate the fact they're going to walk in a restaurant and just be like, you know, it's like they just some of us it's just ingrained because we've been doing it for so long. But I think it's it for us, it's it's teaching a different way to look at things.
unknown:Yeah.
Anthony Valleta:You know, again, sitting in the dining room and closing your eyes. What does it smell like? What does it feel like? What does it sound like? Oh, that's interesting. Great. Okay. Walk outside for two minutes and then walk into the restaurant. Like, how is the lighting? Do your eyes squint? Like, I think more of this is to develop soft skills, you have to teach soft. Like there's not a book or or a manual to go through and say, okay, here's exactly what happens after daylight savings at seven o'clock.
Rachael Nemeth:It still contextuals your environment. Yeah.
Anthony Valleta:It is. So it's like it has to be a feeling. And I think for us, we want to train more of how it's supposed to feel, like I said in the beginning, because they're going to take their interpretation of what it feels like to them. Because I can't say it has to feel this way, because my my level of music is different than yours. So if I say this is the way it's supposed to feel, and they're like, oh God, that's so loud. Well, that's what we want. So at least if you know and walk in and say, God, that's loud, that must be right. It's fine. But if I tell them, but if I tell them the music needs to be comfortable, well, your comfort is different than mine. So so much of it to me is just giving them kind of something to relate to. They kind of say that this is the feeling. And then and then if you're not unsure what to do at that point, hey, here's this training guide over here. You can walk through and read about it. But but most people, I think, traditionally have said, here's the training guide, do this, and then then it'll feel this way. You're like, I don't, I don't know that I see the connection. So I think for us, we just we try to really push that aspect of it. And I think that resonates more where you're you're training with like more muscle memory than than you are with just, I know this, and I know this, and I know this, and I know this. And it's like, we're not good test takers. That's why we're in the industry. Most people are ever out of business because they're probably not great at taking tests, so not all, but some. But but we're all good at if if you love this industry and you're good at it, you're good at knowing what what it feels like to feel genuine warmth and hospitality. It's just you can't, you're never gonna teach that.
Rachael Nemeth:You know, 20 years later and change, uh, I still remember some of the most the greatest moments I had with with customers. Yeah. That moment when, you know, you're a barista and you realize you've you've got, you know, the the orders of all of your regulars right. And it feels so good. And you're making seven bucks. Well, at that time I was making seven bucks an hour and you're working for tips, but but you don't do it just for the tips, you do it because it feels good. But I love the sort of tactical tips that you're getting around how you can can teach someone to sense those things. At the beginning of this conversation, I had mentioned that you you guys have found this really thoughtful blend of technology, but also the human experience. You guys just started using Opus. And I'm curious what made you realize you needed training technology to support that scale.
Anthony Valleta:Yeah. I mean, honestly, it's our team. Like I believe everything that everything that we do, we can learn on the ground. Um, and and our team was the one that was telling us. We had we were using some gamification previously, but then we had Google Drive, it'd be things all over the place. And the team just came to us and was like, this is what we really want. This is how we want to be able to have reference guides, this is how we want to learn, this is how we want to also train our people. Like there was so much of, and they didn't specifically say, like, hey, I want to do with Opus. It was more, hey, here's what would be great. I'd love to have this, if we could have this. And when we took all the information and kind of talked about it, it's like, this is what the team wants, given what they need to be successful, because we can't create what we want without them having the tools they feel are necessary. We went out to look for who had those tools, it it, you know, it was Opus. Um, and I think the team's excited about being able to have a real full 360 LMS that can support all the change that we're doing because we are moving so fast, we need a system that can move with us. It's not, it's not the old school, here's your playbook, put in a system, and then it just sits there forever. I mean, I've I've I've been in those brands in years past and it worked in that time. Now it has to be constantly evolving and it has to be exciting enough to want to engage with it. I think so many LMSs today, it's like, oh, like sure, it just feels very structured and mentoring and like having something that's appealing and fun. It's like, oh, great, I actually want to engage with. It's easy to engage with, it makes sense, I get good benefit from it, and there's continual ways to do that training. That's what our team wanted. That's what led us to you.
Rachael Nemeth:It's also just a reflection of your philosophy around the adaptability quotient and how you sort of made this promise to your team. We will continue to evolve because the world is evolving, the industry is evolving. Well, Anthony, this has been so fun. I always enjoy our conversations. I I want to end with our lightning round. This is everyone's favorite part. This is where they get to know you better as a human. I'm gonna ask you some questions. Just try to answer as quickly as you can with as little context as possible to leave that element of mystery that everyone loves. First question: what was your first job?
Anthony Valleta:Uh you mentioned I was flipping pizzas at an indoor sports bar.
Rachael Nemeth:What's a food trend you're completely over?
Anthony Valleta:Uh food that looks better on Instagram than it actually tastes.
Rachael Nemeth:I haven't heard about one before. Describe yourself as a leader in one word.
Anthony Valleta:Uh intentional.
Rachael Nemeth:Tell me about a time recently where you were humbled.
Anthony Valleta:Honestly, being a CEO humbles me every day. Taking the job, I always thought like everyone thinks it's about having the answers. It's actually about asking the right questions.
Rachael Nemeth:Work-life balance or work-life integration?
Anthony Valleta:Integration.
Rachael Nemeth:Give us one tip for operators on how to stay calm in a stressful job.
Anthony Valleta:Walk the floor. The answers for like almost any question is right in front of you, whether you're people and your guests.
Rachael Nemeth:I love that. What are you learning right now? And going back to basics on.
Anthony Valleta:We're putting like an immense amount of time on clarity. Like for me, just understanding clarity communication. Like I mentioned earlier, we overcomplicate our business. And my goal now is to ensure that my team knows what matters most, which is the guest, and what doesn't matter. I'm really trying to relearn the basics of like clear, concise communication, very filtered down.
Rachael Nemeth:Last question if you could give your 25-year-old self one piece of advice, what would it be?
Anthony Valleta:Ask for help sooner. Uh, when I was young, I thought like independence was strength. Uh, and now I know like collaboration is really, really it. The moment like we stop pretending we know the answers, and the moment we really start kind of asking those questions is when learning really happens. And I definitely did not do that when I was 25.
Rachael Nemeth:Yeah. How can you know though, when you're 25? Um, Anthony, thank you so much for joining me. This was awesome. Um, and hopefully we'll we'll see you on another episode.
Anthony Valleta:Sounds good. Thanks again.
