Mastering the Steakhouse Business: 31 Years of Lessons with Randy Burks

In this episode of Restaurant Leaders Unplugged, host Sebastian Stahl sits down with Randy Burks, the founder of Randy’s Steakhouse in Frisco, Texas. With over three decades of experience in the restaurant industry, Randy shares the journey of building his iconic steakhouse, navigating challenges like sky-high food costs, labor shortages, and even pandemic shutdowns. From starting as a dishwasher with a notebook of solutions to becoming a revered restaurateur in a historic 1869 house, Randy’s story is packed with insights, resilience, and some unforgettable tales (like the time he had to remove a pool due to skinny-dipping staff!).

Discover how Randy turned mistakes into loyal customer relationships, the secrets to leading a dedicated team for over 20 years, and his unique perspective on the future of the restaurant industry. Whether you're an aspiring restaurateur, seasoned pro, or just love a great story, this episode offers inspiration and practical advice you don’t want to miss.

Connect with our guest:
Website: www.randysteakhouse.com

Follow Randy’s Steakhouse on Social Media:
Instagram: @RandysSteakhouse
Facebook: Randy's Steakhouse

Listen now to dive into the world of steak, hospitality, and leadership!

Restaurant Leaders Unplugged with Sebastian Stahl

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Transcript

Sebastian Stahl (00:01.508)

All right, everybody. Welcome to the Restaurant Leaders on Plug podcast. Randy, welcome. It's really a pleasure to have you here.

Randy Burks (00:10.177)

Glad to be here.

Sebastian Stahl (00:11.782)

So guys for you, the guys that don't know, Randy Burks from Randy's Steakhouse. We have a really interesting story here and he's been in the industry for 31 years. you know, I think this is a great conversation, a lot of great insights for a person that's been in this business for a really long time. So again, Randy, welcome.

Randy Burks (00:30.593)

you

Sebastian Stahl (00:35.13)

Yep. Yeah. So let's get started. Randy, so let's start at the beginning with you, you know, share, if you can share with us, you know, with the audience, how'd you get started in this business? I know you've been in it for a long time and what, actually drew, drew you to, to, this industry.

Sebastian Stahl (00:56.624)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (01:03.885)

Mm -hmm

Randy Burks (01:06.489)

something else and got a job at a Black IP and I really enjoyed that but didn't make any money so then I was left to try to figure out how do you make money doing this business and so I left here with the DELTRIS.

Sebastian Stahl (01:18.772)

Yeah

Randy Burks (01:23.547)

Really my first real restaurant job was there. I got hired on as a server and that didn't last very long before I got moved into the kitchen because Dale determined that I didn't have the right personality. After I had a conflict over what the stakes we were serving were prime.

Sebastian Stahl (01:29.029)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (01:36.868)

Hahaha

Sebastian Stahl (01:44.523)

-huh.

Randy Burks (01:46.219)

So I do have trouble. The customer started questioning the quality of the steaks. And it wasn't my restaurant. I don't know why I was so offended by it. But I started defending the quality of the steaks. And I realized right away that something was wrong because the guest stopped looking at me and started looking behind me. So I turned, the tail standing behind me. he said, well, why you go to the kitchen? And he didn't fire me.

Sebastian Stahl (02:05.253)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (02:10.79)

That's a better place for you.

Randy Burks (02:15.881)

Right. He said, you obviously, some people have better personalities than others. He said, you belong in a ditch.

Sebastian Stahl (02:22.602)

Right, right, right. So what happened in the kitchen then?

Randy Burks (02:28.267)

Well, you know, so I started, I actually started off as a dishwasher, believe it or not. And I just said, I wanted to figure out a way to make money. Obviously, being a dishwasher wasn't the way, but these were real professional chefs there at Delphi's because they went to culinary school and all that. So while I was there, I kept a notebook and took notes of things that happened in the course of the evening. And when there was a problem, I always wrote down the problem. And then I wrote down.

Sebastian Stahl (02:52.378)

Mm

Randy Burks (02:56.235)

their solution and then I wrote down this what I would have done if it was different and I started maintaining this notebook and one day Dale was angry about something in the kitchen he was getting on to the staff and I spoke up and you know he said we've done this before and you know it's not fixed and I said well I know how I'd fix it he looked at me like you know who are you you're the dishwasher

Sebastian Stahl (02:57.816)

Mm.

Hmm.

Randy Burks (03:22.901)

And I said, well, I have a notebook. Every time there's something that goes wrong, I write it down and I've got a solution. And he said, you have this notebook. I said, yeah. He said, would you show it to me? So I went up and bought it back in and showed it to him. I had, so let me just back up just a little bit. have no culinary experience at this point. So the kitchen manager was going on vacation and Dale said, okay.

He said, when the kitchen manager is on vacation, he said, I want you to run the kitchen while he's gone and we're going to see how this goes. And that a lot of those guys back there who had a lot more experience and a lot more training than I did. But my, you my gift wasn't, if I have a gift, I mean, it wasn't really in my cooking. It was more in my management and how to solve problems and move things.

Sebastian Stahl (04:11.304)

Mm. Mm -hmm.

Yeah. Well, that's not a common thing for somebody to go into the kitchen the first day and then taking notes of, you know, of all the solutions that you're seeing and then being able to offer those. You know, you were demonstrating leadership from the get go.

Randy Burks (04:24.541)

I was... Well, you know, my dad was a business owner of Yale and several businesses growing up. I used to watch him. So it's more of a natural copy of what I would see my dad do. I didn't know I would ever get to use it. Actually, in my mind, I was gathering information for something else.

Sebastian Stahl (04:38.267)

Right.

Sebastian Stahl (04:46.224)

Mm.

Sebastian Stahl (04:49.704)

You

That's great. That's great, Randy. So, you know, I know you've been in this business for 31 years. How did you go from working at the Frisco's, you know, and then to opening your restaurant? Because that's a big leap.

Randy Burks (05:05.929)

Well, so my first wife had cancer. were in the hospital and my dad started telling about this idea he had for a business building coffins. And he would stand it up and it would be a bookcase. This was something you used it while you were alive. You lay it down, it's a coffee table. You put it on the top of the headboard and you die. You flip it over, throw the body in there.

Sebastian Stahl (05:13.477)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (05:20.667)

Hmm.

Randy Burks (05:34.811)

And so there were a lot of people. Yeah, I swear to God, he had owned a lot of businesses.

Sebastian Stahl (05:41.838)

It's all about multipurpose.

Randy Burks (05:44.201)

Yeah, yeah, and he did really well with some of them and some of them failed miserably. You can guess that that one did fail miserably. But there were other people in the waiting area, so they started talking about their ideas for businesses. My dad would listen to everybody, steal your idea if it was a good one. And then it got to me and I talked about putting a restaurant in an old house. And I was talking about the restaurant I have today, though I didn't know it. was just kind of in my head.

Sebastian Stahl (06:00.752)

Mm.

Sebastian Stahl (06:06.309)

Mm.

Sebastian Stahl (06:11.097)

Hmm.

Randy Burks (06:11.201)

And the next day he called me and said, were you serious about that restaurant idea? And I said, well, I mean, I am, but I don't have the money to do that right now. And my dad was like, well, I do. He said, put together three business plans of best case, worst case, middle of the road, pitch it to him. It makes sense. I'll invest in your company. So that's what I did. He did invest in the company and we were business partners for 27 years. I paid him out all the money that he put in.

many years before that, but he moved half of the company, so I bought him out his half about four or five years ago. It's an honor by myself. I miss having my dad there though.

Sebastian Stahl (06:54.041)

yeah. Yeah. Well, that's a beautiful story, Randy. It really is. And so, tell us a little bit more about your early days there. When you first started the restaurant, how was that experience?

Randy Burks (07:11.745)

Well, mean, when we first started out, believe it or not, I didn't start off with a prime state counseling I have today. I started in a community called Frisco, Texas, which is where the cowboys have moved their headquarters to a few years ago. And so it's a very up and coming growing community. Yeah. In the country, but when I opened there 31 years ago, we knew it was growing. just didn't know to what extent it would grow. when I opened up, there were 3 ,500 people in Frisco.

Sebastian Stahl (07:18.211)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (07:26.256)

Mm

Yeah. Yep. I know first go.

Randy Burks (07:41.985)

So I started off with me in the kitchen and was me alone and I had two servers. We did chicken fried steak and meatloaf and hamburgers. Kind of like a Black IP concept. That's how we started out. And as it got busier, I bought bus tubs and more dishes and the dishes would pile up. And when there were breaks, I'd wash dishes. when there wasn't, I would cook. And eventually, you know, we got to hire some people. So today we employ 43 people. So, you know, we've grown quite a bit, but...

Sebastian Stahl (08:07.833)

Hmm.

that's a big restaurant.

Randy Burks (08:12.257)

Yeah, yeah, so, but I leased that first building. I think it only took $40 ,000 to get open. was in 1993. And then we bought our own building, an old white historical house in downtown Frisco, built in 1869. And we paid, I think, $750 ,000 for it. After the renovations and everything, we had $1 .1 million in it. And today it's appraised at, I think,

Sebastian Stahl (08:27.333)

Mm.

Sebastian Stahl (08:30.788)

Wow.

Sebastian Stahl (08:38.288)

Hmm.

Randy Burks (08:42.311)

Yeah

Sebastian Stahl (08:43.214)

Hmm, of course. So it's quite a good investment then.

Randy Burks (08:49.299)

Yeah, no, I'm back. I'm probably better at real estate than I am in the press job business.

Sebastian Stahl (08:51.878)

You

Randy Burks (08:57.685)

But we opened up, I bought it from a gal who was a real influential in Frisco, Vivian McCallum. She passed away during COVID, unfortunately.

Sebastian Stahl (09:07.258)

Hmm.

Randy Burks (09:09.601)

They had a swimming pool in the back and we used to have dining tables around there. One night I was leaving and I noticed employees kind of milling around and I have a policy that when you're cut you get out of there. I'm only open for dinner from 5 to 10 p so there's no reason for people to mill around. I was leaving I noticed some people that should have been gone and so driving home I started thinking what are they doing there so I turned around.

back and I pulled my car up nice and quiet and walked in the backyard and found my kitchen manager skinny dipping with a couple of my waiters. So, lots of staff that day. He was a good kitchen manager, but I could not let that go.

Sebastian Stahl (09:55.104)

You

Sebastian Stahl (10:00.667)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (10:04.56)

We're sure not.

Randy Burks (10:05.845)

Yeah, the next day I called the contractor and inside of a week he a backhoe back there digging the pullout.

Sebastian Stahl (10:11.851)

my god. my god. The things we see in our industry.

Randy Burks (10:17.681)

insurance company was like, I don't know what this room for that could be a liability. so they were going to see figure it out.

Sebastian Stahl (10:25.114)

Yeah. It must have cost quite a bit to dig it out too.

Randy Burks (10:31.527)

And not as much as it cost to keep replacing people who were skinny dipping in it. Before that story I didn't tell, they were partaking in my product. I mean they were having a little party. They were having drinks and yeah, it was nice.

Sebastian Stahl (10:35.278)

Yeah, well yeah, that's true. That's true.

Sebastian Stahl (10:43.718)

so they were even grilling steaks in front of the pool.

Randy Burks (10:48.723)

Everybody was laughing at me.

Sebastian Stahl (10:53.658)

my God, that's a funny story, Randy. So Randy, you know, in the early days when you started your restaurant, you know, what were some of the biggest challenges that you had to overcome?

Randy Burks (11:06.187)

Well, I think at first was lack of knowledge. think was a big thing. It was my first business. when we first opened up, we were real busy. And this is, going back now to when we opened up and we were doing the chicken fried steak and the meatloaf and all that. We were real busy. I was too busy to count money or pay attention to numbers. I just continued over to food and kept cooking. And my dad was actually running the business side for me behind the scenes.

Sebastian Stahl (11:10.144)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (11:20.154)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (11:27.557)

Mm -hmm.

Yeah.

Hmm.

Randy Burks (11:35.617)

And one day the bank called me and said I had no money in the bank. And some people are trying to cash their paychecks. And I'm like, I mean, you have no money in the bank. People are standing out. mean, seriously, the place wasn't as big as the place I have now. But people would stand outside. And my parents would be out there pouring them iced teas and stuff. But my guest average back then was like $6 .33.

Sebastian Stahl (12:00.515)

Mm -hmm.

Randy Burks (12:01.781)

I family style, so it was like all you can eat vegetables and stuff. mean, it was a big old portions and I just didn't know I was losing money. After the money was going out. that was my first reality check and my first thing about having to put systems in place. And then one day, you know, we had some business guys in. Well, to back up a little bit, I had a purveyor that wanted me to buy some beef.

He had a restaurant that had...

Excuse me. We had a restaurant that went out of business and he asked me if I could buy some steaks from him. He had some stuff he had to get rid of. And I was like, man, I don't sell steak. I'll sell it you cheap. So I bought some New York strips from him and some filets. I ran some specials.

Sebastian Stahl (12:56.102)

Mm

Randy Burks (12:58.491)

And these four guys, because they were drinking wine, and these four guys outspent everybody that had been to the restaurant that entire day. And back in those days, because I was trying to figure out how to make money, the rent's the same. No matter how many hours I'm open, lot of utilities are fixed. They're the same. So if I'm open longer, I have a better chance to make money. So would open breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Sebastian Stahl (13:13.477)

Hmm.

Randy Burks (13:27.201)

And these four guys spent more money than everybody else spent the whole day. I remember calling my dad and telling him about it. And I said, we're doing this all wrong. And even though we were in Frisco and Frisco back then, you know, by this time it's probably going to 5 ,000 people or something. It's still very small. I was like, we're doing this all wrong. I'm better off serving 10 people a day than I am serving. You know, those days we were serving 150 or 200 people.

So we changed the concept right away. Now our guest average is about around $100 a person. We're still doing, because the risk was growing a lot, so we're still doing decent numbers and stuff. But that was a real eye -opener. I didn't like my landlord, so that was about the same time this all happened. So I talked to my dad and said, let's look for another place. actually, the house I'm in now, we, like,

Sebastian Stahl (13:58.714)

Yeah. Ha.

Sebastian Stahl (14:05.539)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (14:11.962)

Right. Right.

yeah.

Randy Burks (14:28.625)

blocks down the road. so we bought it, it was a house, we turned it into a restaurant and we moved in there and we changed it from, first place was Randy's Country Kitchen, changed it to Randy's Steakhouse. That's how we've been off. Yeah. Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (14:40.538)

Huh. So that's how it happened that you made the transition. Got it. Got it. It made sense at the time.

Randy Burks (14:46.805)

Yeah, the place, I mean, here's a real advantage to being small. And this has been an advantage several times. was an advantage then, it was an advantage during COVID. But it's the ability to change very quickly. It's on circumstances based on what you learn from experience. You can change really fast. They're working for a corporate restaurant where you've got all these people trying to make decisions and you've got some people afraid to make any decision. Nothing really happens very slowly.

Sebastian Stahl (14:52.336)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (14:59.973)

Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (15:06.171)

Right.

Sebastian Stahl (15:12.292)

Right. Right.

Randy Burks (15:15.915)

You know, we made that decision fast. And you know, it's funny. So when we first went from Randy's Country Kitchen, Randy's Steakhouse, open this new place, customers were coming in and they hated it. I mean, they were like, you know, we liked your old place because was cheap, right? It was cheap. And when I was doing Randy's Steakhouse, was more like what I did at Del Frisco's. So, more like it. was, basically copied Del Frisco's is what I did. And,

Sebastian Stahl (15:18.768)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (15:28.452)

Yeah, yep.

Sebastian Stahl (15:35.098)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (15:39.972)

Mm -hmm.

Randy Burks (15:42.015)

It was way more expensive and people were complaining about it, but we stuck with it. I now it's like, I'd rather do what I'm doing now. I'm open five hours a day. I mean, not bad. I've got a life. You know, I have friends that have had restaurants that have no life. They make no money. you know, not only are we making a little bit of money, but, know, I've got the asset of the building, you know, making payments on it every month.

Sebastian Stahl (15:52.698)

Yep. Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (16:02.907)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (16:11.246)

Yeah. Yeah.

Randy Burks (16:12.033)

You know, we're owning the building now, so.

Sebastian Stahl (16:15.32)

Randy, you've done a lot of things right. Definitely. Well, that's how we get to the right things, Randy, in my experience. We gotta mess up a lot of things to get the right thing.

Randy Burks (16:18.283)

Yeah, I've done a thing wrong too.

Randy Burks (16:31.328)

And if he were here, would say I'm still doing all these things wrong.

Sebastian Stahl (16:34.918)

Well, that was that was leading me into that my next question, Randy. Because I know family business sometimes can be complicated, right? Working with family. But I know in your experience was a bit different. How was it working with your father?

Randy Burks (16:43.829)

Yeah.

Randy Burks (16:47.583)

You know, my wife doesn't like me to say this because my dad was my, well he is, he's still alive, he's my best friend. And my wife wonders where does that leave her? But, you know, he loaned me the money to start with when we had that initial thing where I wasn't making money and the bank called me said there was no money in there. He threw more money in there to keep us going.

Sebastian Stahl (16:55.717)

Mm.

Sebastian Stahl (16:59.611)

You

Randy Burks (17:16.992)

You know, he, he helped me organize the business side while, while I ran the restaurant and, know, as one of those relationships, we had two different expertise. You know, I knew how to run the restaurant from my time at Del Frisco's and he knew business. And really for a number of years, we never really got in each other's way, but we also 100 % trusted each other. I thought that I was going to be stealing booze or money and

Sebastian Stahl (17:32.89)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (17:39.568)

Mm.

Randy Burks (17:43.977)

And I didn't worry about him, you know, embezzling from the, you know, it just, it was a complete trust thing. And it was just wonderful. And it, it still is. I mean, to this day, he, you know, I bought him out, you know, four years ago, I think. And he still is trying to do my books. In fact, I just bought a new software. He does QuickBooks, which I never learned QuickBooks, bought a new restaurant software to take over the book. So right now we're actually, believe it or not, keeping two sets of books.

Sebastian Stahl (17:44.229)

Right.

Sebastian Stahl (17:50.138)

Right?

Sebastian Stahl (18:06.938)

Yeah. Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (18:13.68)

Hmm.

Randy Burks (18:13.949)

I do mine and he does his. And then in January, I told him, you know, it's time that in January, our two books jive of where if they're the same, then I'm going to take over and you're going to finally retire. But greatly deserves, but I'm not sure he wants. So right now in front of the restaurant, they're doing Main Street construction, the World Cup is they're going to play a game down the street.

Sebastian Stahl (18:30.404)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (18:34.542)

Right.

Randy Burks (18:47.016)

And the redoing Main Street and my god, it's my second time in 30 years to go through this Main Street construction. It's killer. I mean it really really affects the business and everything else. And so, you he's at he's in Florida and he's looking at my numbers and he's like, my god, so you need to get out of that. You know, happened to us, you know, how many years ago? 2007,

Sebastian Stahl (18:56.522)

yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (19:00.027)

Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (19:12.846)

Yeah.

Randy Burks (19:13.729)

It's no different then and we survived that and I'm 60 so I got to get through the row construction then be in business in a couple of years to get my value of my business.

Sebastian Stahl (19:18.437)

Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (19:25.71)

Yeah, yeah.

Randy Burks (19:27.007)

Maybe I can retire and see what happens.

Sebastian Stahl (19:28.74)

Man, I hear you, Randy. It's happened to us as well in our businesses and when they road construction, that's the worst because there's nothing you can do about it.

Randy Burks (19:39.113)

No, you know, and you know, I try not to make excuses because especially when you're, I say I try because it's hard because sometimes I have a regular that I've become friends with. So I tell them things I probably shouldn't tell them, you know, I should, I think like a good leader always has a positive, you know, but sometimes it's like, my God, thank you for, I'm like begging them to come back. Thank you for coming in, you know, we're going through it.

Sebastian Stahl (19:49.818)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (20:00.377)

Mm. Mm -hmm.

Randy Burks (20:07.763)

of time right now, you know, we need you to, you and, you know, I have to remember that I have to be positive all the time, even with my regular, you know.

Sebastian Stahl (20:16.606)

And that's not easy, That's not an easy thing to do. And so, Randy, you know, the industry is, well, especially now, I'm sure you've seen it evolve over 31 years, but now, these days, it continues to change. So what are some key operational changes or things that you've implemented to stay competitive in today's market, especially with raising food costs and other stuff and thinning margins?

Randy Burks (20:21.686)

So.

Sebastian Stahl (20:44.698)

Have you implemented anything different? Anything that you've been doing to kind of offset that?

Randy Burks (20:49.409)

Well, so I was talking about this software I just started. I know if you're familiar with Restaurant 365. Yeah, I started that about three months ago, so I'm still implementing it right now. I'm not done with it, but it's already helping me because it's, you know, I never did weekly inventory. did, you know, that's not true. I did inventory, but I never put a cost against anything. I never actually did it.

Sebastian Stahl (20:56.134)

Yeah. Yeah. Yes, I am. 100%.

Sebastian Stahl (21:17.275)

Mm.

Randy Burks (21:18.593)

food cost based on you know what my current inventory low you know how it changed you know i never did that before i always did food cost based on i bought this much and i sold this much this week my food cost was five percent i 95 i don't tell anybody

Sebastian Stahl (21:27.194)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (21:34.913)

Hahaha!

Sebastian Stahl (21:40.646)

Yep.

Randy Burks (21:47.361)

We started doing that and my dad again with a disc, he were here, he always thinks I have themes amongst us. I personally do not believe that, but we have cameras to help me kind of watch things when I'm there and not there. But I think mostly that restaurant 365 and doing weekly inventories. one thing I've always been good at is watching food costs as far as prices.

Sebastian Stahl (22:00.101)

Mm.

Sebastian Stahl (22:16.944)

Mm -hmm. Right.

Randy Burks (22:17.985)

So when things go up, I react instantly. I change the price on the menu constantly. Sometimes I get in trouble with my guests. Sometimes, when you're at my price point, a lot of people don't say anything because I don't think. A lot of my people have guests. I mean, I have money and I don't think they worry too much. But some of them, boy, they let you know. But I've kind of had to be like,

Sebastian Stahl (22:23.661)

Mm. Mm

Sebastian Stahl (22:32.485)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (22:38.106)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (22:42.953)

yeah.

Randy Burks (22:45.845)

I've got to think long term. cannot worry about losing customers over price. So I'm going to have to give them some kind of value, an experience, something to make it worth them wanting to come in.

Sebastian Stahl (22:51.589)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (22:55.332)

Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (22:59.002)

Yeah, exactly. So how do you deliver on that, Because of course, the product needs to be there, stakes. mean, there's just, you know, got to be great. But besides that, you know, because right now what we're seeing is, okay, you're, think in your concept, you're delivering an experience, right? Because it's a high priced, you know, experience and an item or restaurant. So you have to deliver on different fronts to be able to create that value. So, you know, to keep, of course, people coming back.

Randy Burks (23:08.256)

Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (23:26.714)

How do you deliver hospitality at your restaurant, And I'm guessing it's a little bit part of just your personality and you yourself.

Randy Burks (23:30.148)

yeah.

Randy Burks (23:35.071)

Well, I know that I'm loud and obnoxious.

Randy Burks (23:43.381)

I laugh a lot and people always comment, even when I'm traveling, people will hear me laugh in the airport and they'll be like, I'm in another state, but I know that guy. they run around and talk my son, he's like, my God, she's really tired. But our building, we have a lot of advantages, but it starts really with our location, our building. For one thing, we're in a thriving area, Frisco. know I'm bitching about road construction, but you know.

Sebastian Stahl (23:47.801)

Mm.

Sebastian Stahl (23:52.537)

You

Sebastian Stahl (23:57.435)

Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (24:05.663)

Mm. Mm. Mm -hmm.

Randy Burks (24:12.011)

growing so that is you it is what it is but I'm in area that's growing it's growing with affluent people you know we just got the PGA moved into the area we have FC Dallas which is professional soccer we have AA minor league baseball with the Rangers affiliate team we have minor league basketball we have the Dallas Mavericks V -League team we have the Dallas Cowboys head coach I mean we have all this

Sebastian Stahl (24:15.6)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (24:26.469)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (24:32.784)

Mm

Randy Burks (24:40.097)

stuff that's come to Frisco. And so it's just booming. And it's booming with people with money. And we're getting like local celebrity type people that are moving into the area. It's just crazy what's happening here. So that's a really big thing. The other thing is my building, it was built in 1869. It's an old house and it has tons of history. So it is the old building in Frisco. So to give that circle reference, that's four years after the Civil War when it was built. And when it was built, it was built on Preston Road.

Sebastian Stahl (24:58.395)

Hmm.

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (25:04.366)

Mm. Mm -hmm.

Randy Burks (25:10.017)

which used to be the Preston Trail Cattle Drives. So they used to cattle from down here all the way up to Kansas City. And then in 1903, Frisco, the railroad comes from Frisco. And so Frisco was named after the San Luis San Francisco Railroad. And it took forever to build a building back then. So it was put on logs and pulled to the location where it is now. And it's crazy for foundation. They just took the trees that were there and they cut them off the same level and they arrested the house and the tree.

Sebastian Stahl (25:13.669)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (25:26.627)

Mm

Randy Burks (25:40.253)

So when you walk out you'll see there's like the floor is uneven because sometimes you'll walk there's really a support there's just a floor and it's bowed over the years from sitting on top of a tree trunks I've cut it out and try to look you know cut the tree trunk down to lay the floor back flat again, but you know that works so well, but We had a murder in the house in the early 1900s it was used as a doctor's office for a while and so

Sebastian Stahl (25:40.624)

Wow.

Sebastian Stahl (25:44.698)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (25:49.69)

Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (25:53.382)

Mm -hmm.

Randy Burks (26:07.337)

local school teacher back when Prisco was very, small. had a one room school house, one teacher. The teacher come to talk to the doctor about the bad behavior of his daughter in school and he came up, sat with her, and he shot and killed her. So there's a lot and I don't, don't proclaim the restaurant is haunted, but a lot of people believe it's haunted. It's crazy. We get a lot of nutty people come through there just because of the rumors that it's haunted. And so there's, yeah, yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (26:12.429)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (26:20.325)

Wow.

Sebastian Stahl (26:34.352)

Free marketing.

Randy Burks (26:37.421)

I don't like to lie on purpose. I might lie down to ignorance, but I try not to do it on purpose. I don't believe in And I'm married, so I've had problems at home sometimes. I've spent the night there. I I've been all day in the apartment. I've never been spooked by anything. I've managed to get the night okay. But that's one real advantage. then, you know, I mentioned before to be able to...

Sebastian Stahl (26:51.844)

Hahaha

Sebastian Stahl (26:58.534)

You

Randy Burks (27:05.831)

adjust things, know, when the recession we, so we were expensive. So we added some lower cost items to the menu and then with things up, those items went away. And then during COVID, for example, we were shut down. I did, we can only do takeout orders like six weeks or something. So, you know, I start off the first three days doing my menu takeout and you know, I,

Sebastian Stahl (27:14.189)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (27:20.218)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (27:26.342)

Mm

Randy Burks (27:33.345)

I did like 13 orders, stupid, like ridiculously slow. And I'm like, well, it's not even order to go on vacation. But you know, we didn't know when they were going to allow us to reopen. So I was afraid I'd go out of business. So I got to do something. So I went back to that country kitchen recipes that we did when we first started out. We chicken and dumplings, meatloaf and stuff. And we packed them in family meals of like, think, portions for four people.

Sebastian Stahl (27:37.316)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (27:42.479)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (27:46.224)

Hmph.

Sebastian Stahl (27:52.122)

Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Randy Burks (28:03.041)

And we saw like 400 of those a day. And the amazing thing, was crazy. And the amazing thing about it was that I'm a member of a Catholic church. So for example, guys that go to church with me, they went to their neighbors and they're like, you know, Randy's got this lower cost deal. think we charged like $40 for a family of four. Something stupid. And then because I had all this wine, I got this huge wine, so I had all this wine.

Sebastian Stahl (28:06.064)

Wow.

Sebastian Stahl (28:14.288)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (28:27.354)

Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (28:32.741)

Mm

Randy Burks (28:33.377)

spent like over 50 bucks, gave you a free bottle of wine. Just because it was just sitting there not making me any money. So I used it to get people in the door. so these guys were taking orders from their neighbors. And then they were coming and picking it up and delivering it to them. And so I just had all this outreach from the community. I had people buying gift cards from me and then mailing them back to me unused just because they were trying to help us survive.

Sebastian Stahl (28:37.986)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (29:02.838)

Wow.

Randy Burks (29:03.741)

Isn't that crazy? They were anonymous. I didn't know who it was who did it. But I got all I started getting all these gift cards.

Sebastian Stahl (29:06.094)

That's amazing.

Sebastian Stahl (29:12.014)

Hmm. And that's, that's amazing, Randy. You see that sometimes the worst times brings out the best in people, you know, no,

Randy Burks (29:20.242)

It is crazy. And you know, I know some of it is because I've been there a long time and I've been involved in the community and stuff. But it's really, can't believe how the community rallies around us when things are getting tough. I'm fortunate.

Sebastian Stahl (29:28.144)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (29:34.064)

Yeah, yeah, that's amazing, Randy. So when you were going through all of these things, Randy, then we're switching to talk a little bit about leadership. There's a component, there's the emotional component of leadership that is, I think, the toughest part. You know what mean? There's a technical side and some things that we can learn, but emotionally, you know, how to deal with challenges like these, you know, it's very difficult. And of course, all of us went through a lot of different things through COVID.

How did you manage the stress and all of that that happened at that time and throughout your career? And when you have a team of people looking up to you and to say, hey, what are we going to do?

Randy Burks (30:14.293)

Well, I don't always handle things as well as you're painting it, so thank you for that.

Sebastian Stahl (30:19.654)

Hahaha

You

Randy Burks (30:22.877)

But you know, for example, like COVID, you know, I told you I did three days of doing the regular, our regular menu and it wasn't working. And we're closed. So I, you know, I'm wearing my chef coat with my name on it. And when we were closed, you know, the first three days I was wearing street clothes. And then one morning, I think the fourth day in, I get up, I normally get up at four or five in the morning to start my day. And I got up.

Sebastian Stahl (30:32.036)

Mm.

Sebastian Stahl (30:42.139)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (30:49.754)

Hmm.

Randy Burks (30:50.921)

And I put on my chef clothes and my wife was like, what are you doing? And she's going to work. And she said, you're not going to see any customers because we're closed. And I said, I can't sit here and do nothing. have to, I'm going to work like I did every day before. I'm going to pretend like I'm going to see people and I went to work. And then when I went to work, I started trying to plan, you know, make a plan. How do I, you know, and just do something. I mean, it's

I didn't know what I was going to do was going to work. It's just like, just do something, just make a, you know, try something. And also some of the other businesses around me, downtown area, they were struggling, you whether it was a gym that was probably struggling even worse than me. And the woman that owned the gym was just so freaking positive. And she started these zoom calls. I never zoom and I still don't, you know, this is kind of unusual.

Sebastian Stahl (31:23.334)

Mm. Mm.

Sebastian Stahl (31:45.014)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (31:48.772)

You

Randy Burks (31:50.113)

I never did zoom calls before and she started this zoom with the businesses and at first I didn't make the first couple and then I started getting on there and just listening to the other business owners it lifted me up. Like okay I'm not in this alone. It feels like I'm alone but I'm not at all and everybody's going through the same thing and it just fired me up and all this happened that when I'm making it sound like it was a process it was a pretty short process. I'm talking about like the first week.

Sebastian Stahl (31:56.229)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (32:03.899)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (32:09.434)

Hmm. Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (32:17.326)

Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Randy Burks (32:19.829)

You and then we started, but I was talking about these family meals and stuff. it's just kind of tackling things as I happened. And I'm going through it right now with this road construction. I didn't, like I said, you know, I have to remain positive and it's not easy. Sometimes I forget and I talk to people and then as soon as I walk away, like idiot, you know, they don't need to know that, you know, I mean, don't be smart about it. So,

Sebastian Stahl (32:30.244)

Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (32:39.621)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (32:48.645)

Yeah.

Randy Burks (32:49.569)

It's just trying to be positive. And I've got a fantastic team and I didn't always, it took me 30 years retiring people. So I've got people on my staff. I'm not making this up because I know this is unusual for restaurants. I have people on my staff that have been with me for 20 plus years. I have my management team right now. It's the best management team I've ever had ever. And they had no experience. I promoted them from within and I taught them myself.

Sebastian Stahl (32:55.717)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (33:06.01)

Well.

Sebastian Stahl (33:16.996)

Right, that's the best way.

Randy Burks (33:19.645)

my God, you know, they're not, you know, in the past, I always chose people with it, you know, had experienced somewhere else. And then I would try to talk to them and they're like, do you want me to do it your way or do you want me to do it the right way? I just might be used the right way. You know, like hiring from another restaurant, all this experience. I, I have a, and you will take them chicken masala, you know, and having.

Sebastian Stahl (33:26.841)

Mmm.

Sebastian Stahl (33:33.948)

Yeah.

Yeah, yep, yep.

Sebastian Stahl (33:45.659)

Mm

Randy Burks (33:46.475)

another restaurant you know you want me to do chicken marsala your way you want me to do it the right way you idiot I wrote this recipe

Sebastian Stahl (33:51.312)

Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (33:57.136)

But that's, it's so true, Randy. think that, you know, and it's just, hear it, you know, over and over again, we hire for character, you know, and soft skills, not for the hard skills, because that stuff you can teach and that's exactly what you did. You know, you had people that you could promote from within with the right attitude and then, you know, you train them.

Randy Burks (34:11.243)

Well, you know...

Randy Burks (34:16.653)

I mean some of it like my general managers is the best employee I've ever had and you know don't want to upset anybody that works for me because I do have a really good staff and my other managers are quite good also but she has just been the best things are happening to me and you know she comes in with a good attitude and when I offered her the job there was another manager that was working and I asked her to have lunch with me and she wouldn't have lunch with me because I think she thought I was asking her on a date so

Sebastian Stahl (34:21.818)

Mm.

Sebastian Stahl (34:28.571)

Mm.

Sebastian Stahl (34:32.07)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (34:35.803)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (34:45.218)

Hahaha

Randy Burks (34:47.41)

I told my wife about this. This is above board. just want to talk to you about something. And so she finally agrees to have lunch with me. And I tell her that, you know, I want to make her manager. She says no. I'm like, why not? She said, you already have a manager. That manager is gone. It hasn't happened yet. They don't know it. But I made the decision to move on from her. So whether you accept this position or not, I'm doing it.

a lot better if you'd expected. So she finally accepted on a contingency basis or, you know, I look for somebody else. So I let the other manager go, she goes in and right away, it was just night and day, she was doing, you know, I'm not real good at following up with people like I should be. I think a lot of managers are this way, which is why a lot of us are all effective. And I would tell her to do something and I didn't have to check on her, it would just get done.

Sebastian Stahl (35:21.232)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (35:38.747)

Yeah.

Randy Burks (35:44.789)

probably my doctor background sort of like that. But you know, she was just getting done. my god, I love this. And so one day though, the phone rings, and she answers them sitting there. And if somebody is wiring, we need a manager. So she's got the phone and she's like, you know, this person wants to know if we need a manager. I said, no, do we? She sat there and stared at me. And then she got back in the house. She says, No, that position has been filled. Okay.

Sebastian Stahl (35:44.932)

Hmm. That's all right.

Sebastian Stahl (35:57.467)

Hmm.

Randy Burks (36:14.977)

The thing about her is not just her follow -through, but she's no nonsense. She works. She's always in motion. She's great. When she asks people to do something, they don't question her because she never stops doing things. She just is never visiting. She's got a good personality, but she's just constantly moving and working. And she's great at hiring people.

Sebastian Stahl (36:28.026)

Mm.

Randy Burks (36:44.329)

So since she's been there, she's hired some really, really good people. So when I say I'm just blessed with a great staff, I've got servers, I mean, that are just outstanding. And it's because of her. I tended to hire because I was, know, when I needed to hire somebody, was on my to -do list. You got to hire somebody, you know? And so, you know, somebody come and apply and whether they were really, I got a good feeling about them. I hired them to get it off my freaking to -do list.

Sebastian Stahl (36:44.944)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (36:51.504)

Mm.

Sebastian Stahl (37:03.226)

Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (37:12.933)

Right, right.

Randy Burks (37:14.409)

Yeah, she actually picks the right person.

Sebastian Stahl (37:17.286)

Wow, that's well, that's the start you got there, Randy, because definitely finding people like that that has all those qualities at the same time are not easy to find.

Randy Burks (37:28.511)

And to be successful, gotta have people like that because you know, sometimes like for me, I have, wear so many hats, I so many responsibilities. I just want things off my list. And so I sometimes, especially before her, I would just do things to get it done. And it wasn't always the right thing, you know, with her, you know, now that I can give her things to do. Now, you know, it's like advertising, you know, back.

Sebastian Stahl (37:38.394)

Mm -hmm.

Randy Burks (37:55.745)

first 27 years I cooked every night at the restaurant. The only night off I used to take was only Sunday. That was from my family. And I got to where I didn't want to advertise because if I got too busy I might have work on Sunday or if I got too busy you know I'd be back in the kitchen and I'd have to work so hard that you know I'd be tired. And pretty soon you know you just be able to learn you know what I need to hire somebody to take my spot in the kitchen so that I can advertise.

Sebastian Stahl (38:01.402)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (38:10.576)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (38:23.59)

Mm

Randy Burks (38:24.529)

business so can make some money. Because I don't want it to be busy because I don't want to work that hard. You know you need people and it took me a long long time to get to the point where I realized

Sebastian Stahl (38:26.48)

Thank you.

Sebastian Stahl (38:34.747)

Yeah, yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (38:40.998)

Mm -hmm. No, that's 100 %

Randy Burks (38:42.539)

And now, you know, so now I don't want to lose them. So you just have to constantly make sure they come up.

Sebastian Stahl (38:46.886)

Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yep. It's a melt. You find you definitely have, you know, great people. They've been working with you for 20 years and they stuck around. So Randy, knowing the industry and what the challenges that it's facing right now, raising labor costs, supply chain changes, all of these things, where do you see the restaurant industry heading in the next five to 10 years?

Randy Burks (38:58.987)

Yeah.

Randy Burks (39:11.585)

You know, I've been kind of worried about that. You're talking about the supply chains, especially COVID. was just so hard to get items. And I started using multiple vendors and everything else to try to find things. And I go drive my car and get restaurant depot to get things. And then the inflation, the food costs. my goodness. mean, I have a steakhouse, so meat. I mean, back when I first opened it, when meat went over $10 an hour, it was December.

Sebastian Stahl (39:16.962)

Mm.

Sebastian Stahl (39:23.877)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (39:30.874)

Mm -hmm, mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (39:35.855)

Rape.

Randy Burks (39:41.313)

like when you're visiting it was supply and demand it was 10 you know now it's routinely $14 a pound. That's what it is all the time now it doesn't matter you know and and if you know anything about the steaks when you trim it you lose 40 % of that so now your your meat is $20 it's it's it's insane so you know

Sebastian Stahl (39:47.394)

Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Yep.

Randy Burks (40:10.261)

Being an independent restaurant guy, worry about chains. know, well, I used to worry about a lot more than I do now. I used to worry about some chain was going to open up and the take house was going to open up near me and it was going to put so much pressure on me to get out of business. And since then, I've had Perry's move into Frisco. We've had Del Frisco's, Silver Fox, now Three Forks is here. Because Frisco's grown, we have all these

Sebastian Stahl (40:37.392)

Hmm.

Randy Burks (40:40.171)

big prime steak houses. had no competition. have all these and our business grows. So I think as long as you do your job and you take care of your customers, you know, I think, I think that's what you have. And you stop worrying about what you're charging. You got to charge what you need to charge to make money and just, just do your job and take your customers. And I think things will take care of themselves. And that's not to say that, you know, my, you know,

Sebastian Stahl (40:46.49)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (41:03.013)

Hmm.

Randy Burks (41:09.215)

sales would go up and down, but I have really done well even when big places open up near me and I think I'm doomed, nothing changes. It's like we still grow, we grow a steady, you know, okay, yeah, things are good. So yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (41:24.123)

Hmm.

Hmm, that's yeah, that's great. Dr. Randy and really fortunate. I think you have you guys have a great mix of I mean many different things going for you. Of course you leading the team, you know, of course great product, great space. I mean the historic house. It's just such a unique experience right that you guys are.

Randy Burks (41:44.193)

Well, and you know, and we make mistakes. had a, we had a friend come in the restaurant last night. I haven't seen him 15 years. A little close, right? But 15 years ago, we were really close. Came in and we overcooked his steak. He there with his wife and his twin brother and his wife. And we overcooked the steak. I was so embarrassed. And you know, we go out and we apologize. We do.

Sebastian Stahl (41:50.821)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (41:54.212)

Hahaha

Sebastian Stahl (42:04.731)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (42:10.947)

Hmm.

Randy Burks (42:13.931)

But you know, I read a book and I wish I could remember the name of the author, but he owns restaurants in New York City. Something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Setting the table. Yeah. And he wrote about how when you make mistakes, how it's an opportunity to actually make a customer. And I read that and I really take that to heart. you know, when you make a mistake, it's not the way you want to start a dialogue with somebody.

Sebastian Stahl (42:21.946)

Right. Danny Mayer. Yeah. Setting the table.

Sebastian Stahl (42:31.933)

huh.

Randy Burks (42:43.231)

But I can't tell you how many customers have told me, God, you know, I came in there one time and this happened and you came by and, you know, you talked to us, maybe I comped or something or, you know, whatever I did, I, because, you know, my little motto, and it's not a motto I share with anybody, it's just my own little thing, is I want everybody to leave theirs, is I want them to leave as friends, right? No matter how bad things get, I try to make it to where, you know, you leave, we're friends.

Sebastian Stahl (42:58.532)

Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (43:05.211)

Right.

Hmm.

Randy Burks (43:11.451)

and just we do everything I can to make things right. And I can't tell you how customers I've actually gotten because they continue to come in. I had a, I had an Easter. This was, this is one of the big stupid things I did one time. I had Easter and, and I wasn't getting enough Easter business because you know, I'm the big expense of the steak house. And so, you know, I wouldn't get to that after church proud. got some, but not enough. So I decided I'd do a brunch.

Sebastian Stahl (43:19.141)

Hmm.

Randy Burks (43:37.281)

I have a steakhouse so I grills back there. You try to cook an egg on a grill it goes right through. But I didn't have the right equipment to pull the menu off. So we ended up having like 300 reservations on all this brunch menu and we start off we start struggling right away. My kitchen manager at that time I don't know what happened she just passed out fell on the floor I had to call a freaking ambulance to come pick her up off the floor and I wrote these recipes but I taught her and I didn't tell I didn't teach the whole staff because

Sebastian Stahl (43:44.801)

Right.

Sebastian Stahl (44:06.905)

wow.

Randy Burks (44:07.553)

to get everybody organized. So I had to go back there and try to pull this thing off myself. It was a disaster. was a disaster. 31 years, the worst day I ever had, we call it Sunday. That's like our little funny little thing, worst day. And I walked into the, well, this is so bad. I was so embarrassed that my office, had to go to the kitchen of my office. I didn't want to walk to the dining room. So I went outside and walked all the way around to try to find the side door to sneak into the office. Cause I didn't want to see any customers.

Sebastian Stahl (44:19.502)

Yep. Yep.

Randy Burks (44:37.055)

I supposed to ask them instead of trying to build relationships with people. And I try to sneak in and when I get by my office, which is near the bar, there's a line of people down the bar. They're there asking to see me because they want to bitch at me. And somebody sees me and it's like, no. And I go over and they stood in line and one by one, they all sat there and told me about how terrible their experience was. And so one by one, I tried to make it right.

Sebastian Stahl (44:37.202)

Yep

Sebastian Stahl (44:52.804)

Mm -hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (45:02.778)

Oof.

Randy Burks (45:07.167)

It was a disaster. you know, obviously he made a day, but I had this one guest. He still comes into this day. He was in line and I'll never forget him. And he gets up to like the next guy in line to tell me about his bad experience. And then he finally just got out of line and he walked away. And I knew his name. So I called him the next day and I said, you know, I saw you were in line. walked away. He said, Randy, I felt so bad for you. He said, I was listening to people.

Sebastian Stahl (45:07.802)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (45:25.36)

Hmm.

Randy Burks (45:35.241)

And I was listening to what you were saying and I realized that you just made a mistake. And what was good, was it going to be for me to yell at? Anyway, I forget what I did. Probably refunded his money or something. He still comes in. He's a very regular customer. And every time we joke about that one time he came in with his mother's day and you know, I mean, you can't turn around even on the worst of days. can turn people around.

Sebastian Stahl (45:40.858)

Mmm.

Sebastian Stahl (45:45.677)

No.

Sebastian Stahl (45:51.429)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (45:55.782)

yeah

Sebastian Stahl (46:03.131)

Mm.

Randy Burks (46:03.841)

grow your business even if you're making mistakes. And one of the things about Frisco is it's growing so fast that I get to make mistakes every day. But the community is so passive of the people I lose. I help people with company and I get to make mistakes.

Sebastian Stahl (46:06.661)

Mm.

Sebastian Stahl (46:12.559)

Mm.

You get the second chances. my God, Randy, we've all I think we've all been there with having those dreadful days or nights or whatever in service. And it's just the shame. yeah. Yeah, we all got some really crazy stories with that, but that's a really good one. So, Randy, you've got the legacy over the years, of course, you know, with this restaurant. How do you want to be remembered in this industry when you eventually step away?

Randy Burks (46:43.097)

You know, I've never really thought about that because I really don't worry about that too much. I worry more about how I'm thought about my family. I worry more about what my kids think. I have a niece that's like a daughter to me. worry about what she thinks, my wife, my dad. But you know, I think we do things the right way. think my staff, I'm sure I've fired a few people in the past, so they might say otherwise.

Sebastian Stahl (46:51.031)

Mmm.

Sebastian Stahl (46:55.749)

Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (47:00.505)

Mm.

Randy Burks (47:12.939)

But I think my staff for the most part already think highly of me as I do them. I get to my current staff. think they're wonderful.

Sebastian Stahl (47:17.924)

Hmm. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. No, that's, no, that's.

Randy Burks (47:24.565)

Yeah, but I worry about my friends and family.

Sebastian Stahl (47:28.666)

Yeah, great. Well, great answer, Randy. So if in last question, Randy, if you could sit down with your younger self on the day you open your first restaurant, you know, knowing everything you know now, what would be a piece of advice that you would give to navigate the ups and downs of the restaurant industry?

Randy Burks (47:37.482)

Yeah.

Randy Burks (47:46.943)

I would go to college and pick another business.

Sebastian Stahl (47:49.966)

Ha ha ha!

Randy Burks (47:53.729)

I do a little do a little tour at local colleges Year, I'm invited by different professors and I go in their hospitality classes are not necessarily restaurant classes, but they're And the very first one I ever did the guy was I just want you to come talk to the class and what do you want me to talk about? We'll talk about yourself. come on. Give me something to talk about. No, no, just talk about yourself is just

Sebastian Stahl (47:55.78)

Oof.

Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (48:03.618)

Mm -hmm. Yeah.

Mm

Randy Burks (48:21.195)

So I go there and it's one of these classrooms that's a stadium type. I'm just calling it a stadium, a theater type seating and I'm behind the podium. And so I started off, know, Delphris goes and then I'm about a little bit of ways in and I said out loud, God, this has got to be boring for you because I'm boring the hell out of myself. I was like, what do you, you guys go to school here? This is what you do.

Sebastian Stahl (48:28.355)

Mm

Randy Burks (48:50.421)

Why don't you guys tell me what you want to know? Ask me, just tell me what you're doing. Ask me questions. And so right away this girl raises her hand and that was one of their questions they asked me though was, you know, what kind of advice I'd get. And you know.

Sebastian Stahl (48:55.903)

Mm

Randy Burks (49:07.563)

People, especially these young people, they watch Food Network and they see celebrity chef. They go to my restaurant, they see me walk around. I walk around a lot of times. My dad didn't like this. My mom especially didn't like it, but I drink a lot of bourbon. And I walk around the restaurant talking to people with my bourbon. And these young people, see it and they kind can do that probably. mean, that looks easy.

Sebastian Stahl (49:11.724)

Mm. Mm.

Sebastian Stahl (49:19.515)

Mm

Sebastian Stahl (49:29.864)

Hahahaha

Randy Burks (49:32.351)

You know, I don't know, five o 'clock in the evening, drive by the restaurant at five o 'clock in the morning, you'll see one car out there. It's my car. I get there really early in the morning. I cut all the beef myself. I know I should have somebody else do it. I've had business coaches telling me that I would save all kinds of time by asking me to do it. I do it myself. I go to the farmer's market myself. I can pick my own produce. Just like with my employees, when I go to the farmer's market now, I vendors that I go to. They know how I inspect the

Sebastian Stahl (49:39.546)

Mm -hmm. Mm

Randy Burks (50:00.737)

produce so now they don't waste their own time they get me the freshest the best stuff they've got because if they don't they're gonna spend a lot of time haggling with me over it so they just they just do it and you know and I do all these things and then I work in my office several hours and I'm like you know on holidays when when you know Valentine's Day when I should be with my wife I'm at the restaurant obviously it's one of her busiest days Christmas Eve when I should be with my family I'm at you know

The restaurant business is not a business that I recommend to many people. Now, I say all these things like I'm bitter. I love it. And my family knows I love it. My wife knows I love it. My kids know I love it. So in no way am I trying to trash the industry or the business or anything else. It's just not for most people. I try to actually talk people out of it. I talk to people. Yeah.

Sebastian Stahl (50:35.654)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (50:41.125)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (50:45.979)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (50:53.07)

Agreed.

Sebastian Stahl (50:56.654)

Yeah, yeah. Well, that's a great answer. I say the same thing.

Randy Burks (51:05.288)

I have a program with the school system here and so sometimes kids will ask me to mentor them and I got a message from a girl that I mentored like 15 years ago. I say message she sent me a letter in the mail I read it to my wife that couldn't believe it. She said I changed her life. She always wanted to have her own restaurant, wanted to be a chef. She came and mentored with me and after she came with me she became an architect.

Sebastian Stahl (51:27.91)

Ha

You inspired her not to get into the industry. No, but it's true, Randy. think it definitely requires a very specific type of personality to be in this business. And it definitely isn't for everyone. Now, the love that we feel for industry, and that's the reason we're in it, right? Or we've been in it. It's just like nothing else, you know, and just the people that are in this industry understand that. So.

Randy Burks (51:37.429)

for yourself.

Randy Burks (51:57.727)

And you only find a handful of people, and they're usually owners, right, or the very least high level managers, that really love this business. people are in it because, you I'm going to college or stepping stone to something else. I mean, there too many people that are in this that actually are going be doing this.

Sebastian Stahl (52:03.664)

Hmm.

Sebastian Stahl (52:11.45)

Right, right.

Sebastian Stahl (52:16.004)

Right. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Randy, thank you so much for your time. This is a great conversation. I really love to learn about everything that you shared. And so for the people that might not know where Randy's Steakhouse is, and if they want to stop by in Frisco, where is Randy's restaurant located?

Randy Burks (52:36.193)

It's 7026 Main Street in the old downtown of Frisco, Texas. Our website is randestakehouse .com. So easy to find. My email is randy at randestakehouse .com if anybody wants to reach out to me. it's a nice place. It's really unique. It's a special, it really is a special place. People celebrate special occasions.

Sebastian Stahl (52:58.918)

Yeah, yeah. Well, thank you so much, Randy, for sure. Next time I'm in Frisco, I'll be calling you and visiting you. All right, Randy, thank you so much. right, Randy, so I stopped the recording there. It's just loading. It's going to take 99%. Let me see. I think it's almost done.

Randy Burks (53:05.279)

Okay, that sounds good. Alright. Thank you, I appreciate you.

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