I randomly met Paul Tran on Twitter one night.  We got to talking, and he blew me away.  This guy is sharp and very in-tune with the restaurant community.  While no longer running his own restaurant, he now focuses on franchising and equity.  Trust me, this interview is a must read for owners!

1. Paul, after reading through your Linked-In profile, I am impressed.  You are a former successful restaurant owner now focused on franchising and equity.  What’s the story behind where you are today?

“After I sold my restaurant to a private equity investor, I wanted to go back to where I came from initially – the financial services industry – because many people know how to make money, but not many know how to grow, protect, and enjoy it at full capacity.  But I still love the restaurant business, and had many folks who wanted me to help consult on operations, growth, real estate, legal, and marketing matters, so I have an extra stream of income advising restaurateurs on their business.  Call me a crazy workaholic and I’d probably respond =)”

2. You have owned restaurants and spoken with many owners.  What do you think is the most difficult part of owning a restaurant?

“I think the most difficult part of owning a restaurant is operating without a system.  I worked 80 hours a week in my restaurant for an entire year before I realized I needed to create a process for EVERYTHING – customer dialogue, inventory/employee/operations management, etc…because lack of processes and procedure can take your time away from increasing opportunities, enjoying a balance of life, and focusing on what’s most important. A consistently superior experience is what keeps a customer coming back and keeps them raving about your business, and you can’t do that without systems. That’s what I learned first-hand, as well as seeing why a franchise is SO attractive – a business model with systems in place so that you can focus on more “Business Owner Tasks” like marketing, opening new locations, enjoying the fruits of your labor, etc.  You can’t run a business at its peak without a clear vision and a business plan; operating at max profit, at max capacity, at max customer satisfaction is no different.  SYSTEMS are HIGHLY recommended, folks read the book “e-myth” to get what I’m saying…”

3. I see owners who spend a majority of their time in daily operations.  Which I believe can cause them to lose sight of their business vision.  In your opinion, what should be their main focus?  Should owners act like a CEO or an employee?

“I think that CEO’s should act like CEO’s and help lead the entire company, not lead the sandwich table or the back kitchen operations.  Those skills can be easily hired and trained if you know what kind of culture and expectations you have.  You are the owner, and you are meant for more strategic things, like I mentioned – opening new locations, finding new marketing initiatives, etc.  But that doesn’t mean you don’t know whats going on in the trenches; touch on your general/kitchen/district managers often, be aware of how your front linesman are doing, because they interact and are the face of the customer.  Be in the stores sometimes just to let them know that you, their fearless leader, haven’t left them for dead.  But remember that you are a BUSINESS OWNER and not an EMPLOYEE-OWNER.  Communicate that your role is to ensure that you are taking care of things like ensuring your employees are happy, providing the resources to do their job, and they are ensured as much job security as possible.  You can’t do that in the kitchen making pizzas.”

4. You are heavily involved with franchising these days.  Franchises like McDonald’s, Papa Murphy’s, and Subway were widely successful in 2009.  What lessons can local independent “mom n’ pop” restaurants learn from such franchises?

“As communicated above (sorry for being redundant, I feel so strongly about these things!), having a system is important, consistency is key as well, communication with customers keeps them loyal (social media makes reaching out to clients a no-brainer), continually training your staff and holding them accountable (with reports, measures, etc), be know for something positive (branding), and treat your company -big or small or in between – like a world class organization.”

5. More and more restaurants join social media platforms daily.  How should restaurants use platforms like Twitter or Facebook to build their business?

“I think that they should use Twitter/Facebook with the knowledge that this is a customer service, branding and marketing platform, and requires a FULL-TIME effort.  It requires that organizations respond to customers immediately, find new ways to connect with customers and bring them back to your restaurant, be personable, reward your raving fans of express loyalty and referring, and not to be salesy – be a personable brand that people can and feel proud to relate to.  Try not to outsource, because it’s hard to outsource your internal brand personality.”

6. You sit down to a nice dinner:  Fish or Steak?

BEFORE I HAD GOUT, STEAK =P