- Joined
- Feb 1, 2018
- Messages
- 13,659
Couldn't agree more. There were 3 guys that started Grand Western Brands. They had been in the restaurant business for many years and were fed up with not being able to find high quality foods at the local level. Jess Gistanelli - thus the G in Grand - was over sales and marketing. **** Wheeler - thus the W in Western - was over operations. Jim Beranek - thus the B in Brands - was the money man (finances). We catered to many of the finer restaurants and many others in Dade, Broward, and PB counties and eventually expanded farther north and west. A couple of years before I left, they became the exclusive provider to TGIF's for entire state of FL.Waste is the single worst thing a restaurant has to endure...Your food cost should NEVER exceed 15%....The restaurant group I work for has been alittle Lax in that Dept...and it ****es me off..another reason I'm retiring next yr...Nobody wants to pay (chefs..Linecooks..etc) what their worth...hence problems with not caring and waste...The smaller your menu...the less spoilage and waste there is...Another example of why high cost items aren't on alot of menus except for weekly or monthly specials...The restaurant business is a MFer...and has been for many yrs...
Jess and Jim had no kids and **** had 2 girls that had no interest in the business. So they hand picked 4 of us - 1 for sales, 2 for operations, and 1 for finance - to mentor in hopes we would eventually be able to run the business for them. I was one of the 2 for operations. Biggest mistake of my career was leaving them. The other guy in operations is now co-owner and CEO. As they say, hindsight is 20/20.