730: Dennis Bagneris Giving People the Space to Grow

In 2008, Janet Davas founded Liberty's Kitchen. Her vision was to create a place where young adults who had been neglected or criminalized could come for a hot meal, a job opportunity, and a support system. Fast forward 12 years since its inception, we're sitting with Liberty's Kitchen CEO, and longest standing employee, Dennis Bagneris. In that time Liberty's Kitchen has evolved into a workforce development training program, which functions as a social enterprise, dedicated to transforming the lives of the "Opportunity and Vulnerable Youth" population of New Orleans, LA., by providing them with the support to develop self-sustainability, through an intensive 1-year life skills curriculum and employability skills training program, set in a culinary environment. Check out Sapiens: A Brief History of Human Kind by Yuval Noah Harari as mentioned in today's episode! Check out OpenTable as mentioned in today's episode. Show notes… Calls to ACTION!!! Subscribe to the Restaurant Unstoppable YouTube Channel Join the private Unstoppable Facebook Group Join the email list! (Scroll Down to get the Vendor List!) Favorite success quote or mantra: "It takes a village." In today's episode with Dennis Bagneris we will discuss: Humans are naturally tribal; we seek the guidance of a group Community The importance of a strong family foundation The banking world/understanding finances Racism and activism Existing to serve the people you employ Applying non-profit operations and culture to a for-profit business You have to know WHAT you're hiring for What can you learn from your employees? Answer: a lot Racism/sexism/ego in our industry Break the mold; if you didn't like how you were trained then don't train your staff that way The realization of how few people of color are CEO's Before you fire someone find out the real reason behind their faults, it may be out of their control and there may be things you can do to help them Advice for creating a non-profit organization Cooking provides and can be a super power Today's sponsor: Toast - A POS built for restaurants by restaurant people Adapt fast with Toast's cloud-based restaurant POS system that updates to evolve your POS along with changing industry trends and guest expectations. Toast is built exclusively for restaurants of all shapes and sizes, with over 2/3 of our employees having restaurant experience to serve you better. Online Ordering - Let guests easily order directly from your restaurant for pickup or contactless delivery to keep revenue flowing during these uncertain times. Toast Delivery Services Dispatch local drivers through an on-demand network to keep your community fed and revenue coming in. MarginEdge is completely free for new customers until September. No setup fees. No integration fees. No commitment. Take your back office paperwork down to 2-3 minutes a day while creating real-time financial views to inform your path ahead. QuickBooks for Restaurants a Bookkeeping and Accounting Guide. The back-office restaurant accounting guide you've been searching for! Zac covers the accounting fundamentals, including sales tracking, purchasing, bill paying, invoicing, managing day-to-day liabilities, gift certificate tracking, cash management, detailed reporting, and more. Ultimately, Zac show owners and operators how to create the accurate financials and reporting that will enable them to make better informed, data-driven decisions. Knowledge bombs Which "it factor" habit, trait, or characteristic you believe most contributes to your success? Self-reflection What is your biggest weakness? Delegation What's one question you ask or thing you look for during an interview? What do they care most about? What's a current challenge? How are you dealing with it? Self-care Share one code of conduct or behavior you teach your team. We want people to leave this place having had a good experience in everything including and beyond the food What is one uncommon standard of service you teach your staff? Interdependence - you can't do it all by yourself What's one thing you feel restaurateurs don't know well enough or do often enough? Investing their time instead of their money What's one piece of technology you've adopted within your restaurant walls and how has it influenced operations? SalesForce - CRM on demand If you got the news that you'd be leaving this world tomorrow and all memories of you, your work, and your restaurants would be lost with your departure with the exception of 3 pieces of wisdom you could leave behind for the good of humanity, what would they be? Trust your gut - don't ignore it I don't believe anyone is inherently evil - people can be approached correctly and minds can change You have to find something you love in this world to exist in it Contact info: Liberty's Kitchen website Facebook: @LibertysKitchen Instagram: @libertyskitchen Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for joining today! Have some feedback you'd like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post. Also, please leave an honest review for the Restaurant Unstoppable Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And finally, don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. Huge thanks to Dennis Bagneris for joining me for another awesome episode. Until next time!   Restaurant Unstoppable is a free podcast. One of the ways I'm able to make it free is by earning a commission when sharing certain products with you. I've made it a core value to only share tools, resources, and services my guest mentors have recommend, first. If you're finding value in my podcast, please use my links!