909: Jonathan Sherman Founder and CEO of Sticky's The Finger Joint

Jonathan Sherman is the Founder, and CEO of Sticky's The Finger Joint. Jonathan is a graduate of the University of Michigan where he studied Industrial and Operations Engineering. He'd go on to pursue a career in finance working with both JP Morgan and Bridgewater Associates, where he focused on investing and macroeconomic research. Before long data analysis, and research got stale and the entrepreneurial bug started to bite at Jonathan's heels. in. In 2011, Jonathan partnered with a friend to open Sticky's finger joint. Sticky's was an instant hit and has since scaled to 13 locations throughout NYC.

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Favorite success quote or mantra:

• "What's making me feel unstoppable right now is my team."

In this episode with Jonathan Sherman we will discuss:

• Working in finance
• Engineering backgrounds in the restaurant industry
• Building out systems
• Why chicken fingers?
• Data management tech
• Doing everything from scratch
• Finances of opening the restaurant
• Determining your target market
• Location woes, especially in a big city
• Menu engineering and costing
• Training
• Hiring

Today's sponsor:

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Knowledge bombs

1. Which "it factor" habit, trait, or characteristic you believe most contributes to your success?
   • Determination
2. What is your biggest weakness?
   • Trying to do too many things
3. What's one question you ask or thing you look for during an interview?
   • An understanding of what it's going to take to do the job and a willingness to do it
4. What's a current challenge? How are you dealing with it?
   • Labor, hire better and train better
5. Share one code of conduct or behavior you teach your team.
   • Communication is the backbone of every relationship and sets us up for success
6. What is one uncommon standard of service you teach your staff?
   • Make sure every guest loves their food and understand what they are getting
7. What's one book we must read to become a better person or restaurant owner?
   • Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
   • GET THIS BOOK FOR FREE AT AUDIBLE.COM 
8. What's one piece of technology you've adopted within your restaurant walls and how has it influence operations?
   • Toast
9. Name one service you've hired.
   • Bookkeeping - Dine Technology - Scott Gillman
10. 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?
    • Empower your people
    • Make delicious food
    • Have fun doing it

Contact info:

Website: https://stickys.com

Email: jon@stickys.com

Thanks for listening!

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Huge thanks to Jonathan Sherman 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!