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.

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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:

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Knowledge bombs

1. Which "it factor" habit, trait, or characteristic you believe most contributes to your success?
   • Self-reflection
2. What is your biggest weakness?
   • Delegation
3. What's one question you ask or thing you look for during an interview?
   • What do they care most about?
4. What's a current challenge? How are you dealing with it?
   • Self-care
5. 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
6. What is one uncommon standard of service you teach your staff?
   • Interdependence - you can't do it all by yourself
7. What's one thing you feel restaurateurs don't know well enough or do often enough?
   • Investing their time instead of their money
8. What's one piece of technology you've adopted within your restaurant walls and how has it influenced operations?
   • SalesForce - CRM on demand
9. 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!

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Huge thanks to Dennis Bagneris for joining me for another awesome episode. Until next time!

 

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