580: Fiore Tedesco on Creating a No Tipping Culture

 

After early influences at his Uncle’s deli, a stint as a professional drummer and a decade of experience at restaurants like New York City’s Gramercy Tavern, Roberta’s in Brooklyn, Franklin BBQ and Bufalina in Austin, TX, Chef Tedesco opened  L’Oca D’Oro in 2016 with business partner Adam Orman. The duo is going into their 3th year of delivering gracious hospitality. Tedesco and Orman are also making waves with their forward thinking no tipping policy. 

Show notes… Favorite success quote or mantra:

Be gracious. Be kind. Listen. 

In today's episode with Fiore Tedesco, we discuss:

• How Tedesco got into the industry. 
• How, with no prior experience, Tedesco landed a stage at Gabrielle Hamilton's Prune. He did it with pure persistence.  
• Why it is so important to have confidence in yourself, especially when taking a chance. 
• How powerful a vision and purpose can be. 
• The mindset you need to be a good employee.
• Why Tedesco and Orman chose to implement a no tipping policy. 
• The challenges of transitioning to a no tipping policy. 

Resources mentioned:

• New York Times Article on Tipping 

Today's sponsor:

Gusto offers modern, easy payroll, benefits, and HR to small businesses across the country — they were even named best online payroll by PCMag. And as a listener, you’ll get three months free when you run your first payroll. Sign up and give it a try at Gusto.com/unstoppable. 

BentoBox helps restaurants grow their business through a connected suite of tools, offering them an integrated website to connect with their guests and drive revenue online. Restaurant owners and operators are able to easily update menus, promote specials, take catering and event inquiries, sell merchandise, gift cards and more.

Revel Systems integrates front of house and back of house operations into a single dashboard. Designed to increase security, stability, ease of use, and speed of service, Revel’s streamlined ecosystem provides businesses with the right tools to grow. Learn more at revelsystems.com/unstoppable.

Knowledge bombs

1. Which "it factor" habit, trait, or characteristic you believe most contributes to your success?
   • Trusting his intuition. 
2. What is your biggest weakness?
   • Being wildly erratic. 
3. What's one question you ask or thing you look for during an interview?
   • Can I trust you to be a good compassionate people around you. 
4. What's a current challenge? How are you dealing with it?
   • Trusting that the sun will come up tomorrow. 
5. Share one code of conduct or behavior you teach your team.
   • Regardless of your race, gender, or orientation we are all the same. 
6. What is one uncommon standard of service you teach your staff?
   • Take care of your team first and you'll be better prepared to take care of the guest.  
7. What's one book we must read to become a better person or restaurant owner?
   GET THIS BOOK FOR FREE AT AUDIBLE.COM 
   • Setting the Table: the Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business 
8. What's the one thing you feel restaurateurs don't know well enough or do often enough?
   • Regonizing where you sole lives and being able to connect people to it. 
9. What's one piece of technology you've adopted within your four walls restaurant and how has it influence operations?
   • Gather
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? 
    1. Faith in man kind is only progressed by continuing faith in mankind. 
    2. You can only achieve what you dream. 
    3. Love the people around you. 

Contact info:

www.locadoroaustin.com

Fiore@locadoraustin.com

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 Fiore Tedesco 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!