Randy’s Restaurant

I was surprised when I found out.  I had been going there for years and had always liked the place but really never understood the magnitude of what they had done.  Sure, it was always crowded.  And the front did say Ice Cream on it.  But frankly this little restaurant hardly seemed like the place that could even do what I had just heard.  It was far too small, not a chain with franchise support and the owner, Randy, just seemed like a quiet unassuming guy.  All the success factors seemed to work against the place to ever be much more than a little mom and pop kind of coffee shop with hardly enough foot traffic to sustain much more than for Randy to eke out a living running the place.

Shamrock on the other hand is a giant in the food services industry.  I had always seen their milk and dairy products in the grocery store and knew they had done well for themselves until one day I started calling into the company to sell them stuff.  That’s what I do you know, sell stuff.  So I was calling into Shamrock prior to really attacking a sales effort at the company developing information and discovered not only were they a strong local dairy, they were a major national food provisional for institutions across the country.  Their range of products and services were far greater than simple dairy products and their reach in this country is astounding.

So you can imagine how surprising it was to find out that Randy’s Restaurant at Chaparral and Hayden in Scottsdale was the single largest buyer of Shamrock goods in the country.  That little restaurant had found a way to move more Shamrock stuff than any other single unit restaurant in the country.  More than downtown luncheonettes, more than mall stops, more than I had ever dreamed in my wildest imagination.  How on earth could this be?

And then I began thinking about it.  It really made sense in the bigger picture and if my theory is correct, it is one heck of an example of how to run a restaurant, any business in fact and I hope there is a lesson here for me as I build my business from a one man shop to what (in my wildest imagination) I hope my business will become.

Every time I had come into the place over the previous twenty years, I had been greeted at the door.  Most of the staff recognized me after only a few visits after any given hiatus and an amazing amount of them were there the entire time and recognized me with a cheerful greeting every time I came in.  No matter how busy the place is the staff is cheerful and efficient and remarkably, always smiling.  It has been one of my favorite little secrets in Scottsdale for years and when ever I could coerce a meeting into an informal environment, I would take it there.

What occurred to me after I found out about their fantastic success with Shamrock is that in every business I have ever been in, the “feel” of the place is always a reflection of the owner.  In this case it was clear that Randy, with the help of his wife Andrea, was an efficient manager with a way of keeping the troops happy.  Together they had designed an efficient system of delivering inexpensive food, quickly with a happy face.  The place was always clean and it seemed that the regular irritants of business were not allowed to build a home in his place.  Over the years, his practices have served him well and today, Shamrock loves him dearly.  Way to go Randy and Andrea!

So what do you suppose is it that Randy and Andrea have that you and I would like to have as we build our own business life?  I don’t know that I know the guy well enough to know all there is to know about him but I have found a few clues.

If his staff loves him, and they must if they’ve worked there for decades, than he has to be awfully aware of how what he does affects them.  I have to believe that when he decides things like whether to stay open extra hours during the slow periods he considers their needs.  I expect that he is considerate of them when building work schedules and understanding when life issues arise.  I also have no doubt that as a manager; his expectations are clear and communicated.  His team knows what they need to do to win an ‘attaboy and when they are going to earn a frown for their behavior.

In a quiet and unspoken way, Randy absolutely conveys his care for his employee’s.  You know what?  It works.  The employee’s pass that care on to the customers and I, as a customer, along with apparently thousands of others feel like we are cared about.  Because of that, we buy their Ice Cream and lots more.

It was a lesson well worth learning for me. (staff likes it too!) More importantly, to see the results and realize that success is far sweeter earned a little bit daily over the years.

Hey Randy, how about another scoop of that pistachio sweetness?