Kyle Noonan is the Co-founder and CEO of FreeRange Concepts, a Dallas-based restaurant and hospitality management company with a mission to create remarkable memories. The company owns and operates 12 food and entertainment venues, including Bowl and Barrel, Mutts Canine Cantina, The Rustic, and The General Public. With over 13 years in the restaurant industry, Kyle gained experience opening eateries for the well-known Pappas franchise.
Here’s a Glimpse of What You’ll Hear:
- Kyle Noonan talks about FreeRange Concepts and his journey in the restaurant business
- The philosophy behind FreeRange Concepts
- The challenges of opening numerous venues in a short timespan
- The inspiration for creating a culture within the brands’ concepts
- How the pandemic impacted Kyle and his team
In this episode…
In this episode of the SpotOn Series, Chad Franzen speaks with Kyle Noonan, Co-founder and CEO of FreeRange Concepts, about the restaurant’s innovative brand. Kyle shares his journey in the restaurant industry, the inspiration behind FreeRange Concepts, and the philosophy he attributes to the company’s success.
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Episode Transcript
Intro 0:04
Welcome to the Top Business Leaders Show. Powered by Rise25 Media. We feature top founders, executives and business leaders from all over the world.
Chad Franzen 0:20
Chad Franzen here co-host for this show where we feature top restaurant tours, investors and business leaders. This episode is brought to you by as part of our SpotOn series. SpotOn has the best in class payment platform for retail and they have a flagship solution called SpotOn Restaurant, where they combine marketing software and payments all in one. They sorted everyone from larger chains like Subway, and Dairy Queen to small mom and pop restaurants. To learn more, go to SpotOnn.com. This episode is brought to you by Rise25. We help b2b businesses to get ROI clients, referrals, and strategic partnerships through done-for-you podcasts. If you have a b2b business and want to build great relationships with clients referral partners and thought leaders in your space. There’s no better way to do it than through podcasts and content marketing. To learn more, go to Rise25media.com or email us at Support@Rise25media.com Kyle Noonan, the owner and CEO of FreeRange Concepts is an American entrepreneur, Speaker television personality and creative tastemaker. He was first known as an entrepreneur who grew his hospitality and entertainment company to a $15 billion company in five short years, and has been described as innovative as he is engaging by the New York Times. Kyle, thank you so much for joining me today. How are you?
Kyle Noonan 1:31
I’m well, thanks for having me on. I appreciate the time.
Chad Franzen 1:34
Good. Hey, my pleasure. Tell me what is FreeRange Concepts and how did you get involved?
Kyle Noonan 1:41
Sure. So FreeRange Concepts is a hospitality and entertainment based company. We’re located in Dallas, Texas, and we have restaurants and, and venues all throughout the state of Texas. And soon we will be as we say, crossing the borders, and going outside of the state of Texas to hopefully maybe state somewhere near you. And we started the company in 2011. It was my college roommate and I we were SMU students here in Dallas, Texas. And we went our own ways professionally after college. But personally we were and still our thick as thieves. We’ve been best friends since we were 18 years old. And about 10 years after college, we decided it was time to join forces and start FreeRange Concepts. Josh’s he was a finance major and one of the Wall Street’s investment banking world and and then I was an art major and went into the hospitality space. And so about 2011 is when we decided to leave our respective careers and and form FreeRange Concepts and the rest is history as they say.
Chad Franzen 2:58
So FreeRange Concepts is a conglomeration of multiple brands. Did you guys start those brands? Or did you just invest in them?
Kyle Noonan 3:09
No, all of our brands, we currently own five different brands, all of them were created by us they were our brainchild. There, there certainly are our babies that we’d love to see and grow. Our first our first brand was Bowl and Barrel, which is a high end, boutique bowling alley, restaurant and bar. And we currently have three of those throughout Texas, that Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston. And then our second concept that we opened six months later was a Commons or is a concept called Mutts Canine Cantina, which is a restaurant and bar that overlooks a private membership based dog park. So you can come in and your dog can run around and we have park rangers in the in the park taking care of the dogs and you can sit there and have a have a margarita under a tree with your your dog gets to socialize and exercise and, and do all that good stuff. So we started that, like I said, six months after we opened Bowl and Barrel. And we currently have three of those all in the DFW market. And then our next concept that we opened three months after that, so we’re talking in a nine month span we opened three, three very unique concepts. Our third concept was called The Rustic which is a restaurant and bar that overlooks a 3000-person outdoor concert venue. And we currently have four of those in Texas. And then our next concept is The General Public which is a whiskey centric American gastropub that we have two of those in San Antonio and Houston. And then finally we just opened this year, our first dip into tech specs, which is called Joe Leo’s Fine Tex Mex. It’s named after my grandfather, his name is Joe Leo Romero. And we opened that on Cinco de Mayo this year. And that’s going gangbusters as well, so, so those are our brands. And we’re really proud of him. We we’ve created a mall, and we operate them and we love them.
Chad Franzen 5:09
Yeah. Wow, that is amazing that you opened that many in such it kind of started that many concepts in such a relatively short period of time. Well, what was your background prior to like kind of your restaurant background prior to FreeRange Concepts?
Kyle Noonan 5:22
Sure. So I, I love telling the story. I have people ask how I got in the restaurant space. And I would say, because it’s true. I got into it for a girl. I was I was in college, and I asked the girl on a date. And she said yes, surprisingly. And I thought that’s great. And then I realized, Oh, I gotta have money that take her on a date. So I called my dad and ask him for money. And he said, what what I will say to my son, go get a job. And so I did. And I got a job waiting tables at a company called Pappas Restaurants. Pappadeaux’s, Pappasitos, Pappas Brothers Steakhouse, they’re a Texas-based company. And I started waiting tables for them in college, and ended up working my way up through the corporate rates, and was with them for 13 years before I left to start my own venture, which is FreeRange Concepts.
Chad Franzen 6:17
So what do you think made your company so successful in such a relatively short period of time?
Kyle Noonan 6:24
Well, I mean, I think it really just comes down to the fact that we have been able because they are unique brands, and they kind of stand out in the marketplace, we’ve been able to attract, obviously, the consumer, but more importantly, or as importantly, the talent to help us grow. So we have a tremendous team. And we there’s no, there’s no chance that we would have grown at all, and certainly not to the degree which we did. Without the without the key players in place.
Chad Franzen 6:59
What do you look for when you’re looking for, for, you know, team members that you value so thoroughly?
Kyle Noonan 7:04
Sure, that’s a great question. I don’t care about background, I don’t care about experience, the only thing I really care about is, Are you do you have a servant’s mindset? Do you have an ability or a desire to take care of people, and I think, because that’s ultimately what the restaurant business is about. It’s about people taking care of people. And if you’re somebody that wants to take care of other people, you will excel in our, in our business, and particularly within our company, because that’s, that’s what we’re all about. And when we find that individual, we embrace them and, and get them into the family as quick as we can.
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Chad Franzen 7:43
So what came first Bowl and Barrel or FreeRange Concepts?
Kyle Noonan 7:48
So, our platform was, let’s create dynamic, unique brands, that’s that aren’t just about the food and service, but really about the experience. Because we feel like, you know, we say this all the time, internally that everybody’s Miller Lite tastes the same. It’s about the experience in which you consume that Miller Lite, that makes the difference. And so our thesis was let’s have these experience based brands. And, and that was, that was our philosophy from day one when we created FreeRange Concepts. So So we created that I that idea, that philosophy, and then we started plugging in, okay, what are people passionate about? They’re, they’re passionate about their dogs. They’re passionate about music they’re passionate about sports are passionate about in Texas, they’re passionate about Tex Mex. And, you know, they’re passionate about with that whiskey drinkers really passionate about about whiskey. And so let’s build concepts around around those things that people were passionate about.
Chad Franzen 8:54
So how did that how did kind of you how did your vision for Bowl and Barrel come about then?
Kyle Noonan 8:58
Well, people love sports, people love competition. We we actually didn’t didn’t know anything about the bowling space when we started out. And so what we did is we hired a consultant who understands bowling who could who could educate us. And he did, he did a market analysis, and we realized that there were some holes in some of the markets here in Texas, where there was this opportunity to bring in a high end elevated experience into urban dense areas where there’s a lot of corporate business, and people are, you know, not not not wanting to just go and have just a normal, let’s go sit at a bar and drink. But let’s go do something and be active and that’s that’s how Bow and Barrel came about. And, you know, as they say, it’s worked out pretty nicely for us.
Chad Franzen 9:54
Yeah, what was the what were the early days like? Was it popular right away because it was unique.
Kyle Noonan 9:58
Yeah, Yeah. So I would, I would not advise anybody to try and open three concepts within nine months. That was not our that was not our intention, that was just the way that projects fell in line. Some were delayed, some were pushed up, and it just kind of all came about. But you know, when we opened, I’ll never forget, when we opened Bowl and Barrel, our first night, we had 1,500 people come through our doors that night. And so, it was really like drinking water out of out of a firehose from day one. And I’ll be the first to admit that we didn’t do a great job, we just weren’t quite prepared for that level of, of business in that volume. So, so quickly. And you know, it took us it took us we took our, our lumps and, and had to really work hard for the next year or so after that, to regain the trust of the consumer.
Chad Franzen 10:56
What would you say are maybe some of the some learning experiences that you had as a result of that, you know, specifically?
Kyle Noonan 11:03
Well, you know, I think I think just going through the experiences, and that having the the wisdom under your belt of experience certainly helps. But I think it was Mike Tyson that said, everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. And sometimes you get punched in the mouth, and you just have to, you have to get up and and weather the storm and fight back.
Chad Franzen 11:29
So how did the idea for months canine cantina come about then?
Kyle Noonan 11:33
Yeah, great concept, again, fitting within the philosophy of experience based dining, we were sitting my partner and I were sitting at a, at a local cafe here in Dallas and saw a woman with her, her dog, and she tied it up to a chair and the Dog Saw squirrel and the dog ran out and drag the chair with or with him. And that was our aha moment where we said, you know, what, maybe there is a, an opportunity for us to create a restaurant that is not dog friendly, but it’s about the dogs. And that’s, that’s truly built for the pet.
Chad Franzen 12:14
Would you? Would you say that you learned a lot from your previous experience with Bowl and Barrel? That and that made much easier upon opening?
Kyle Noonan 12:25
Yes, certainly, certainly. I mean, each each opening we’ve had, it’s gotten easier, we’ve done 16 openings now. And each one is certainly gotten easier, a lot of that, again, comes from just the talent we have in place. Now. I mean, we’ve been able to build a team. And this has been a really interesting evolution for me, in my professional career, is saying, you know, you first start out with a, with a business idea. And it was really just myself and my business partner in my home office, writing a business plan, and that was our, quote unquote, company at the time, him and I and then it went to hiring a few people and, and you know, I use the analogy of you have a dam with the, with 20 leaks in it, but you only have five fingers to plug those leaks. And so we were, you know, just all running around trying to plug leaks and keep the dam from breaking. And so then, you know, now you have a little, little small company. And then you go to a big company. And that transition has been really interesting where now all of a sudden, you not only have enough fingers for the dam for the holes in the dam, but you have backup fingers and teams behind those fingers to plug the dam. And, and so really building the infrastructure and the culture and keeping everybody as you get bigger, and add more and more people to the to the team, keeping everybody aligned and still focused on that single focus. Our inner which is our mission statement.
Chad Franzen 14:07
How do you how do you kind of build a culture where you want people to work hard, but you know, for the guest, it’s kind of coming to a party or coming to relax or whatever. How do you kind of build that culture so everybody has fun, but everybody works hard.
Kyle Noonan 14:22
I mean, again, it goes back to the sense of of servitude, and hospitality. If you’re somebody that loves to take care of people, it’s fun to do that. You know, and it’s a it’s an age old analogy in the hospitality space in the restaurant world, that it’s, you know, imagine you’re throwing a party at your house and approaching it that way because that’s what you’re doing every night. And if you love doing that, if you love hosting people at your house, then it might be stressful. It might be a lot of work, but you’re going to enjoy it. And the same is true in in the public sphere in the restaurant space if you love doing it. It might be a lot of work, but it’s still a lot of fun. And the biggest thing for us is just really focused on being focused on the singular thing that we’re here to do. And so we talk about our mission statement every day in every pre shift movie.
Chad Franzen 15:18
Is that something you kind of do? I mean, I know you’re, you’re kind of in charge of 16 locations? Are you still able to kind of lead by example, in that respect?
Kyle Noonan 15:27
I mean, it certainly helps. So I guess that’s the those around me, but I certainly hope so. You know, again, I mean, it’s what you, what you, what you’ve focused on every day, what you live and breathe, and eat and sleep. And I certainly do that. And I know our team does it, which is a tremendous advantage for us going out in the marketplace every day to try and take care of guests, we’re all aligned under our our core mission that we start and end every meeting with. It makes it a lot easier.
Chad Franzen 16:08
How has COVID kind of affected or changed the way FreeRange Concepts operates on all of your brands operate?
Kyle Noonan 16:16
Well, I can tell you, from my standpoint, this has made me more personal, more personal and professional, but it’s made me a heck of a lot more grateful. You know, when you I’ll never forget the day I had, I woke up and we were shut down across the board. And I was like, I had a $60 million company that went to zero overnight. And what do we do? What does this mean? And so, you know, the, what is it, you never really fully appreciate something until you lose it. I can tell you, myself, and, and our whole team is just really grateful to have what we have and and grateful that we were able to weather the storm.
Chad Franzen 17:06
Was there anything that you did or changed to get to get through it or to survive?
Kyle Noonan 17:12
No, because, you know, I mean, our, our philosophy was sound. And we were here to create experiential dining. And, you know, if we felt like, if we tried to alter too much, what our what we were there to try and achieve, then that was going to take us off of a really what we’re good at. So, you know, I mean, you know, I mean, I’m sure we’ve all made small, small edits to our business, whether it’s, you know, some places have gotten rid of menus and went to QR codes, you know, little things like that. But, but all in all, I mean, it’s the same, it’s the same business, it’s hot food, it’s cold drinks, it’s people taking care of people providing a clean, safe work in dining environment. And you’ll be fine. If you do such things.
Chad Franzen 18:07
What would you say, is the is a moment that you’re particularly proud of, in your, in your history with FreeRange Concepts?
Kyle Noonan 18:16
Well, I mean, I could point to a tremendous amount of moments. Whether it’s all of the money we’ve raised through charitable actions and donations and, or whether it’s, you know, the talent development that we’ve had, where I’ve seen, you know, somebody that might start with us as a, as an entry level, hourly position, that works up through the ranks of our company is now a six figure, six figure team member, or, you know, just the impact and community and people’s lives. And whether it’s somebody getting married, or getting engaged at one of our restaurants and thinking that this is the place that they chose to do that, that’s obviously means something to them, which certainly means something to me. But I think all in all, I would just say because of COVID being able to retain all of our team members, not have to furlough anybody and and not have to lose anybody in the process. And when we reopened bring everybody back. That was really just a proud moment because, you know, it was scary for all of us. And what I what I really pulled from that experience personally, and I think we all did is going through scary times alone are a lot scarier. But if you’re going through a scary time with a good group of people, whether it’s friends or family or team members that you Love and trust and can count on and they know you can count on them too. That makes it a lot a lot more meaningful.
Chad Franzen 20:10
I have one more question for you. But first, how can people find out more about FreeRange Concepts and all of your brands?
Kyle Noonan 20:16
Sure. I mean, the internet, the internet is live and well. So freerangeconcepts.com is our website. Also, you can follow me on social media at Kyle Noonan, which I do quite a bit of updates on that. So yeah, it’s not hard to find this.
Chad Franzen 20:36
Okay. Great. Great. Last question for you, who kind of instilled who or were kind of instilled this servant and team oriented mentality that has been so successful for you?
Kyle Noonan 20:48
You know, that’s, I mean, I think it was just my upbringing. I don’t know if it was one person in particular. My family just was that way. And that’s I didn’t know any different and it wasn’t like my mom was that way and my dad wasn’t or my grandfather. It just my family was that way. And that’s just what I knew. So I didn’t really have I don’t know that I had a choice. That was just who I was brought up to be.
Chad Franzen 21:13
All right. Well, it’s definitely it’s definitely paid off. Hey, Kyle, it’s been great talking to you. I appreciate you sharing all your stories and your insights. Thank you so much for your time.
Kyle Noonan 21:22
Thank you, sir. Appreciate it.
Chad Franzen 21:24
So long, everybody.
Outro 21:25
Thanks for listening to the Top Business Leaders Show. Powered by Rise25. Visit Ries25.com to check out more episodes of the show and to learn more about how you can start your own podcast.