Mark Gray is the President and CEO of Bottleneck Management, a specialized company providing management solutions and operation strategies to a variety of restaurants. Mark’s expertise in operations comes from years of leadership positions at some of the most recognized hospitality brands.
Here’s a Glimpse of What You’ll Hear:
- Mark Gray shares key methods of achieving genuine hospitality culture
- How to successfully lead your team by example
- Mark’s expert opinion on handling multi-brand challenges in different states
- The benefits of virtual brands in hospitality
In this episode…
In this episode of the SpotOn Series, Chad Franzen is joined by Mark Gray, the President and CEO of Bottleneck Management. They discuss overcoming the challenges of creating a unique brand atmosphere, establishing a healthy leadership culture, and adapting to the pandemic requirements for restaurants. Additionally, Mark shares his insights on building a virtual brand in the hospitality industry and managing operations for multiple businesses on a national scale.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
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Episode Transcript
Intro 0:04
Welcome to the Top Business Leaders Show, powered by Rise 25 Media. We featured top founders, executives and business leaders from all over the world
Chad Franzen 0:20
Chad Franzen here co-host for the show where we feature top restaurant tours, investors and business leaders. This is part of our SpotOn Series. Spot on has the best-in-class payment platform for retail and they have a flagship solution called SpotOn Restaurant, where they combined marketing software and payments all in one. They served everyone from larger chains like Dairy Queen and subway to small mom and pop restaurants. To learn more, go to spoton.com This episode is brought to you by Rise 25. We help B2B businesses to get ROI clients and referrals and strategic partnerships through done for you podcast. If you have a B2B business and want to build great relationships with clients referrals 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 rise25.com or email us at support@rise25media.com. Mark Gray is president and chief operating officer of Bottleneck Management parent company to City Works Old Town Pour House Sweetwater and South Branch. He’s the former CEO of Barfly Ventures. Hey, Mark, thanks so much for joining me today. How are you?
Mark Gray 1:17
I’m great. Thanks for Thanks for having me.
Chad Franzen 1:20
So how did you get involved with Bottleneck Management?
Mark Gray 1:23
I’ve been with the company now just under just under three years I did was with Barfly for five years, and we had a great a great run there. But when I was done with that position, took some time off and kind of put forward a thoughtful or thoughtful search and interviewed with a lot of different companies and a lot of different folks, but I just think culturally, Bottleneckwas the most aligned. And the style of the concept I felt was in my wheelhouse for the craft beer focus and very culinary forward. So it just seemed to align with, you know, what I enjoy about the business? When you say culturally, what, what was it about that that was so attractive to you? Yeah, I think especially when you’re working in a, in an owner-led business, you know, we’re not owned by private equity or another, you know, larger corporate Restaurant Group like Darden or Brinker. I mean, we’re, we have three owners, there’s a couple of investors, but so I think when you’re getting into a situation like that, you really have to take a look at, you know, as my vision for how I want to manage and run the business on a day to day aligned with what their expectations are. And just in meeting with them, you know, I felt very, very confident that, you know, our vision for how we treat people, our vision for quality and service expectations were very aligned. And that just made it that made it the right fit for me.
Chad Franzen 2:46
So it’s kind of involved in your, your day-to-day row role as president and CEO, you guys have locations through multiple states. So I’m guessing operations. Operations can be maybe challenging, what’s kind of involved in your day-to-day role, COO and President?
Mark Gray 3:02
Yeah, what’s what’s great about my job is I get to be a little bit of a generalist. So I do spend a lot of time on operations, the restaurant businesses and operations lead industry, in my opinion, so that does disproportionately get more of me. But I also, you know, we had a department head meeting this morning, and I get to, you know, be involved with marketing, HR, IT, you know, just tying together all the different departments as really my goal in the, in the company and making sure that as we’re launching initiatives, everybody’s getting what they need, from everyone else, so that our deliverables down to the restaurant are as good as they can be.
Chad Franzen 3:40
What kind of culture do you strive for then at Bottleneck? And how do you how do you go about achieving that maybe setting the tone for the culture?
Mark Gray 3:47
Yeah, you know, that’s interesting, that’s probably culture is a funny word, right? In my opinion, I think it’s the most important word in an organization. But I also think it’s the most abused word. In a company it can, it can be used to make sure that you’re maintaining the things that are important to the brand and its identity and, and the vision of the founders. Or it can also be used as a mechanism for hanging on to sacred cows and poor behaviors and old behaviors from the past that really times have changed and moved on, but we cling to them because it’s our culture, you know, the culture that we’re trying to establish here and we work at it every day is one that’s bottom up, you know, every book is going to talk to you about servant leadership and and how to execute on servant leadership. And I think different people accomplish it different ways. The way that works best for me, is, you know, doing my level best every day to try to try to lead by example and how I describe it is everybody has an open door policy. Right? Have you ever worked for a company or heard of a company that says Do we have a closed door policy? Don’t no one ever says that every handbook that we have an open door policy. Now how companies execute that that’s where the rubber hits the road a little bit. Is it truly an open door policy? I know what the handbook says. So I feel like I have an obligation to my team, to create an environment with my department head team. So I have, you know, the VP team and the director team all report up to me, Well, I have an obligation to them to create an environment where they can talk to me about anything, even if they think I’m the problem, right? Okay, that’s a tough, that’s a tough relationship to build. If you’re somebody in my position, it’s tough to break those barriers down where they feel like they can give you feedback. But But ultimately, if you’re going to execute on that open door policy, I think that that’s the type of relationship that you have to have, when whenever you ask somebody for a definition of open door policy, they’ll give you something like, you know, you feel comfortable to talk to your superior or your boss about anything at any time. That’s a very general definition. We try to level that up and create an environment where teams feel that like they can, but they feel obligated to talk to you that their level of investment in their level of ownership, and what’s going on in the day-to-day business is so important to them that they just have to discuss it with you. And in order to achieve that you’ve got to build a relationship uniquely with each individual person, where they feel like they can talk to you about those things, even if they think you’re the issue. And that sounds easy. But to develop that culturally to the entire organization, is very hard. And if you can deliver on that, then I don’t know what goes wrong in your company that you just won’t know about, you know.
Chad Franzen 6:57
Sure, sure. That’s, that’s very, very interesting. How was COVID, kind of the COVID pandemic kind of impacted operations with Bottleneck and your locations?
Mark Gray 7:07
all of it. I mean, we were so disrupted by that. And we continue to feel the we continue to feel the effects. So going into it, we went through two different shutdowns, depending on what market we were in. The high concentration of our locations are in Illinois, we have location and Boston, Maryland, these were all jurisdictions that were very, very sensitive. And very careful about how they managed businesses in those markets. We have two we have three locations and two in Texas, one in Florida, they were obviously a little bit more flexible in those markets were a little easier to operate. So jurisdictionally, it was very hard, just with staffing. In most markets, we shut down twice, through the two different surges, we are back up and running now. And we’re operating unrestricted, but it affected us from a labor standpoint, right now, the supply chain and inflationary issues that we’re being challenged with Are you know, they’re tough, you know, the hardest it’s ever been. And so balancing the, the need of offsetting that inflationary pressure, both on labor and on cost of goods, with understanding how much of that we can actually pass down to the guests through pricing has been a very, you know, that’s, that’s the juggling match we’re in right now. And so we’re looking at all options, whether it be pricing portion, size, whatever we got to do, to try to maintain value for the guest. But then also make sure that we’re delivering, you know, on the on the company’s needs as well.
Chad Franzen 8:43
I think you guys had a couple of things that kind of, were born out of maybe the the pandemic, tell me about secret sauce, barbecue,
Mark Gray 8:50
we went in, we went into the pandemic with virtually no online presence, you know, for it to go we’re in a very experiential concept. So we have lots of great events. And you know, we book a lot of parties, things like that we have great atmosphere for watching sports, so we never really focused on to go because we want everybody to go to the restaurant, that’s our bread and butter. That’s how that’s how we differentiate. And so coming out of COVID Obviously that well that all had to change right people were ordering everything they could online. So obviously we opened up we have our CityWorks little town Pourhouse brands. We were we opened up with a great to go partner we opened up we reopened with delivery curbside doing all of you know what everybody else was doing. But then the other thing that we did is we also developed our kitchens have great capacity with very built out kitchens. And so we realized our ability to take on some more products and do some more menu items. So we created a virtual brand, secret sauce, secret sauce, barbecue, and we execute that out of virtually all of our City Works in Old Town Pourhouse locations. So wherever there’s the City Works online through all the delivery platforms, there’s likely also a secret sauce, barbecue. And the we open it, we started it with very modest expectations and it has exceeded all expectations and has been become a big part of our of our business model now I you know, without giving away too much I think next year, we could do 2 million bucks in sales out of a restaurant that doesn’t even exist. Wow, amazing. Yeah, it’s very you know, so we’re very excited about it. And the team’s love it. It kind of is a unique it’s turning into a unique we have some markets that do better than others. But yeah, by and large, it’s just doing awesome for us.
Chad Franzen 10:50
How did you kind of I’m always curious about those with ghost kitchens. How did you debut it? Was it just people who are curious about about your other restaurants? And then they just stumbled across it? Or did you actually communicate that it was opening?
Mark Gray 11:01
You know, I think that’s one of because I have some friends in the in the business who also did this. But I think because of our process for doing it’s kind of methodically and very, we launched it as if we were opening a brick and mortar. And when we put a marketing campaign behind it, we blasted all of the social media platforms we did press releases, like we did it just as if we were opening a restaurant there was virtually no distinction. The only distinction was we were just online and so I think that’s how we were able to get a lot of press out of it got some legs and we established the brand very quickly in the markets we just didn’t like open it up and kind of see what happens we went at it with a full blown strategy for getting the word out and and we feel like that’s been the difference maker for us some some other concepts did this to to not as much of a positive impact. But I just think we went at it with a great menu and a great plan and and now it’s like I said it’s a big part of our model.
Chad Franzen 12:04
Great. And then you have another one, Rebel’s Hot Chicken. Tell me about that.
Mark Gray 12:08
launching this week. We’re testing we tested in three locations. The reviews and the results preliminarily have been awesome again. And so now we’re launching company-wide. We’re launching company-wide this week and I expect frankly I think this one is going to outdo secret sauce I think the brand is the branding is awesome I think because it’s hot chicken that’s very you know hot right now no pun intended very popular. So I think as this hits in the different markets I would suspect that this will be as good or better as secret sauce a little bit easier for us to execute as well. So I think the execution on it will be a little bit better but yeah, it’s it’s going live it’s going live as we speak.
Chad Franzen 13:01
So as far as the the locations that people maybe are familiar with maybe not you have nine City Works locations in five different states. Tell me what people can kind of expect when they go to a City Works
Mark Gray 13:14
yeah, like like I said earlier I think we are the place I don’t know what everybody’s favorite restaurant groups are. But mine is one of my all time favorites as Houston’s, you know, I think that Hillstone Group is a best in class and so I like to call us the Houston’s of sports bars. You know, I hope I hope we measure up to that because I have such admiration for that group. But I just think we’re a place where you have can have a best in class opportunity to watch whatever game or major event while also having a fresh fresh from scratch dining experience. We you know we to draw some separation between us and what I think other we have duck nachos on and pork chop steaks, you know, we’re just a more upscale dining experience than what you would normally get out of a sports bar and the atmosphere is in the atmosphere is incredible. So I think what somebody could expect coming into a City Works or Pour House you know, have you know, one of the best places you’ll ever see to to watch a game or event while having a very upscale casual dining experience.
Chad Franzen 14:28
How is City Works different all from Old Town Pour House, I know you have you have really
Mark Gray 14:35
the same. It’s the same concept essentially, but we we manage it we we open it under two different flags. So we’re a little bit careful about where we put Pour House because a lot of towns have a Pour House. And so we’re cognizant of that. But we also think that we’re going to continue to grow both and just allow the market to dictate you know, there’s some markets that you Maybe the buildings are a little bit more historic, maybe it’s more of a neighborhood. So Old Town Pour House fits great. Just the name of the brand and everything that’s great in that community where City Works is much more contemporary big Lifestyle Center. You know, that type of environment is where you will find out where you’ll find a city work. So same menus, essentially, same beverage programs. But we fly out under two different flags to make sure that we cater to the market that we’re
Chad Franzen 15:26
Okay. Then you have two other places South Branch and Sweetwater. What can you tell me about those two?
Mark Gray 15:33
Yeah, those are our downtown Chicagoland locations. So one Sweetwater right on Michigan Avenue, right in the, you know, the tourist district of Chicago, very busy year round. Obviously, these two locations were most hurt by COVID, with everybody working outside of the city and things like that, but they’re coming back very strong right now, which is encouraging. And then the other one South Branch is in our it’s in the financial district down in the loop, right on the Chicago River, both locations are really prime real estate, you know, locations, we probably will never get an opportunity to duplicate again. They’re just perfect in every way. So those restaurants do exceptionally well. And we’re really looking forward to getting a full year out of them with no restrictions and COVID.
Chad Franzen 16:27
You also have a place in Pittsburgh, Wintergarden at PPG. Can you describe that place for me?
Mark Gray 16:35
It’s incredible. Everyone should go online and check it out. So we have one of our flagship locations is in downtown Pittsburgh, we’ve got an amazing location right on square there walking distance to the baseball and football fields and one of our busiest restaurants in the in the portfolio. But next to it, the landlord had this amazing event venue that they were really just using for like corporate events inside the building. And so we approached them about leasing it out and doing weddings and rehearsal dinners and big corporate events. And we would manage it for them. And so we’re able to work that deal out. And so now it’s literally booked with weddings every Friday and Saturday, all the way through 2023. You can barely get an inquiry and at this point, so it’s turned out to be incredible. It’s a beautiful facility. It’s a little bit of a different model. For us. It’s not like it doesn’t operate like a regular restaurant, but it is a lot of fun. And the team there does an incredible job and not its branding itself really well in the in the market.
Chad Franzen 17:44
You know, I was counting your locations, I think I counted 29 locations across six different states. I could be wrong in the number of locations, but the virtual brand Yeah, counting. We have 50 and mortar, okay. 15 brick and mortar? And then and then the virtual brands. What are some of the maybe operational challenges that come with different brands in different states? And how do you at different locations even? How do you kind of overcome those?
Mark Gray 18:13
Right now the biggest, the biggest issue has been supply chain, if we’re speaking like in today’s world supply chain has been a challenge for everyone. But what we’ve been challenged with mostly is that our supply chain issues that we’re having in Texas are entirely different than our what our issues are in Boston, well, we only have one team, you know, we have one home office team that’s trying to solve all of these different issues. And the issues aren’t the same jurisdictionally. So it’s been a lot for us to keep up with just making sure that we’re getting all of our skews in house. So that is the biggest challenge currently, in just a normal operating environment. It’s maintaining your standards, when you’re spread out from a geography standpoint, like this. And so you have to have a good operations, you have to have great training programs in place. But then you also have to have a good operations infrastructure that’s able to travel to these locations and validate that, you know, all the standards and expectations are being made. That’s on a day to day that’s the biggest issue, or the biggest challenge we have. And then right now currently, its supply chain has been, you know, really tough.
Chad Franzen 19:20
How did you how did you get into the restaurant industry?
Mark Gray 19:24
Like everybody else? I think it was I had planned to do something completely different. You know, I was very politically engaged as a young man. So I was going to school and I thought I was going to, you know, manage campaigns and speech right. And, you know, I was that guy for sure. But I was working in the restaurants at the same time and I loved I loved it. And I just had managers approaching me about getting into Restaurant Management. I was having a very hard time paying for school. At the same time. You know, I was kind of putting myself through it and it was tough. And so then I decided to drop out and I went to culinary school because I was enjoying and and then just started from there I started out in the kitchens and loved that aspect of the business. In fact at that point I never saw myself being a front of the house employee but for different reasons I did move into the front love that got promoted to GM and then just started chipping away my my first 10 years in the business were with Brinker. So I did half my time with On The Border and the other half with with Chili’s. And that was a great experience like going to going to a restaurant school. Frankly, you know, I wanted to move on and get into better culinary programs and better beverage programs. But just as far as getting a foundation for how to manage costs, and you know how to write great schedules and how to do orders and how to operate safely, you know, and prevent foodborne illness and things like it was a great learning ground, gave me an awesome foundation. And then I was able to go on to Yard House and had, you know, 10 amazing years with them. You know, I felt like I was playing for the Yankees. And when I was with those guys was a great company. And then no offense to any Red Sox fans obviously saw us with them a long time as wonderful job started as a GM and then became a regional manager and the director of operations for them. And then I took that extol My only regret at Yard House was that I didn’t get there sooner. I think I started there when that’s, you know, 910 stores, something like that I was opening store number 11. And I just wish I felt like when I got there, all the good jobs were taken, you know, for the most part, everybody had kind of put their stake in the ground. So when I left Yard House, I really went and look for something that was smaller, that I could help grow, you know, from store number one or two into into something bigger. And that’s when I found out Cat had an amazing experience with them started out when we had to have Cats, I think we got up to 2021, something like that. So I was able to get that experience of growing and developing a brand and developing a team and learned a lot along the way and kind of took all that experience and came to Bottleneck, which is a little was more is more mature of an environment than when I started at HopCat. But nonetheless, I think we have a runway here to go from 15 to 50, you know, locations over the over the next, you know, several years? Well, that
Chad Franzen 22:27
is that’s quite a journey. What is it most What do you find most enjoyable or appealing about the restaurant industry?
Mark Gray 22:34
It’s you know, every day is this is not this is the least monotonous job I think anybody could ask for, there’s always a different challenge, especially when you get into a role like mine, where I am involved with all the different departments every single day, it’s always fresh, you’re always starting over. And so I think it’s just, you know, you come into the day, always with a plan. And by the noon, you know, you’re off that and you’re on to whatever, you know, the challenge of the moment is and I just think having work coming at me all the time, it benefits me. And then I chip away at the you know, at the initiatives that we’ve got going on but it’s nice to have that combination of being proactive but the need to be reactive as well.
Chad Franzen 23:19
I have one more question for you. But first how can people find out more about Bottleneck Management in all of its restaurants and locations?
Mark Gray 23:26
Yeah, just spot on. Bottleneck.com is our is our homepage and all of the other concepts all of our concepts have their own individual but if you can, you can link to all of them off of off of the Bottleneck Management homepage and then obviously follow us on all the social media platforms.
Chad Franzen 23:45
My last question Okay, it’s actually two you said you went to culinary school what would you say was your like your, the dish that you were most proud of? As you came out of culinary school and then if you were to go to one of your locations as a customer, what is your top kind of go to item?
Mark Gray 24:02
Well, that’s an easy one. We just rolled it out. We just launched a Cajun linguini that I think is the best pasta and casual dining. It is almost exclusively responsible for the 10 pounds I’ve put on in the last month. So it’s it’s it’s an incredible dish we just launched 15 new menu items I think they’re all exceptional but that’s far and away my my favorite and you know there were a lot of I mean culinary school you learn so much. But a tell you quick eight. The thing I was most proud of is I made a I made a pie. An apple cherry pie was like my final exam and somebody stole it. I think it was the best pie I made. But somebody took it from a New Yorker and turned it in for this. I spent two days trying to track down but yes, my best dish I made in culinary school. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any credit for it. But I was pretty pretty bummed out but ya know, it was it was a good experience. And I guess that like, Brinker gave me a great foundation for what the short. Now it’s a lot of it’s good. Yeah,
Chad Franzen 25:06
I would imagine. Hey, thank you so much for your time. Mark. It’s been great to talk to you and great to hear your story and your insights. Really appreciate it. Thank you. Alright, everybody.
Outro 25:14
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