Search Interviews:

Randy CohenRandy Cohen is the Chief Energizing Officer at Z’Tejas, a Tex-Mex restaurant chain with locations in and around Austin, TX and Phoenix, AZ. He’s also the Chief Energizing Officer and Founder of TicketCity, a leading ticket brokerage company providing access to major sporting events worldwide. Throughout his career, he has made significant contributions to both industries, notably maintaining TicketCity’s reputation for reliability and Z’Tejas’ iconic status in the Tex-Mex cuisine scene for over three decades.

Spotify
Apple
Deezer
Amazon Music
Tune In
Stitcher
iHeart Radio

 

Here’s a Glimpse of What You’ll Hear:

  • [03:39] Randy Cohen’s secrets behind being a “Chief Energizing Officer”
  • [04:56] From $1,200 in savings to ticket empire: Randy’s entrepreneurial journey
  • [05:56] The importance of culture in business success
  • [10:15] How COVID-19 shaped restaurant innovation and resilience
  • [11:31] The secrets of swagger for business success
  • [13:16] Randy’s unique journey from ticket sales to restaurateur
  • [16:39] How Gathering of Titans inspires CEO personal growth

In this episode…

The restaurant industry is a challenging and dynamic field that requires constant adaptation and innovation. What does it take to successfully own and operate multiple restaurant locations while maintaining a positive and energetic atmosphere?

According to Randy Cohen, whose mission is to infuse his Z’Tejas restaurant locations with positive energy, the key to success in the restaurant industry lies in creating memorable experiences for guests. He emphasizes the importance of delighting customers, focusing on culture, and maintaining a high level of energy and commitment. Randy stresses that while the food and service are crucial, what truly matters is how guests feel when they leave the restaurant.

On this episode of the Top Business Leaders Show, Rise25’s Chad Franzen chats with Randy Cohen, Chief Energizing Officer at Z’Tejas, about his journey from the ticket industry to restaurant ownership. Randy discusses the challenges of running restaurants, the impact of COVID-19, his books on business success, and the rewards of creating positive dining experiences. He also shares insights from his background in hospitality and his approach to leadership.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Quotable Moments:

  • “I want to walk into a room and light it up. I want people to go, ‘stand back, non-believers’!”
  • “We’re saving the world one ticket at a time and making some dreams come true.”
  • “You have to adapt or you go away. It’s not easy adapting in the restaurant business.”
  • “It’s all about delighting the guests because it’s not what we say, but how they felt when they’re leaving.”
  • “You’d better show up with your game face on and your boxing gloves on, because you’d better bob and weave.”

Action Items:

  1. Cultivate a strong company culture: Focus on building a workplace where employees love what they do, as this leads to better performance and retention. 
  2. Embrace adaptability: In the face of challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, adaptability is crucial for survival and success.
  3. Prioritize customer experience: Aim to delight your customers by creating memorable experiences, as this fosters loyalty and positive word-of-mouth. 
  4. Foster commitment and engagement: Encourage employees to stay committed even when the initial motivation fades, as sustained effort is key to achieving long-term success. 
  5. Develop personal charisma and presence: Work on personal charisma and presence, as these traits can energize teams and create a positive work environment.

Sponsor for this episode

SpotOn:

Today’s episode is brought to you by SpotOn. SpotOn has transformed the merchant service industry by providing the tools and support your business deserves at a price that puts money back into your pocket!

SpotOn’s team wants to empower all of their merchants by merging payment processing with simple customer engagement tools, all in one easy-to-use platform. As a business owner, you are focused on managing your daily operations and engaging your customers. You don’t have the time, energy, or excess funds to devote to multiple complicated platforms! That’s why SpotOn is focused on helping you build long-lasting customer loyalty while saving you time and money through our all in one system.

Whether you are a merchant or a consumer, SpotOn wants to be more than an average payment processor. SpotOn aims to exceed your expectations by valuing simplicity, maintaining flexibility, and celebrating innovative collaboration. Let SpotOn help you do business the right way.

Partner with SpotOn today! Visit spoton.com today to schedule your free demo or to view SpotOn’s products. You can also call SpotOn at 877.814.4102 at any time. Let SpotOn help you make the difference with your business!

Rise25:

At Rise25, we’re committed to helping you connect with your Dream 100 referral partners, clients, and strategic partners through our done-for-you podcast solution.

We’re a professional podcast production agency that makes creating a podcast effortless. Since 2009, our proven system has helped thousands of B2B businesses build strong relationships with referral partners, clients, and audiences without doing the hard work.

What do you need to start a podcast?

When you use our proven system, all you need is an idea and a voice. We handle the strategy, production, and distribution – you just need to show up and talk.

The Rise25 podcasting solution is designed to help you build a profitable podcast. This requires a specific strategy, and we’ve got that down pat. We focus on making sure you have a direct path to ROI, which is the most important component. Plus, our podcast production company takes any heavy lifting of production and distribution off your plate.

We make distribution easy.

We’ll distribute each episode across more than 11 unique channels, including iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcasts. We’ll also create copy for each episode and promote your show across social media.

Co-founders Dr. Jeremy Weisz and John Corcoran credit podcasting as being the best thing they have ever done for their businesses. Podcasting connected them with the founders/CEOs of P90xAtariEinstein BagelsMattelRx BarsYPO, EO, Lending Tree, Freshdesk, and many more.

The relationships you form through podcasting run deep. Jeremy and John became business partners through podcasting. They have even gone on family vacations and attended weddings of guests who have been on the podcast.

Podcast production has a lot of moving parts and is a big commitment on our end; we only want to work with people who are committed to their business and to cultivating amazing relationships.

Are you considering launching a podcast to acquire partnerships, clients, and referrals? Would you like to work with a podcast agency that wants you to win?

Contact us now at support@rise25.com or book a call at rise25.com/bookcall.

Rise25 Co-founders, Dr. Jeremy Weisz and John Corcoran, have been podcasting and advising about podcasting since 2008.

Episode Transcript

Intro 00:03

Welcome to the Top Business Leaders Show, powered by Rise25 media. We featured top founders, executives, and business leaders from all over the world.

Chad Franzen 00:20

Hi Chad Franzen here, co-host for this show where we feature top restaurateurs, investors and business leaders. This is 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’ve served everyone from larger chains like Dairy Queen and Subway to small restaurants. To learn more, go to spoton.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 podcast. 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 rise25.com or email us at support@rise25.com. 

My guest today Randy Cohen, the Chief Energizing Officer at Z’Tejas. With over 30 years of experience in the secondary ticket industry, Randy brings his passion for creating memorable experiences to the restaurant world; he is also the owner of four Z’Tejas locations in Austin, Texas. Kyle, Texas. And Phoenix, Arizona.

Beyond his work at Z’Tejas, Randy is the Chief Energizing Officer at TicketCity, a global company that sells tickets to major sporting events worldwide. He is also an author, speaker, and coach, sharing his insights on his entrepreneurial journey. Randy, thanks so much for joining me today. How are you?

Randy Cohen 01:40

Chad. I’m doing great. Pleasure meeting you, young man. Thanks for having me on.

Chad Franzen 01:45

Great to have you. Great to have you. Hey, tell me a little bit about Z’Tejas if I. I have never been to one when I go there. What’s kind of what would my experience be?

You know, just having walked in the door.

Randy Cohen 01:58

You know, first of all, man, you made me sound really good there. I want to date that guy. That was a great introduction. So, you know, Z’Tejas, I call it the spirit of Z because it’s been around for about 35 years, and I basically came in as an investor for about five years ago in the company kind of went the wrong way. And I said, I’m going to figure this stuff out because I always had so many memorable experiences of hanging out at Asda, the amazing camaraderie of the guests, the Chambord margaritas, the the energy that’s there, the food is fantastic.

And you know what? It’s a it’s a legendary, iconic restaurant that’s been around for, you know, 35 years. That just does not happen in the restaurant industry. And I was tired of seeing so many restaurants go by the wayside. I wanted to keep that that spirit and energy going in the Z. 

So now we have four locations. The newest one right off the highway of I-35 between Austin and San Antonio in Kyle, Texas. It’s a gorgeous restaurant, brand spanking new. There’s one in Avery Ranch, North Austin, and there’s one in Scottsdale, Arizona. And then there’s also one in Chandler, Arizona. 

So a lot of energy, a lot of amazing food and a lot of people that care, that work for us.

Chad Franzen 03:28

So as I mentioned, your title, I mean, well, meanwhile, you’re the owner of four locations, but your title is Chief Energizing Officer. What does that mean?

Randy Cohen 03:39

Well, you know what? I want to walk into a room and I want to light it up. I want people to go stand back. Non-believers. Let’s get the party started.

And, you know, you do anything is how you do everything. So it’s just showing up with all gas and no brakes.

Chad Franzen 03:59

Nice. Very nice. You had been working for decades with Ticket City. Tell me a little bit about that.

Randy Cohen 04:08

Yeah. Ticket city is where you get the best of tickets for the best of times. So we’ve been taking care of people since the early 1990s. Sending people to events like the Super Bowl and the Masters and the US open, tennis, and all the concert, sporting and theater events all around the world. Yeah.

Ticket city actually takes ownership of inventory for like, college football and for, for all these events. And then people go online to ticketcity.com and they can get tickets to their, you know, NFL game or college football game or NBA game. And, you know, we’re saving the world one ticket at a time and making some dreams come true.

Chad Franzen 04:51

Are you a founder of ticket sales?

Randy Cohen 04:56

Yes, I founded TicketCity. I was literally working the streets back in the 80s hawking tickets, and I basically took my life savings of $1,200 bucks and bought tickets for the big game at $6 each. I think it was a University of Arkansas, number one in the country playing University of Texas. The game finally sold out and I sold all my six tickets for $15 and I thought, “wow, this arbitrage kind of worked.” So, you know, built a little ticket empire.

And I’m one of the OGs of selling tickets and the ticket brokerage industry. And I thought I could translate culture and my expertise into the restaurant industry and see, honestly, it’s a lot trickier. But you gotta keep fighting the fight and show up every day to the best you can be.

Chad Franzen 05:45

So how has kind of your experience growing TicketCity, you know, founding TicketCity and then growing it translated to working with Texas and the restaurant industry.

Randy Cohen 05:56

You know, it’s all about culture, Chad. I mean, you have to, you know, you want people to love what they do. So they do it well, so they keep on doing it. I mean, if you can get people to stay for a long time. I think the average tenure of TicketCity is probably 22 to 25 years.

A little bit harder in the restaurant industry to keep that kind of longevity. But it’s, you know, the the main chef of Z’Tejas has been with for 25 years. The food is still the same. People know what they’re getting. And it’s, you know, a restaurant that I love. 

And you know, we’re fighting the fight that you see every day with companies like McDonald’s and Denny’s giving food away at $5, trying to give value. And you know, we’re trying to still give, you know, service and amazing food at a fair and reasonable price and this really tough environment that we see a lot of restaurants suffering and working through their issues.

Chad Franzen 07:03

You know, you own four house locations. How would you kind of describe the culture there and how do you kind of go about setting it or implementing it?

Randy Cohen 07:15

Yeah. You know, luckily I’m owner, not operator. But as an owner, I try to influence my team to, you know. Walk in and make people delight the guests. It’s all about delighting the guests because it’s not what we say.

They’re not going to remember that. We came in and said, hi, welcome to Z, where you get elevated Tex-Mex with a southern flair. We’ve been around for 35 years. You ready for that first margarita? They’re not going to maybe remember, you know what we’re telling them or saying to them, but they’re going to remember how they felt when they’re leaving. 

So it’s all about delighting the guests and making them have an amazing experience from, you know, a great food, great environment and great smiles from our servers and management.

Chad Franzen 08:06

What are some of the challenges that you faced in the restaurant industry that kind of snuck up on you compared to the challenges you faced in the ticket world?

Randy Cohen 08:19

Wow. You know, so I’ll compare it to a little Star Wars action. All right. Think about you have all these people chasing you with guns a-blazin’, and you’re having a bob and weave and and space. There’s ice machines that break.

There’s, you know, plumbing issues. There’s something that comes at you every day that you’re, you know, you’re you’re you’re trying to do your job every day. And there’s, there’s little bullets you’re having to dodge to, to make sure you can give the best experience to your guests. And it never stops, you know, from, from dealing with personnel issues. You know, people have things happening to them every day and might not be able to come in for some reason. 

And, you know, you’re just you’re dealing with distractions. And it’s tricky when you’re trying to do what you do best, which is get the spirit of Z and give amazing memories. And behind the scenes, you know, landmines are, you know, popping up. So it’s really challenging in this industry and it’s exhilarating, you know, I mean, you better show up with your game face on and your boxing gloves on because you better bob and weave or you know, you’re going to get knocked out. So I think it’s a little bit like the old rock’em sock’em robots. 

Remember that the blue guy and the red guy and, you know, you were as a little kid, popping off at each other, you are dealing with that. And it’s it’s exhilarating for sure.

Chad Franzen 10:04

How did Covid affect operations at Z’Tejas? And did it change it? And are the changes still in place now?

Randy Cohen 10:14

Yeah. You know, Covid was tough on everybody. You know, it funneled down from a personal experience where it took my identity away. You know, if you can think, okay, COVID’s going on. We’re not selling any tickets to TicketCity.

No one’s really allowed to come into the restaurant. Now, that’s a difficult scenario. And, you know, we’re having to do things differently. So, you know, here we are trying to help out different places that need food. We’re trying to be a part of the community. 

We’re, you know, selling jugs of margaritas now, gallon jugs. I mean, we’re doing whatever it takes, you know, that’s what life is about. You have to adapt or you go away And it’s not easy adapting in the restaurant business. So, so Covid was devastating to the entire industry. But at the same time, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

Chad Franzen 11:18

Yeah, I saw that you’ve written a couple of books, The Secrets of Swagger and Take It to the Limit. How does this tell me a little bit about the Secrets of Swagger, and what could an entrepreneur take away from that?

Randy Cohen 11:31

Yeah, that’s a fun book. Secrets of Swagger. How to own your own cool in life and business. It’s, you know, just walking with your head up every day. It’s talking about, you know.

Oh, gosh. It’s talking about commitment, doing the right thing long after the feeling of doing it leaves you. It talks about John F. Kennedy. You know, what he had to deal with, you know, in regards to bravery with, you know, the Bay of Pigs and nuclear weaponry and against Russia. It talks about George Clooney, you know, walking into a room, being able to light it up and Lady Gaga having creativity. 

And it talks about a lot of amazing folks and how I relate those people to being able to run their world and run a business and, and do similar things. At TicketCity, it talks about Old Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra, that boy would walk into a room and have charisma, you know, and and you have to do all these things commitment, charisma, creativity, culture, all these different things to have swagger and to, you know, be proud of who you are and what you’re doing in order to make a difference. So Secrets of swagger, how to find your own cool in life and business. And then before that, I wrote Take it to the Limit: How Passion and Performance Can Transform Your Life and Business into an Amazing Adventure. So, you know, those were basically books and self-help coaching guides on how I grew TicketCity and the things I had to do to run an amazing business and culture and make a difference in being able to give back as well.

Chad Franzen 13:18

What would you say are some of the most rewarding aspects of owning and operating or owning restaurants?

Randy Cohen 13:26

You know, I mean, that’s a two-edged sword right there. You know, number one, you’re owning restaurants. So what makes you feel good? You know, when you see people smiling, when you see the sparklers go out in these restaurants and people looking at the sparklers because it’s their birthday or their anniversary, and they’re feeling good because they just took their mom or parents out. And, you know, the smiles and the pictures are going and everybody’s hearts are warm.

I mean, that’s a cool deal, you know, when we’re able to watch that. And that’s the main thing of why we show up every day with our game faces on, to delight our guests and make a difference. You know, it’s a, you know, energy from Z.

Chad Franzen 14:10

Had you had experience, sorry, had you had experience in the restaurant industry before you got involved with us?

Randy Cohen 14:16

Well, you know, before I even started TicketCity, I went to school at the University of Denver for hotel and restaurant management. I thought that’s what I wanted to do. I opened up a marriott in the early 80s, you know, working for that great company. And I’m like, wow, it’s, you know, working with people and that I thought it was something I wanted to do. And, you know, waiting tables and bartending for chains like El Torito and Chi-Chi’s back in the day and Olive garden.

So I mean, a little bit, but nothing like ownership. You know, I don’t think you can really prepare yourself for, for ownership of a restaurant because, you know, you have to have your lightsaber on you at all times because there are, you know, laser beams coming at you and you got to pop them off in order to continue making your clients smile.

Chad Franzen 15:07

Yeah, yeah, I would imagine I’m a do graduate as well. So go get out of town. Yeah. Can you.

Randy Cohen 15:13

Pioneer? You’re a pioneer.

Chad Franzen 15:15

Can you imagine?

Randy Cohen 15:16

What? What year? I just went there. My freshman year. What year did you go there?

Chad Franzen 15:19

Oh, I went there for a master’s degree, so I went there a little bit later.

Randy Cohen 15:31

I was there and I think about 80, 84, 1980.

Chad Franzen 15:27

Yeah, I was there a bit later, ten years later.

Randy Cohen 15:30

Well, nice to meet a fellow pioneer young man.

Chad Franzen 15:31

Yeah, absolutely. Are you from Colorado? Did you just go there for school?

Randy Cohen 15:37

I just went there for one year. I played tennis for those guys and then came back to Texas. And once you live in Austin, Texas, you kind of fall in love with this place. You know, there’s something.

There’s something about it. You know, I got to give you a view. I got to give you this view of this place. If I can figure out how this is. This is what Austin, Texas is about. 

You know, we’re going to show you this place. Look. Look at this beautiful place here in Austin. Ladies and gentlemen. And all you restaurateurs.

Chad Franzen 16:03

Wow. Amazing. Wow, that looks so nice.

Randy Cohen 16:06

And let me tell you, that was not from restaurant profits. I promise you that.

Chad Franzen 16:10

That looks awesome.

Randy Cohen 16:14

Yeah. Let me turn this back around so you can see this. Let’s see if we can get me going now with my technological challenge. Where are you, Randy? Here you go.

Randy Cohen 16:30

Back on. Perfect. Perfect. Hey, I know that you are a speaker and a coach. Tell me a little bit about those things that you do.

Randy Cohen 16:40

So I’m a part of a group called the Gathering of Titans. And the Gathering of Titans. Meets once a year at MIT in Boston, and I’m actually in charge of it this year. It’s really a cool group. It’s the same 70 CEOs that have been getting together the last 25 years and it’s.

Yeah, it’s pretty cool. We meet at MIT. We have amazing speakers that talk to us, and we learn from and and we grow personally and professionally with this amazing group of humans. And that’s what I do every year in April for about five days. I also, you know, speak at events around the world when I’m asked from, you know, the books that I’ve written to talking about restaurants and what it’s like, you know, growing a company like TicketCity, helping make dreams come true and giving back. 

And, you know, it’s just an important part of my life. As I cruise further and, you know, to the sunset of our journey, it’s like, what can we do other than just work to really make a difference and, and help other people? So that’s why I’m out there coaching and speaking and doing some of those things.

Chad Franzen 17:58

Okay. Very nice. Hey, I have one more question for you. But first tell me how people can find out more info about both Z’Tejas and TicketCity.

Randy Cohen 18:07

Well, you can go online to ztejas.com and find out all our amazing food that we have there. We have amazing dishes from our Gorgonzola, New York strip, or jerk chicken diablo pasta or chicken artichoke stacker. Grilled ruby trout.

We’ve got legendary dishes, Navajo tacos, shrimp tostada bites. The list goes on and on and on. So, you know, we love our food there. So check out all our pictures and our locations. People can go to TicketCity.com where you get the best of tickets for the best of times they can. I’ll give a little discount code for any of your listeners. Cohen. Cohen. 1403 so when you’re planning on going to a local football game or the college playoffs or a basketball game, use that code. 

1403 and, you know, save a few shekels. And, you know, if anybody wants to email me, I’m an open book. It’s randy@ticketcity.com for tickets and it’s rcohen@ZTejas.com. That’s R Cohen. R Cohen at z t e j a s.com.

Chad Franzen 19:28

Okay. Awesome. Hey, you mentioned a lot of great food there. What when you’re a customer at Z’Tejas, what’s kind of like your go-to combination of items.

Randy Cohen 19:37

Well I love the catfish beignets. Man, those melt in your mouth for sure. Love that. Love the shrimp tostada bites. Mushroom enchiladas, artichoke chicken.

They make me drool. Gosh, if I’m feeling a good steak. We’ve got amazing gorgonzola steak there. And, you know, I think we even have specials on a lot of Wednesdays where we have a big, giant lollipop steak where about three people share those things. We just have fun, you know, we try to create good energy. 

The Sham Borg margaritas are my favorite. Oh my God. In the olden days, I think there was a two per person limit. Now we don’t do that anymore with the great people at Uber and Lyft. So we’re one big food for love party.

Chad Franzen 20:26

Nice sounds. Sounds fantastic. Hey, Randi, it’s been great to talk to you. Thanks so much for your time today and sharing all of your insights. Really appreciate it.

Randy Cohen 20:32

Yeah, Chad, pleasure to meet you. And, you know, thanks for being in the Z’Tejas and TicketCity loop of love. And come visit me at one of my locations. I’d love to see you in person.

Chad Franzen 20:41

Absolutely, absolutely. I’ll plan on it. Thanks so much, Randy.

Randy Cohen 20:48

All right. Take care everybody. Love you. Woo woo!

Chad Franzen 20:51

So long everybody.

Outro 20:53

Thanks for listening to the Top Business Leaders Show, powered by Rise25. Visit rise25.com to check out more episodes of the show and to learn more about how you can start your own podcast.