Give an Ovation: The Restaurant Guest Experience Podcast with Zack Oates
Give an Ovation: The Restaurant Guest Experience Podcast is your backstage pass to the minds of hospitality leaders, innovators, and operators who are redefining what it means to serve. Hosted by Zack Oates, founder of Ovation, each episode dives into real-world tactics and inspiring stories from restaurant pros who know how to create five-star guest experiences—both in-store and off-premise.
From fast casual to fine dining, catering to curbside, learn how to drive loyalty, empower your staff, and deliver hospitality that hits home. Whether you're a restaurant owner, operator, marketer, or tech partner, this podcast will leave you with practical insights and plenty of reasons to celebrate and Give an Ovation.
Give an Ovation: The Restaurant Guest Experience Podcast with Zack Oates
From Farmer to Restaurateur: Scott Henderson's Salad Station Success Story
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In this episode of Give an Ovation, host Zack Oates talks to Scott Henderson, CEO and co-founder of Salad Station. Scott shares how his agricultural roots in South Louisiana inspired him to create a fast, healthy restaurant concept that has grown to over 36 locations.
He discusses the importance of maintaining freshness, cleanliness, and hospitality in the guest experience while also highlighting his entrepreneurial journey from a young produce supplier to a successful restaurateur. Scott’s focus on guest interaction and delivering a “wow” experience has driven the brand’s success, even in challenging times. Tune in to learn how a focus on guest-first mentality and community-driven innovation led Salad Station to thrive.
Creating Salad Station
Speaker 1Welcome to another edition of Give and Ovation , the restaurant guest experience podcast , where I talk to industry experts to get their strategies and tactics you can use to create a five-star guest experience . This podcast is sponsored by Ovation , an operations and guest recovery platform for multi-unit restaurants that gives all the answers without annoying guests with all the questions Learn more at OvationUpcom . Guests with all the questions Learn more at OvationUpcom . And today I just want to give a special shout out to Matt Plapp who , upon listening to my 300th episode of Ovation , of Giving Ovation , was like Zach , you need a new microphone . So I asked him which one to get . He told me to get the Shure . So I am coming at you with Matt Plapp's . Matt Plap approved microphone . So , matt , thank you man .
Speaker 1But today's guest is a new friend of mine as of 14 minutes ago . Normally I chat with people on the podcast for a minute or two before we hit record and we just started chatting about books and life and autographs and bowling pins . And here we are . We got Scott Henderson , the CEO and co-founder of Salad Stations , boasting 36 locations . Scott , welcome to the podcast man .
Speaker 2What's up , man ? Zach , thanks for having me . I'm humbled to be here . All these brands that I admire that comes on your podcast . I don't feel to be belonged here , but I'm glad to be here with you and talk for a few minutes . I would like to say we could have met earlier . I barely missed you at the , I think , the pizza expo in Las Vegas when I went by your booth and they had said you just stopped by . I was . I went by the expo and we just missed each other . Oh , man .
Speaker 1Well , I know we , I know we could have been friends for an additional four months . We'll have to make up for lost time . So , first of all , for people who aren't familiar , tell us a little bit about Salad Station . What makes it special and why did you decide to start it ?
Speaker 2I'll start with our background a little bit . So I grew up in a vegetable farming family in South Louisiana , watched my family work from sunup to sundown , seven days a week , only to kind of go home and watch the weather and worry about what's coming next and worry about selling the produce . So that's kind of how we grew up . Later , a few years later in life , our family expanded into retail produce markets and I worked hand hand in hand with my mom and dad and siblings and aunts and uncles and cousins , so really grew up in the produce business . In high school I started to do a little produce route , produce wholesale route to restaurants and that's kind of where I learned the restaurant business . So in high school I started my own little business delivering produce to all the local restaurants .
Speaker 1And Cisco didn't try to muscle you out of their territory .
Speaker 2You know we could talk a long time about this , but I was the young , naive guy that if a restaurant called me at Saturday night at 9 pm and I was out there , we're out of mushrooms , I was the guy . That's how I earned the business . I was the guy that could call at 9 pm or 8 pm on a Saturday to bring them a case of mushrooms and little by little I learned that business . But you know , I was 16 , a 17-year-old doing that with . All I wanted to do is hustle at that point .
Speaker 2Well , I know a lot of 16 , 17-year-olds looking for mushrooms nowadays at 9 o'clock on a Friday night . Yeah , yeah , a little bit different these days . Oh , okay , all right , but the so a couple of years later , I think , when I was 19 , one of the restaurants on my produce route I wound up buying , so I became a restauranteur at 19 . That restaurant developed into being a really nice steakhouse , very successful Um . Steak houses are incredibly challenging , which kind of um started my my path to try and figure out what is a ? A simpler , less labor , uh , restaurant model . Um .
Speaker 2So a few years later after that I think I was in my twenties , early twenties my mom and I um um came up with the idea of doing salad station , and it was based on all of our previous experiences and our farming background and really it came down to we thought our community was really missing some value .
Speaker 2They were missing a fast , healthy place to eat . We knew we would be customers . We didn't know how many other people would be customers , but we felt like our hometown was really missing something , and so we came up with what we call our dream job a restaurant that's better suited for lifestyle , for a young family I had just started having a young family and Sal's Station was kind of born on trying to find a better lifestyle restaurant to operate and to own . That would be our dream job and proud to say that was in 2012 . I'm proud to say today it's still our dream job to operate . And we only thought we were going to open one location . We had other businesses and restaurants and produce markets and now today we're at 35 plus locations .
Speaker 1That's amazing man . What a great story , scott , because people always look for . That's amazing man . What a great story , scott , because people always look for . Hey , you want to have that like farm hand work ethic . You know , and like you , you did it . You're a farm boy and so that's . That's pretty cool to see that and to see you make that transition to the business . But you did mention that you still like to ride your tractors . Are you still farm ?
Speaker 2No , so my uncle and my cousins uh are now the owner and operator of the farm . Uh , really close family . Um , uh , my days on the tractor . Is bush hogging some land I have and that's where I get to enjoy your podcast bush cutting grass , you know , so sorry you're talking as a city folk here .
Speaker 1No man , simple city boy . Sorry , yeah , cutting tractor . Uh , cutting grass on a on a tractor is all right , there we go , and all we can do and listen to your podcast . Yes , that's amazing , that's super cool . And you , uh , looking at this , I think I got . I got to ask you one hard-hitting question before we start , scott , I guess before we start into the other favorite junk food man , I thought when you said a hard-hitting question , I wasn't expecting that .
Speaker 1Um reese's oh , okay , there we go , because I'm going to say , like I , I like , I like vegetables , but man I'm uh , you know I'll do my salads , but like I like a little bit of candy at the end of every night , I'm a junk food guy Reese's at the end of the night , which I'm not big on that , but I went to the convenience store earlier today and that Reese's was trying to call my name .
Speaker 2I passed on it .
Speaker 1Oh , old man See that's the farmer work ethic . Right there You've got that self-control and that discipline . If I walk by a Reese's , I don't even know what happens Next thing . I know it's purchased and eaten and I just blinked .
Success Through Hospitality and Fresh Ingredients
Speaker 2Self-discipline at the salad station is hard , though . If you look at my salad I make for lunch , it's not the healthiest salad . You have a lot of really good toppings that aren't really healthy All the chickens and meats and cheeses and the ranch dressings and the flavor ranch dressings . So I wish I had more self-will at a salad station , because there's so many good toppings to pick .
Speaker 1Well , when I come out there next time , let's go to a salad station , put some Reese's on top of it . I think that's a new salad . We'll call it the Zach Oates special A new salad . We'll call it the Zach Coates special A new topic .
Speaker 1I think that there's so many things that we could talk about , but you obviously started this with and normally when I hear entrepreneurs talk about this it's a bad idea , which is , if you are the ideal customer , it's like okay , but let's take a step back , and how many more people are there ? And like , a lot of times it's a really niche thing . But let's take a step back and how many more people are there ? And like , a lot of times it's a really niche thing that people will create this very specific product for a very specific concern and it just doesn't get widespread adoption .
Speaker 1Now , salad Station obviously has , you know , survived a pandemic , it's survived an economic downturn and it's still growing , and so there's obviously a big market out there for it and there's a lot of push to get that , the optionality of healthy foods . So , starting with that guest in mind , what would you say is the most important aspect of guest experience and why do you think that your , you know . You said my mom and I were going to be customers . How many other customers ? Why do you think that it worked for you guys when a lot of times , that same philosophy does not transfer ?
Speaker 2Well , you know , to finish the story , when we went to my dad the accountant , and told him what we wanted to do , he said you know , it's not going to work . There's not enough people in this town that's going to eat salad for lunch , and came up with , wrote on a piece of napkin , how many salads we had to do , break even . And first kind of lesson as an entrepreneur , you can't figure everything out . Sometimes you have to jump in . And our gut , my mom and I's gut knew that our community was missing something fast and healthy to eat . And so we wound up going against the grain and saying Dad , I would think I was 25 years old and said Dad , I know , I know , we looked at the numbers , I know it might not , you know we don't , and we weren't sophisticated back then . I know we , you know you're wanting against this , but I really believe we , I need , I need to see this through , I need to , and I didn't , um , it was just me at the time , so I wasn't , I didn't have a lot on the line and um , so we , we jumped off the deep end and was very surprised , um , uh , with um , with the feedback and how overwhelming the lines were , and we quickly started expanding . It really was eyeopening how many people would come to Salad Station . Now we're going to a sandwich place in exchange for trying to eat healthy . That was really the only option they had as fast and kind of lighter meal . And so when we saw kind of that sector that we were not intentionally being in that sector but we saw the need of salad really was eye-opening to expand .
Speaker 2But , zach , back to kind of your question from day one even the banker that we went to said this might not work . I said we got to wow people . When they walk through the door , they have to be wowed . This has to be something they've never seen . It has to be 100 plus toppings , it has to be super fresh , it has to be clean , it has to be full and we have to really , when people walk in like , wow , this is unbelievable . And that , from day one , that was kind of our mission is to wow people . That's evolved a little bit now . Now we want to not just wow people with our products and our offerings , we want to wow people with our hospitality . And I do believe right now the key is to create great value , and great value could be through the culinary side . It could be through the hospitality side , the convenience side , and hopefully we could combine all of those into one experience , as we can be convenient . We could have a great culinary experience with our toppings and gourmet ingredients and then right now , our big focus is hospitality .
Speaker 1Okay , and I think that is so key because , at the end of the day , no matter what you're serving , hospitality is where it's at , and we talk about this all the time on this podcast . But hospitality is proving to the guests that you care , and that's the essence of what we're always trying to do . And I think , from the fresh ingredients to the optionality , to the convenience , it's like all of that . All those little things prove to the optionality , to the convenience . It's like all of that . All those little things prove to the guests that you care .
Speaker 1And I love that you you really think about the guests first and foremost , because and I love what you said about how I'm sure the numbers aren't going to work out or the numbers might not work out , but I feel that there's something here and you said we weren't that sophisticated back then . But here's an interesting fact for you , scott so an entrepreneur , if you look at an entrepreneur who dropped out of undergrad or who just has their undergrad degree compared to an entrepreneur who has an MBA , who do you think is more likely to be successful ? The one who doesn't have the education , or the one who has or who didn't complete their education , or the one who has an MBA ?
Speaker 2Well , you know , I , I guess I know the answer , and my answer would probably be the one that does not have the MBA , because , uh , I think overthinking things sometimes gets in the way . You know , you think every I think every good idea you could find a reason not to do . You know , like everything you can find a reason not to do , and sometimes it just has to be 90% there , oh and here's like the it .
Speaker 1Actually it was kind of surprising to me to hear this , but this is what it came down to is , if you looked at a percentage of who was more successful MBA or dropout what they found was that the likelihood of someone having a good exit with an MBA was more than people who had the dropout . But here's the difference If you look at the people who succeeded , those who succeeded , those who dropped out succeeded far beyond those who succeeded that had an MBA , meaning that , to your point , the people who had the education were overthinking things and they were much more conservative about doing things , but it also meant that they were conservative about growth . They were conservative about what they could possibly do , whereas the people who were a little bit more naive , they were thinking why not ? You know , they didn't have that conventional wisdom . They didn't have all those , all the studies , all the two by two matrices , all the you know the professors telling them what their PhD papers were all about . It was just we're just doing stuff , and that's why they were able to become .
Speaker 1While they might not have been as successful in terms of percentage , wise , the people who were successful were much more successful , and so I think that's just a testament to kind of what you're talking about , and I love that . You said you know we didn't have all the numbers worked out and that's probably why you guys have done it , because other people I mean how many hundreds thousands of people had the same idea and looked at the numbers and just said this isn't going to work . And that's where the idea died is in the living room , right , yeah
Prioritizing Hospitality in the Restaurant Industry
Speaker 1, yeah .
Speaker 2You know , starting a new company and being the size we are still really small groundbreaking it's , it's , it's . You know you wear a lot of hats , but man , it's fun , it's , it is fun it's . Even today , now that we've got more people on the team , we've got more data and we're probably more sophisticated , you still have to realize that let's do it . You know , let's , let's do it , let's move fast , let's break the rules , let's , let's do , let's figure it out . And you know it's , it's hard . Well , you know , what we do is really really hard , and but we enjoy every day doing it and building a new company .
Speaker 1Love it , man . So what's a tactic that you've used to improve the guest experience ?
Speaker 2Yeah , you know guest feedback and the data you have with guest feedback these days , such as Ovation , specifically for Salad Station , our motto is fresh , full , clean , kind and we always kind of equally put priorities on being fresh , being full , being clean and being kind . And just this past year , looking at guest feedback , it really brought some things to our attention that if a piece of lettuce falls on the ground or a piece of cheese or the garlic herb chicken is not quite as full and we were task focused on just refilling that product or cleaning that floor and we did not make interaction with the guests and we didn't smile and we didn't make contact and we eye contact and we didn't have a guest interaction . We are more likely to have a bad review , to make a feedback . If we do make that interaction and we smile and ask them how their day is and we have that connection with them , we will get that five-star review and we'll get that wow experience and we'll get that avid fan of Salad Station and they might leave a comment hey , look , by the way , a piece of lettuce was on the ground or something like that .
Speaker 2So through data , through our guest feedback , we've really learned that job responsibility number one doesn't matter who you are and what you're doing should always be hospitality and guest interaction . Job number two needs to be refilling the garlic herb chicken and in the restaurant industry and salad stations specifically , we're very task oriented . We're all about keeping everything 100 toppings as full and as clean , as fresh as possible , and we have to constantly remind ourselves , and I think everyone in the restaurant industry probably needs to do this . But you know , our task number one should always be that guest interaction . Task number two should be refilling the carrots or refilling the mushrooms or refilling the garlic chicken , and the more we could teach that , the more we could coach that , the more systems we could put in place of always reminding , the task number one being the guest . I think that's the big tactic that we're focused on .
Speaker 1Well said , well said indeed . Now , who is someone in the restaurant industry that deserves an ovation ?
Speaker 2There's quite a few , uh , quite a few people the people that been on your podcast of brands , uh , I greatly admire , but there's two , uh two people that I've always looked up to . Uh , one , we talked about his book , danny Meyer . Uh , at a young age , um , setting the table had a big impact on me , uh , somebody I would love to meet one day , uh , but , uh , he had a big impact on me and I would encourage any young restaurant restaurant tier to to read that book and follow Danny Meyer . Second one is actually in our , our local backyard and would love to meet him as well , but Todd Graves at Raising Cane's . Todd Graves , I think , has created one of the best cultures in the fast food industry , where a lot of people get it wrong . A lot of brands have gotten it wrong . Tide Graves , with Raising Cane's , has definitely created a culture that we admire .
Speaker 1Love it . Two incredible humans who have done so much to push this industry forward and have hospitality at the tip of their tongue with every sentence they speak . So , Scott , where can people go to learn more about Salad Station or about you ?
Speaker 2I have a LinkedIn account . I'm not overly active on it , but Scott Henderson on LinkedIn . Salad Station has great social media . We do a great job at social media . So Instagram to Salad Station , facebook to Salad Station and , I was just told , on TikTok , our followers are skyrocketing right now on TikTok . So , although I'm not familiar with TikTok , we have a TikTok presence as well , and Sal's station is also on LinkedIn as well .
Speaker 1Awesome . Well , scott , for not being afraid to take the dive into the green end of the pool . Today's ovation goes to you . Thank you so much for joining us on Give An Ovation . Thanks , megan . Thanks for joining us today . If you liked this episode , leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite place to listen . We're all about feedback here . Again , this episode was sponsored by Ovation , a two-question , sms-based actionable guest feedback platform built for multi-unit restaurants . If you'd like to learn how we can help you measure and create a better guest experience , visit us at OvationUpcom .