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
The Sixth Love Language (Food) with Christian Lee
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Flame Broiler isn’t just a restaurant; it's a thriving brand with deep roots in Korean cuisine and a strong commitment to guest experience. In this episode of Give an Ovation, we sit down with Christian Lee, the second-generation leader of Flame Broiler, to explore how his family's values and focus on fundamentals have shaped the brand's success. From Fullerton, California, to their expansion across multiple states, Christian shares how they’ve maintained consistency, honored their franchisees, and kept guests coming back for more.
Thanks, Christian!
Creating a Successful Restaurant Empire
Speaker 1Welcome to another edition of Give an 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 . And today we have Christian Lee , second generation leader of his family's restaurant , started . Really , it's not just a restaurant , this is a brand , this is an empire Flame broiler where he serves as the president . And you've been working there for like 12 , 13 years now , right , christian ?
Speaker 2Yeah , it's been a while I mean really since I was born just eating and tasting . But yeah , it's been a while .
Speaker 1But I mean , but you've been COO , you've had a whole bunch of different roles , so you know , front of house , back of house , and I'm excited to chat on this podcast . Thank you for joining us on Give an Ovation man . Yeah , thanks for having me Excited to be here . So , first of all , being in the restaurant business , you know you're young , you grew up with technology , but you've also grown up with such a understanding of the restaurant business . What do you think a lot of people get wrong as they're trying to build their brand .
Speaker 2Oh , what do a lot of people get wrong ? I would say being distracted from the fundamentals of the business . I think what I've learned from my dad is that the basics of the business can never be forgotten and you have to remember , you have to focus on it day in and day out , because the restaurant industry is really exciting and that's what I love about it . Like me and my brothers were all in the business . We all chose to be here and that didn't pressure us . Actually , we genuinely love it . And there's so much going around us , there's so much growth opportunity , there's so many people we can talk to and meet with and interact with . But in all the energy and the chaos of restaurants , it's never forgetting a customer , never forgetting the smile , never forgetting you know , the consistent quality in the bathrooms and the service and everything that goes into running the restaurant , especially at scale . And it gets even harder and harder as you get bigger and bigger .
Speaker 1For those who might not be familiar , why don't you tell our audience a little bit about Flame Broiler , in terms of the size ? It started in 1995 . And then , where are you guys at now and what are your plans ?
Speaker 2Yeah , so we started in 1995 . My dad opened the first restaurant in Fullerton , california . I started franchising in 1999 because his customers basically demanded him to grow . Our second store we opened in La Jolla down in San Diego , from a woman who's very , very passionate about bringing Flame Brother to her community because they didn't have an option , like us , where she worked and where she lived . And so that's how we grew and the brand itself we're a trade-inspired , healthy ice bowl restaurant . It's all based on my parents parents , but my mom and my dad , their recipes back from south korea , where they immigrated from , and their parents recipes , and so we've taken that and created a concept that works here , that's affordable , it's quick , it's healthy , it tastes good and provides a healthy alternative to the people in the community . And so that's how we started and then from there started franchising , like I said , in San Diego , and then from there just snowballed and now , I guess almost 30 years later , we're at about 130 locations in almost six states . We're opening our sixth state in Texas in the fall .
Speaker 1That's fantastic
Focusing on Franchisee and Guest Experience
Speaker 1. And how many franchisees does that represent ?
Speaker 2We have oh , what's the current number ? I think it might be around 65 franchise groups , and so on average , our franchisees have about a couple of units , and a lot of that was because my dad is really passionate about giving opportunities to those who may not have it . So a huge percentage of our franchisees are actually first-generation immigrants , immigrants who came from other countries from around the world wanting to be their own business owner and start out in the restaurant field , and so he focused a lot in that space , and so a lot of our franchisees are very dedicated , engaged operators who just serve the guests really well and just love what they do , and so we're really blessed to have the franchises we do . But yeah , but that's why , cause typically that's pretty . It seems like that's a pretty high number , the number of stores we have , but that's how my dad wanted to grow it .
Speaker 1Yeah , cause I mean when you have you know we work with a lot of different types of franchise ors who have either a lot of franchisees or a couple of franchisees and it's like just they buy big territories , but when you have a franchisee that has one or two locations , they have to care right and that's a double-edged sword because every additional expense is coming out of their pocket . It's not this big slush fund of a hundred restaurant portfolio and some real estate and other stuff , but , like the price of chicken is going to really affect what they can do for their groceries that month with their family , and so I think that so you have to really care , and I think that that's one of the things that's obviously gotten you and Flame Bro a lot of recognition is the fact that you care because they care , and there's a lot of that .
Speaker 1And you mentioned something before about quality and consistency , which I think is so key , because , as you look at all of this , it all boils down to the guest experience . And so , when you're thinking about the guest experience , what is the most important aspect of guest experience nowadays ?
Speaker 2I would say something similar . It's delighting the guests , it's making sure that every customer that walks through our doors leave happy , and if they don't leave happy , fixing it right Through something called ovation . I've heard of that before . But even as the world is changing around us super rapidly , we strongly believe that the basics of the guest experience still hold very true for us . And it's very difficult , right ? It's as simple as that , but quite complex because it requires that level of execution at every touch point of the experience and everywhere , from the parking lot up until they finish eating their bowl and they want to write a review or something At every point in that journey . It is something we need to focus on , and that's easier said than done , but I think , especially nowadays as there's so much going on in the world , providing a consistent experience is really important .
Speaker 1Yeah , because the fact of the matter is there's just too many other places they can go , and I think that that's one of the that's . One of the problems is that you're only as good as your last experience . I can't tell you how many online reviews that we see , which is like you know , somebody will go leave a Yelp review and we'll say I've come in for years and this place has been amazing , and I came in today and it was terrible , never coming back , and it's like whoa , whoa , whoa . We built up years of goodwill and , like now , the one time we dropped the ball , you're leaving us a review . But it's because it's because that consistency is so important to those guests and those dollars are getting pinched so hard right now that we can't afford to lose a single guest . Oh yeah .
Speaker 2Totally . No , totally , and that makes sense , cause it's so . Food is so personal , right ? I like to say that food is a sixth love language . Uh , oh , like there , there's like all the love language .
Speaker 2But , like , when you like care for someone , you want to feed them , if you want to take someone out for a date , you want to go go out for a meal , if you want to experience a new culture and share your culture with someone , you , you eat right , right , and so in a lot of ways , I think that food is a love language in a way , but because of that , it's also so personal , and so when you're putting something literally inside of your body and something is off about it , it doesn't matter what the experience was over the past few years of having good experiences , one bad experience all of a sudden you impacted what I put inside my body , and so that's why it's so important , that's why it hits different and that's why , like , you get like one little hair that might not even be from our cook in your bowl and like it's all of a sudden the worst review we've ever had . Right , because it's personal and it makes sense . It's quite emotional actually dude , I I rarely .
Speaker 1I mean this is like my 350th podcast . It's like I don't often hear like new things in turn , but like in terms of like how to think about restaurants . Right , like there's always new tactics and stuff but a lot of the strategies , to your point , are tried and true . But that's such an interesting concept of like because I go to a football match and if I don't , like you know it's a bad game , I'm not walking out of there pissed off because it's like it's external , right , I go to an art museum and it's external . I go to a restaurant and you're putting it into .
Speaker 1It's such an intimate thing where it's actually becoming part of me for a day or two , right , part of me for exactly for a day or two . Right , and like that is a very personal thing and it's like we have to trust that that restaurant is using good ingredients and good quality . And like when that trust is betrayed because might not be necessarily the food was bad , but like the service was bad , it like it feels like an affront , right , because it's like I can't trust you anymore . To put this in my , in my body , my hundreds and thousands of years of human interaction has taught me if something is , if I can't trust it , don't eat it Right Totally .
Speaker 2Yeah , definitely so instinctual right .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , exactly . So , speaking of tactics , though , what are some tactics that you guys have used to improve the guest experience ?
Speaker 2Oh , I mean , for us it's all about people , you know , it's all about our employee experience and our franchisee experience .
Speaker 2I mean just speaking to the franchisee experience , I mean and both of them improving that directly translates into a better customer experience .
Speaker 2And so if we're taking employees , for example , if we empower our team , if we make them feel heard , if we take care of the issues that they care about , then they're so much more likely to take care of the guests in the way that we want them to . Or for franchisees , for us at the Restaurant Support Center , it's all about franchisee support . And so for the past few years we've actually doubled down on that and in the past six months even , we've increased our support center headcount by 20% , all to focus on the
Elevating Franchisee and Guest Experience
Speaker 2franchisee support . Because we knew that our $20 minimum wage is coming , because most of our stores are in California , and so , knowing that the way to improve the guest experience , because we feared that the reaction to the minimum wage , because it could be , you know , I may have to cut down on labor , I may have to , you know , shake things up with my workforce to be able to cover this cost and so , but because of that the guest suffers , right .
Speaker 2It's always , at the end of the end of the day , the guest who suffers and so , for us , supporting our franchisees became our priority , and not that it wasn't the priority , but we had to double down on it . So adding more support , more tools , more resources to support them , and the same thing with our employees . It's creating the best guest or the best employee experience that we can , and there , honestly , there aren't a lot of like , like newsworthy tactics that we do because we focus so much on , again , the fundamentals and the consistency of their experience with Flame Broiler . And so that starts from the interview process , like do we honor all of the candidates , even the ones we don't accept ? And the process that all impacts the perception of the brand .
Speaker 2Do we , you know , take care of issues when they bring them up and how quickly do we take care of them ? And how quickly or how seriously do we take care of issues when they bring them up and how quickly do we take care of them ? And how quickly or how seriously do we take their issues ? What else I mean when we're visiting them , what type of visits are we doing ? Are we encouraging them , uplifting them , doing what we say , what we're going to do , ask them questions and engage thoughtfully with them ? Or do we just fly by and do that kind of like hand-swiping checklist , and so in everything we do it's all about people and we know that that directly translates to how the guest experiences are brand .
Speaker 1Yeah , I think about . I go to a lot of brand conferences . I speak at a lot of brand conferences about guest experience and I was so impressed . There's a gentleman named Joe Unger with Lenny's and one of the things I saw that was so impressive was I saw him in a hotel hallway chatting with a franchisee and just this guy had walked up to him , started talking , was like Christian , I agree with you on that and really what it comes down to is let's figure out how we can get you . Let's talk to US Foods , let's talk to Cisco and let's see where we can get you better prices for that sliced beef . And he's like I promise you I'll do that for you .
Speaker 1And it was like one . I was so impressed that he knew that franchisee's name , because they have a lot of franchisees at Lenny's . But then two , he was like he understood the very nuanced thing about what that franchisee was complaining about and he committed to solving that problem for them Right and like that . That goes so far , especially when you have a quasi contentious relationship between a franchisee , a franchisor . And so tell me about your franchise , so your support center , what types of things do they do and how does that ?
Speaker 2help . What types of things ? So I mean it's a good example is what you shared . It's when they bring up the issues , bring up issues to us like how do we address it ? And a lot of it is in the soft things . You know , it's not just in the the hard , like did we fix a problem , yes or no , but it's also how do we make them feel in the process that we honor , honor them in it , how do we communicate with them ? The communication is really big , and not that we're perfect at it , but it's something that we're constantly trying to improve .
Speaker 2Because they're in such a fast-paced , demanding environment , especially now with the cost increases going on across the board , it's a tough environment to operate . And so , through it all , how are we caring for them , not just in the tactical things , but in how they're feeling , doing emotionally , throughout the process . And so , and one of our primary goals this year that our team has talked about is franchisee prosperity and the idea of helping franchisees increase prosperity , not just profitability , not just increasing sales or performing better , and all those things that are really important . But at the end of the day , are our franchisees prospering ? And the word prosper changes per franchisee as well . Some might be wanting to build a generational business for the kids to pass down , or some might want to cash out in a year and whatever it means to a franchisee . Our team is committed to helping them prosper and whatever and however that helps them . And and again to your guest experience question like that translates right , because when we're taking care of them , they're going to take care of the guest .
Speaker 1Love that that makes so much sense and I love these words that you're using , like honor and prosper and like these . These are words that don't get really tossed around a lot , but I think that I love that that is obviously part of your culture and ingrained there , probably from your , from your father , mother , to really put that into the brand , because that nobleness of really what we're doing is not selling food but it's uplifting people and I really feel that , coming from you and your brand , I love that . So , christian , who is someone that deserves an ovation ? Who's someone that we should be following ?
Speaker 2Oh , there's so many . First person that comes to mind would be Troy Hooper at Pepper Lunch . I'm sure you know him right , oh we love Troy .
Speaker 2Oh yeah , I've gotten to know him , went to an event he hosted recently , but just I kind of love the way he leads and thinks about people and leadership and the brand . And I also think Pepper Lunch is super compelling , especially in an age where a lot of brands are moving more towards a digital experience . Where they're shrinking their footprints , they're going more digital . Where they're shrinking their footprints , they're going more digital . Pepper Lunch is doing the opposite , where they're creating a truly dine-in experience that's actually accessible and accessible at price point . So I had it for the first time and I'm like , wow , this is awesome .
Speaker 1It's good . I mean , look , the first time I had it I like garlic , but the first time I had it I way overdid the garlic and I was like , oh no , Troy , like I don't really love this . But I appreciated the fact that I went back and I got something that was like off of the menu . I didn't , I didn't like edit anything , or actually what do you call that in the physical realm ? I didn't change anything , edit yeah , and it was amazing . And I've been back several times since and every single time it's been a great experience . So , love that . Troy Hooper , big shout out to you Pepper Lunch . Love what you guys are doing . So , christian , where can people go to learn more about you or your brand ?
Speaker 2Well funny , you ask . Our marketing team has been really wanting me and my brothers I have two brothers and the middle brother but they've been wanting us to make videos and put them on social , just to bring our family to the forefront more . And so if you go on our Instagram and our TikTok , you'll see recent videos we've posted of three of us interacting and making some fun videos , so that's a fun way to get to know us . And then , besides that , of course , check out our website if you want to find out more about what we do and our menu and all of that .
Speaker 1Okay , awesome . And what is your website ? It's flamebrotherusacom Okay , awesome
Recognizing Consistent Quality for Guest Satisfaction
Speaker 1. Well , chris , for showing us the power of consistent quality to delight every guest , today's ovation goes to you . Thank you for all you're doing in the industry and thank you for joining us on Give an Ovation .
Speaker 2Awesome . Thanks for having me .
Speaker 1Thanks 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 .