Meet Steve Drulis And His Metrics

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to another edition of Give and Ovation, the Restaurant Guest Experience Podcast. I'm your host, Zach Coach, and each week I give a chat with industry experts to uncover their strategies and tactics to help you create a five-star guest experience. This podcast is powered by Ovation, the feedback and operations platform built for restaurants. Learn what's actually happening in your restaurants and exactly how to improve while driving revenue. Learn more at ovationf.com. And today we have someone where I bring people on that I kind of fanboy about. You know, like when I brought on Will Gadera, I was just like so excited. When I brought on DDP, I was super stoked. But Steve Drulis is the owner of Resto Vivaldi. And I am so excited to have him on because this guy is unreal. He's got a family-owned restaurant in Montreal, but his social game is fire. 240,000 followers on Instagram, 211,000 followers on TikTok, almost a million subscribers on YouTube, half a billion views, hundreds of videos. My kids, we watch Steve almost every single day. And just to put that in comparison, about like okay, he's again family restaurant in Montreal. And that is about the social following of a five guys, of a Jersey Mike's, of a Wingstop, of a Shake Shack. Steve, how are you doing it, man? That's crazy. I'm doing great, Zach. I'm doing fantastic. Thanks for having me. And this is just unreal numbers that you're posting. Like, why do you think people are resonating so well with the stuff that you're creating?

Why The Videos Took Off

SPEAKER_00 1:41

Well, we talk about that all the time. We weren't sure what because it happened really, really fast. That that was the real shocking part. Is like by video number two, we were already getting pretty viral. And uh then uh we started the YouTube channel. I didn't even know we started the YouTube channel until I did that on his own there. And you know, first hundred thousand subscribers within like a you know a few weeks. Instagram went up 40,000 views on one post. I mean, like it was just going insane. I think at the beginning, maybe we were so relaxed because we didn't really think anybody was gonna see these videos. And I was just trying to like, yeah, I was trying to show like uh a behind-the-scenes look of how we turn and burn in the in the kitchen, and I wasn't gonna swear, and I wasn't gonna try to flex, and I wasn't gonna try to do I just wanted to be myself and try to keep it wholesome. Now, as to why we have more views than of a lot of say big brands, I I think at this point it's probably because we put out more content. I think compared to a lot of the TV chefs that are doing the odd uh short here and there, and the big name brands that are just running ads on their their promotions at a month, we're we're putting out a lot of content. We put a lot of work into it. So I think maybe that now today, why at the beginning? I don't know. Lightning struck. I can't tell you why.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

Well, and and I but I do want to talk about that consistency because when when did you post your first video?

SPEAKER_00 3:00

I'd say it's about a year and a half, a year, you know, a year and three quarters. I think it was uh August or September of 2024.

SPEAKER_02 3:08

Well, and and and you've posted what, like almost 300 videos since then? Yeah, yeah, we're getting we're getting close to 300. Yeah. So what's your schedule like? How do you and Ty work that out?

SPEAKER_00 3:18

So my job is to, I mean, we we talk about everything, so it's it's it's a collaboration between the two of us. I'll I'll try to come up with content that I think people want to watch. I'll run it by him. I think these are good uh good ideas. Then I'll work the recipes throughout the week or throughout the weeks. The early videos I was cooking stuff that I've been cooking for 27 years. Now I'm cooking stuff where I gotta practice, I gotta put together a recipe that when people try it at home, it's gonna taste good. I just don't want it to look good on camera. So when I do my preparation in the morning, so I'll get to work at like eight, nine o'clock in the morning. I'll do my preparation until about noon. Then normally I'm gonna end up in a coffee shop somewhere, sitting down, writing content for a couple hours, and we film everything. We're close Sundays and Mondays here. So Monday mornings like today. Uh we film seven shorts this morning. Oh my gosh. We film on our day off. On my film on my day off. Once we do that, uh everything's in fire's hands after that. Uh, I don't know when the videos are coming out, I don't know what he's posting. Uh I have I see the videos first time you see them.

SPEAKER_02 4:20

It's working, right? And I love by the way, you you are so authentic in these videos. And one of my favorite things is when something works out well, and you've kind of like, you're like, oh wow. Like you almost seem surprised sometimes that it works out.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Well, because because sometimes I'm like, I'll give you an example. Like, we did an English muffin video last week.

SPEAKER_02 4:39

I was gonna say the English muffin video was the one that I was thinking of because when you did it, you were like, Oh wow, these turned out.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

Because I had never cooked it that way before. I practiced it in a cast iron pan, which is the way a lot of people do it. I thought there was a lot of waste that way, and I thought it was too slow, so I wanted to develop an oven way. So I practiced it at home once, and then I put it in my pizza oven for the first time, and I had no idea how it was gonna come out of my pizza oven. We film one take. So I don't have let's say Chipotle budgets. Yeah, we film one take and uh we show our mistakes. Uh look, if a complete if a recipe completely flops, obviously we can't air it. But I was happy because I thought I showed people a way they could cook 6, 12, 18, because all the videos that we're seeing out there, they were all in cast iron pans. I wanted to, and I thought, like I said, slow and wasteful. I was trying to show a way that you could do it fast and efficiently so that it doesn't become burdensome. So when it came out, I was I was happy. Yeah, I was really happy.

Workflow, One Takes, And Volume

SPEAKER_02 5:34

I know that's so funny that you bring that up because that's literally what got me thinking about that, is because you were like, yeah. And I think that authenticity is what people really connect with, is because you are so you, you are not trying to be anyone else. And I think that that's a lot of times people are trying to be something else, they're trying to be what they think social media wants them to be. Besides authenticity, what are some other tips that you would have to restaurant operators that are a little bit concerned with getting their social media going?

SPEAKER_00 6:06

It's a little tricky, right? Because I'm authentic because I wasn't trying to be a content creator. My restaurant is my main business. So then I became a content creator. I don't have the stress of like this is never gonna be my full-time livelihood. You know, the restaurant is, but my advice to anybody trying to do it is yeah, be yourself, try to teach something, try to give a piece of advice and be yourself. People like the behind the scenes look and they like to know that you care about the stuff you're doing. And if you can get that off in a video, it's great. There's a lot of restaurant, like a lot of guys in Montreal started doing videos after I started. They started calling me the OG around here because guys started popping up all over the place trying to do like uh similar style videos. And look, have manage your expectations, have a plan because you'll run through your menu, so it can't just be about your menu items. My plan was never just to promote my restaurant, it was to promote myself as the brand. That way I wouldn't run out of content. Yeah, you know, so that's what worked for us. But I mean, show your product and try to teach something at the same time. I think people are very educated now when it comes to food. That's internet, that's food network before that. You can't fool customers anymore. So show them your best and try to teach them something. Try to teach them something you don't know, you know. So I love that.

SPEAKER_02 7:24

That'd be my advice. And I love that your recipes are also like I look at Kevmo, I also watch his videos, and I think his are like very attainable. It's like, hey, you know, let's open up these cans, let's put it together, and like for a family of six like I have, like a lot of those recipes are good. I think then on the other end, you have like Jack Papon, and I also love to watch cooking at home, but like I don't have 80% of the ingredients that he's cooking with, nor do I want to do the dishes that he's doing. I think you have such an interesting thing because it's like an elevated thing that you can do at home, and I think that you've kind of filled this niche that yeah, Jacques Crapin is fun to watch, but I will never cook any of his dishes. I have sent my wife dozens of yours. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

Well, I guess I it just turned out that that's what I did. The the first time I did a dish and I was family style, and I got my first DM of someone attempting the recipe and telling me how their kids ate everything up, man. That motivated me. Yeah. Because I got two kids. You just told me you're you guys are you have four kids, from my understanding. I mean, you know, we're rotating meals, we're trying to plan the week because we're all busy. And me and my wife struggled with that. Like, what are we eating tonight? You know, like uh they were tired of eating the same stuff, so I'm trying to make exactly that. So you hit the nail on the head when it comes to me because that's a lot of people miss the point. They think when I do like I did a chicken-fried rice recipe, I'm never gonna serve chicken-fried rice in my restaurant.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

Yeah, okay.

Authenticity And Educating Viewers

SPEAKER_00 8:54

But it's a dish that someone can put together at home and feed a whole family with on a budget as well. You know, that's why I'm not working with tomahawks and tenderloins, and I'm not trying to do stuff that I want to do stuff that is accessible to people. That's why I struggle the hardest and work the hardest on my content to try to do stuff that people I think will want to do. So it's not even about the restaurant anymore. The restaurant gets the benefit one way or another. I'm a content creator, you can find. I like Andy Cooks in Australia. Uh-huh. You know, and if ever I was in Australia and I wanted to find him, I probably couldn't.

unknown 9:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

But if ever I'm in Australia and he had a restaurant, I could make a reservation.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

And then that's what happens here. You know, like you know, we have a lot of tourists now, so yeah. So has it helped the restaurant sales? Yes, for sure. Yeah. I was fairly busy before. I came out of COVID a lot stronger than I was, but we took it to another level. Like I we took it to the level that I didn't think was possible. We don't have slow periods anymore. That January slump or that February slump with the bad weather in Canada. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's it doesn't really affect us anymore. Yeah. So that's amazing. It's been it's been better.

unknown 9:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:57

Well, and and I know that I want to get your take on the guest experience, but I know that like you're also not afraid to approach controversy. I mean, I gotta tell you, onions are probably one of the most controversial ingredients outside of cilantro. Onions and cilantro, I think, are the two like most controversial ingredients. And I have you on camera saying onions make every dish better. So you're not afraid to put your toe in some controversy, Steve. Have you gotten any like pushback from audiences?

SPEAKER_00 10:28

I didn't know it was controversial. Uh we look, you've interviews you get pushback on everything, right? Yeah. But I mean, like the base of cooking in most sauces and most soups and most everything else is an onion, right? I just think a lot of people don't know how to use them properly. My kids were eating onions before they even knew that was in the food, right? Yeah, and uh so yeah, it's just it's just one of those things for me. Uh onions, garlic, stalks. I don't over-season and over-herb. I don't like to put too much flavors in a dish. I like the ingredients to speak for themselves to a certain degree. For me, the four or five main ingredients of the food are gonna, when they marry together, are gonna be the flavor. I don't like too many, uh, you're not gonna see me use like a ton of garlic salts and garlic powders. And like I see a lot of people that are very liberal with those spices. I'm like, wow, that's pretty uh that's pretty salty.

SPEAKER_02 11:17

Yeah. Well, I mean, and and to be clear, I love cooked onions. I think cooked onions are phenomenal, but man, like you get me a sandwich with like a raw onion on it, or like a pizza with a raw onion on it. I'm I'm like, give me that crunch and let me run. But again, I think that some of this stuff is all around you take it from the perspective of your viewers. Like, what are my viewers gonna want to do? And I think that similarly in a restaurant, you take it from the perspective of the guest of what do you think from my guest experience?

SPEAKER_00 11:47

It's two things uh the easiest way I can sum it up without getting too long-winded is regardless of what kind of restaurant you are, a fast service, Michelin Star, family restaurant, people are educated, they want value for dollar. It's not about price, it's about are they getting for whatever they spend that they feel they're getting value for their money. Because people are so educated about food, I go, if you can deliver that, okay, then generally you can find success. I don't cook for ego. I was trying to explain to somebody a long time ago, just like a trap that a lot of young uh chefs will fall into, is they're trying to do better than everyone before them. They're trying to elevate more than the person before them. But I'm a big believer that the best stuff has already been invented. So I could come up with a chicken dish with a wild berry balsamic demi-reduction on a chicken scalopini, and I'll make it look good, I'll make it taste pretty good too. But it'll never outsell a chicken marsala, chicken parmesan in the States, uh the chicken franchise, you know. Like you're never gonna beat those classics. And there's a reason they're on so many menus and they're sold so much. I believe the best stuff's been invented. You can refine it a little bit, you can present it a little bit differently, but you know, in my opinion, like the more you simplify the food, then the more longevity you can have. Because once you overcomplicate it, good for one bite, good for two bites, good for one meal, good for two meals. But are you what are you gonna want to go back four or five times to eat that wildberry monstrosity that I just created in my head now that I'm yeah?

Accessible Recipes That Families Cook

SPEAKER_02 13:17

I I love that. I've never thought about that, not cooking for ego, but like really put the guest first, right? You're we're in hospitality, right? It's not about just like creating this dish that one person is gonna think is amazing, but it's about how do we create the best experience for most? I think that's a really good principle. Are there any tips that you've seen in the restaurant that have helped you to improve the guest experience? Either in the restaurant or to go, because I know that you do delivery as well, which talk about cooking for ego. There's a lot of places that like won't do delivery because they're like come in and get it or don't.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

So again, speaking from a family restaurant perspective, we don't have like I would imagine that a big corporate restaurant's gonna have a lot of guidelines, rules, regulations, and training materials, tapes, stuff like that. When we hire staff, we'll say, listen, we're gonna train you, but at the end of the day, we want smiles, we want friendly service, and just pay attention to the customer. It's not us against them. We're in this together. We're not trying to hustle the customer, we're trying to give them a nice meal and we're trying to get paid for it. So at the end of the day, I've always preferred a friendly service to a more formal catered service. If you have good food and friendly service, it'll forgive a lot of little mishaps that might have, and mishaps will happen. I don't care where you go. When I'm working, I just want my my my waiters to like uh normally when we're busy, everyone's dialed in. It's those moments at the end of the rush and before the rush where waiters can be distracted, where I just want to remind them, hey guys, we're here for the customers, not for our conversation. I don't mind you have a good time at work, but let's not forget we got guests in the dining room right now, and let's dial in, you know? And that's it. Like uh for me, it's I used to read a lot of like books when I was younger, a lot of service books. I remember a book called Service That Sells that came out like 25 years ago. And I pick up tidbits here and there, but at the end of the day, value for dollar-friendly service and consistency. Uh, that's always been the big way. If we if we leave out consistency, then we're in trouble. They might like your food, they might not like your food, but be consistent because if enough people like it and you're consistent, you should have longevity, you know.

SPEAKER_02 15:24

So yeah, I love that. I think that consistency we I we often talk about in this podcast the ladder of loyalty, where it starts off with convenience, you got to get them in the door, and then it goes to consistency, which is they need to know what they're gonna get every time they come in. And then it's about connection. How do you build that emotional connection? And in light of that, Steve, do you ever feel like anxious of like, oh my gosh, like all these people are coming in now trying to talk to me because these videos are going viral and people are coming in? Like, does that ever weigh on you, the celebrity nature that you've become?

SPEAKER_00 15:56

It's I still don't feel like I haven't really viewed myself as a celebrity yet, but yes, I do have to like. I mean, I do gotta take a lot of pictures before I leave at the end of the night, and uh, I do gotta go to a law but like I've taught I've been more customers this year than I did in the first 26 years of the restaurant. I'm not anxious about it. I'm more anxious about like I'm uh I grew up where my restaurant is, so I get a lot of schoolmates, a lot of sport mates, oh yeah, a lot of families we know. I want to have a good reputation. Uh, you know, so always making sure that the food and service are on point, that we're community oriented. We do a lot of charity, we do a lot of community outreach. We never say no to a donation. So karma for like this is like the most anti-business thing that I could say on a podcast full of C like on a podcast where I see nothing but CEOs, but I believe in karma. Yeah, you know, man, like uh I do right by others, they'll they'll do right onto you. And that's my only anxiety. I want to make sure I'm doing a good job, and it's not just as a and I I wear a lot of hats as like uh chef, owner, you know, now content creator, accountant, you know. Like there's uh we don't really have like an elaborate system here. Like uh my brother's my partner, uh, we don't see him too too often in the videos, but you know, like a business meeting for us is about a three-second conversation in our office. We make a decision and we move on, you know? And uh like it's it's not very formal. Yeah.

Social Buzz Driving Restaurant Sales

SPEAKER_02 17:14

Well, I love that. And and again, I think it goes back to the the brand and and who you are, which is incredible. So I thank you so much for coming on the podcast. And before we close out, who is someone that you think deserves an ovation? Who's someone that we should be following?

SPEAKER_00 17:29

So Dave McMillan just came out of retirement with another out of restaurant retirement with another chef partner of his, uh Derek Demann. I uh if you know Dave McMillan from Joe Beef and uh formerly from Joe Beef, and they opened a restaurant in the area called the Grill Nature, and they've been doing some fantastic work over there, and then like you know, stepping back into a kitchen with a brand new restaurant after about a four or five year hiatus, he fell right back in and doing a great job over there. So I think besides my staff and my employees who've been doing fast fast, a really great job since for the past few years, especially with the uptick in the restaurant. I'll give an ovation to my staff and I'll give an ovation to a new restaurant in the area with uh probably one of our biggest celebrity chefs in Canada, Dave McMillan. They've been doing uh great job over there. I've been there three times. So my my ovation goes to Dave McMillan. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 18:16

Awesome. Great, great ovation there. Well, Steve, we're teaching us the three rules of social authenticity, consistency, and teach something. Today's ovation goes to you. Thank you so much for joining us on Givenovation, Steve at Vivaldi. Thanks so much, Zach, for uh with the block.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

Thanks for joining us today. If you like 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 estimate with an actionable guest feedback platform built for multiple unit restaurants. If you'd like to learn how we can help you measure and create a better guest experiment, visit us at ovationup.com.