Welcome And Sponsor Message

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to another edition of Give Novation, the restaurant guest experience podcast. I'm your host, Zach Oates, and each week I 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 AI feedback and operations platform built for multi-unit restaurants. Learn what's actually happening in your restaurants and exactly how to improve while driving revenue. Learn more at ovationup.com. And today we have Melissa Dulankaney. She has a brain of diamonds and a heart of gold, and she is involved in so many different things around the industry, from being the founder and principal of Elevate 4, which I'm excited to uh to have her chat a little bit more about, but she's also the chairman of the board of the Texas Restaurant Association Foundation, where we recently got to hang out in Texas and excited to do so again. And she's on the board and advising so many different amazing restaurants and tech companies. But Melissa was actually born into the restaurant industry. I mean, she has been in this space, especially as a tech vendor, maybe more longer than any other tech person in this industry because her parents, well, actually, you know what? You tell the story, Melissa. Why have you like been born with this spoon in your mouth, just getting fed the restaurant industry?

SPEAKER_00 1:22

Well, Zach, it's amazing how much I've done at the age of 21. I know.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Good for you. Look, when you get to be my age, Melissa, it becomes less impressive every year. But uh at your age, yes, it's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 1:34

I think I might be a little bit older than you, but I appreciate it. And Zach, thank you so much for having me. I love all that you do. I think you are such a breath of fresh air, and you care so much about this industry and the people in it. And I just have always been very fond of you for all that you do for the industry. And you're right, you and I just got to hang out because you just joined the board of the Texas Restaurant Association. So thrilled to have you be a part of it. But a little bit about my background, you're absolutely right. I was born with like a fork, a knife, and a spoon in my mouth. I was uh lucky enough to be both of my parents were general managers at Steak and Ale back in the day. So the old school Steak and Ale, Norman Brinker, who is a Titan in our industry. If anybody's done any research, I appreciate if any of you younger people in this in this industry do a little bit of AI research on Norman Brinker, you'll find that this man really did found the idea of casual dining. So many great leaders came out of the ideals that Norman Brinker brought to the table. And he was incredible at finding leadership. And so my mom was the first female general manager of a steak and ale. My dad grew up in the steak and ale days. Later on, he went to go run TGR Fridays and Buco de Beppo and La Madeline. He took TJ Fridays from just a couple hundred restaurants to almost a thousand internationally as well. So he's got a great story of back in the heyday really moving TJ Fridays to be that place that we all hung out back in the day. And then my stepmom founded a little company called People Report that turned into black box intelligence. I was lucky to work with her and uh my dad for almost 20 years and building out that organization. So it's been a thrill of a lifetime to be able to work with my family and um build something that I was really proud of, not only from an organization standpoint, but we have been a family that has always given back ourselves and really built organizations and leaders with that in mind.

Why Elevate 4 Exists

SPEAKER_01 3:55

And I think that just right to show the fact that you've built that trust and the fact that black box is still around, I think is a testament to the fact that you're working to solve real problems with real people and you've really continued that into the next phase of your career. So talk to us a little bit about Elevate 4.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

Yeah. So Elevate 4 was born a couple of years ago, believe it or not. I left Black Box Intelligence, and I'm gonna be really honest with you, Zach. I didn't have a game plan. I was gonna take the summer off and really figure it out, and then the phone started ringing, and I started to gain some clients that have become really great friends. And I named the company Elevate 4 because I'm very, very passionate about elevating people, principles, and profits in our industry. As you can probably tell by my passion, and you've known me for a long time. This industry means so much to me. We're the largest industry outside of the U.S. government. I get really excited about the impact that we as an industry can make on people's lives. And that comes through the cultures we build, through the technology and through the leadership that we display and the service that we provide. So I am so excited to have built my own company and doing that. And I do everything from working with restaurateurs to tech companies on helping them elevate the four part. I should have uh said this, the four part is a little bit of a play. So it's elevating for all those things, but it's also a nod to my four daughters, which Zach, you and I have had those many conversations around being working parents, but I have four amazing daughters, and so it was a little bit of a play on word to be able to do a nod to uh what I would like to do in this industry, as well as a little bit to my daughters.

Relationships Over Transactions

SPEAKER_01 5:47

Oh man, I love that. And because at the end of the day, this is the thing I always remind people yes, I want to help everyone in this industry, and I want to build value and I want to do good, but at the end of the day, this is all like it's all monopoly. And what really matters are the relationships that we gain along the way, and it's our family and it's our friends, and it's the lifelong friends that I've gained in this industry. It's like that's incredible to me. And those are the things that matter. That's what it means to win. And building value along the way, I think, is critical, but I think it's a oftentimes the relationships are looked at as a byproduct of that. I look at it as the meaning of it and why we do it. I think that's so critical. I love, I think that's why we gel so much, is because it's like, I mean, even when we were at competing companies, like we were still friends because it's like, yeah, okay, great, they're gonna go with you, they're gonna go with us. But at the end of the day, it's like, I think you're a great person, and I love what you stand for, and I think that makes a big difference. And so, one of the questions I have is as you start to work with these tech companies and these restaurants, let's do two questions. So, with tech companies and with restaurants separately, what do you say to them? What are some low-hanging fruits that you see that they should do to improve the experience of their customers? For the tech company, it's gonna be the restaurants, for the restaurants, it's gonna be the guest.

Clarity For Brands And Tech

SPEAKER_00 7:07

Yes. Well, I think, you know, it's so interesting. I think I go back to the basics here, and I know that is so boring, but I think people are reinventing the basics, but clarity is king, and that is from a standpoint of understanding the clarity of your value proposition of your brand, whether that be a restaurant brand or technology brand, right? What is the value that you bring to the table and what are you solving for, whether it's convenience or an incredible night out with your family, or is it around the technology that you're bringing to make it easier and better for employees and your customers? So I always go back to the clarity piece and the really understanding it. I think there's so many technology companies out there right now, and there's so much change happening. And so it's fascinating to see the companies that are diving in and really, really trying to partner with the industry. And a lot of that is listening. So I think those that are really trying to understand the pain points, really under trying to understand where opportunity lies and working as a true partner, you're seeing that play off really, really well. And and Zach, I think you've done a great job with that. And I think you're totally right. I think relationships really matter in this industry more than ever. I mean, when you have hundreds and hundreds of tech companies pitching you, I was just having this conversation with a good friend who's a CFO, and he said, you know, if I could count how many emails I get, and I mean, you can send emails all day long, but if you're not providing value and people don't understand it and there's no clarity around it, then you're not gonna build relationships there that really, really matter.

Culture Starts With Employees

SPEAKER_01 8:57

I love that. And I think that makes so much sense. And so as you're thinking about these restaurants, what are some mistakes that you've seen in your career about like restaurants focusing on the wrong thing? And what should they be focusing on?

SPEAKER_00 9:11

Well, I think the probably the biggest thing that I have seen that is so easy to change is culture and taking care of your employees. If you take care of your employees, they're taking care of your customers.

SPEAKER_01 9:25

How do you do that though when like margins are just getting compressed here, Melissa? We're dying out here. We can't take price anymore, but all of my hard costs have gone up and now labor's even going up. Like, how do I take care of my people when my margin is just getting crammed on both sides?

Invest In The General Manager

SPEAKER_00 9:43

I feel so much for operators today because I think it is harder and harder to operate than ever before. So I think there's one place where I think you can get the biggest bang for your buck that is super, super important to focus on when things get really crazy. And that is your general manager. When you start to think about where you can invest, that is going to be the biggest ROI in your business. The thing that makes the biggest difference on customers coming back or not, it is having an exceptional general manager and keeping exceptional general managers because they can be the thing that helps you on your turnover with your hourly employees. They can also be the solution providers in that tight market that know how to handle it and what to do there. So I always go back to where I think the most important role in an entire restaurant brand is that general manager. And a lot of times we tend to forget about them and sometimes we dump on them. We just dump on them. And we forget that they're running multimillion dollar concepts a lot of times. Like these are very hard to run. So let's pour as much as we can into giving them the tools they need, uh, the resources they need, and then really listening to them and understanding what is successful and not. And I always say this we have done not a great job of investing in development of general managers. And I think there's a great opportunity for us to do more and more in that area.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

Have you seen, do you have any advice of people who have done a good job investing in the GMs and what they've done? And you don't have to name any like specific names, but just like more of the tactics.

SPEAKER_00 11:34

Well, I think it you start to see some incredible restaurant brands. Like, I mean, these are no secret ones. Uh everybody knows who they are because they have the results are shown. But look at Texas Roadhouse, look at Chick-fil-A, let's take full service and uh quick service, right? Like both of them pay their managers really, really well. Both of them treat their managers like owners, like they're owning that restaurant that is their domain, and they're there to support them. I remember the first time I visited Chick-fil-A offices, and I have been working in this industry forever. And this first time I hear their corporate team talking about their operating partners being the ones that they're there to support, we are here to serve and support them. It's not the opposite. And wow, like that was just game-changing for me in a thought process because a lot of times it's corporate talking down to the managers and they look at it as bottom-up, like our general managers, our operating partners are telling us everything that we need to do up here. That's incredible.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

And it's so easy to get that turned around because you look at especially the franchisee franchiser relationship, there's such contention there because oh, you're never doing enough for me versus it's like, oh man, you're just a bunch of complainers. And to flip that around and to have that love there and to have that like that real servant leader attitude, I think is so powerful. And I've seen it in amazing brands, boots on the ground. Like I look at Dave's hot chicken, and I was talking with Bill Phelps and one of the franchisees, he was telling one of the franchisees, came up to him and said, Bill, you lied to me. And he was like, Whoa, that's like coming in hot, man. He's like, What do you mean I lied to you? He goes, You told me this was gonna be a good investment, and he's like, Yeah, I did. And he goes, You lied. This is an amazing investment, and it was just so cool to see that connection and that gratitude for really believing that they have their backs, and I think that those brands shine through because the franchisees they want to work with them, they want to figure it out, they know that they've got their back, and I think that's so powerful. And and I know that you work with so many different brands right now, and I know we don't have time to like shout them all out, but one of them that I did want to talk about and make sure that was on people's radars is Cafe Momentum, which sounds super cool. Tell us about Cafe Momentum.

Servant Leadership Brand Examples

Cafe Momentum And Second Chances

SPEAKER_00 14:12

Yeah, so Cafe Momentum is a restaurant that was uh started here in Dallas, Texas, where I live. Uh, and an incredible chef who just got named as the James Beard Award uh nominee for Humanitarian of the Year, his name's Chadhauser. He started this restaurant in Dallas. He's now uh has restaurants and flagships in Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and Denver. And these restaurants are fine dining restaurants. They're beautiful restaurants. If you have one in your city or you're traveling to that city, I highly encourage you to try them out. The food is fantastic. But what makes it even more special is that all of the employees that Chad and the team hire are all second chance youth. So these are all kids that are first offenders that he takes in and they do a full 18-month program where they learn the skills of back in the house in front of the house, but they also learn life skills. And the recidivism rate for these kids are incredible. These kids do not go back into the system. They are given purpose, they are given a chance, and it's amazing to see these kids flourish. And so it's been a lot of fun to see Chad grow this. And now that it's growing more um nationally, it's really, really exciting to see. And so I'm really proud to be on the board and support them as they grow even more.

Who To Follow And Get Involved

SPEAKER_01 15:40

And what an amazing concept of doing good while doing well, right? And I think that the fact that they can create food that's good enough to be a nominee and a James Beard nominee and be helping people out. I look at that and I'm just like, that's where it's at, right? That is that is the best of both worlds, and really looking at people first and not just doing it as a result of tax breaks, but doing it as like foundationally to give people a second chance. And that recidivism rate, that is one of the things that I feel like we are failing people who enter into our legal system. And when you have this opportunity to believe in them, I think that's what it comes out of. It's a it's a cycle that just sucks them back in because there's so little hope that they can get out because so few people do it. And so that's incredible. So anyway, just I just wanted to make sure that was on everyone's radar to check out Cafe Momentum. Love that concept. Now, as we're wrapping up here, Melissa, obviously, you know everyone in the industry and everyone knows you, but who is someone that we should be following? Who is someone that deserves an ovation?

SPEAKER_00 16:55

Oh my gosh, Zach, you didn't tell me you were gonna do that. There's so many people. I have a hard time picking one person, but I think I'm gonna just call this out, although I do think that um she's becoming somebody that everybody follows these days. And it's really what I'm excited to work on with you for the next couple of years, and that's Emily Williams Knight from the Texas Restaurant Association. And she is an incredibly phenomenal leader, and I have learned so much from her being on her board and seeing her leadership style and just the amazing work she has done for industry, not just here in Texas, but nationally. I really believe she is leading the way in the way association work is done for industry and really making an impact in a really big way. So she is not on your radar. I highly suggest you follow her. Um, and I suggest that you support your state association as well because they're doing a lot of great work on behalf of all of us.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

And especially Texas. I mean, I see what Texas is doing, and uh I mean, they are like the amount of work that Texas that the TRA is doing for restaurants in Texas is mind-blowing. So, anyway, so check that out.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

Zach, just real quick, is that before I joined Black Box Intelligence, I worked for the National Restaurant Association. And so I got involved because I fell in love with the foundation work. So we have a pro start school to career program. I highly encourage, like, get involved in your state association, find these students because these are the next generation. These should be the students that you're employing. But I think a lot of people don't know about the great work that happens there because we're so busy and going. But I encourage you guys to all look at it because it really is an incredible foundation for industry that we desperately need from a policy standpoint to an education standpoint, et cetera.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

I love that. And and I think that they pick someone so well to be at the helm of that, Melissa. So a couple of questions. Where do people go if they want to get involved with the Texas Restaurant Foundation?

SPEAKER_00 19:08

Yeah, well, in this world, you can uh go to ChatGPT and ask that question and um and you got it, but it's the website and you can search Texas Restaurant Association. The foundation part is a whole separate entity, and you can go on the website and see where the foundation work is done. There's a ton of ways to get involved, and then you can reach out to Zach or I. We'll lead you to the right places too, right?

SPEAKER_01 19:34

We will that we will. And how do people find and follow you, Melissa?

How To Connect And Closing

SPEAKER_00 19:38

You can find me on LinkedIn, Melissa Doolankaney, and I would love to see it. My email is easy, melissa.do linkaney at gmail.com, and it's do l-in k o e h-n-e. So uh, Zach, thank you so much. You're such an amazing person, and I just love the energy you put into all the things you do, and I'm so proud to be your friend.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

Oh, well, thank you, Melissa. And I'm so grateful for you taking some time to hang out with us and for giving us a bite of wisdom from your fork, knife, and spoon that you were born with and your buffet of wisdom. Today's ovation goes to you. Thank you for joining us on Give an Ovation, Melissa. Thank you, Zach. 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 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 ovationup.com.