585: Akash Kapoor on Using Expectation to Keep Your People Happy.

Hailing from Ranchi, India, Akash Kapoor started studying business communication, law, finance, and economics in the mid 80's. In the summer of 2009 after being inspired by Roi Choi's Kogi BBQ trucks, Akash and a few of his friends immediate got to work planning their Indian street food concept. Two months later, Curry Up Now was officially in business. 10 years later, Kapoor and his team has scaled the operation to, at one point 5 food trucks, 6 brick and mortar locations and the team also started accepting franchisees into their model. To date they are developing 41 total locations.

Show notes…

Favorite success quote or mantra:

"Status quo sucks. There has to be change."

"If you don't get better you get worse."

In this episode with Akash Kapoor, we discuss:

• Challenging the status quo. don't just accept things how they are.
• When developing your brand, really digging at what makes you different.
• Why its worth taking care of your employees.
• Never turning people away, even if you're closed.
• How in today's market, it has never been easier to exceed guest expectation, because they bar has been set so low.
• Some of the reasons why the bar for hospitality and service has been set so low.
• The story behind Curry Up Now.
• Having a, "failures not an option mentality." and just knowing in your gut that it will work.
• Scaling into your business VS going all in on day one.
• Being super cautious about hiring the right people. Imagine who your perfect employee is, then hiring for those attributes.
• Having clear expectations.
• Staying ahead of the curve with your brand.
• Being mindful of how you can remove barriers the barriers between your guests and your food.
• How to maintain the quality of your brand and culture while you scale.
• Using technology to keep your presence and values top of mind at all of your restaurants.

Today's sponsor:

Gusto offers modern, easy payroll, benefits, and HR to small businesses across the country — they were even named best online payroll by PCMag. And as a listener, you'll get three months free when you run your first payroll. Sign up and give it a try at Gusto.com/unstoppable. 

BentoBox helps restaurants grow their business through a connected suite of tools, offering them an integrated website to connect with their guests and drive revenue online. Restaurant owners and operators are able to easily update menus, promote specials, take catering and event inquiries, sell merchandise, gift cards and more.

Revel Systems integrates front of house and back of house operations into a single dashboard. Designed to increase security, stability, ease of use, and speed of service, Revel's streamlined ecosystem provides businesses with the right tools to grow. Learn more at revelsystems.com/unstoppable.

Knowledge bombs

1. Which "it factor" habit, trait, or characteristic you believe most contributes to your success?
   • Getting better everyday.
2. What is your biggest weakness?
   •  Having high expectations from his team.
3. What's one question you ask or thing you look for during an interview?
   1. They have got to love food.
4. What's a current challenge? How are you dealing with it?
   1. Making sure there is someone in each one of his restaurants who cares about as much as he does.
5. Share one code of conduct or behavior you teach your team.
   • If you take care of people the people will take care of your P&L.
6. What is one uncommon standard of service you teach your staff?
   • Touch your guest at least 5 times (fast casual concept).
7. What's one book we must read to become a better person or restaurant owner?
   GET THIS BOOK FOR FREE AT AUDIBLE.COM 
   • Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business. 
8. What's the one thing you feel restaurateurs don't know well enough or do often enough?
   • Take care of their guests.
9. What's one piece of technology you've adopted within your four walls restaurant and how has it influence operations?
   1. Revel
   2. C-tuit
10. If you got the news that you'd be leaving this world tomorrow and all memories of you, your work, and your restaurants would be lost with your departure with the exception of 3 pieces of wisdom you could leave behind for the good of humanity, what would they be?
    1. getting better with your values
    2. taking care of your employees and they will take care of your guest. 

Contact info:

CurryUpNow.com

Thanks for listening!

Thanks so much for joining today! Have some feedback you'd like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for the Restaurant Unstoppable Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them.

And finally, don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates.

Huge thanks to Akash Kapoor for joining me for another awesome episode. Until next time!

Restaurant Unstoppable is a free podcast. One of the ways I'm able to make it free is by earning a commission when sharing certain products with you. I've made it a core value to only share tools, resources, and services my guest mentors have recommend, first. If you're finding value in my podcast, please use my links!