A simpler way to pay vendors and contractors: https://go.melio.com/upflip

Chef Vinny has been a restaurant owner for 40 years, and he did just about every job you can think of in the restaurant industry along the way. Now he’s sharing how to open a restaurant with a shoe-string budget and grow it to 7-figure yearly revenue.

At 17, Chef Vinny got his first food industry job, working the graveyard shift at a chicken processing plant. Within 2 years he’d advanced to management, experience that would prove valuable when he pivoted to opening a restaurant of his own.

Chef Vinny built Honey’s Kettle Fried Chicken from the ground up. He’ll explain how he built a brand around his new business and his tips for successful restaurant marketing. We’ll also learn about how he chose his location, developed his recipes, and all the other details of how to start a restaurant business as a new entrepreneur.

Honey’s Kettle has become a true family business. Chef Vinny and his wife run the restaurant business, and his son has also been working for them since he was a kid. We’ll hear their secrets to successful restaurant management and how they’ve built a team that feels like a family, even for those members of it Chef Vinny’s not related to.

In 40 years of business, Honey’s Kettle has had a lot of successes, but also its fair share of setbacks and mistakes. We’ll hear Chef Vinny’s insights into why restaurants fail and how he’s overcome the challenges of growing a restaurant startup into a 7-figure business.

If you want more insights into how to start a restaurant, check out our past interviews:

How I Turned My Last $5 into $10,000,000 ►
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmviDvmh5js

How to Make $1.7M/Year in Restaurant Business ►
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAZeAV05KLw

Resources
https://go.melio.com/upflip - A simpler way to pay vendors and contractors
https://honeyskettle.com/ - Learn more about Honey’s Kettle on their website
https://www.upflip.com/academy - Start, Build & Grow Your Business
https://www.upflip.com/blog/how-to-start-a-restaurant - UpFlip blog post with more advice on how to start a 7-figure restaurant
https://www.upflip.com/courses - Get step-by-step guidance to start a business with UpFlip’s courses
https://www.upflip.com/equipment-list - UpFlip's Premier Equipment List

Timestamps:
00:00 - START
00:53 - Meeting Chef Vinny
02:05 - First job
03:12 - Culver’s city location
04:00 - Financing
06:03 - Fan blitz
08:39 - Lessons as a teenager
09:42 - New menu items
10:56 - Revenue
13:28 - Challenges opening
15:00 - Startup costs
17:11 - Working with family
19:34 - Ingredients
20:06 - Paid advertising
21:31 - Standing out from competitors
22:34 - Starting Honey’s Kettle
23:20 - Getting started in the food industry
25:07 - Starting from scratch vs. franchising
26:35 - Things to avoid in business
28:12 - Customer feedback
29:12 - Proudest moment
30:42 - Final thoughts
31:47 - Outro

#friedchicken #restaurant #food