Today I was meeting with the owners of the two casinos where I was opening my two latest restaurants. It was an ambitious move on my part, opening not one but two spots in Vegas at the same time.
“Anyone else trying this move, I would’ve said they were crazy as hell,” Isaac stated as he sat next to me.
“But you already know I am a little bit crazy.” I didn’t bother to look up from my phone as I typed my response back to Bryce.
“To be this successful you’ve got to be at least a little crazy.”
I chuckled.
“I’ve heard that before. Now, tell me something I haven’t heard. Tell me about Rossi’s employees.” It’d been Isaac’s responsibility to do some maneuvering to make sure Rossi’s employees were ready to jump ship, and I had it planned out that they would swim right over to me, as my employees.
“He’s losing employees faster than theTitanic.”
“And we’re rescuing them, right?”
“Of course.”
“Good.”
We rode in silence most of the way to the hotel where we were staying, which just so happened to be where one of the restaurants was scheduled to open. Within thirty minutes I was entering my hotel suite on the top floor with a spectacular view of the strip below. Despite the magnificence of the room, I wasn’t there to indulge in luxury. I was there to get some shit done. Even before unpacking I pulled out both my laptop and tablet, plugged them up at the desk in my spacious bedroom and began printing out the reports Bryce had emailed me earlier, thanks to the in-room printer I’d requested ahead of time. After that task was completed, I spent another hour or so finalizing some other issues that needed addressing, and confirmed my dinner appointment for that night, not too far from the hotel. As I stood to stretch, there was a knock on my door.
I strolled to the door, checking the peephole and seeing that it was Isaac before opening.
“You ready?”
“Yeah, let me grab these reports. You have the copies for everyone else, right?”
“In my bag.”
“Cool. Let’s go.”
Within the next twenty minutes, I was seated in a huge conference room amongst two owners of the hotel and casino I was currently staying in, as well as the two owners of a hotel and casino within walking distance. Both their businesses would house my new restaurants, and our meeting was to discuss exactly when we’d begin renovations.
“I must say, Mr. Grant, your reputation precedes you,” Daniel, one of the owners stated as we all settled in. Though I’d met many of the members of this group on numerous occasions over the last eighteen months, this was my first time meeting Daniel.
“I’m glad to hear it.” I slid the report out in front of me before standing. “Let’s get down to business, shall we, gentlemen?”
Over the next few hours, we spent time negotiating contracts, hours of operation, menu ideas, design and spacing, and all the big and little details that go into making a restaurant. We were now in the phase of hashing out the more minor and persistent details, and it took digging my heels in when the owners didn’t want to comply. Especially on one particular issue.
“No way, we can’t pay the staff those wages.”
“Then this has all been a waste of time,” I answered back.
Jeff, one of the owners who normally wore his poker face pretty well, looked at me as if I were insane, before putting his casual expression back in place.
“You’ve got to be kidding, Xavier. You know the typical hourly rate for wait staff, and you want to double that—?”
“More than double,” I pointed out. The hourly salary I was planning on paying staff was more than double the typical hourly wage.
“And you don’t expect this to cut into your profits? I mean, we’ll win, either way, seeing as how we’re earning a twenty percent cut off the top, regardless,” Daniel interjected.
I nodded in agreement. “Right and what I know more than you gentleman is how to run a successful restaurant.” Emphasis placed on the wordsuccessful. “I know wait staff like the back of my hand, and I know how to avoid employee turnover. I’ve found that when you treat employees well and pay them generous wages, we reduce the amount of turnover and increase loyalty. Meaning, we have more employees willing to go above and beyond.
“Now, I know you’re all astute businessmen. I’m sure you wouldn’t be in this room if you weren’t.” I paused looking around into the eyes of each person in the room. “So, far be it for me to tell any one of you how to conduct your business. But, as for me and mine? I’ve built a multimillion dollar business off of learning from experience, and in my experience treating others the way they want to be treated is the way to go. And that includes high wages. And if we can’t agree on that, then we can’t agree on anything else, and we’ve all wasted the months we’ve put into these projects.”
It was a huge risk, but one I was willing to take. I wouldn’t back down. I was a businessman, sure enough, but I also stuck to my core beliefs when it came to running my company.
Looking around the room, I watched the stony faces of the men. They were just as astute and sure of themselves as I was. I wasn’t going to intimidate them into backing down, but I knew they were logical as well. I’d talked about reducing turnover and increased employee loyalty, which all amounted to decreased profit loss for the business in the long run. And yes, what Daniel had said was true, they would make a profit off my restaurants either way, because they would be housing them. However, if my restaurants failed, they’d be out profits for the time it would take to open up a new restaurant, which could take months or even years. Thus, it was mutually beneficial for us to make this work.
