- 7 minutes ago
Super Bowl Champion Ndamukong Suh has partnered with Craveworthy Brands founder Gregg Majewski to invest in people through hospitality. Together, they combine Suh’s leadership mindset with Majewski’s restaurant expertise to create opportunity across emerging concepts and growing franchise teams.
Watch now to learn about Suh’s belief in opportunity, his partnership with Craveworthy, and how he is shifting his impact from the field to the hospitality world.
Sponsored by:
• TOAST - All-In-1 Restaurant POS: https://bit.ly/3vpeVsc
Watch now to learn about Suh’s belief in opportunity, his partnership with Craveworthy, and how he is shifting his impact from the field to the hospitality world.
Sponsored by:
• TOAST - All-In-1 Restaurant POS: https://bit.ly/3vpeVsc
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NewsTranscript
00:00so the managers asked me to go sign their their athlete wall because i hadn't done it
00:03and he's a big chicago fan and he's like we hate you and all that much love in chicago
00:09welcome to restaurant influencers presented by entrepreneur i'm your host sean walchef this is
00:28a cali bbq media production we are coming to you live from crave con in chicago illinois greg majuski
00:36and dama can sue what's going on i cannot believe how cool the opportunity is i turned my barbecue
00:42business into a media business now i get to cover events all over the country we have millions of
00:47people that have tuned into our show greg you've been on our show three times now yeah you're like
00:52the heavyweight the heavyweight bringing in the the storytelling um in life in the restaurant business
00:58and in the new creator economy we learn through lessons and stories today we're going to hear
01:03the indomitian sue story and why he believes in restaurants why he's investing in restaurants
01:08why he's partnered with craveworthy uh indomitian sue i'm going to start with my favorite random
01:13question which is where in the world is your favorite stadium stage or venue stadium stage
01:19or venue uh i'm going to go within paris and i don't remember the name of the stadium but
01:25i remember watching um jay-z and kanye west perform um it was bleep in paris and uh obviously that's an
01:36iconic song so uh it was it was a great time to be able to be front stage backstage and all the above
01:42okay we're gonna go to paris we're gonna do a keynote for you mic drop uh indomitian sue and i want to know
01:49what's your restaurant thesis uh my restaurant thesis oh um give me a little bit more insight of
01:56of what my restaurant thesis because i think we could go in a lot of different so you invest you
02:00you are a prolific invest investor warren buffett is your advisor yeah bring me into why you believe
02:07in restaurants why you put your money into restaurants not only your money but your mind and
02:11your time uh i didn't get this big without eating uh first and foremost uh secondly i mean food is is
02:18key to everything in life it's health uh it's wealth and there's an opportunity to change people's
02:24lives uh and and for greg and i were just talking about this backstage uh earlier on coming come to
02:31here but being able to change people's lives uh one of the the companies that is a part of craveworthy
02:37now uh that a close now close friend but at the time was just meeting her a couple years ago and
02:43sam and she's just been killing it being successful and she comes up to me and i'm like what's wrong
02:48she's crying but she's happy with tears because she got an opportunity to not only be a part of the
02:53crave family but really reach her passion and being able to run her own restaurant so uh and i was a part
02:59of that cog in the wheel but she's doing all the hard work greg bring me bring us into the the
03:06story of meeting and dominican why you so why we are where we are right now because somebody begged
03:14me to go up and meet with him and uh i had no desire i was busy we had enough on our plate and
03:21he had a couple restaurants that he wanted someone to look at and he has a common friend
03:26and an investor in craveworthy is the guy and he goes just go up and see him and spend some time i'm
03:32like all right fine i'll go do this i was gonna say no no way i was doing this and he picks me up
03:39and we spent the day together and i realized man is brilliant but not what i saw on tv and not the
03:46player and he really really has this heart where he wants to give back and he wants to reward people
03:53and he wants to see people be successful and those are all the same talking points and feelings and
03:58values that i have at craveworthy so we hit it off and then that sort of has now gone to being
04:04partners and him being an investor in craveworthy his brand is now part of our family and his story
04:11and his manager is part of what we're trying to do and make special at craveworthy you were here
04:16when we announced that our goal is a hundred thousand restaurant success stories in the next 10 years
04:22you know we want to be the place where gms get to become franchise owners where dishwashers get
04:28promoted to be gms and area managers it's not about us having the returns or the investment or the
04:37money that all comes if the teams become successful and that's what we're driving for and this is he has
04:43those same values as i do building a championship team you guys spoke about it at the keynote we're going
04:48to put a link into that conversation was uh incredible you had the whole entire audience
04:53engaged um lots of takeaways but building a championship doesn't happen without people on
05:01the outside hating on your idea and i think you know this is a show for restauranteurs we know that
05:06we're big dreamers we know that when we share those dreams with friends family advisors they go
05:11restaurant business really yeah why restaurant business yeah there's one i think all good things are
05:17going to uh come with challenges and i think there's going to be trials and tribulations and
05:21and as you continue to move forward through those then you start to change the the thesis and the
05:27people uh people's mindsets and it's just people usually gravitate towards the things that are easy
05:32uh and i think the best things are always going to be challenging and find a way to be successful
05:37within those and that's where you set yourself apart and that's what i saw in greg and so i see in
05:42craveworthy uh they are different beasts different animal that wants to find creative
05:47ways to make make not only people successful but guide them into that success and and with a
05:52helping hand and expertise and things that they've learned throughout the their time and greg's got a
05:57ton of experience which i'm fortunate enough to be able to be have a very close lens to did you know
06:03that toast powers over 140 000 restaurants across the united states canada and uk it's an incredible
06:11company i'm on the toast customer advisory board they are proud sponsors of this show restaurant
06:16influencers we couldn't do it without their support they power our barbecue restaurants in san diego
06:21if you have questions about toast if you're thinking about bringing toast on to be your primary
06:27technology partner at your restaurants please reach out to me i'm happy to get a local toast
06:32representative to take care of you you can reach me at sean p welchef on instagram once again thank you
06:38to toast for believing in the power of technology the power of storytelling the power of hospitality
06:43back to the show so we built a media company on top of our barbecue business we obviously help
06:50craveworthy get their story out to the world uh you recently launched a podcast called no free lunch
06:57yeah it's a shout out to my economics teacher in high school tin stoffel the economic theory no free
07:02lunch that was long before my my restaurant days but uh share share the idea of of being your own media
07:08company yeah i think it's having a a lens to be able to speak uh and unbiasedly i think that's
07:15something that early on in my career i dealt with a lot of uh good and bad media uh i was fortunate
07:22enough to to have a great relationship with nike i was in ton of commercials and all these different
07:27particular pieces um and did a bunch of media deals here and there uh but obviously there was a
07:34two-edged sword people didn't know me and i think that's something that that influenced greg's opinion
07:39early on as you say uh and gave me a bad lens but also at the same time uh it also was something that
07:47gave me awareness but now i'm being able to hold that story and control that story myself but also be
07:54able to give those lessons that i've learned through that process on no free lunch and being able to share
07:58that with other people around the world and around the country you do know that if you just had a
08:04different colored jersey on i know that look how we feel about rodman now yeah for sure no and it's
08:11it's interesting because you look at it from this perspective and and and i and i give credit to greg
08:16from the standpoint of he actually took the meeting most people wouldn't even took in the meeting yeah
08:20and that's where i think there's a difference of people get to know people before you judge them
08:26and he had a bias but it was unknown so he said hey even though i had this bias because he played
08:32for the detroit lions and they kicked our butt all the time all the time i still want to meet him to
08:37see if he changes my opinion based on me actually having a real interaction with him and that's
08:41usually how it ends up happening so we believe a rising tide lifts all ships greg you've i mean just
08:47in the time that we've been working together the brands that you're accumulating the attention
08:50that crave worthy brands as how are you going to say no to the people that want to be a part of
08:56this portfolio so i don't know if you ever say no because we want to give back to this industry
09:01so i may not be able to have every brand that comes be part of our family because it's not the
09:07right fit but that doesn't mean i'm saying no to them i have promised from my mentors and everything
09:13else that i will not be that guy that hides or not helps or gets people where they're going so i mentor
09:21other restauranteers i have given advice to some of the biggest ceos in the industry right now
09:25because that's what my job is my job is to make this industry special and i'm going to do
09:32everything i can to make sure we're all successful there's enough for everybody i'm going to be a
09:35little bit better than everybody else but we're going to make this an industry where it's exciting
09:41to be a part of and this last two days i mean we changed someone's lives because we gave them a
09:47ten thousand dollar scholarship yeah um we're going to continue to give people the opportunities
09:52and the chance to do just different things that they never thought of family yeah family ties all
10:01of us together we're all fathers up here i'm fortunate that my wife is home taking care of my
10:06walter wolf pack i know how much family means to you can you share about your your wife and her her
10:11adventure into the into the bar business yeah uh it's been an interesting one uh i think there's
10:17been uh a lot of heartache on her side uh and obviously having to to guide her through those
10:24different things and obviously greg's been amazing mentor to her which uh she's learning and
10:29understanding like yes you have the appetite to be able to go into it but there's also things that
10:35you need to learn and understand through it and it's not always going to be roses and a lot of
10:40excitement uh and where where she's super creative is where she wants to be and she's now find her
10:48found her niche and so now she's found her strengths and her weaknesses and now she knows where she needs
10:53that support versus thinking that things are just going to automatically come in and be uh and it's a
10:58tough industry it's i mean it's a people industry so not all people get along not all people have the
11:02same work ethic and those are the things that you have to learn and exercise and she's got some great
11:07people that are that have been hurt with her through thick and thin um and she does it as being a great
11:13mom but at the same time i gotta be able to i gotta go play dad because she's going to the to her lounge
11:18and being successful so vice versa it works hand in hand and to her credit there's a ton of people
11:25that love what's going on and they can see the vision alongside her which i think that's what continues
11:31to feel her you shared a powerful story about your father from the stage what do you hope one day your
11:37twin boys share from the stage about you um i think one of them uh did it last night actually i was at
11:45nike town uh and this is just a small piece but i was at nike town and uh here in chicago and we were
11:52having just running around getting some clothes actually for them and some some slippers and we the guy
11:58asked me uh one of the leaders the managers asked me to go sign their their athlete wall because i
12:03hadn't done it and he's a big chicago fan and he's like we hate you and all i was like yeah
12:07so he takes us to the room my boys come with me uh and i'm i'm sitting there reading the wall to them
12:17and it's all about being champ building uh championship specifications that's what nike's all
12:22about for for their athletes and i point to my boys and say hey that's michael jordan that's who
12:28daddy aspires to be like and when he was playing and my son kingston was like dad you're a champion
12:33already and so it's like them being able to see that in me and take that as a part of themselves
12:40in whatever they do whether it's sports business anything and everything i want them to have that
12:44championship mentality and that leading leadership mentality as well greg what does it mean to you
12:50here this first cravecon conference to get all of the brands that has happened what 36 months
12:57is that what you said 33 33 months sorry you have three months what are you gonna do in three months
13:02you're gonna get a lot done we got a lot to do a lot to do so i mean it's absolutely amazing uh we
13:08filled a conference room with almost 400 people yeah i mean it's amazing to see what we built in a
13:14short amount of time but it's more amazing to hear you know have people come up to you and give
13:19you hugs because some of the brands that we've acquired were not going to survive so we actually
13:25closed a brand that we acquired a couple weeks ago and this manager that was running that brand now
13:31i moved her to another location and she got to keep her job and she came up to me and i'm getting
13:36bashed in the press about oh you closed something it's not this she came up to me and she didn't know
13:42who she was at first and she's crying in my you know and she's giving me a hug and she looked and i'm
13:47like what's wrong and she goes i just want you to know what they're saying about you is not true
13:51you tried to save us you gave us opportunity we had it and now you've given me this new opportunity
13:56i'm so thankful for this and that story is why we want to continue to do it and i'm like i i didn't
14:03i'm sorry i let you guys down because the brand didn't make it and she goes greg you didn't we
14:07were going out of business in two days if you didn't step in and give us an opportunity she goes
14:12you gave us a year when the year we fought it didn't work but now i'm putting the individuals and
14:19the other managers in my other restaurants in that town to get them jobs and she's like you've
14:24taken care of us you did what you promised yeah and that's what this is about that's what's so
14:28special about having us all together in the first time and i think that's something that's special
14:33about this and people don't even realize let's take it out of the hospitality space let's put in
14:38the venture capital space people do investments you see general atlantic you see atlant andreessen
14:44hardwood you see all these big firms with billions and billions of dollars they put all these
14:47investments in but people don't realize within those investments if you take 10 of those investments
14:53if you're lucky 30 of them aka three of them will be successful yeah so seven of them failed but
15:02everybody looks at blackstone black rock all these different companies they're amazing well guess what
15:07they failed 70 of the time but those happens to be 30 of them three of them have outweighed
15:13those seven losses he just put one company down but look at all the other successful companies that
15:21he's kept alive and done great things with and repositioned them and sometimes it's just a pivot
15:26so that's where you got people i have to start to understand like you got to be smart and don't be
15:31pennywise pound foolish at the same time do you have a mantra that you can share with the audience
15:37something that you live by something that you could share with restauranteurs yeah my mantra is
15:42everything happens for a reason and you don't understand most of the time in the moment why
15:47that is but i guarantee you when you reflect on it and you look back it was a right decision and there
15:54was a reason why it happened and you're thankful for that in that moment well i'm grateful to toast
16:00for giving us this opportunity for sponsoring this show grateful to you greg your entire team the
16:05craveworthy team and dominican thank you for your time and obviously thank you to the audience we
16:09appreciate you please check out uh endomic and sue's podcast no free lunch please check out room
16:15for seconds greg majuski's podcast as always stay curious get involved and don't be afraid to ask for
16:21help we'll catch you next episode thank you for watching thank you for listening if you've made it
16:28this long you are part of the community you're part of the tribe we can't do this alone we started no
16:33one was listening now we have a community of digital hospitality leaders all over the globe
16:38please check out our new series called restaurant technology substack it's a substack newsletter it's
16:44free it's some of our deep work on the best technology for restaurants also go to youtube and subscribe to
16:50cali barbecue media cali bbq media on youtube we've been putting out a lot of new original content
16:56hopefully you guys like that content if you want to work with us go to be the show dot media we show up
17:02all over the united states some international countries we would love to work with you and your
17:06growing brand on digital storytelling you can reach out to me anytime at sean p welchef on instagram i'm
17:12weirdly available stay curious get involved don't be afraid to ask for help we'll catch you next episode
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