Finding and Keeping Great People to Help Achieve Your Vision

José Andrés, Chef and Founder of World Central Kitchen, once said, “The business of feeding people is the most amazing business in the world.” While this rings true for many chefs and restaurant owners, the last several years have put businesses in delicate financial situations and has resulted in numerous closures across the country. The decrease in staff has been a driving factor in why restaurants have had to alter the way they do business through solutions such as price increases, all while still fulfilling the needs of the customer. It’s a simple truth: without a proper number of trusted employees, a business can face consequences.

How does a restaurant owner not only find valuable and loyal employees who will help, but also stay through the trials and tribulations of a recession and current job crisis?

On today’s episode of The Main Course, host Barbara Castiglia talks with Nick Bogacz, Owner and Founder of Caliente Pizza and Draft House, to discuss the ins and outs of owning a pizzeria and working with great people that make it all happen and help you achieve your vision.

Bogacz stressed the importance of having a positive, goal-oriented mindset and taking care of his own people. To him, there is no one size fits all magic formula when it comes to running a restaurant. It is about having a great foundation and understanding of sales, marketing, the surrounding community, and the people working for the restaurant will aid in the restaurant’s success. Right now, restaurants and businesses are searching for more ways to bring new people in. Yet the focus and priority should be on the people still working for them, and what is needed to keep the loyalty of these employees and distributors.

“There’s a point in your success that you understand how important your employees really are,” Bogacz said. “And when that moment happens, you do anything for them. And I think that’s when you start to think of what’s really most important to them.”

Bogacz and Castiglia also discuss how to achieve your vision…

● Advice on how and why to be fiscally responsible, and how that effects pricing and

relationships with distributors

● Why the strive for perfection isn’t feasible and why communication can make or break a

restaurant

● The personal successes and mistakes in Bogacz life within the pizza delivery and

restaurant industry

“When the guys who work for me, when they can do things for their family that’s important to them, that’s how I’m going to measure my success. So, I’ve always tried to hold true to that,” said Bogacz.

Bogacz has worked within the pizza industry since he was seventeen years old and has over twenty years of experience. He has had several job positions from pizza delivery driver to general manager in local pizza shops, Papa Johns, and Dominos. His restaurant, Caliente Pizza and Draft House and he has seven locations in Pittsburgh. Bogacz’s restaurant serves as the official pizza of the Pittsburgh Penguins professional ice hockey team. Bogacz is also an author and podcast host.