With excitement, allow me to introduce to you today's guest: CEO, President, and taco maker at Velvet Taco, Clay Dover.

Joining Velvet Taco as president in early 2017 Clay Dover has helped scale the brand from four restaurants to 29 locations by the time of this episode aired. Graduate of Brigham Young University where he studied Sales and Marketing, Dover got straight to work leveraging his degree in Chili's Corporate Offices. He'd continue to focus on marketing working with Houlihans, and Apex Restaurant Group before cutting his teeth as CEO while with Metromedia Restaurant Group. After 10 months of CEO, he put his marketing hat back on and went to work with Raising Canes then Pei Wei as Chief Marketing/President.

Check out episode 690 with Chris Schultz as mentioned in today's episode.

Check out this RUNetwork workshop with Chris Schultz about knowing when it's time to scale!

Show notes…

Calls to ACTION!!!

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Favorite success quote or mantra:

"The harder I work, the luckier I get."

In today's episode with Clay Dover we will discuss:

Working for Chili's when it was at its height
Heading up a marketing campaign with Chili's
The importance of ops feedback
P and L's
"Volunteer for everything."
Franchising models
Sharing the numbers with your team
Growing and scaling during 2020-2021

Today's sponsor:

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Knowledge bombs

Which "it factor" habit, trait, or characteristic you believe most contributes to your success?
- Hard work
What is your biggest weakness?
- Hard work
What's one question you ask or thing you look for during an interview?
- Desire
What's a current challenge? How are you dealing with it?
- People AND purchasing
Share one code of conduct or behavior you teach your team.
- Be relentless
What is one uncommon standard of service you teach your staff?
- Kick ass and take names. We pride ourselves on winning.
What's one book we must read to become a better person or restaurant owner?
- Oh, The Places You'll Go!
- GET THIS BOOK FOR FREE AT AUDIBLE.COM
What's one thing you feel restaurateurs don't know well enough or do often enough?
- Visit the restaurants, work a shift, talk to customers
Name one service you've hired
- Consolidated Concepts
What's one piece of technology you've adopted within your restaurant walls and how has it influence operations?
- KDS with Toast
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?
- Being a father and a husband is the most important
- Creating a phenomenal company that empowers others
- Creating companies that improve the community

Contact info:

Velvet Taco website

Instagram: @velvettaco

Thanks for listening!

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Huge thanks to Clay Dover 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!

819: Clay Dover President, CEO, taco maker at Velvet Taco

Restaurant Unstoppable with Eric Cacciatore

819: Clay Dover President, CEO, taco maker at Velvet Taco