))
22: How Refining Operations Can Help You Grow | James Deng, Poké House
Manage episode 364168910 series 3429367
Content provided by Bryan Tublin. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Bryan Tublin or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.
“The people that are super successful have their operations on lock.”
—
James Deng is the Founder & CEO of Poké House, a poké chain based in Northern California with 9 locations and counting.
James opened Poké House’s first location in 2015, and has since grown the concept to 5 company-owned locations and 4 franchise operated units, with big plans to scale beyond those numbers in the coming years.
In this episode James shares how Poké House grew into this success, including:
- How Poké House differentiated from competition by making their tightening their operations
- Why buying a warehouse and using it as a distribution center can be helpful to business owners with multiple locations
- All the technology tools Poké House uses to run a tight ship, and
- How James manages the stress and anxiety that comes with running a bootstrapped restaurant business
James is sharp, insightful, and full of operational wisdom, so I think you’ll really enjoy this episode.
Please enjoy my conversation with James Deng of Poké House!
––
Where to find Poké House:
- Website: poke.house
- IG: @poke.house
- FB: Poke House
- Twitter: @PokeHouseUSA
––
Where to find James:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yundeng/
––
Where to find Bryan:
- Website: https://www.myfirstrestaurant.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-tublin-03548910/
- Twitter: @btublin
––
Where to find Kitava:
- Website: https://www.kitava.com/
- Instagram: @kitavakitchen
––
Referenced:
- The E-Myth
- Homebase
- Jolt
- Beekeeper
- Olo
- Loyalti
- Choco
- SBA 7a loan
- Shoe Dog, Phil Knight
- Principles, Ray Dalio
- IMP Seafood
In this episode, we cover:
- (01:58) The Poké House origin story
- (09:48) Losing 13 pounds the first month after he opened the first restaurant
- (14:38) Pulling out of operations allowed James to implement SOPs and hire more managers
- (16:18) Team structure as Poké House scaled
- (18:53) How Poké House differentiated from competition by refining their operations and making them as “tight” as McDonald’s or Chick-fil-A
- (21:28) The changes James made to help improve operations
- (25:00) How much you can save by buying and utilizing a distribution center
- (26:48) Getting into franchising
- (28:33) Onboarding Jolt to improve operations
- (31:02) Rewarding employees with equity
- (33:15) How James spends his time today
- (34:53) On The Fly Segment
28 episodes
Share
