– Let’s rock and roll.

– [Clinton] All right.

– Let’s do this.

– So for everybody listenin’, watchin’, we are throwin’ down today with a great guy from Texas. I’m from Texas as well. And I wanna introduce Mr. Pat Shotwell. He Is the culinary director at Cowboy Chicken. And he told me that he puts spicy, spicy content on everything he makes.

– Everything, there’s no middle ground.

– I’m a little worried. I think I might… I might have to tap out on this. But we’re ready to go. Okay, Pat, you’ll remember how this works is I’m gonna ask you a question, might be a hard question, might be an easy question. We’re gonna eat a wing first. And we’re gonna start with the mild flavors, moving into the spicy, moving into the maybe unbearable, we’ll see. And we’re gonna talk about the industry, about you, your life, your role, and hopefully have some great conversation.

– Let’s do it, man-

– All right, number one.

– Here we go.

– All right, so we’re gonna start with the mild.

– Left to right, you bet. Left should be relatively mild.

– [Pat] Let’s see what we got here. Turn that around.

– Oh yeah, even for me, that mild.

– It’s got a little twang to it. That’s a… As as we know, that’s a Texas term, a twang. Yeah, nothing bad about that.

– So Pat, I came to Texas 35 years ago, 30 years ago. And I was here for like two days and I figured I found my place, I found my people.

– [Pat] Yeah.

– I love Texas. So my first question is, there are so many amazing restaurant concepts that come outta the great state of Texas. Why do you think it is that there’s just such a, a wide variety and just awesome ideas? Like for… Like, seems like forever, right?

– Yeah, I’ll tell you, I think it’s there’s so many different variations of people. And you have to cater to so many different people, so many different tastes that you just got the people are just… They’re racking their brain trying to please so many people with a great flavor that I think that’s one of the main reasons why there’s so many great businesses are, yeah, restaurants comin’ out of Texas just because we’re so diverse. And being that diverse, we have to… We have to really manipulate the flavors and everything to make everyone happy. And I’ll tell you what, I’ve been living in Texas my whole life. And I’ve… I can’t even touch how many restaurants there are around me.

– It’s amazing, right?

– I haven’t even… I haven’t… I wanna go try ’em out. There’s just not enough time in the day.

– All right, let’s go for wing number two. Starting to get a little spicier here, we’ll see.

– [Pat] Okay. Mm.

– Got a real sweet flavor, but it’s got some kick to it.

– Yeah, I like that one. That one got a little bit more heat on the end, slightly, than the first one. But I like the original flavor that comes outta it. That is really good.

– That’s a good one.

– [Pat] Mm.

– I’m supposed to just taste it. But these wings are so good, I’m eatin’ ’em all.

– I’ve even got a lot of meat on those. That’s good.

– [Clinton] Yeah, right?

– They’re some bigger birds, for sure. All right, how long have you been working in the industry? That’s not the question. That’s just a tee up.

– In the industry, I started out when I was 13 years old.

– [Clinton] Awesome, I love that about restaurants.

– Started off as a dishwasher in a small, a mom and pop place. My dad was the manager. So he’s like… I told him, I said, “I wanna make some money.” He said, “Come on, I’m gonna… You’re gonna learn a good work ethic early.” So he put me to work as a dishwasher. I used to sit there as a dishwasher and watch the cook. And I was like, that looks like something that’s fun to do. And it just kind of spurred from that. We had a day where the cook called in, so we’re shorthanded. My dad didn’t know what to do. I said I can do it.

– No, you didn’t.

– I was…

– At that point, I was 14 years old working in the kitchen. I don’t know if that that could happen nowadays.

– I dunno if that’s allowed anymore, but That’s awesome.

– But yeah, that’s how it all started out.

– So look, it’s deep in your bones, man.

– [Pat] It is.

– It’s like who you are.

– Both my mom and my dad were the restaurant managers.

– [Clinton] Oh, no way.

– Yeah.

– [Clinton] That’s awesome, man.

– And both my brothers are restaurant managers. It’s in the blood.

– Okay, so deep in the blood. What do you like most about working in this industry?

– You know, I love food. Okay, I love being creative with food. And that’s kinda always been my passion. But there’s nothing better than creating a great dish and seein’ the person that you create it for enjoy it.

– Yeah.

– So my passion is for the people, it is. I like making the food. And then I wanna see the face just changed from a wow, you know, tryin’ it and going, you should, oh my… They’re like, look, you should try this. And that makes my day and that’s what drives me.

– I love that answer because I think that’s one thing that makes restaurants really interesting as an industry, as a business, is it’s people-driven. And that people-driven focus is about taking care of your team. But it all comes from that goal of creating that amazing moment, that amazing experience. Seeing a guest, seeing a customer just have a cool meal with people, with his friends or family they love, and just enjoying that moment, right? You create magic moments.

– I’m gonna quote somebody who I had a lot of respect for when I was… I was a manager for another concept and loved this guy to death. His name was Joey Tutaris. He said something to me that has stuck with me to this day. And he said, Pat, we’re in the people business. We just so happen to sell food. And that has stuck with me. And that’s what I wanna instill in our employees is that’re here because of these people. We need to take care of them. And we take care of them, they’re gonna take care of us.

– Yeah.

– And how do we take care of them? We take care of them with a great product and some passion.

– You know, it’s funny you mentioned that because look, we all have relationships with businesses across our entire life, right, all the things we spend money on. But my deepest connection is with the restaurant brands who have made experiences for me that were special. And I just keep going back time and time again. And sometimes it’s in that moment great food. But it’s accumulation of all those experiences over time, right, that just kind of create this, this legacy of just care and comfort and enjoyment. Right, it’s a big part I think being human.

– Yeah, and the fact that I’m with Cowboy Chicken right now, it’s because of exactly what you said, the care comes… It starts at the top, it works its way down. And our company owner’s like that. He’s a very caring person, very loyal person. And my key factor now is I owe him my best. And that-

– That’s a great culture.

– I try to take care of him and he will take care of me. And then that will trickle down to our people who sees that. That’s our leadership. Look at how they are. And that’s what we want to instill in our people that we’re working with us.

– Yeah, it’s hard to build a great culture. When you have it, you know it, you want to keep it.

– It is very hard and if you don’t have it, you know it.

– For sure. All right, let’s go to wing number three. And then we’ll ask another question. I think we’re about in the mid range now. Here’s my quarter pound chicken wing, man.

– These are big old wings. Look at all the sauce on that.

– All right, that one’s getting a little warm for me now. It’s good, tasty, but warm.

– That’s about a four on what I’m expecting. So that’s got some good… That’s got some good heat to it. But that one’s really… That’s got some good heat all the way from the beginning to the end, that’s good.

– Yeah, for sure, for sure. Okay, now we’re gonna get into more kinda restaurant industry trends and what you’re seeing. What trend do you see in the industry that you think is gonna have the biggest impact on restaurants and restaurant operations within the next, say, three or four years? What’s going on that you think is gonna make a big difference in how we operate restaurants?

– You know, I recently went and saw a gentleman speak. And he talked about how we were talking about how Texas is a great melting pot. I think that’s going to start spreading out across the entire United States. Not like we’re not already a melting pot, but it’s going to even get more diverse.

– Diversity of concepts, diversity of cuisine, and menus?

– Yeah.

– Yeah, we’re gonna have to cater to those. And I think that’s the direction I see us going is there are certain brands, certain flavors that are out there that may not be top of mind or up on the hill at the moment, but they’re coming. And I think that’s the newest trend of what we’re gonna see is we’re gonna see flavors out there that we’ve never seen before, or that we’re only in small mom and pop places that are gonna start to expand. And I think we’re gonna… Yeah, I think we’re gonna see that spread out more across the entire United States. And I think that’s a trend that we’re heading to.

– So that’s a really cool idea. Look, I’m a little older than you. But I remember growing up in high school in the ’80s. And we all used to listen to the same music. We all watched the same TV shows. We all went to the same movies. And if you went out for dinner, right, you could get a burger, you get pizza, you get Chinese, you get Italian. That was about as broad as it got. And now, right, you see some of these new concepts coming out. And it’s really unique flavor profiles from really unique parts of the world or ideas that people come up with. Often, even fusing ideas from different places. We have a almost unlimited choice.

– That is what we have now. I actually tried this one earlier. This is really good. It’s got a sweet, a sweet flavor to it.

– Wow.

– Yeah.

– It’s almost like a dessert wing, right?

– That is my favorite right now, yeah. What is that, Fourth Degree Burn.

– Mm. That’s one we had custom made for the show.

– That’s really good. That’s my favorite.

– So you don’t know who manufactures it. Okay, my nose is starting to run, my scalp’s getting a little sweaty. That means it’s getting warm. All right.

– Oh yeah.

– Look, you started from the ground up in restaurants. Running restaurants is never easy. I’d argue being a manager of a restaurant, may be one of the hardest jobs in all of America. We have to do so many things. If you could automate or simplify anything in restaurant operations to make it easier for your managers, make it easier for your teams, what would you like to see changed in terms of how people do things in a restaurant?

– What would I love to see change? Well, obviously, I’m a food guy. So I would love to see some more automation in the back of the house.

– Yep.

– Yeah, I’m startin’ to see some things happen nowadays with robots. And I’m not sure if that’s actually gonna be. You know, as a company owner, I see that’s great. As a people person, you’re taking out something that is the core of who you are.

– [Clinton] Yeah.

– So I think automation is the direction that we’re heading. And it’s a direction I’m actually excited for. But I’m also a little concerned with. So it’s a little happy, odd feeling that you have because that’s what we are.

– Right.

– We just said that earlier.

– You know, we’re in the people business. And people business is not only the guest walking across and coming up to you, it’s a person who’s preparing the food. You got… You have to make sure that this person, the guest, is happy. And you have to make sure that your people are happy. So as far as AI, even though I’m excited to see how some automation in the back and is going to help.

– [Clinton] Yeah.

– Again, I’m also a little concerned about it as well.

– It’s a great point, right? Keeping that balance between the human experience versus automation, guest experience, right? The interaction between the guests and the human is so important, right?

– Yes.

– And I think as we think about our innovation and investment in technology, it’s let’s use AI to automate those things which are administrative in nature and keeping someone away from a guest.

– [Pat] Yes.

– And so, automate the administrative to free up time of a manager to be with their team, training ’em, helping ’em and being with the guest, right?

– Yeah, That’s a great point.

– [Clinton] Create more time.

– That’s a great point. You know, if we could do something to, exactly what you said, free up that manager so they can be with the guests, that is a perfect way of putting that. Because that’s what we need from them. We don’t need them in the back, you know, crunching numbers, yes.

– An empty manager’s office.

– We don’t need ’em in the back crunching numbers at 12 o’clock. We need ’em out there where they can make sure that that experience for that guest is immeasurable. And they’re gonna want to come back. Not only because the food’s great, but because Joe like really knew how to take care of us and knew what we wanted. And I gotta say I’m really happy that we have some people in our, in our company that are like that, that they come in because of our order taker. They have… They love our order taker. Her name’s Rosa, by the way.

– That’s wild.

– And there is no doubt… I’ll tell you a really funny quick story that I was… When I was running that store, I stopped up there. She had a line to the door and I was like, hey, I can help the next person right over here. And they looked at me and said, “No, we’re going to Rosa.”

– [Clinton] We want Rosa.

– Okay, so that’s the people experience. And that’s what…

– [Clinton] I love that.

– If that automation is taking care of all that stuff in the back, that Rosa could be the next John, or Joe, or Jamie, or Jane, you name it, who could be out front making those, giving those experiences to our guests. And that’s gonna bring ’em back.

– I love that. That’s a great, great insight. All right, let’s try wing number five.

– Oh, this one Like the Yellow Bird, Blue Agave Sriracha.

– [Clinton] Blue agave.

– All right, let’s do this.

– But I know what blue agave tastes like.

– I do now. I will tell you that one kind of popped on me. That one, I was not expecting that on that one just then.

– Yeah, somehow it’s not too bad for me. It’s a nice balance of sweet and spicy. Reminds me of an old school kinda sweet and sour, spicy Chinese concept almost.

– Just when I took a bite into that, I could feel that flavor that, that heat just kinda… It just popped on me.

– [Clinton] Yeah.

– That was really good, I like… It popped on me. It didn’t, you know… Some of these will sneak up on ya. That one’s said, “No, I’m here right now.”

– Those was always the crazy peppers, right, When you taste it and it’s like, hey, those are too bad. And then suddenly 20 seconds later you’re like, oh my goodness, my mouth is on fire.

– Yeah, that’s what I…

– Okay, that’s what’s comin’, all right. You let let the cat outta the bag. All right, man. One more wing, one more question, then we get to try your sauce that you brought.

– Yeah, let’s do this. This is Purey Purey, a lot, extra hot.

– I think I’m getting better at this, Pat. That’s described as extra hot. It tastes more medium to me.

– It does.

– I would almost switch those two around.

– I think that’s right.

– [Pat] Yeah.

– I think that’s right.

– [Clinton] Again, back to the point that everyone tastes things a little bit differently.

– 100%.

– Although that heat’s buildin’ on me now, 20 seconds in.

– Oh wait, wait.

– When I first tasted…

– [Pat] I agree.

– It’s building.

– [Pat] This is the creeper. This is the creeper. This one, they jumped out…

– Yeah, I’m reachin’ to the milk. I’m reachin’ for the milk.

– Now, we’re right, we’re right. Yeah, that one’s definitely comin’ out, comin’ from behind on me.

– Dude, I definitely spoke too soon. I’m like, oh this is easy, I’ve got this. I was ready to start flexin’ for the camera. It’s like, oh man, oh my. Now, it’s really startin’ to cook.

– Yeah, that’s gonna make the next one a little bit easier for ya.

– Okay, one last question, it’s a fun question. You work with teams, colleagues, people who report up to you. Everyone’s got their strengths and weaknesses as a leader. What does your team say is your superpower?

– Oh my God.

– [Clinton] What do you do really, really well?

– Well, Talk trash.

– Okay, so I would say that as like a Texas tradition. Tell me more about talking trash and joking and kidding. And what role is that play in actually team building?

– Well, see, it is great that you said that towards team building because it’s all… The trash we talk, it’s all about building up and doing better. So I’m like, hey, you guys are, you know, we gotta do better than this. And I’m not gonna go into the trash talking per se that we actually… You know, because that’s what makes us a great, the culture great with us because I can say things. And they know that I’m joking, but I’m also serious. And that’s… They look at me and they’re like, oh, you know, Pat said this and this is the way he said it. And so, are we taking it serious or are we not? Yeah, take it serious, but I’m never gonna do anything that is gonna be condescending in any way. So talking trash is all about… Actually, it’s driving them. It’s trying to drive them to do better. We wanna do better. We want our people to do better. It’s kinda like your kids, right?

– It’s got some humor, it’s got some jest in it. But it’s meant to be a teaching moment too.

– It is. These people that we work with every day are our family, okay? And you want the best for your family, 100%. And I want them to succeed, just like I want my own kids to succeed.

– I love that analogy.

– I’m gonna do everything I can in my ability to make sure that they succeed. And I’m gonna pat ’em on the back. And I’m gonna kick ’em in the rump.

– Yeah.

– [Pat] So.

– I think that family analogy is really, really apt. It totally fits. Give me a big fist bump, I love that.

– Appreciate it man, thanks for having havin’ me.

– Hey Pat, you’ve been amazing. Thank you for telling me more about how to think about flavor profiles, and leadership, and why you love this industry. And look, we’re big fans of Cowboy Chicken. And this smack bird concept, we love a lot. So we appreciate you being with us.

– Again, I appreciate you havin’ me. Thank you so much.

– [Clinton] Thanks.

– You take care and good luck at the rest of the show.

– I appreciate it, thanks a lot, man.

– That was fun, man, thank you.