The Cutting Onions Podcast

Thanks for joining me for this episode where I speak with Restaurant CMO Tim Hackbardt.Tim is a 25+ year restaurant industry veteran who has served 25 restaurant chains across QSR, Fast Casual and Full Service Restaurant categories. A few of these brands include Del Taco, BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse, Rubio’s, Pieology, Steak ‘n Shake, Johnny Rockets, and Lucille’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que.He is currently Chief Marketing Officer for Del Taco where he oversees brand strategy, marketing and menu strategy. Del Taco (NASDAQ: TACO) is the second largest Mexican quick service restaurant chain with over 600 locations in 16 states.Previous to his role at Del Taco, he was the CEO of the consulting firm BrandTrip Partners. His firm served restaurant chains primarily in the areas of distressed turnarounds, brand reinventions and new restaurant concept development. One of his most interesting projects during this time was to develop a new pizza chain in the Middle East for a multi-national company located in Saudi Arabia. Today there are eight Turnstone Pizza restaurants open around the city of Riyadh.Tim is originally from Michigan and is a graduate of Central Michigan University with a BAA in Broadcast & Cinematic Arts. Today, he resides in the San Diego area with his wife of 31 years.When he is not eating for his job, he is usually burning off the calories training for endurance races. A 2X Ironman, and 5X 70.3 Ironman, he also enjoys ultra trail running and cycling adventures in the Pyrenees, Sierras, Rocky Mountains and Dolomites to name a few.Tim can be contacted and followed here:linkedin.com/in/timhackbardtwww.oldguywhotris.comhttps://www.facebook.com/oldguywhotrishttps://www.instagram.com/oldguywhotris/

Welcome to the Cutting Onions Podcast! Please enjoy my conversation with Chef Jeremy Barlow. Jeremy has been an innovative force in Nashville's chef scene for over 18 years and has several amazing concepts including Tayst and Sloco. Jeremy has also been a champion of food sustainability and creating accountability around sourcing and how the supply chain is managed. He walks us through the evolution of the food system. As he says, everything happens around the table. I loved hearing about what Jeremy has been doing in Nashville over the last several years!We had an amazing conversation that covered a wide range of topics including:- The magic formula of pop ups and how they work- Are events worth it?- Finding efficiencies in the QSR segment and combine it with the fine dining world to define what the next food system will be- Why food policy matters- And his exciting new concept, Fryce Cream, which has been in development on 12 South in Nashville and has already gotten rave reviews!You do not want to miss this inspired conversation! He also tells a hilarious story about putting pork belly on the menu about two years before it was trendy to do so and he couldn't sell it! Now of course it is everywhere!You can find Jeremy on Instagram as well! Check out his channels:@slocosammies@the_green_tayst@frycecream

About a year ago I found a picture of myself as an employee of the McDonald’s in Blue Springs Missouri back in 1984. Since then I have been thinking about my sixteen-year-old self and what I was dreaming about back then. Where I thought I was going. Who I thought I would become. What I thought my life would be like.My life since that picture taken at age sixteen has been working in my chosen profession: the restaurant industry. And it has changed my life in so many wonderful and profound ways. It created opportunities for me that I wouldn’t have dared to dream about back then. At age 16, I was excited. I was passionate. I was dreaming. I felt connected. I found a family I didn’t really have at home at the time. I knew I wanted more of all those feelings.And here I am. All these years later. Still excited. Still passionate. Still dreaming, and hopefully a bit wiser. I consider it my life’s work to create opportunities for others that otherwise might not exist, and pay forward the generous investment that many different leaders have made in my development over the years, and create those same feelings I had at age 16 for other young leaders. And that work has been, and continues to be, very fulfilling...

One of the questions I like to ask in the midst of a challenge is: “What does this make possible?”That’s an important question to ask during times like these, when the media is bombarding us with all of the negative around COVID-19.

Welcome to The Cutting Onions Podcast where we celebrate culture that develops leaders.In today’s episode of The Cutting Onions Podcast I sit down with Libby Balsiger, founder of Chica Communications, where she is passionate about advancing socially conscious efforts that underscore corporate integrity and global responsibility. Libby was also one of the early marketing leaders at Chipotle when it was all about grassroots and field marketing strategies. She did some incredible work in building the brand in those early days when sales weren’t great, there was doubt about whether we’d make it in California, and the moment that changed everything.Libby and I talked about how her work at Chipotle influenced her in the important work she is doing now around growing creative startups, many of which are led by female entrepreneurs and helping them market their businesses. Libby is an incredible leader and is continuing to make a huge impact in organizational culture and in the lives of those creating that culture. She is an inspiring mentor for so many leaders looking to do big things.It was such a pleasure chatting with her. She’s the real deal.Here is my conversation with Libby Balsiger. See you on the other side.

Welcome to the Cutting Onions Podcast, where we celebrate culture that develops leaders. This is Episode 23!In this conversation I speak with Leadership and Business Coach, Luay Rahil, who lives in the Dallas Fort Worth area. Luay started his career washing dishes in small restaurants before joining IHOP where he washed dishes, became a server and then a restaurant manager.Luay went to college and graduated as a health inspector. From his experience in restaurants Luay recognized that the relationships between health departments and restaurants were strained. He wanted to change that. He wanted it to be a partnership, so that’s what he did.During his time as a health inspector in the cities of Coppell and Ft. Worth, TX, Luay changed the game and improved those relationships with restaurant by treating them as partnerships by working alongside them to address issues and not just being an inspector. He then took things to the next level where he started a food safety company.Luay then figured out he wanted to expand his influence even more and started Lead With Integrity, a leadership community where high capacity leaders join Luay on the journey of creating your best life at work, and at home.It’s been an inspiration to get to know Luay and I know you’ll be inspired as well. So here’s my conversation with Luay Rahil.See you on the other side.

Happy Thanksgiving! Welcome to The Cutting Onions Podcast, Episode 21. In this special episode I sit down with the person responsible for me giving me my first opportunity in the restaurant business, Art Phillips. Art is a legend in the McDonald’s system. His accomplishments are too numerous to mention but we discuss a few of them here, including the order by number system. Yep, that was an idea Art shared in a meeting over three decades ago ended up getting pitched to McDonald’s Corporation upper management and the rest is history.In this podcast interview we had a wide-ranging conversation about his career, his love for the McDonald's brand, saving for that first restaurant, identifying talent, and investing ahead of the business to build a strong culture. We discussed his incredible impact on not only the Kansas City Region but the entire McDonald's system. From his first job at Steak 'N Shake as a carhop, to the start of his nearly 50-year career with McDonald's on March 1, 1966 making $1.00 per hour, to buying his first store in 1978, to becoming an iconic operator for almost 40 years.Enjoy this conversation with Art Phillips.