The CEO of a wine country burger chain shares tips for creating emotional connection to guests

Take-Away with Sam Oches

Nation's Restaurant News

Business, Entrepreneurship

2.5 • 15 Ratings

🗓️ 4 January 2024

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of Take-Away with Sam Oches, Sam talks with Clay Walker, the president of Gott’s Roadside, a burger joint celebrating 25 years serving Northern California consumers and tourists alike with a “wine country picnic experience.” Now with eight locations, Gott’s specializes in high-quality burgers, sandwiches, salads, and hot dogs alongside an impressive lineup of wines and beers, all of it in a casual, counter service setting that’s as much outside as it is in. Clay joined the podcast to talk about Gott’s methodic approach to growth and its efforts to bottle a wine country aesthetic that can help it growth beyond its Northern California roots.

In this conversation, you’ll find out why:

You shouldn’t be afraid to fail, because your biggest success might still be ahead of you
Counter service and picnic tables are perfectly acceptable for elevated food
If you want to be all things to all people, open where they live, work, and play
If you want to be the best at what you do, learn to be patient
Timing is everything with succeeding as a brand
Restaurants are as much about emotions and memories as they are food and drink

Have feedback or ideas for Take-Away? Email Sam at [email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.9	Hey there, welcome to Takeaway with Sam Ocas, a podcast from Nation's Restaurant News.
0:05.7	I am Sam Ocas, editor-in-chief here at NRN, and this is the show where I give you an all-access pass
0:11.2	to the restaurant industry's most influential decision-makers.
0:15.0	This week, I'm talking with Clay Walker, the president of Gott's Roadside, a burger joint that is celebrating 25 years serving
0:23.7	Northern California consumers and tourists alike with a wine country picnic experience.
0:31.7	Now with eight locations, Gott specializes in high-quality burgers, sandwiches, salads, and hot dogs, alongside an
0:40.0	impressive lineup of wines in beers, all of it in a casual counter-service setting that is as
0:46.4	much outside as it is in.
0:49.1	Clay joined the podcast to talk about Gaut's methodic approach to growth and its efforts to
0:54.0	bottle that wine country
0:55.7	aesthetic that can help it grow beyond its Northern California roots.
1:00.4	In this conversation, you will learn more about how counter-service and picnic tables
1:04.5	are perfectly acceptable for elevated food, why you must learn to be patient if you want to be
1:10.4	the best at what you do, and why
1:12.7	timing is everything with succeeding as a brand. Jumping now into my interview with Gatz
1:19.1	Roadside President Clay Walker. Also, don't forget to stick around after the interview, as I
1:23.8	will share my six takeaways from this discussion, actionable insights that you can take
1:28.2	with you on the go.
1:30.6	Okay, I'm here with Clay Walker, the president of the California Burger Concept Gots Roadside.
1:36.5	Clay, thanks for joining me today.
1:38.4	Sam, it's a pleasure.
1:40.3	All right, so Clay, Gott's Roadside, as we'll get into, this brand is very meaningful to me. I love this brand. But, you know, it's, it's regional. It's out in California. So I'm sure a lot of the listeners are not familiar. What's the quick synopsis of what this brand is all about? So God's Roadside is a roadside stand concept that's been serving the California roadside
	...

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