$50M in Sales & Unbelievable Margins!!
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- čas přidán 13. 05. 2024
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In this episode, we dive into the world of culinary delights with Jim Rowe, a serial restaurateur who turned the art of making wings into a flourishing empire. Jim embarked on a journey of entrepreneurship at the age of 24, selling everything from tools to diamonds to windows, before finding his true calling in the restaurant industry, a passion ignited during his childhood days spent in restaurants where his mother worked.
Jim is the mastermind behind Wing Central, a cornerstone of the WC Restaurant Group with a stellar reputation for mouthwatering wings, evidenced by hundreds of 5-star reviews. Despite minimal advertising, Wing Central has soared, with innovative strategies like their gift card continuity program boosting sales by an impressive 17%.
From a single establishment, Jim has expanded his culinary kingdom to include a food truck and a cozy coffee shop, collectively amassing over $50M in sales. This interview sheds light on his journey from scraping by with odd jobs to building a restaurant sales empire, all without prior experience or significant capital.
Listeners will gain invaluable insights as Jim reveals the one entrepreneurship skill that single-handedly helped him build his empire from scratch. He also unveils the lucrative side hustles that paved his path to financial success. Notably, Jim’s prowess in restaurant marketing won him a Porsche Boxster, outshining his peers and boosting his sales by $900K in a single year-a story he eagerly shares.
Join us to uncover the secrets of building a successful restaurant business, straight from the culinary titan himself, Jim Rowe. Whether you're a seasoned restaurateur or dreaming of your first food venture, this episode is a goldmine of wisdom and inspiration. Don’t miss out on his expert advice.
If you’re looking for other uniquely delicious business ideas, check out our past episodes:
The New King of Fried Chicken?! ($1,000 Startup): • The New King of Fried ...
How I Turned My Last $5 to $10,000,000: • How I Turned My Last $...
Resources:
wingcentral.net/ - Wing Central
www.upflip.com/academy - Start, Build & Grow Your Business
www.upflip.com/courses/business - UpFlip Courses - Success Starts Here
www.upflip.com/podcast - The UpFlip Podcast - Biz Secrets Uncovered
www.upflip.com/equipment-list... Premier Equipment List
00:00 - START
01:04 - Meeting Jim
02:10 - Being laid off
02:58 - Revenue
03:36 - Business during COVID
05:41 - Wing Central location
07:14 - Coffee shop tour
08:23 - Side hustles
10:38 - Rule of Ten
12:29 - Fan blitz
14:16 - Dealing with inflation
16:23 - Biggest challenges
17:56 - Mastermind group
19:29 - Profit margins
21:18 - Marketing for less
22:11 - Starting a restaurant business
23:29 - Marketing trick
24:41 - Email list
26:20 - Loyalty programs
28:21 - Restaurant profit constraints
30:02 - Sales skills
30:41 - Spending money
31:48 - Beer 101 Club
32:30 - Single-parent household upbringing
33:33 - Was The Money Worth It?
34:17 - Millionaire
35:02 - Customer service and feedback
36:09 - Misconception
36:42 - Franchising vs. Starting your own
37:50 - Customer story
38:48 - Business books
39:28 - Outro
#restaurantbusiness #restaurant #howtoopenarestaurant
The UpFlip Academy is now live! Learn from the best in the industry, join here: www.upflip.com
I will be moving out of the country and I need some ideas to start a business abroad
@@gorgegarcia4471 Our membership will feature a powerful business idea tool designed to help you discover not just great business ideas, but also provide in-depth insights into them.
Is there a specific link for the math skills pertinent to business?
Easily one of the better ones. Sometimes the guests seem hesitant to give all the details of their business but this was no BS. Love it.
We’re truly fortunate to have Jim, who is wholeheartedly dedicated to helping others. 🙏
I spent 5 years in Ellensburg for school/work. Jim's restaurants were always my favorite and I got to know him a little in my later years. It's different when a national corporation owns a food establishment, it doesn't feel as local and community based. Jim's always felt local and my friends and I have life long memories in his restaurants.
Just stupid how much free information we get here. Thank you so much.
Best channel on CZcams! this channel is what I send to people when they’re struggling to find their passion or need to find a career
I have been enjoying these videos. They are so motivating and informative. Very greatful for the awareness youre trying to bring to entrepreneurship. Not just how easy or hard it is, but the how available is it to people how can do the work. Very proud of Jim, his family, and business. Appreciate you sharing the knowledge. Cannot wait to possibly visit Wing Central in the future.
Great episode, I appreciate how much Jim shared!
The ups and downs in business are inevitable but Jim is a testament to how persistence and pivoting go hand in hand to achieve success in business. Great work on this!
This video has a lot of great knowledge!! Keep it up guys
*I love this channel it’s a whole library*
Great video. Love the point about the loyalty program. 😍
Jim the owner reminds me of a show I used to watch called Billion dollar buyer. Owner owned high end restaurant chains, hotels. Remember him saying if he walks into one of his restaurants, hotels whatever, he knows all the numbers about everything. Jim is like that. Going from construction to this he deserves an award. Guess his reward is his success like any well run business.
Watching this video could save a lot of hopeful Restaurateurs MILLIONS of dollars and years of strife. This is a master class on building and growing a restaurant! So many people want to build a restaurant for the romantic, creative idea of it... and it's great... but understanding the numbers is what makes is sustainable! Another TERRIFIC episode!
Thanks Paul, I hope it helps lots of entrepreneurs.
Jim's emphasis on knowing your numbers and mastering the art of budgeting is a game-changer for any business owner.
It's surprising how many owners are unfamiliar with their own numbers! It's truly a game changer once you have a handle on them.
As an accountant I approve this vid great work on knowing your budget - I also like the business sense to do other side hustles as well.
Great interview. Jim is great and a real inspiration!
glad I found you guys! Subscribed!
Took me two days to watch the whole video, but hey so much value I gained from this, thanks both of you 🙌🏽
That's fantastic! We strive to ensure every video is packed with value for our amazing viewers! 💪
As a new small business owner upflip has been an absolute game changer for me happy new subscriber here
One of the best videos . Thx
Best guest. knows his numbers. so informative
Numbers are everything! 💪
Absolutely phenomenal interview! Jim Rowe's fantastic in sharing wisdom, being generous with his success insights, and is amazing at sharing succinctly and in a way where people can see how to succeed and believe in themselves. Thank you!
I learned so much from your talks and inspiring stories. Can’t thank you enough
Hello from PNW…Seattle area! Love all these episodes! Great stories! I’m learning from u guys! 👍
I love how he remembers his customer's name - Love that
so much value to this video! great guest! very inspiring!
Glad you found it helpful! Appreciate the support! ☺️
These are rockstar videos. Love them all.
What a nice video. Such a genuine guy. I learned a lot, thank you both. 😊
Thank you for your kind words! Stay tuned for more content! 🔥
Lots of good gems.
Best!!! This was like reading a full book. Thank you
You're welcome! It's great to hear that you found the content so valuable. 🙌
Home town Pride Jim Rowe. Congratulations my friend.
This episode speaks to me! Thankss Jim and upflip❤ 🙌🏽💯
Thrilled to hear it resonated with you! 🙏
Such a great episode, this guy is awesome!
Hope he inspired you to kickstart your own business venture! 🔥
It’s a great channel but I wish they would stop the clickbait. They will say “Made over 20 million” but then it turns out to be over 165 years because the business was started before the civil war and its gross margins.
Make your own !!!
How awesome was that...Absolutely love it.
This was really epic... thank you
This is too cool! I work for Central Washington!
This guy is the best. He is totally straight up with business.
He's a true entrepreneur through and through! 💪
Man this entrepreneur knows his stuff, those mastermind classes propelled his success…
piece of advice man. When interviewing a person don't feel like you gotta just move forward so fast. Let what the guy says linger for a bit, go deeper, ask follow up questions.
Happy to answer more questions here.
Thank you for the feedback 🙏
@@wingmanellensburg are you using Menu Profit Pro for your menu/ food costing? I noticed the monogram branded gloves and the way you described it makes it sound exactly like MPP.
Restaurant Systems Pro
17:13 I worked at RR 😂😂😂 But had some amazing managers and they made me love being in a commercial kitchen. Starting up my own business next week after planning for a year!
That's awesome! Best of luck! 🙌
Paul is one of my favorite interviewers online. He keeps his guests engaged and lets them talk. Jim hit the bullseye! When you think about it, we all have great and similar ideas but what sets us apart is executing them out.
A single idea can spark a million masterpieces. Isn’t that just wild? 🔥
Jim's story is a testament to the power of resilience and strategic planning in the face of adversity. Emphasizing the importance of a yearly budget is invaluable advice for any entrepreneur looking to navigate uncertain economic waters effectively. 👍
It's life changing advice! 🔥
I like this version of content
Such an executer! Inspiring!
Some of the best food out there! I've eaten at the original Wing Central & The Roadhouse 😊 yummmmy!
That’s awesome, thank you
Great interview so much so that I don’t think I’ve ever commented on a CZcams video ever in my life or at least can’t remember the last time I did lol. Honestly my only follow up question would be what software does he use to calculate food cost?
I use restaurant systems pro software to help run my business and toast pos
went to CWU from 03-07 during the glory years of Wing Central. Was (still is) a great spot
Definitely the best years for Shannon and I at Wing Central. Lots of great memories
My friends and I still reminisce about going there after intramural games. Most of us have our names on the wall 😊 Now i take my kids !
Don’t know Jim well but the cool thing about Jim is that he’s as nice and chill to his customers as he is in this video! And he’s sometimes funny too. Lol. Highly recommend stopping at one of his places.
Appreciate that, ask for me next time you visit. I’ve got new jokes :)
This is why I subscribed to this channel. No BS
Absolutely! We love providing well-deserved facts and education for our beloved community.
I am proud of you all. God bless you and your family.
Bless you! 🙏
29:21 I worked for several places that didn’t know their numbers and didn’t even do inventory by counting… they had the underpaid cashiers eyeballing the shelves and would guess at if they needed more or not of everything. It was painful!!!! I created an inventory system and I know I saved them tons of money but they were awful to me on a personal level. They went out of business not long after I left (several places I worked for actually) and I’ve observed other local small businesses open and close in a few months because they were not prepared with a budget or a business plan. It’s wild.
It's shocking how people run their businesses without knowing their numbers. It's like Rule #1!
Thanks for the work !!
You’re always welcome! 🙏
50mil is over a span of 20 plus years! Gross revenue…
yaaa.... to sum it up restaurants suk ass lol... i've done it and covid just made it virtually impossible if you weren't very established and had the money to burn through it.. my numbers were similar to his first 2 years but third year was when covid hit so I was fuk'd. Gross revenue for me in those first 3 years was 900k and 450k was the 12 months before covid.. it stopped all the momentum we had and went negative...
seems a lot of comments are being removed that add any deeper thought to it...
@@law4853CZcams is being censored
@@law4853 It's very rare that we remove comments, and we only do so if they're hateful or contain profanity.
This was the best, informative video I’ve seen on CZcams without any gatekeeping.
Glad you found it helpful! Hope the information propels you to new heights and success. 🚀
Awesome Jim! Thank you. Would love to reach out. You would be a great mentor!
His website link is in the description! Now is the perfect time to reach out. 🙏
This channel is so very inspiring.
Fingers crossed you’ll dive into our other videos and come up with some golden nuggets too! 🤞
I thought I was the only one who ever did that. When I took over the F&B at the embassy suites in Parsippany NJ. The restaurant was closing, just had a baby boy, and transferred into this closing dept. in 1 year we made 24% in profit. My P&L was all green every single Month. With a 17% f&b cost.
Nice work!
Excellent host and excellent guest
Appreciate the compliment! 🙏
Definitely a great boot strap story and inspirational. But also one of “its never enough money” no work life balance. As Kenny Chesney once said in a great song “don’t blink”
Cats in the cradle, spend all of my free time with family and friends. Definitely did the 80-100 hrs weeks when I was young but thankfully learned to grow my team and delegate.
More like: No Experience to a Ton of Experience! Thank you for the insights!
Hope you learned a thing or two that you could apply in your journey! 🔥
That’s why the mastermind group was so powerful for our growth. I encourage every business person to find a great one.
Great episode and congratulations Jim on your achievements . Rule of 10 great advice. Australia has exceptional coffee-cafe 11:35 scenes ,wines and beers . (Vas-FelixLittle Creatures Eagle Bay Brewery/) We love Beetroot on our burgers . One for the students coffee shop - Banana Smoothie with two shots of coffee.
im afraid ill get laid off down the road. Right now im learning how to weld.
Welding can be a great business or side hustle
@@wingmanellensburg definitely want to learn welding. My parents made an agreement with me that if I wanted to do that then I would need to attend 4 year college as well. I’ve already finished my freshman year majoring in computer science, but if I’m doing welding I’m probably gonna change it to something that lines up with welding. Something like civil engineering or construction management
This guy hit me in the face with a baseball when I was 7. At least I learned to move away from the ball during a bad pitch. Great guy though I know his son too.
lol, I miss teaching you those important lessons. I blame that pitch on the Ellensburg wind
Funny post 😂
I was his baseball coach lol. It was a windy day and I’m a third baseman not a pitcher
Thanks for sharing your heart .may God continue to bless you and your family in Jesus' name.
Would love to meet and learn from this man
Feel free to reach out to him. He's open to coaching! ☺️
the answer is alway E Q ! emotional intelligence... aka maturity at its highest.
the well to do dont fret about dumb stuff geneders titles who cares they wanna get paid and they do!
Truly the American dream. Most people don't humble themselves to start at the bottom. Congratulations
Starting from scratch builds a solid foundation, making you unshakeable against life’s ups and downs. That’s the power of humility! 🙏
That's because most people can't and there's no shame in that
$18.99 for a pulled pork sandwich?!!! $12.99 for Guacamole?!! I cannot for the life of me see how that's sustainable.
Washington State has some of the highest wages in the country. We also have the highest fuel cost which adds to our cost across the board. We also are a nicer full service restaurant.
That'll do it. South Fl is catching up to yall
@@zoysiaguy3757 $16.25 minimum wage plus tips for a server in WA State
Happy cooking.
For sure! Are you in the restaurant industry as well? 💪
9:49 whats the website to bid on storages ??😅
Storage Treasures
Love it!
Thanks for watching! ☺️
good content
We hope you enjoyed the lessons! Thank you for watching! ☺️
some owners say they break even some say their making bank there has always been big money in fast food even with inflation
Restaurants and fast-food establishments operate under distinct business models and have varying resources. Appreciate the information you’ve shared with the community!
paul what is the brand coat are you wearing ?
😀I had it custom tailored in Shanghai China 🇨🇳 so it’s a one off 🙏
Nice 👍🏿 it is a really cool looking coat, how much they charged for that ?
Rule of 10
10% more customers, increase profits 10%, and increase the rate of customer return 10%, you'll double your profits... interesting!
Gold!
🤔🙆🏽♂️🤯🤣😎💰 Boss shit who said in order to make money you have to go to school
School is now an option! ☺️
Breakdown balance sheet
30% food cost 600000
Rent 300000
Labour 600000
You are making around 400k. from this location if business is consistent
Business is growing, food cost lower and labor is a little higher.
If how much he’s making is triggering you to say something negative, then do something about your life or remain broke and always working for someone who’s getting rich
It doesn't hurt to be kind. Always spread positivity! 🙏
22:48
20% of customer will give 80% of your revenue look after 20% more…..
Family man that’s one of big secrets to success….
Enjoyed this video….good info..
Glad it was helpful! Were you inspired to start your own food business? ☺️
I looked into it there is a lot of outlay financially I looked into a mobile food business wood burn pizza or crepes I think I could manage….but a franchise would be more set up also looked into doing food from home…
@@UpFlip
I looked into it there is a lot of outlay financially I looked into a mobile food business wood burn pizza or crepes I think I could manage….but a franchise would be more set up also looked into doing food from home…
Brother tech company please
Any recommendations? We're all ears!
I've never heard of paying to be in a mastermind group? I thought it was like minded individuals forming a group to help each other achieve goals .
Correct, our group had structure and management to help plan and execute great meetings to help the group grow their business. Most of the top mastermind groups have a fee associated with them
You cut him off when discussing the mastermind…. Did he win the Porsche?
I did win the Porsche. It was a boxter but I traded it in and bought a 911 C4S
Nice work! I really enjoyed your story. Thank you for sharing, it was motivational.
Better and better guests? Wow! Did you see that guests face after you said that?!?
Maybe you shouldn't say that again haha
How do I contact this guy for some 1 on 1?!
Feel free to drop by their website! You'll find all the contact details you need right there. 💪
The biggest take away be that he had free help. Had his family and whomever not chipped in as unsung heros, he would be broker than he was when he took the risk and he'd be applying to work for others. That's how that works. I mean look at the thumbnail. Me me me. The ppl who helped him do "the btch work" are reduced to "lucky" to reap any monetary benefit.
That’s what you took from this video? That’s unfortunate as we hoped to give you some content to help your business grow. Best of luck
You have good content. Take it easy with the clickbaity, but wait there's more, format. Kinda annoying.
You do know that this is their business right? They want to keep viewers watching. I think it’s a great strategy IMHO.
@@Kick_Rocks You might be right but for me, it's wearing thin.
@@cory8837Well to each their own. I love this channel, and like to take the value over criticizing things that don’t really matter IMHO. It’s free information. Gratitude is the best attitude.
How is it clickbait
This is a valid content strategy, as long as it contains good information its all good
$3mill revenue laying off 150’employees..hmmmmn interesting 🤔 doesn’t add up IMO!
And why interview outside the crib? Hmmm.. interesting 🤔
3 million at that location, we had 5 locations and a full office team. 170+ employees and then Covid caused our governor to shut down all restaurants for dining.
Inside the “crib” we’re three dogs that weren’t interested in being on CZcams.
@@wingmanellensburg FINE.. Ok, let’s say gross $15mill, I still don’t see how with that number could support 170+ staff payroll especially on a very slim restaurant margins. Something doesn’t add up 🤨
Ok, I’ll play along with math class. 90% of our employees were college students working part time.
Some worked 10hrs a week.
@@wingmanellensburgReally appreciate the feedback and information you are freely giving. I work alongside my family in business and my mom suggested checking out your story. Thank you 🙏. She says your strategy to move forward through c o v i d gave her inspiration. Also, the importance of knowing your numbers helped us have a better appreciation for that as well. ❤
So why did you all raise your prices so much, delivery fees on top of food delivery service and not train your people that they need to wear proper her and that a hir in someone’s food can ruin an establishment really quick. As does no smiles, being properly dressed, clean, etc…
All of the fees and prices makes it impossible just for someone to buy a pizza?
Wrong restaurant, we don’t sell pizza, have delivery fees.
The burgers at road house are ass, the ribs are good
Thank you for the feedback
If yer gunna "mute" all the secrets. WHY THE FUK WATCH IT?
Seems like you might have missed some "unmuted" secrets by not watching the entire video. 🫣
Gotta call BS on this one
I said the same thing…
Looks like guy money laundering some serious money. 😅. Successful in everything.😂
$50 million but paying your workers a wage they can’t even live on
We are proud to say we don’t have any minimum wage employees in our company. Average server earning over $40 hour
3-5% margins for full-service restaurants. Not much money to go around
what do the cooks/dishwashers make.. servers are tricky if you count tip in the average, so what is their base wage... @@wingmanellensburg
@@law4853I pay $18-20 plus benefits for dishwashers but your comment was about a living wage. That answer isn’t for me as my “living” wage is different than yours. The good news is I’m happy to help anyone on our team improve theirs.
Haters gonna hate... Look for the gold, you'll find gold...
He didn’t make that kind of money dude stop with these, Thats just his gross revenue. He didnt make a fortune or make 35k a week.
35k x 52 x 20 = 36 million GROSS revenue.
Restaurant industry 5% - 10% profit margins so he would be lucky to make 100k-180 a year. And that’s him and his wife combined. So 50k-80k a year each.
Not a fortune.
Thankfully we bought all of the realestate we occupied and most of the time our margins are better than 10%. My suggestion is to find the information that will help you grow your business. In my video I talk about how a good budget really helped our profitability and focusing on our prime cost. Those two things will help any restaurant make more $$$
Yikes that’s a bold statement. La Nova sells more wings on a Tuesday than all of his locations combined in a week. Great guy, but far from the wing king.
I see you have a axe 2 grind…lol I’ve had their wings and trust me when I say it’s a good day when you eat a chicken wing even if it’s not from the “King of Wings”
Dudes got all the success and money but trashes his body! What a shame !!
Good news I’ve joined a gym since filming this episode. So far I’ve lost $60 bucks lol. Imagine never smoking, don’t drink, no drugs, rarely if ever sick but then being told I’m “trashing my body”
Don't worry about what the OP said, live how you want to
Being white males helped😂😂😂😂
Unsubbed.
This is just long form advertising
Filthy, shook hand then touched cutting board with bare hands.
Thankfully I only shake hands for CZcams videos. I wear gloves when I cook and we have passed every health inspection for 22 years.