Escaping the Drift with John Gafford - The Science of Satisfaction: How to Keep your Customers Happy with Guest John O'Donnell EP 54

Episode Date: June 28, 2022

The Science of Satisfaction: How to Keep your Customers Happy with Guest John O'Donnell EP 52Any great business is all about giving customers what they want, and making sure they have a good time while doing it. But how do you make sure your customers are truly satisfied?One way to ensure customer satisfaction is to provide an elite experience. Las Vegas hospitality royalty John O'Donnell knows a thing or two about creating an elite experience for his clients. In this episode, we'll take a look at some of the ways you can make your customers feel like VIPs.

from the art of the deal to keeping it real live from the simply vegas studios it's the power move with john gafford back again back again back again for another episode of the power move i'm your host john gafford with me to the left me as always colt the bulgarian mongoose, Amadan. That's right. How are you, Colt? I'm doing good. You're doing good?

Yeah. Beautiful day. Not 120 hours. I'll tell you this. I'll tell you this. We got a great show today, man. As markets change, as business changes, everything happens. Everything goes along.

There are certain things that are a necessity to survive if you're in business, let's just say, to survive in these markets as we go along. And one of the things I would say you have to have is an elite level of customer experience. It's something that we preach amongst all of our brands. And I got to tell you, I went to eat at one of my favorite spots on Saturday and got to see one of my favorite people. And to me, like we live in Las Vegas cult, don't we? Is this where we live? I mean, some of us more than others, but we live here in Las Vegas, which is the entertainment capital of the world. And I got to tell you the one guy when it comes to elite customer experience in the hospitality industry that I know

I condom into coming in today know i condom into coming in today i kind of want to come in so yeah without further ado there guys this is my good friend john o'donnell john how are you good good very good very honored to be here gentlemen very honored to be here that must have been a strong martini we gave you saturday night johnny i got you convinced about all these like wonderful things're saying. No, no, no, no. I'm going to tell you a funny story about that, though. I'll tell you a funny story. I'm like, what? Is he talking about me?

He already knows. He's got to be talking about you. I don't know. I'm going to tell you a funny story, which is this. So my wife, occasionally, she has an alter ego named Vodka Gidget. It doesn't come out much. Not often. Not often.

Vodka Gidget will tell you about it, right? And as we're driving home from you, because she drank more than I did because I was driving. And as we're driving home from you, I look over at her and she's just got this look on her face, like just kind of angry a little bit. And I said, you all right? She's like, no. I said, did you maybe drink too much? She's like, I think maybe a little bit too much. And I said, she goes, he made my drinks too strong bit too much and i said uh she goes he made my

drinks too strong hang on a second she goes he made my drink too strong and i said but baby you're drinking martinis and she goes yeah but no they were they were lemon drop martinis and he should have put more drop in my martinis that he did vodka and i was like you know i'm just not even gonna argue with that we're just gonna let it go so so yeah i guess when gadget comes in more drop and less vodka from that but we had a good time though right we had a great we had a great time but again you know john's been in this town for a really long time he is a part of one of the best restaurant groups here uh in an internship capacity and and i want to kind of pick his brain about what he does and how he does what he does to make sure everybody that comes in feels special. Because again,

I believe success leaves clues. And I think that you can learn, I think we can all learn a lot from just what this guy does. And we're lucky to have you here, super happy to have you, which is great. know normally this is the time when we kind of get and talk about nonsense and i even told you we were gonna talk about nonsense and what happens you have anything that happened this week cold that we're gonna talk about or do you have anything we just want to talk about how my stocks are keep crashing no i mean it's just it's a bunch of nonsense we don't need to go into yeah yeah i think we could learn a lot more from him than my nonsense yeah i agree i agree. I agree. I don't think we need to go to your top.

No, don't. Stop. You know what? I went and saw Top Gun. Amazing. And I don't like Tom Cruise. He's up there with Tom Hanks. And it was actually a great movie.

I thought it was. Loved it. Loved it. Loved it. Especially that Harald Fultemeier, that Top Gun music coming through all the time. You just want to take off. You got to go see it in the movie theater, too. Oh, you do. You got to have the experience the time. You just want to take off. You've got to go see it in the movie theater, too. Oh, you do.

You've got to have the experience blasting it. You have to. I love how it was like a shot for shot, almost remake of the very beginning. When he took off, I thought that was awesome. But I'm proud of you for going to see a movie with a Tom star. Yeah, he's up there with my Tom Hanks. I know you hate Tom Hanks. It's just really strange in every direction, but it's all right.

Welcome to the podcast. Yeah. So let's get right into it with you. So the one thing, and I want to tell you, if you're listening, it's like, well, what qualifies this guy? And you're going to hear the whole story, but I'm going to tell you real quick why this guy's amazing. And look, as much as I like to think that I'm special, as much as I like to think that I am someone that people remember, I genuinely feel that this story could apply to anybody that sits with you at your place. That was a strong martini, John.

No, it wasn't. No, no, no. No, I'm telling you. We walked in. We sit down. And through the course of our meal, I haven't been to your spot there in probably six months, probably six, seven months. It's been a minute.

And then through the course of conversation as we're sitting there talking, as we always do, you said, hey, have you talked to myron again yeah no that's right yes and myron is the myron is the guy that runs the smith center super lovely guy wonderful lovely guy and i met him at your bar and i met him because you introduced me to him and that's not the uncanny thing the uncanny thing was you said no no no you were sitting there gidget was sitting there and myron was sitting there and it was six months ago and i and we walked out of there and i'm thinking i'm like dude i go to the store to buy one thing and i get there and i'm like what am i here to buy and this guy remembered where i was sitting uh six months ago And the way that that made me feel when I was there, the way that

that made me feel was special. It was special, but it was so much more important to me than how good the food was and how good the drink was or how much drop was in the lemon drop. It was so much more important to me how you made me feel. And that's, to me, what the key is of elite customer experience. And that's why I hounded you this week to get you in the seat that you're in. Johnny. Well, hey, Colt, great to be here. And thank you for that wonderful introduction. And, you know, we're very blessed.

I'm especially very blessed. I work for a great company, some great people, surrounded by great people. Got some great food, got some great drinks. Chef Pat does a great job where I am at one steakhouse at the Virgin Hotel. We'll plug right there. But, John, just the other night when you were in, when you were in before, one of the beauties,

one of the great things that I'm able to do in my position behind the bar is introduce friends to friends, then new friends to old friends and other people so you know when myron was sitting beside you seven months ago i thought well how wonderful this is myron john gidget you guys started talking communicating and if there had been other people borrow the other side if there was some kind of alignment i would try to get you connected you know and i love the fact of our community within the community.

I love the fact of, like, we just had a birthday party, one of our really good guests' birthday party, and the majority of the people he invited to spend the birthday party at the bar were all folks that he had met over the years at our steakhouse or at our La Camita downtown, our Mexican restaurant downtown, or a crush of the MGM. So it's a huge honor for me. And I get a lot of satisfaction out of that,

to be able to see that. Hey, it makes me happy. It makes me happy to be able to do that, to be able to make those connections work. Well, if you go back seven months to the first podcast we did after I met Myron at your bar, I said, I did a whole thing for like probably five minutes about if you go to a restaurant, try to eat at the bar because you never know who you're going to meet.

Right. And that was, that was the driving force behind that was that influence there. Do you want to say, Cole? No, I was just going to say, say you know the higher ups in the uh restaurant industry or the nightclub industry they're really good at doing that and that's something i've noticed with the top of the top is connecting people with other people you know is that something you learned growing up or something you learned here in vegas let's let's back up i want to hear the whole story.

So walk me through young John O'Donnell. All right. Well, I was born in the summer of 69. Okay, got it. Perfect. In Dublin, Ireland. And had lived in the city, then moved down the country. Got in the bar business down there.

So the family was in the bar business. Yeah, we were in the bar business for a little bit. And then we moved from there into a small town. What was the first? I always ask everybody that comes here that's successful, I ask this one question. What was the first hustle? What was the first way you were making money? How old were you? Oh, probably my best gig ever.

What was it? Altar boy. Okay, wait. I was an altar boy, too, and I wasn't making money as an altar boy. Weddings and funerals. Altar boys, yeah. They break you off to be an altar boy. Oh, yeah, that was the first,

yeah, that was, you can't beat that, you know what I mean? That was a great time. St. Benedict's Church in Rehabilitation. Light the candles, ring the bells, ring the wire, that's it, buddy. Run back, light it up, get in and out, you know? And then it was just a wonderful experience. I remember, I always think back

about that, and that was, yeah, that was my first gig. So 12 doing that, I'm guessing. guessing no i was about eight or nine they start you start they start you young in ireland oh yeah and i i was lucky too i got to work probably the 10 o'clock the 11 o'clock and the midday as well sometimes wait so you got paid every mass you worked no no no no just a special event mass was what you did and then you got you got paid for weddings and funerals got it was always an envelope for the altar you got paid for weddings and funerals. Got it. It was always an envelope for the altar boys, right? For the weddings and funerals, right? There still is, I'd imagine.

Got it. I don't think I ever got a nickel for it. I grew up in a small southern town. I don't think I ever got a nickel for serving anything like that. Yeah, that was a lot of fun. And then we were in the fish business in Ireland. What's the fish business in Ireland? We had a wholesale retail fish business in the middle of Ireland in the 80s.

These are your parents? Yeah, my parents. Yeah, mom and dad. How many brothers and sisters? I'm the eldest of five. One brother, three sisters. So I still have two sisters living back in Ireland. Mom and dad are in New York.

And my youngest sister, she's in New York. And my brother is in New York, too, right now as well. So actually, we're all going to be in Ireland in August for like a week and a half. Spending some time with mom and actually they were all just here. Everybody was just here back in April. We got to go to see a night's game, played golf with my

dad, my brother and everything. A really close family then. We have a WhatsApp that pretty much every day there's pictures of kids, there's pictures of this or pictures of that. Today I'll probably put a picture up of being with you. We'll get a picture before we go. No, for sure.

So what age in Ireland did you plan to make the big jump to the States? Well, I was planning from the age of when I was about that size. Then I got to 19. I'm like, I need to move out. So you went to school. You finished school in Ireland, all that stuff. Oh, yeah. Then I moved to London.

Then I moved to London when I was 19. 19 i had a great time there i moved over there um worked at some fun places there i was in a restaurant bar stuff over there too um you know over there i was a manager right and then i moved to new york city in 1993 i'm like none of this manager stuff let's just all my friends are making money bartending. Let's jump on this wagon right here, you know? And you get to actually come in and go home and leave the job at the work. Oh, my God. It was like going to the ATM. Yeah.

So started off there. And then back in 1996, 95, 96, before, I was always intrigued by Las Vegas. I'd never actually been to a place that had good weather. You know, growing up in Ireland, it's cold, wet, miserable, you know? In London. In London as well. It doesn't make you very happy every day. It's like the trifecta of good weather. You know, growing up in Ireland, cold, wet, miserable, you know? In London. In London as well. It doesn't make you very happy every day. It's like the trifecta of bad weather.

Yeah. Of all great cities, but bad weather. Let me do something exciting. Let me do something fun. And different folks that I bumped into are mad or this or that. And just Vegas, Vegas, Vegas was in my head. And I went down to Liberty Travel. Remember back then you had to go down and walk into a travel agent to buy a ticket yeah and i bought it i bought a ticket it was cheaper to

buy a return ticket than one way to come to las vegas i remember it was during the carpet convention on february 1st 1996 and i remember telling the heck of the people on board you're going to vegas where you're staying no idea what are you going to do no idea no idea no idea dude you know what's funny you know how many people i know that's their vegas story started just like that yeah my favorite was i knew an executive for lenar at one point and he said he got drunk got on the wrong plane in like 1982 that's when you could do that and round up here exactly can't do that and round up here and never left really yes it was it was like his 82s like i got drunk and got on the wrong plane and just never left. I think Vegas does that. I had a guy that he was higher up in the golf industry,

and he just came through to play golf one day and was headed to Arizona and just never left. Just never left. I got a game tomorrow I'm going to start. He started hustling people and then sticking around. Okay, I want to talk about that because, again, that's something that you just said. How old are you when this happens?

I was about 26. You're about 26. 26, yeah. So you literally just cashed everything out and you said, I'm going with no plan. I wasn't really left to cash. I had one of those little foldy over suit bags, you know? One of those bags you put your suit in.

I had the one suit you put in, you tie it. You know, I was like one of those Huckleberry Finn types arriving at the airport. I went down. Okay, genius. When I get off the plane, what are you going to do now? Right? I was saying to myself.

And I went down to where all the yellow pages were. And there was a free phone. And I saw this Sunrise Villas motel. I'm like, oh, let me call this place up. Sounds nice. Called the place up. It was like $130 a week. Did you have a room?

We got a room. And I'd seen these things in a movie. And I'm like, oh, the Wild West. Here I am. I get the cab. It was like $130 a week. Did you have a room? We got a room, and I'd seen these things in a movie. I'm like, oh, the Wild West. Here I am. I get the cab. It was a Checker cab, a Checker Star cab, 1925. I remember the fair and everything like that. So I walk in.

There's bars in the window. I'm like, oh, my God, I've seen these in the movies, too. What am I going to do here? Sir, I just spoke to you on the phone. He's like, yeah, we got the room. I go, there's the cash. He goes, you know, we don't take cash. the circle anyway i went up the circle k bought a 12 pack of beer i went back and went up sat down in my room i do now it was one of those old tvs where

you had to like you know turn the switch you know go hey move it over this way but next day i walked from fremont up to the luxor and you know all those iconic things like the ti you'd see but you walked from fremont street to the luxor the And you know all those iconic things like the TI you'd see. Wait, you walked from Fremont Street to the Luxor? Luxor the next morning. Well, I was pretty close to it. I was on East Charleston. Okay, all right. What month was this?

Oh, it was February 1st, 1996. Okay, good. So it wasn't summertime. Oh, no, but to me that was a beautiful day. It was a beautiful day. I was going to say, come from New York. Yeah, and walking down Fremont. Well, stop for a second.

Stop for a second. So what was going through your mind when you were just like, I'm just going to pack up my stuff with zero plan. Okay, let me ask you a question. Do you think that was irresponsible or do you think you were just, I got balls on me? Because here's, the reason I say that is because one of the biggest problems people have with succeeding at anything is getting off zero. Getting from zero to one. I mean, forget getting to 50. Most people can't get to one.

And here you are. I mean, that's a pretty decent-sized risk, man. Is that something that – It kind of excited me, though, the fact of – I remember the plane. Because I remember the carpet convention. These folks came to me. Where are you going to stay?

Who do you know? And I was like, nobody, nobody. What are you going to do? And I was like, I don't know yet. And I remember thinking to myself, scared, but excited. Scared, but excited. And I was thinking, this is going to be a great story if I pull this off.

Right. I just said, it's going to be okay. I got cash. I got money. Did you think about a worst case scenario or just determined you were going to figure it out? No, I wasn't really scared of that, you know? Burn the bridges, man. The motel where I was staying on East Charleston, I was like, man, are all these neighborhoods like that around here?

A little suspect. What's going on? And all that stuff evolves over time, you know? So I remember that day. I remember thinking to myself, myself okay let's network here so as i walked up and down fremont street which i'd seen on tv i'm looking for because what it says your name it says where you're from yeah so i was looking colt island john island right each place i'd walk into i'd walk for the irish it wasn't like i was searching them out but i was looking okay if i i wanted to find okay where's the local irish it wasn't like i was searching them out but i was looking okay if i wanted to find

okay where's the local irish pup right so eventually that day walking by ti walking by the mirage and being amazed by all these things you know and and just just just just being amazed blown away i watched the mgm when i saw this one guy i said michael ireland i'm like hey michael and he was a crap stealer wish i'd seen him since or whatever like that. But I say, hey, where's the local bar? Where do the guys go here? He goes to Crown and Anchor down the street on East Tropicana. Next day, I went down there, met up with some guys there.

This one guy, hey, I have an apartment right next door. I'm like, perfect. Hey, how about this? He goes, I'm a supervisor at the convention center for security. You want a job? I said, sign me up. So now you're here. I want to go to work straight away.

You're here one day, and you got a job, and you got an apartment. Well, in a few days, yeah. So I went, like, didn't pay a lot, but it was great to be going to work and then doing something. And, like, I remember just going, like, well, this is amazing. This is great. You know, but is there a lot of fear? Is it this or that? Of course, it's the questions, a bit of self-doubt.

There's always going to be that. It doesn't matter what you do in life. But I've really enjoyed it, right, when I think back about it. Well, something you said that is so key in business-wise is you're looking with people you could connect with right away. Right? And I don't think people realize that. People are willing to help people they see themselves in or whatever, and you seeking out people that had mutual life stories with or whatever,

being from Ireland, was very smart. And I think if you're building a new business or you're looking to move to a new market, that's how you got to do it. Because if you go in the wrong place and keep looking, you're not going to connect a new market, that's how you got to do it. Because if you go in the wrong place and keep looking, you're not going to connect very well. No, I agree. And it's always the common threads you look for. I'll tell you a great story from the weekend if you want to hear it. So I wanted to, with our mortgage and title operations growing, and when you grow and you get bigger and you do things, you piss off the existing establishment, right? They get mad.

And it's so funny that people can't believe that you're just successful because you're successful. They think you have to be cheating somehow. So they want to start trying to complain to the different divisions or boards or whatever it is to try to get you in trouble. And it is what it is. It's not a thing. But me being hyper aware that that is probably coming, I wanted to get the best representation we could or the best advice we could on things that are compliant within RESPA. So I start doing research for the best RESPA attorney in the country, the person that specializes better in this. And I find that this is the guy that lectures at these major events on joint venture partnerships and affiliates, which is what we do.

Right. And so I'm like, okay, cool. This is obviously the guy. So I look and I'm like, where does he live? And I'm like, New Orleans. Oh, really? So I hit my float group, my Mardi Gras float group. I hit it up and I go, does anybody know this guy?

Within two seconds, I get, yeah, his kids are best friends of my kids. I'm like, give me a warm intro. So here's the best respite attorney in the country, and I got to spend two hours with him on the phone picking his brain. We've hired him now on retainer, but I got to pick his brain for two hours on a Sunday just because I looked for that common thread. That would have taken weeks to try to get past.

Oh, my God, to try to get past his gatekeepers would have been a nightmare. If he wanted to take you on, maybe, right? The common thread is so key in business and that was brilliant of you to do. Yeah. Find your people, man. Find your people. It all kind of worked out, you know,

and then that job and then I moved into that condo and then a friend moved out from New York. He got a job as a manager at the Palm Steakhouse, the forum shops at Caesars Palace. He hired me there as a bartender over there. In the meantime, he introduced me to some other friends that had a room in a house. Right? So I move in this house, I get a pool.

And I'm like, what? Living large. Now that's normal, you know? But at that time for me, moving here to Las Vegas, growing up in Ireland, lived in New York, lived in London, to have a swimming pool in your house. Oh, my God. And you can swim if you want. Now, I don't swim in February or March, but back then I would have.

I'm like, what the hell is going on here? But it was just, you know, and that's what. And the Palm's a good, that was a good stick. That was a great place. I love that place. The new guy at the Palm, too, I came in there as a new guy, so I worked a lot of lunches, and the Palm at the time was the powerhouse for lunch in town.

So I got to see a lot of people in town, and I got to meet a lot of people in town and to make friends with a lot of good folks in town that, you know, I've been so fortunate to the folks I've worked with over the years. And then after that, then I worked at Morton's on Flamingo for a little bit. And then in 2002, August 2002, 20 years ago, and that's when I got hired at Nine Steakhouse at the Palms. Which was the spot.

It was the spot. The spot. So it was about eight months after the Palm, nine months after the Palms was open. I came in there and, you know, that was just, that was, wow, that was just, it was a great time in there and um you know that was just that was wow that was just it was a great time in las vegas yeah it was it was a huge huge that's it was a huge change a huge time of change and and at the palms i feel we were really a big part of that you know and uh it was honored to be a part of it and and to experience that the fun we had every day oh yeah

that's where we met my wife obviously that's yeah. That's where we met. My wife obviously worked at Farms as well. Yes, that's right. And that's where we met a million years ago. I saw Gidget pretty much most days there. Yeah, you did. Yep, yep. What do you think made Nine so special? Because I don't know.

Is there a comparable restaurant in that heyday, like with the Nine restaurant? I mean, I don't think there is a comparable one restaurant like that for you. I think the only thing that might be even remotely close, and I don't necessarily love it as a restaurant, not to speak bad of your competitors, but STK. I don't love STK. But it's the only thing that I could say remotely has that similar vibe to what Nine did. It's not the vibe, but it still doesn't have the the cachet the cachet of it like

what do you think made nine so special i always tried to explain that to people how crazy that you really had a full night right there you know you're a great casino yeah you know you it was easy to navigate easy to get around you come up dinner with us you'd have some wonderful wonderful food you know it was a very a beautiful room yeah with the ceiling changing and a cool crowd yeah it was just a great scene right there the room the room itself was pretty simple you never crowd you never know who you'd see you never know what kind of celebrity was going to be there right we're very fortunate with celebrities lots of different different uh many people that it's funny seeing seeing people on TV, I'm like, oh, I remember he was at Nine State Costas.

She was at Nine State Costas. Like Britney getting married or something and being part of that whole thing. But definitely that celebrity thing really helped us out a lot. And then once you dinner with us, you were able to go to Ghost Bar. You were able to go to Ring. You were able to go to Playboy. You were able to go to Moon. And that entertainment flowed on to the evening.

And we were so locals, too. Accessibility-wise, a lot to do as well. Being able to come in valet at the front, and you're right there, and you're in the door. Or shoot around the back, come in the back way. Right off the strip right there. I think that was a lot to do, too. And what Michael did, and Michael and Scotty did, just creating those venues, creating that excitement. And hiring the right people.

We worked with some great, great, great, cool, cool people that led us. With Michael Morton today, I've been with Michael 20 years now. Yeah. Very, very, very fortunate. And he lets our personality come out. He wants you to be like that. We're not working the the other larger

hotels where you know this is what you can't show your personality you know it's just like being be quiet you know yeah be service be quiet but it's for me it's it that that's one that one of the one of the cool things when when the when when nine shut down and they were going to switch it over to scotch 80 did they offer you to stay on scotch they want you to stay there were you gone before did you i was already gone in 2012. You'd already done La Camita downtown. Well, no. We opened La Camita downtown on 6th and Fremont.

Love La Camita. I still spend some time down there. We just started doing brunch down there, actually. Yeah, I love La Camita. Yeah, so I'm just down there on Saturday. Stop by there and stuff. Yeah. Just had my birthday there, too.

Let me ask a different question. The Mortons, you said you worked at Mortons for a short amount of time. Did you get a relationship with them there, or was it strictly from the Palms when they really knew who you were? Oh, Michael Morton, yes. Well, Michael's dad actually sold Mortons about 50 years ago. So there's no affiliation there. No affiliation whatsoever okay so michael michael opened nine steakhouse and the and the nine group at the palms back in 2001 okay and

then i joined michael and jenna then in 2002 at nine steakhouse when i called him mr morton yeah and now it's michael yeah so we've been together and we're we're very close to as well when did you leave when did you leave Nine? In 2012, September 2012. And you went where? Straight to La Comida? Yes, that's when. So a short time after that, then I joined forces then with Michael again,

Michael and Jenna Morton again, and we opened up La Comida downtown in May 2013. But at that point, you go from being bartender to being partner. Yes. Yes. I became partners then with Michael and Jenna. I love that because look, there there's two ways to get into business in this world, right? There's two ways. You can either have the money to do it or you can sweat into it. And I've done both. I've done both of them. So I, i appreciate it so much and what was that process like of you going of them coming to you and you talking about what you could do and what you thought was it your vision was it their vision did they want to plug you in what was that process like of going from the guy

behind the bar to being now a partner what was that like um pretty cool john it's like it's but you make it partner it sounds like a law firm or something. It is a little bit. We're a hospitality company. So really, it's real simple. We just try to take care of our guests one guest at a time. And for me, being behind the bar all the time, trying to just take care of them one guest at a time. You know, have them come back.

Was La Comedia your idea or Michael's idea? Oh, no, no, no, no, no. All Michael's. All's all michael's and he just said hey i think you'd be great for this yes yes myself anything i can do to help so yeah you know michael michael michael's the boss michael's the boss and what what do you think made you stand out right like because i do know multiple people that know you right we don't really know each other, but I do know, and everybody's got the same thing as what John said. He's an amazing, amazing person, human being, great. Do you think that that's what makes you stand out as your customer service?

Did you have a martini as well before you came in? No, but I love customer service, and I go, I spend money eating out, and I hate getting bad customer service. It seems like John and I always customer service. And I go, I spend money eating out, and I hate getting bad customer service. And it seems like John and I always preach this. There's been a lot lately. Like, we went to go see you, actually. You weren't there. And we ended up having a drink somewhere else.

And we ordered. He wasn't there. Remember, I told you we were in a couple weeks before. Yeah, I think I COVID that week. Yeah, you were there. Three weeks ago, a month ago. But we were in another restaurant. Tried to see you.

30 minutes later, we still hadn't got a drink. No one even said hi to us. Well, may all those places keep doing what they do. Right. Yes. No, no, I don't mean that at all. But what you call, I think that for us, one of the things that I've learned over the years, and I think you'll learn when we go out to different places the key for our business for

me i feel is acknowledgement yeah just to be acknowledged just to be acknowledged you know when people come in for the first time to one steakhouse or it's their returning time or is their 10th time like when you can't you can't be in general their first time is really important to make that connection with them if somebody's waiting for me i like to give them a smile a look or say something but some kind of acknowledgement just let them know that we care you know because that that first hit you know what that that first hit of something coming in to our environment and to have them coming back is like oh yeah he said hi wow they're so front like what happens when a

hostess with the hostess standing the hostess is a bit off or she's too busy or this and you're like you walk away going, oh, they're a pain in the ass. That's John's. Right, isn't that what happens? You have a negative feeling towards it. Well, you just sit there and you're like, eh, let's go find somewhere else.

And you walk out on hundreds of dollars of stuff, right? One of my biggest peeves about Vegas restaurants, and I'll tell you what it is, is I hate these places that hire the super hot 19 year old instagram model hostesses because they don't want to be there they're angry they're there they'd rather be working at hakasan bringing bottles to tables of the sparkler making 150 grand yeah they don't want to be there so but you look at conversely you look at and we use the palm as an example a lot of time you walk up up and the maitre d's there.

He's always happy to see me. He's always glad I'm there. The 19-year-old Instagram model's pissed she has to stop knowing what she's doing to talk to me. So I don't know why they keep doing that. It drives me crazy. But I think, you know, you want to know what his magic is. I'll kind of tell you what I think it is.

I've never heard anybody, when I've talked to, you know, I know a lot of people that know you. We know a lot of the same people. I should come here more often. This is a wonderful place. No, but here it is. We bring people on. Here's the truth.

And this is what you should strive for. I've never heard anybody say you make good drinks ever. And I'm not saying you don't. I'm just saying that's, you look at, you look at what your function, like when you're behind that bar, you're the guy your function, like when you're behind that bar, you're the guy that brings the drinks and does whatever. I've never heard one person say you make drinks, but everybody says you're amazing at what you do.

And because what you do has nothing to do with drinks. And I think that is what makes an elite customer experience. If you can transcend whatever service or process or thing you're trying to do to give these people and just make them feel special in a way that they don't anywhere else it's going to be really hard for you to be successful i mean you can't just make shit drinks but it's going to be really hard for you to be not successful what you do so i have a question you know here's my next question do you think you have a photographic memory? I just, I remember the times.

I remember what we've spoken about or I remember something. I don't think, no, I don't have a photographic memory, but I do remember experiences, yeah, with people. So my question was going to be, do you correlate people to things? Like how do you remember people's names? Because you know everybody. I think that it's we're getting for me that it we're getting way too deep on this for me it's just it's just part of the business if it's part of the business it's about the acknowledgement about being recognized how does that how does that make you feel you know you

come in the other night you're like wow you know we've been friends a long time so we're gonna i'm gonna we're gonna have that acknowledgement right there but but the person that comes back the second the third time you know that's that's the impact right there someone stay in the hotel you get them on the first night right my dream is to have them come back the second second yeah i'm like i will you know and and try to get their name and and we just have fun and i love that first interaction i love having and for us we got some great food we got some great drinks yeah we have a great experience for you well i think again we have a great like my god like that bone and filet that that ribeye that you know our sides our side dishes like i'm getting hungry right now well i think then that goes to also

say that if you don't 100 believe in the product that you're selling, it's really hard to be enthusiastic at that point. I'm so fortunate again. Like Chef Pat at One Steakhouse, Chef Mario at La Camita. These guys, they have the same passion. They have the same passion driven from Michael Morton and Jenna Morton that just enjoy what, that just enjoy what we do and to just to love it and to put that love into what we do to care, you know, to have that ownership of, it just makes me feel good. Right.

If the product was bad, would you stay? Product's never been bad for us. No, I'm hype. No chance it's going to be bad. I'm saying hypothetically speaking. We'd never get to that stage. This wouldn't even do it. Yeah, we've got some great people with us, and they're not –

Just that level of excellence is so programmed. The way we get taken care of, why would you? And worrying about each other, yes. That level of excellence is just so programmed to the ethos of what you're doing. Even that salmon we have on the lobster butter sauce. It's got – This is not customer service, but it even sells. We're schlepping our product.

There we go. That's how it works. Yeah, boys, it's down to acknowledgement. I walked in the dry cleaners, my dry cleaners the other day, and there was one person in front of me. The lady was on her own. I'm standing there, and I'm like, okay. And she goes, hey, I'll be with you in a couple minutes.

I'm on my own and guess what i already feel like i should go back and help her out yeah i'm like hey take your time if that took 10 20 10 minutes i would have been fine right yeah you know just for the fact that i got acknowledgement yeah you know and that that's the key the key to everything really is suppose in us as humans is that we want to be heard. We want to be acknowledged. I'm not an important, especially when people come into a place like one steakhouse or any of our venues, you know, you got to, we got to, just, hey, gotcha.

And then where are you from? Oh, wow. Yeah, I've been there. Yeah. So is there a technique, again, back to the memory, is there a technique you use to remember somebody's name or do you just remember it? It's just now I don't remember everybody's name.

Right. See, it feels like you do, though. It so feels like you do. Well, you just got me in the right nights, John. So maybe I am special then. I don't know, man. Who knows? Maybe I am.

But do you think that you subconsciously do like i walked in and you you already put my name with something right like do you think you do that with everybody or was my name just unique that you're like oh you ever well what i think you're colt sievers right the fall guy from back in the day that's what name association right there but i'm with everybody he's he's kind of the fall guy of this show i'm always a fall guy my mom so it's so funny because i i finally found out what i was truly named after because my mom would reference it but it didn't she didn't know like the exact thing until you just came in yeah and he actually had his name legally changed from bitch amadon to a couple years ago so there you go such a dick whatever oh boy so

i hate this guy so what is what's one of the wilder nights you've had at work oh boy oh saturday saturday when there was literally almost a fist fight? No, that was just, that was in the casino. Oh, boy. That was just a misunderstanding from a couple of people. Which I thought was highly entertaining, too. It was entertaining. And nobody, you know, it was just fun, a couple of people having a couple of words. That's what happens, right?

That's what happens. That's what happens. Welcome to Vegas. You know, I've got to tell you, so a fun night or whatever. So my birthday, I'm Irish-Mexican, right? So I was born, well, I'm not Irish-Mexican. So I was born in Cinco de Mayo. So when we opened La Camita, I always made the joke about I'm Irish-Mexican.

So I had like a get-together at La Camita and invited tons of people down there. And, wow, probably 150, 200 people came throughout the day and throughout the night. And I just, I was like, oh, my God. How about how, I just felt so honored. And that people came, people came to La Camita. They were able to enjoy our food. They were enjoying the good times. But see that sense of the community again when I'm talking about how the happiness that it gave me that there are friends they're

all friends and good guests of ours for many years right but now they're all getting to see each other that night hey hey hey so that connection through our community when the community within the restaurant is the part that that makes me happy so so that's the. So personal satisfaction, that's way up there. Do you ever hear a husband getting yelled at by his wife for gambling too much? Because I notice when people are in fights, they don't realize that people are sitting next to them. Right next to them. I hear some interesting fights.

It doesn't happen as much. I wish it would happen, but we all like good entertainment. Don't we really? Oh, my God. There are times I'm sitting at a bar and I hear some stuff. Just because your wife yells at you more than most, don't try to justify how people yell. Not everybody's wife yells at them, Colt. This isn't a problem exclusive to you.

If I could, just a fun story on something like that. About a month ago, I remember there was one night and this gentleman came in with his family and with his wife and everything, the family, the wife, and they take off. And then all of a sudden he arrives back an hour later with a different girl, with a young lady from, you know, from, uh, I think she might've worked in one, the gentleman's establishment in town. But, uh, I was like, wow, that's interesting. Yeah, that's a ball. Whatever you want to do, whatever you want to do. None of my business. I'm not, that, that's interesting. Yeah, that's a ball move. Whatever you want to do. Whatever you want to do.

None of my business. That might be a power move. That is a power move. That's a bad move. That's a bad power move, but it is a power move. Do you see a lot of that? No. Because you've always worked at, I mean, nine probably a little less,

but like the Palm and one or not that. Like people, like we see a lot of people having fun and having a good time. Yeah one or not that. Like, like people, like we saw people having fun and having a good time. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, you know, it's, it's so funny,

man. I just, in this town, you think it runs rampant. I think it runs rampant in any town. I think you just see it here, but we've always said here, that's like one of my,

one of my things. Like if you cheat on your wife, I won't do business with you because if you'll screw your wife over, what are you going to do to me? You screw. It's just, it's always been one of my ethoses and I just, I don't break that. And I've actually had some partnerships where people have's always been one of my ethoses, and I don't break that.

And I've actually had some partnerships where people have done that, and I've been like, and I'm out, because I wasn't going to wait for the other shoe to drop, and that's how it is. So let me ask you this, because you are the keeper of so many great places here in Vegas, and it is a lot of people's dream to move here and get in the hospitality business. So what do you, I mean, obviously, the standard that you guys hold within the Morton family of restaurants is so high. What do you look for in, in people that you hire, especially front of the house or dealing with guests? What are you, what qualities are you looking for in

those people? Customer service, customer service. What's your interaction? You know, how are you going to be with a guest? Is the guest going to comfortable do you really care do you like do you really care do you really care about what we do are you just coming for the paycheck and going home that night you know are you going to are you going to show up early and go home but go home late you know and then that that that's key for us are you how are you going to be with our guests but how are you going to mix with the rest of with the rest of us as well are we all going to get get along? How quick are you to pull the plug on people that don't know that? I don't get involved in any of that at all. That's for

Dusto General Manager, the managers, or Michael. I come on at like a 30-day trial period type. I don't really get into that whole how that works or whatever like that. We're in the hospitality business, so there's in-house hospitality too of taking care of our fellow employees as well.

They're able to take care of our guests. So if we've got a great atmosphere within our – it's funny. I just played golf with our general manager yesterday, Dustin, and we were just talking afterwards at lunch about how the whole place – I was saying how great, like great our busboys and the servers, if I need something, they're always there like that to help out. You don't necessarily get that in every place in town. But once you have a great working vibe with people,

when you have a great product, when you have great food and great drinks, and if you're able to have fun with each other, but get the job done in a professional manager manner and make the guest happy that's what hospitality is all about right there in-house there are in-house guests ourselves and our front of front of house guests you know and that's that's the key right there yeah well dude i you know what man on that i think we're gonna wrap it up dude if you want to see a master at work i mean a true master of his craft and really learn what it is and eat great food as a as a bonus to that i mean i i find you know me uh you know

being in the hospitality business that i was early in my career and then just sitting there just master his craft i love watching it if you want to see that where can they find you what nights where how am i going to find you johnny colt colt severs johnny i look forward to seeing you on gidget please god soon on Colt Of course I'd love to see you have again We'll have those strong martinis too I'll bring my wife

Where she can yell at me And it'll be Perfect See there you go That's what we do Well I'll be Actually right after I leave here I'll be heading over to

One Steakhouse At the Virgin Hotel And I'm usually there Like Tuesday to Saturday And then we also have La Camita downtown Which we just started doing brunch So I kind of hang out there A Tuesday to Saturday. And then we also have La Camita downtown, which we just started doing brunch. So I kind of hang out there a lot of Saturdays and Sundays.

And then the other two restaurants are in the family? We have Crush, our American grill at the MGM. And also we have the Greek Sneak, our Greek restaurant, right beside Crush at the MGM. And we have La Cove at the Wynn. That's my Mother's Day brunch spot. Yeah. It's my Mother's Day brunch spot. Oh, my goodness.

It's such a beautiful. We have those windows open now. Overlooking the pool. Gorgeous my Mother's Day brunch spot. Yeah. That's my Mother's Day brunch spot. Oh, my goodness. It's such a beautiful. We have those windows open now. Look over, look at the pool. Gorgeous. Nice breeze at nighttime, and you see all the Vegas color and wonderful things. I love it. Beautiful restaurant. I love it.

I love it. Well, John, thank you so much, man. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you. Thanks for having me here today. No, of course. I need to come back here more often. Anytime.

Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. today uh of course i need to come back here more often i don't know right anytime anytime i'm like i hear you talking i'm like who are they talking about who's this guy walking through the hold on how much i was trying with that much any time and guys listen if you again like i said when we started this if you got a business and we're going into some weird times man it is a weird weird time with the economy and inflation and everything else and And you're good. The markets, I don't care what market you're in, it's going to constrict. And if you want to survive and make it

from one side of this to the other, making sure that you take care of your customers and have that elite level of customer experience is something that's so important. So take the advice of my good friend, John O'Donnell. It's all about how they feel, man. It's more, it's more important how they feel than what you can actually do look at these are huge restaurants in a huge you're you're ground zero of amazing restaurants yeah and it's because you work your ass off right where people noticed it and everything so if you're a waiter waitress or whatever you think why i'm just here just to make a quick tip somebody's watching you at all time and it. And it can be life-changing. That's it.

So strive for that elite level of customer experience. I promise it will change your business. And if you're going to move, remember, guys, keep moving forward. See you next time. Well, that was great, guys. Hey, it's John Gafford. If you want to catch up more and see what we're doing, you can always go to thejohngafford.com

or we'll share any links of things we talked about on the show, as well as links to the YouTube where you can watch us live. And if you want to catch up with me on Instagram, you can always follow me at thejohngafford. I'm here. Give me a shout.