Troy was born in Hawaii. His family goes back five generations in Hawaii and was among some of the first missionaries to arrive on the islands. He started as a 14-year-old dishwasher in Maui and eventually worked his way up to a sous chef working with his mentor, Chef Roy Yamaguchi. Hawaiian culture emphasizes “ohana” which means family. Troy has worked hard to embrace that same family atmosphere in his restaurants. It’s difficult to maintain a restaurant culture as a restaurant grows. Owners often find themselves having to choose between managers who are a good cultural fit but underperform as managers or vice versa. Taking care of guests is critical and is the foundation of any restaurant’s success. Troy’s vision for TAG Restaurant Group changed during COVID. His new steak restaurant in Houston opened three months before COVID and struggled in 2020 and 2021, but rebounded in 2022 to become a successful location today. Quotes “(When it comes to ingredients), I was taught early on working in California, Hawaii, New York and Hong Kong that you utilize what you can from where you’re from.” (Troy) “Authentic and real. I think everyone can see when something is genuine. We try to hire people who are genuinely hospitable. Even if they don’t know how to cook but they have a good attitude and want to, we like those types of people.” (Troy) “The days of people staying for 10 plus years are probably long gone.” (Troy) “Pay is, of course, one factor, but it’s not THE factor.” (Joseph) “Our core values are passion, imagination, courage, caring, humility, harmony and ownership. That’s what I want to see in people. I want to give them ownership to do what they think is best.” (Troy) “It’s really tough to foster a culture when you spread out (to multiple locations).” (Joseph) “Two weeks in (at my first restaurant), we were $40,000 in the hole. My investors said if you don’t change we’ll have to close. The second month we lost $20,000. The third we broke even. And the fourth – I swear to God – we made $40,000. We made an $80,000 swing in four months by just focusing and working together. ” (Troy) “Marketing can get people to visit once. It’s the restaurant’s job to get them to come back.” (Joseph) Transcript 00:00.81 vigorbranding Everyone today I'm joined by chef troy guard from tag restaurant group which you're going to learn all about if you're not already familiar. Um Troy say hello give a little bit of backstory. 00:11.84 Chef Troy Guard good morning good afternoon good evening whatever time we're listening to here. It's March Seventeenth St Patrick's day and I'm just chilling in my marketing's ah my marketers' room right now. So talking to Joseph in the. Excited to be on board. Thanks for having me. 00:29.77 vigorbranding Awesome! Well Troy so you grew up in Hawaii um, which it's islands that I absolutely love and now you find yourself imp possibly the complete opposite. You're a mile up in the air in Denver. 00:35.91 Chef Troy Guard Um, you know. 00:42.93 vigorbranding Um, what led you to Denver from Hawaii and and how have those roots from the islands influenced your cooking and your outlook on life. 00:50.48 Chef Troy Guard Yeah, thank you so yup board on the islands we're 5 generations of being in Hawaii even though we're white where you know some of the first missionaries to come over there which is kind of cool. Um, great stories back there. Um I left when I was. You know, 21 and just kind of just went all over the place and it's funny now that you just said that that I never even kind of realized I knew I traded the ocean for the mountains but being at sea level and then a mile up. That's pretty crazy and it's the first first place. Anywhere in my life that I was landlocked I've always lived by an ocean. So I've been here 21 years now so the last twenty one years no ocean but it's kind of cool I get to go on vacation to the ocean. So ah, I'm a