The Competitive Edge: How Chris Crawley Applies Athletic Mindset to Business Leadership | Restaurants & Franchises Series

Anthony Codispoti: Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired by how they’ve overcome adversity. My name is Anthony Codispoti and today’s guest is Chris Crawley. Chris is the Chief Financial Officer at Hoffman Hospitality Group, a family-owned restaurant company based in Signal Hill, California. Established in 1951, Hoffman Hospitality owns and operates popular dining concepts like Hofshut, Lucille’s Smokehouse BBQ, and St. & Second.

Their mission is to deliver great food with friendly service in comfortable settings, creating memorable experiences for their guests. Under Chris’s financial guidance, the group has continued to flourish while upholding its proud decades-long tradition. Chris has extensive financial and accounting experience across public and private industries. He has served in senior roles at organizations like Moxie Management Group and Cisler USA. With an MBA in Finance from the University of Arizona Global Campus and a Business Economics degree from UC Santa Barbara, Chris brings a wealth of knowledge to his current position.

He is also passionate about supporting others, including college athletes transitioning into business roles. Before we get into all that good stuff, today’s episode is brought to you by my company, Add Back Benefits Agency, where we offer very specific and unique employee benefits that are both great for your team and fiscally optimized for your bottom line. One recent client was able to add over $900 per employee per year in extra cash flow by implementing one of our innovative programs. Results vary for each company and some organizations may not be eligible.

To find out if your company qualifies, contact us today at addbackbenefitsagency.com. All right, back to our guest today, the CFO of Hoffman Hospitality Group, Chris Crawley. I appreciate you making the time to share your story today.

Chris Crawley: Thank you very much, Anthony. I appreciate you for actually having me on to tell my story.

Anthony Codispoti: All right, let’s jump in, Chris. So as a former Division I baseball player at UC Santa Barbara, what influence did your athletic career have on your professional career path and success?

Chris Crawley: Good question. Right off the bat. Well, I mean, a tremendous amount of influence. Obviously, yes, I was fortunate to be able to play Division I college baseball at UC Santa Barbara. But there was a lot of work that was put into that even before getting to the collegiate level. Sports was a, it was a catalyst for really family time early on, but definitely an influence from a competitive standpoint and being able to push myself forward. Probably it was around just before high school, entering high school, it was a goal of mine at that point to play collegiate sports and specifically baseball.

That was a sport I excelled in as a child and fortunate for me, I was able to fulfill that dream and Coach Bob Bronson, there at UC Santa Barbara saw something in me and recruited me to play at Santa Barbara quite some time ago in the mid 90s.

Anthony Codispoti: So when you were coming into high school and you sort of had this dream, did it seem attainable to you or did it seem like it was something just so far out there?

Chris Crawley: So it was interesting. I was actually coached by my father for many years and there was one point where actually it was when I went to playing on a team, a little league team that was highly competitive and I ran into adversity there. It actually, it was difficult. The when I was coached under my dad, you know, he put me in places where I could succeed. I then had to go into another level and the adversity, at first I wanted to quit. I literally, there was doubt, I did not know if I could play at that level, but when I did that, he made me make the decision. He forced me to go sit down with the my little league coach at that time and literally tell him, you know what, I want to hang this up and quit and I couldn’t do it.

At that point, that was when I was 10, 11 years old, just I couldn’t do it. But it was interesting for my dad to actually put the onus on myself to say, hey, do I really want to walk away from this because I actually enjoyed the playing the sport. From that point forward, when I made that decision that, you know what, I’m going to stick with this.

I made that decision to say, hey, let’s see it all the way through. And at that point, you know, I understood there was high school, there was college, you know, I even put it in my mind, you know, potentially playing, you know, second base for the Dodgers or so. But so it was very early on that I did feel or have at least have the confidence after not having the confidence to play at a high level.

Anthony Codispoti: So the decision as a 10 or 11 year old there, it’s interesting that your dad put that decision in your lap. And the way that you talk through the story, it seems like everything worked out the way that it should.

You know, I’m a parent of a boy, you know, that’s about that same age. And I struggle with decisions like that. Like, you know, I want him to do, I want him to want to do it, right. But I also know that sometimes, whether we’re kids or adults, we could use a little kick, you know, we, you know, kind of stay on track to, to work harder to achieve something, to work through the hard times. Do you look back on that and have appreciation for the way that your dad handled it? And would you do it the same way with your own kids?

Chris Crawley: Well, absolutely. You know, to answer the question, do I look back and show appreciation for how my father held handle that? Absolutely. You know, it was a little bit different era back then where it was a sinker swim era. And, and, you know, my dad put me in a position where I had to make the decision. And, and I look at that, and that it was very healthy. And, and I’m sure as we go along in our conversation, you’ll see how it actually influenced a lot of how I approach life or how I approach work and business as well. You have to be responsible for, for decisions. You, it taught me at an early age that I had to think through things.

Is this something I really want to, to let go? And that was a big decision that for, for a 10 or 11 year old at that time. I happened to have an 11 year old right, right now. And, and I, I struggle because I want to take that approach sometimes. But I do feel in this maybe more complex situation that he has today, or at least what I feel he has. You know, sometimes I do give him a nudge, but, but I do find myself kind of on the fence with, with my 11 year old. But, you know, as we’ve gotten into youth sports and everything, I’m more so on that parent that’s going to try to put that, that child into the flyer to help them actually gain confidence versus holding their hand and, and kind of giving that, taking them to the answer.

Anthony Codispoti: So your 10 or 11 and your father says, if you want to quit, you have to go tell your coach and you couldn’t do that. Could you not do that because it was just a hard conversation to have with your coach? Or was it more of this competitive spirit sort of lit inside of you? And you’re like, now I got this, I’m going to figure it out.

Chris Crawley: You know, it probably has a little sprinkling of everything in it. So it’s so funny, Anthony, is I can go back to the night before. So, so I actually did sit down with my coach.

My dad took me up early before practice. I was thinking about it in bed. And, and, you know, there was just something inside that was like, you know, why, why quit because it’s, and even at that time, I was processing because this is hard.

It’s difficult. And so when I spoke with my coach, she obviously encouraged me. But at the end of that conversation and through, and I did have every intention to, to actually tell my coach at that time, I was no longer going to play for, for his team. But once I began having that discussion and all these thoughts filtered through my mind, I was like, you know what, I would be cutting myself short by not seeing something through. So, so part of it too, that was the challenge at that point. That was the competitiveness as well, even within myself, to see something through, at least. And, and I think, you know, having that has stuck with me through my entire life.

Anthony Codispoti: So let’s fast forward. Go through high school. You make the Division one team, you get recruited to play at UC Santa Barbara. You have, you know, some aspirations, like I’m sure everybody who plays at that level, hey, could I make it to, you know, to the next level?

At the same time, though, I’m going to put words in your mouth here, you’re still studying, you’re, you’re coming up with the backup plan, right? What, what attracted you to study economics and finance at this stage?

Chris Crawley: So, so my household coming up, both my, my mother and father, you know, were huge influences to, to both me and my siblings. I had two younger sisters. Education was highly stressed in our, in our household. So I attended UC Santa Barbara, yes, but I have two younger sisters, one attended Stanford, the other one went to, to University of Southern California. So it was a, a high, there was competition in our home, academically. So that’s why I’m kind of looked at it, you know, UC Santa Barbara, it’s not a terrible, terrible school at all.

However, you know, there, there was definitely a level of stress that we had to ensure that we were doing the right things academically. My father actually, he, he ran a recruiting firm in Los Angeles, which specialized in finance, accounting and technology. So the business economics and, and, and going in that, that direction, I can’t claim that, that was fully my, my decision-making. I, I was definitely tasked to go that route in influence by my parents. I, I look back at that and at the time, I, I didn’t really think much of it. I was so enthralled with, with sports and it was kind of part of the program. And, and I look back at it and it definitely paid off.

It was definitely a discipline, just as my, my parents would talk to me about, hey, make sure you’re thinking about doing something else besides sports. And so they gave me a very good basis of an understanding of what I want to do. Because like I said, in my mind, even going to college, I was going to play second base for the Los Angeles Dodgers at some point. So, but obviously I would, I had very good structure at home in, in giving me a balance of ensuring that I took care of the academic side as well as the, the athletic side.

Anthony Codispoti: At what point did you realize that you were not going to have a professional career in sports? And what was that moment of understanding like?

Chris Crawley: You know, it came, believe it or not, actually early on. So probably during, I would say my, my sophomore year, so it was interesting. My sports career through high school was, was things came easy. It was, I did well when I got to college and stepped into a, to a different level of competition. I realized at that point my 510, 160 pound frame didn’t, didn’t necessarily hold up to the test.

I was getting everything I could out of it. And so I knew right away actually in my sophomore year, because I actually got a chance to play with a couple of guys who played in the major leagues. And I, and I saw their ability and their dedication. Michael Young was someone who actually influenced me.

When I was at UC Santa Barbara, he had a great career with the Texas Rangers. But his, his worth ethic and true passion and love for the game, that was something that I realized that, you know, I didn’t have all of that. I didn’t work as hard as necessary to, to get there. And it wasn’t the physical part. It was really, it’s the mental part of everything. I also played with another gentleman named Freddie Sanchez. We were on a traveling team and it’d be one o’clock in the morning before we’re getting ready to play a game. And he’s practicing his, his swing.

I’m like, what do you do? But it was that dedication that I learned from those guys. And so I realized that, you know, to go to the professional levels, it was more than just the physical.

It was mental as well. So at that point, and also I did incur injuries throughout my, my career, which definitely set me back in. And right away, I knew I had to figure out, okay, what else am I going to do while, while I’m still competing in, in playing sports? And that was a difficult balance, you know, because you have to realize that, that, you know what, you think you’re good, but there’s a lot of competition out there.

And so it took me a bit, but I was able to accept that. And I think that was important for me to be able to also then transition into a normal student, because I took an extra year there at Santa Barbara, and then eventually to transition into a, you know, a life where I had to go to work and sit behind a desk. So there, there’s a big transition in that.

Anthony Codispoti: You know, in my own experience in talking with other business leaders, making those transitions can be really challenging, much more challenging than just saying, oh, it was hard, you know, and tell me if this rings true for you, Chris, you know, because you had identified as a baseball player as an athlete for so long, right? You had, you were doing this as, you know, and when you were a little kid, you were doing this in junior high, high school, now you’re playing Division One college ball, you got a scholarship, like, like, this is the trajectory that you’re on. And then all of a sudden, it’s like, okay, that part of who I thought I was has to morph into something else. Was this like a, I don’t know, kind of a couple of weeks and you got over it? Or was it a bit more disabilizing than that?

Chris Crawley: Oh, this was years. This is years to get through that. Obviously, like I said, you know, my parents stressed education, so, you know, I had to, had to fulfill that task and finish that side. Even with that, you know, after knowing if it wasn’t for my parents pushing me or so and giving me that motivation, it would have been a difficult transition.

It’s like, you know, you’ve lost your dream. What are you going to school for now? But even as I transitioned into, you know, the first job I took, the first job I took was actually there was a local CPA firm in Santa Barbara that hired me on and I actually did the accounting for tennis clubs that they that they had managed throughout the central coast there. And even during that time, it was a transition for me because I was even thinking to myself is this is not the excitement of being a professional, being an athlete in general, you know, this is where you come to work every single day, you’re working on reconciliations and it was just a almost kind of a mundane task that really was not inspiring me day in and day out because I just felt like I was kind of just punching the clock or so. So, so I had to then get inspired and do other things and so that’s actually what led me into my next job.

I, one of the partners there, he reached out to a firm in Florida and I went to to go work for a CPA firm as an auditor in Florida and that actually began to get me somewhat excited because, you know, I was traveling as an auditor, I was learning about you know, other companies, how business works. But in the same regard, too, I was now kind of fighting this this piece because I was an introvert at that point. I was an athlete, but now I’m thrusted into the business world.

You know, I had to kind of find my place there. What all I knew was just get a job done, essentially, work hard and get the job done. So, but I did not really understand how to maneuver through essentially corporate America or even really at that point know what I wanted to do. It wasn’t that I necessarily wanted to be a CPA or go down the accounting route. But when I was auditing, the important, the trigger really that got me in or where I was inspired was really just learning about the businesses that we I would perform audits on, understanding how how they function, learning the business processes and interacting with the high level executive folks there and understanding their strategy.

And and even at that time, you know, I remember thinking to myself, do I agree or disagree with some of the some of the strategy. And that became kind of the catalyst for me to really start to to maneuver in my career and get serious about about my career.

Anthony Codispoti: So, how can we sort of encapsulate that into advice for listeners who are thinking, I’m not really sure where my career is going. I don’t know what to do, where to find sort of the joy in the hope and the excitement and the inspiration for it.

Chris Crawley: Yeah, well, one of the things I would suggest that it and I was there, you have to get out of the doldrums of kind of thinking to yourself, is this the best it gets or, you know, or, or this negative energy, I would come to work sometimes with a negative thought process or so, because, you know, this wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do. So, you know, trying to find the the passions, I mean, it’s obviously it’s work, you know, I’m it’s work.

But what what drives you and then what can you work towards to drive you. So, so one of the things as I mentioned before, too, is, you know, very early on in my career, as an auditor, you would understand business processes and and look at strategy and and I was like, gosh, well, we could do this a little bit better, maybe if that changes. And so, what I learned early on, too, is that I did like to be in a place where I could add suggestion or bring a different type of thought process. And so, that led me onto a path of thinking, okay, well, how do I get into that role, you know, as a staff auditor, a staff accountant, you’re basically in the weeds and just just doing that, how can I get strategic and really be able to drive decision making in organizations. And so, that’s kind of an area, you know, for me, what helped is trying to put the the the negative thought aside of, oh, this is a job, and really trying to to figure out what is best or what’s positive here or what actually motivates me and take that focus and try to build upon that.

Anthony Codispoti: So, kind of putting everything that you had into it, how can I put myself fully into this experience so that I can get the most out of it in return?

How can I, you know, the more that I invest, the more that I’m going to get back, the more that I can better myself and start setting new goals for, okay, I’m just here, but I can see all these other people, you know, in these different positions, you know, how can I get to that place?

Chris Crawley: Absolutely. And you know, you know, for for listeners, that didn’t come easy either, because I didn’t necessarily know the the answers on how to do that. So, what I tried to do is really excel in whatever my task was, whether I was working in a senior auditor’s capacity or even just an accounting manager’s capacity. It was all I knew was get my task done and do it very, very well, so that you would get at least praise or appreciation of that. So, then you could go on to the next. But I found over time and in my career, just doing that was not enough.

I think in if one looks in in my resume, you know, I spent almost 10 years at the controller level. And what I did not understand and what it took me a long time and actually there was a there’s a book that I read. It was called How to Talk to Anyone.

It was written by Paul Newcomer. And what this did is it allowed me to break down the walls that I had and be open, being able to network, to talk with people, to communicate, to really understand how a team may function, what other people’s needs are versus me just focused on getting tasks done and, you know, making sure deadlines were met. And when I took began to take that approach, things really began to change for me in my career. And I think sometimes that’s what I do see folks run into is they get bogged down in these mundane tasks. They’ve hit a certain level. Like for me, I had hit the controller level, which, you know, it created a comfortable space for, you know, where our family was at at that point. But it wasn’t 100% fulfilling for my for myself.

And part of that was because I was not I did not have the influence on the organization and bring the the think tank that was necessary to really make impactful change.

Anthony Codispoti: What was the biggest thing that you learned from that book that kind of helped you break through those walls?

Chris Crawley: Oh, gosh, you know, putting putting yourself doubts aside. So let’s go back to being a, you know, parents stressing education, being a division one athlete, you are always competing against yourself. You always feel that you have to be the absolute best of the best. And if you don’t check every single box, you feel a little bit of uncertainty or so. And, and that’s what I had to learn as well as like, you know what, you don’t have to be perfect.

I don’t have to have every single answer. What’s key is, can you be that person in that facilitator that can actually go get answers between much smarter people in the room, but be able to facilitate that, you know, amongst headstrong individuals. And so for me, that was a huge takeaway because it broke down the barriers that I had inside myself to be able to really effectively communicate to to other other people and also be able to bring, you know, strong minded people together that may have different ideas, different approaches. And it definitely made me a better manager of people. It made allowed me to even see myself as not trying to be perfect for my teams, but really look to see what do I need to offer to each of my team members to make us collectively better as a whole. And so, so that, that was the big takeaway that, you know, that I got, you know, from that particular book.

Anthony Codispoti: So maybe not necessarily Chris Crawley having to be the one that has all the answers, but how can I support my team and find the people that are best suited to help with this discussion and with this problem solver?

Chris Crawley: Absolutely. And part of that too, you have to step away, you know, I would be hands on very much hands on and really kind of taking a step back so that you could actually see the larger picture and quarterback things. So, you know, especially in those roles, we, one of the roles when I was controller at Yoshinoya America, which was a company that was Japanese owned and, you know, we had, you know, an international flavor there, which we, our team didn’t necessarily, our team here in the US didn’t necessarily see eye to eye always with our Japanese counterparts and the owners there.

I had to bridge those gaps and in doing that, I had to understand really what are the needs of very high levels, headstrong folks on both sides and how do we come together to ensure that we are on the same page so that we are satisfying the needs of our boards and being able to move our functions, you know, in unison.

Anthony Codispoti: So was it the time that you were at the Yoshinoya, the Japanese owned company that you first read this book or had that come earlier?

Chris Crawley: It had come earlier.

Anthony Codispoti: So, were you able to take those lessons that you had learned from before and apply them on a bigger scale?

Chris Crawley: Absolutely, because this was at the time as well where, you know, as you’re sitting in a controllership role and you’re trying to figure out how do you move forward, what next? You know, there wasn’t a pathway through, at least for me, through education, it was education. It wasn’t a pathway, how to maneuver through the business world and really, like I said, I think the most important thing is being able to connect with people and build relationships.

That really began to set me apart once I read the book and I understood that relationships were very big. Obviously, you have to have the technical piece, but your ability to bring people together, bring ideas together and facilitate them, which I’ve been in the restaurant industry for many years. That’s a difficult task when you have operations and then you have the other side of compliance, financing in county, you know, you have folks that are interfacing guests and customers and, you know, if something falls out of compliance, they’re going to do that to ensure we satisfy the needs of customers. And then, but you have sometimes me as the bad guy putting in policy behind that, but being able to marry, you know, those two worlds has been something that’s difficult in our industry, in the restaurant industry, but I feel I’ve been successful in doing that over, you know, the decade, more than a decade that I’ve spent in the industry.

Anthony Codispoti: What’s an example of you having to be the bad guy?

Chris Crawley: So, one of the, you know, obviously we operate here in California or just the tipping process right now, you know, with as far as our team members reporting tips, you know, there has to be guidelines around that or so. And, you know, there’s definitely policing that comes around that. And so, I get it, I’m the bad guy when it comes to that. But when you look at ensuring that we’re protecting the company and keeping the company, you know, above water as far as compliance, it’s an area that has to be done.

But, you know, you don’t tackle this with an iron fist. I think a lot of this is communication and being very transparent as to the reasons why. And in our industry, that’s what I feel is very important that we’re very transparent in what we do to our operators. If operators did not, you cannot put reason behind something, then you have very, very little chance in getting a, you know, getting a new task through new operators, or through operators. And the interesting thing too is with operators as well is it’s very, you know, they are, they, in the restaurant industry, they do drive the business. That’s, it is, it is not us as, you know, finance accounting folks, the analysts, we give them information.

However, these, I do definitely respect, these are the folks that are on the front lines that really have a, the knowledge of what is happening day in and day out.

Anthony Codispoti: So, as an auditor, you had a chance to work with a lot of different kinds of businesses. And as you mentioned, you’ve been in the restaurant space for a number of years. What is it that you really like about this space? And then how has that segwayed into the opportunity that you have now with Hoffman?

Chris Crawley: So, I think you’ll hear this from a lot of restaurant operators and executives. And I agree with it. It’s the people, you know, in the restaurant and hospitality industry, you have to be people focused. You have to understand your consumer base.

You have to understand your team members. And for me, that, that definitely drives the connection. For me, I do enjoy being, making decisions that, that obviously positively impact people. And that definitely ties me to the restaurant industry, where, you know, I had operated in, you know, in banking prior to that public accounting. And there’s an element of that, but, but it really is, you don’t necessarily have those connections with, with the people. Also, too, you know, it’s in the restaurant industry, there’s an, for the most part, there’s an open book, you know, we do converse with each other. We do share notes, you know, at least in the circles that I’m networking in. We all kind of, you know, we take the ups and the downs together in the industry.

Anthony Codispoti: So let’s now, as we’ve kind of gotten through a little bit of your story, let’s now explore what is the Hoffman hospitality group. Tell us about the different brands and maybe the common thread that sort of pulls them together.

Chris Crawley: Yep. Well, yeah, so Hoffman hospitality group, you know, they’ve been owned and operated for just over 75 years by the Hoffman family. Brad Hoffman, who is fourth generation now as president of our company and and Craig Hoffman sits as chairman of our board. Craig’s grandfather started HHG as a basically a sub-urger stand out on the beach at Long Beach. That morphed into Hofshut, which is family, it’s basically a family dining where it’s pretty much American cuisine that we have.

And currently right now we have three of those locations. But then Craig Hoffman, he decided to go on a whole different route in creating Lucille smokehouse, which is totally, totally different concept. And this is, these are larger family dining locations that we have anywhere from 8 to 10,000 square feet, where we actually have a smoker in the center of all of these restaurants that are actually smoking the meat. So it is 100% authentic here for the for the West Coast.

And so we operate 24 of those locations throughout mostly Southern California, but we also have some outlying locations in Nevada and Arizona as well. So so then we have the third concept, which is St. St. and 2nd, which is completely different from the family dining experience. And this we kind of point as a high end casual dining. And this is where we obviously have chef inspired dishes that are seasonal, a pretty robust specialty cocktail menu as well. And so this we cater to a lot of the, you know, kind of the folks that are looking for an experience that are really coming for for a dining experience. And and so we’re in the process right now of we have three locations currently right now. And right, that is our focus of growth is really building upon this, this concept of St. and 2nd.

Anthony Codispoti: Why is that? Why is the St. and 2nd sort of the primary focus at the moment? So there are there are multiple reasons there.

Chris Crawley: You know, one of the the focus as well is is the customer demographic. It’s a much higher end customer that we’re focusing on the locations that we look at, you know, they’re all kind of in the coastal cities here currently. But one of the advantages is we can operate out of a smaller a smaller box or so less square footage. The price point is much higher. And it definitely gives us an advantage when it comes to our prime costs in operating in this this way. Also, too, with the new technologies that are coming in, you know, we can operate this concept much, much more efficiently.

Anthony Codispoti: Oh, say more about that. What what are some of the technology plays that are contributing to that efficiency?

Chris Crawley: Oh, so I mean, on the back end, we injected quite a few, you know, whether they’re labor modeling and forecasting tools that that we can apply to a concept that’s more straightforward. And what I mean by more straightforward than that is with the barbecue concept, there are so many different segments of labor that are happening within running that operation. Whereas the St. St. Second model is a much more streamlined labor model than we have in actually in either of our other concepts. Also, when you look at the really just in building the new building out our new locations, we’ve been able to modernize a lot of our equipment that have more efficiencies in within that equipment. But the build out as well from a technology standpoint, we we can create the better more efficiencies from an operating standpoint. Whereas in our other models, because our other concepts, a lot of the retrofit, it would create a lot of costs around build out to to create different efficiencies, whether it’s around, you know, coolers, the beer systems that that we put in, we’ve definitely been able to take advantage of the newer technology, and also space saving technology that we have in in the new concepts.

Anthony Codispoti: And so at Lucille’s, for example, is just much more labor intensive to smoke the meats. And just you kind of need like more people to produce the same amount of food. Absolutely.

Chris Crawley: So there’s even a lot of prep work, all of the meats at Lucille’s there. You know, we literally are hand seasoning every single every piece of meat of protein that goes into that smoker. So yes, there are a lot of hands involved from a labor side. And that’s difficult to forecast as well.

Because smoke, it’s not like you can take proteins in and smoke them in a few minutes, and you’re ready to serve. You know, so it’s even really getting to the point where you have to forecast your guest traffic and all this to ensure that that you have one quality product, but then the right amounts of product available for the customer. And so this is it’s a very difficult balance within that concept. And obviously with the the stresses of the costs, you know, of running a 10,000 square foot restaurant with anywhere north of 150 to 175 employees that run that restaurant and trying to fit that into the California’s labor market, you know, it poses challenges. Luckily for us, we’ve been able to figure out a mix that works for our existing locations. However, in building that out, it just right now at this point doesn’t make sense here in the Southern California area, you know, for the for that Lucille’s concept.

Anthony Codispoti: So say more about the labor challenges specifically in California at the moment, because this is something people outside of the market maybe not don’t understand.

Chris Crawley: Yeah, well, it’s interesting. I mean, everyone, obviously, we had the fast food, you know, minimum wage hike that we were not directly affected by because we did not operate the number of locations that where we would be affected by it. However, we were indirectly affected because now all of our, you know, back of the house, you know, wages needed to be need to be competitive. One of the things for us too is the organization has been we for the industry, we’ve been very successful in retaining our employees. We have quite a few, you know, really tenured employees throughout all of our locations. And, you know, we had to get creative in how to ensure that we could continue to, you know, compensate these folks and not turn over big staffs because of how intricate our process is.

And so so that definitely led to challenges. But we have been able to find a mix, you know, that that has satisfied a lot of, you know, our frontline, our frontline help. And I think the other side of it too, though, what our organization has been, you know, very, very good at is driving the culture.

So one of the things too, as well, you know, when you’re looking at, you know, in our industry, whether it’s 50 cents, maybe it could be a quarter difference in wage, sometimes, especially in QSR, you get folks that leave for that different in wage, difference in wage. The culture that we have created, I mean, that’s what has really, I think, benefited the Hoffmans and the entire organization. I definitely saw that, that culture, that part of the culture is what led me back into my role in working with this group. But I believe that is really what drives a lot of that retention with our employees. But, you know, as we try to attract new team members on as well, you know, we have to really continue to strengthen that culture and make sure that that it’s something that’s felt as soon as a new team member, you know, walks into the door.

Anthony Codispoti: Can you say more from a practical standpoint what it looks like to implement, direct, foster that culture, especially, you know, when you’ve got so many locations spread out across, you know, a pretty good size geography. What does that look like on a practical side?

Chris Crawley: Well, I mean, I can give you an example of exactly where it comes from. And this is, it really, it’s tone at the top. I mean, our ownership, our ownership group is very team member first. They take a team member first approach. It goes back to really, I think the success that the Hoffman family has had over the 75 years. Their approach, one, they call the company as Hoffman Hospitality Group.

We’re not Hoffman Hospital or Hoffman restaurants. It’s hospitality first. But they take even a further step with that as well in also being hospitable to the team members. That was a big portion I do, you know, I empathize with and even in my role, which is sometimes is a difficult role, especially when you’re looking at, you know, right sizing organizations and those things. But I understood that right away that that anytime we had to do something, any changes we made, it had to be team member first. Does this make sense for the team? How does it, how do, how will this impact our teams? And so that’s where it actually, it’s easy because like we, there even times you where we may sacrifice things that would drive bottom line to ensure that we’re putting our team members and team members even extend to some of our key vendors as well to ensure that we’re working in unison with our vendors.

And so that is something that’s very unique, you know, from an ownership group. But that’s really where the culture kind of starts and it’s very easy to implement all the way down to the next person that comes on onto the team. You know, is it perfect? Does everybody latch onto this? Of course you’re going to have your anomalies, but I think that culture has definitely been built for many, many decades, you know, within this organization.

Anthony Codispoti: Can you maybe mention a specific example, Chris, of a time where you did something that wasn’t great for the bottom line just so that you could take better care of either your employees or your vendors?

Chris Crawley: Oh, absolutely. I mean, there, there were times, obviously, the first quarter last year, you know, it was just for the industry in general, you know, what was a tough, tough quarter. So, so we’re looking through ways, we’re going through the P &L, you know, hey, how can we shave a point or two to our bottom line? And, you know, I came up with some ideas, some ideas were, you know, do we cut, you know, cut a linen service or so and maybe cut back on, you know, some of the more hospitable things that we offer in our restaurants. And it would have driven a reasonable amount, you know, it may have helped us pick up that half a point or point that we were looking to. But, you know, our ownership group decided not to take those stands because they didn’t want to break relationships with their vendors, who they’ve had long time relationships with. You know, there was a philosophy of, you know, if we cut them short, you know, we’re going to pat ourselves, but we’re going to cut someone else’s bottom line short. In all my experience, you know, prior to coming in to HHG, you know, I was in the private equity space, that’s unheard of.

It’s absolutely unheard of. But when you talk about culture and how it is team member vendor, you know, people first, I mean, that there couldn’t have been more of a straight answer early on that I got with that. So, but then also it makes things difficult as well, because sometimes you have to make those, those hard decisions and hard cuts. And I think that’s where it’s been a very good, you know, balance between, you know, some of the tough decisions that need to be made, but also the culture that that our organization does have and still doesn’t.

Anthony Codispoti: That’s an incredible story. Yeah, you’re right. In my experience too, that kind of thing is virtually unheard of. Let’s assume like I’m a new server starting with your organization or I’m a line cook starting, and I’ve had experience working in other restaurants before. What’s the difference that I might notice, you know, my first day or a couple of weeks on the job as it pertains to the culture and how you treat team members?

Chris Crawley: Yeah, so, you know, one of the main things that our general managers are tasked with right away is, you know, this notion of going above and beyond from a hospitality standpoint. It’s how we, one, obviously treat our customers, but most importantly, how we treat our new team members. You know, obviously too, in certain roles, you have folks that are, you know, this may be their first job or so that they’ve taken or maybe it’s their first time in full service. We tend to really try to set our folks up to be successful in their roles and what they’re doing.

And part of that is really, we’re kind of still old school where our general managers are literally taking their teams and we have lineups before every single shift where they go through and check in individually with each of our team members. And that’s also new folks that have come on on board. And, you know, that I think is really something that drives the, you know, at least when our new team members come on, that gives them that sense of, okay, I’m actually going to be supported here. And also, I think communication, we’re communicating to them exactly, you know, what we’re looking for them to to achieve on day one and day 1000.

Anthony Codispoti: So, Chris, what is athletes touch and why has this become so important to you?

Chris Crawley: So it obviously, it’s a group, it’s an organization that focuses in helping college students transition or college athletes transition into the workforce. Obviously, it touches home for me because I was that person. I was an athlete in college without necessary direction.

And even at that time, didn’t really have anyone to speak with to on how to transition and how do I look at life. And so this is a great thing that I’m able to do. And it’s really to speak with a lot of college athletes. And these are athletes across the board, not, you know, these are tennis players, field hockey players that are transitioning out of a college sport and into the workforce. And really, it’s a easy discussion for me because I can tell my story and tell and give insight on what it’s like to make those transitions. And through my experiences, you know, really help lead people in that transition.

Anthony Codispoti: Is this something that happens like on a one on one basis? Are you sort of speaking to teams and groups? How does that work?

Chris Crawley: It varies. It varies. Sometimes it is in group settings. A lot of times too, it’s we even have get togethers of folks that have actually transitioned, they’re working, but they were athletes and we get together to really kind of share our stories and kind of connect in ways that, you know, is unique to anyone that had that experience in college.

Anthony Codispoti: Do you find, this is maybe a gross generalization, but that college athletes make, once they’re able to sort of make that transition, that they make really good employees because of the work ethic that they had to instill in themselves at a very young age? Or is it sort of the opposite, where they kind of need to learn how to be at a desk and, you know, follow responsibilities and take orders? What’s been your general experience?

Chris Crawley: You know, so I have been fortunate to hire college athletes and I actually feel they actually come in right away with a lot of the skill sets that are necessary to succeed, not only in business and life in general, and they tend, for me in my experience, with the folks that I have hired, have made excellent team members. And as far as the, sorry about that, Anthony, gosh, okay, hopefully you can edit that. Is there any way we can start that over?

Anthony Codispoti: Yeah, what was the last question they asked?

Chris Crawley: I apologize. So with the team members, team members.

Anthony Codispoti: So I’m curious, Chris, what’s your experience been? I could see this kind of going one of two directions with athletes entering the workforce. You know, one is that they are, you know, well accustomed to, you know, a strong work ethic, because that’s what was required for, you know, to get them to the level of success that they had. And so that they make really great employees right from the outset. The other side could be that, you know, they’re used to playing a game, and they’re not accustomed to sort of sitting down in a more structured work environment. And so that’s a more difficult transition for them to experience. What do you say?

Chris Crawley: Yeah, so in my experience, you know, I have, I have welcomed the resumes of athletes, because I feel that they do come in with a discipline right away. The experience of any person who is dedicated to a sport at the collegiate level has had to go above and beyond what the normal task of just going to class is. So that always is a positive. Very rarely too, that I think that’s the misnomer. I mean, anyone that’s going to sit in front of me for a finance and accounting job, you know, that has gone through the rigors of the education for it, along with being an athlete, very rarely are you going to run into the attitude of I’m an athlete, so you owe me something at all. Everyone understands how to come in and fight for a position, a space there. There’s that level of competition that isn’t, amongst others, it’s I really feel within themselves. They don’t want to let themselves down. And I feel that it makes a nice mix when you do have somebody with that type of background coming into the workforce. I can see that.

Anthony Codispoti: Chris, I’d be interested to hear about a serious challenge that you’ve overcome in your life, whether it’s business, personal, maybe a combination of the two. What was it like getting through that? What were some lessons that you learned? Sure.

Chris Crawley: You know, I’m going to keep this, you know, how we started it. It was sports. So the challenge for me was really being recruited, going to, you know, I was recruited to multiple universities, being wanted at that time. And in getting to the stage and realizing that, I mean, for lack of better words, you just weren’t good enough. That’s, that’s, it’s something and probably, you know, you talk to a lot of athletes, that sticks with them in some way for the rest of their lives. When you’ve done something at such a high level, but you didn’t quite get to the finishing top, that is, it’s a difficult thing to keep mentally. But what I, what it has done is it keeps a, I’ve turned that in energy, and it’s why I talk with a lot of the athletes that are transitioning. I’ve been able to take that, that energy and turn that into more motivation. But they’re daunting days where you doubt yourself. When you’ve achieved at such a high level and you’re unable to get to that next level, it creates a level of doubt or you start going back and thinking, what did I do wrong?

How could I have been better? There’s, you know, different, different ways that, that folks look at that. But for me, it was more so, I doubted myself. You know, you realize, okay, physically, I was unable to do certain things, even mentally. You know, I wasn’t able to compete at the top level. And so that was a huge challenge.

And mentally, it’s very difficult to, to, to get over. But then it’s, it’s kind of like when you, when you have those challenges, it’s an easy today, it’s much easier to look at it because just like before, I realized, like I mentioned before, you don’t have to be perfect. Nothing has to be perfect.

And I think as you’re an athlete and trying to, you know, go to the next level or become a professional, you feel that everything has to be perfect. So, so that was a huge challenge. And in, and like I said, it still remains a challenge to this very day.

Here I am 30 years removed. And, and, and you still think to yourself, okay, how do I get to that next challenge? But even for myself, today, you know, where I’m at, I, is just another, there’s a challenge to myself to, to, to take the next step. Let’s, let’s, how can, how can I influence and do things even further, whether it’s with my current organization or whether it’s my community or any other things. There’s always that, that drive to ascend to the, to take another step.

Anthony Codispoti: You know, it’s so interesting sort of how we’re wired as human beings that we’re, we’re always looking for the next thing. And why, why am I stuck here? Why am I not here? Whether it’s in athletics, whether it’s in sports, finance, you know, the business world, etc. You know, you, you attained a certain level of success in, in your athletic career, right? You got to Division I college baseball. But what you do is you don’t appreciate where you’ve come from and everything that you’ve accomplished, you’re uh, despondent about what you weren’t able to kind of accomplish at the next level.

And I, for myself personally, when I find myself in a thought process like that, I, right, I get hard on myself and I doubt myself and like, you know, why is this my ceiling? And you know, why can’t I get to hear? And what I’ve come to realize, and I’m curious to get your take on this, Chris, is that that’s actually a little bit healthy as long as that negative voice doesn’t get too loud. That is what is pushing us to want to achieve more and push ourselves to greatness is sort of that, that self doubt and that, that, why, why can’t I do more? Why, why am I here? Why can’t I be there? How does all that resonate with you?

Chris Crawley: No, it definitely resonates. And that is absolutely a part of what drives me in your, I completely agree with you. It’s really trying to quell that voice. That voice does need to be tamed or so. But you know, to the point that you make, it’s, you do need to look back at your successes. And, and that’s one of the things that I had a very difficult time doing is taking a second just to pat myself on the back or so to say, you know what, hey, there wasn’t accomplishment here because you’re constantly looking ahead, you know. But, but I do agree and I feel that, you know, it’s drive that you always, you need motivation somehow or some way.

I’m a huge proponent of that. I think, you know, how you have to create motivation, I would laugh. I look like, I think there were stories of like Michael Jordan where he would just make up these, you know, rivalries and things to motivate him. Well, for, for me too, I think even in business and trying to get to the next level, trying to do something else to be more impactful is what motivates me and having that voice inside of you that doesn’t allow for complacency and comfort.

There’s a quote I saw where comfort is the no progress zone. I, I, I subscribe to that. I’m definitely one of those folks that that’s subscribed to, to, to that and, you know, just continuously improving and getting better.

And, and unfortunately, or fortunately, when you have experiences like I had, and you have that competitiveness as an athlete, like I said, it sticks with you all the way, all the way through.

Anthony Codispoti: Chris, I’ve just got one more question for you. But before I ask it, I want to do two things for everyone listening today. I know that you love today’s content. Chris has been an amazing guest. Please hit the follow button on your favorite podcast app to continue receiving great content like this.

Also, if you want to keep following Chris, if you want to get in touch with him, there’s a couple of things you can do. There’s the Hoffman group dot com website and Hoffman is spelled with one F H O F M A N group.com. You can also email Chris directly at C Crawley.

So that’s C C R A W L E Y at Hoffman group.com. So now Chris, the last question I’ve got for you as you look to the future, either in your industry at large or more specifically the Hoffman group, what changes and evolutions are you most excited about coming around the corner?

Chris Crawley: Oh, we’re we’re doing quite a few things. Obviously over at H H G, we’re out of the box, you know, just with our concepts, just all the different things that that we’re doing. But you know, one of the things I’m really excited about is is the new direction that that we’re taking with the branding of of our Satan second.

You know, this is for everyone creating a lot of it excitement. We’re really trying to begin to market in our local areas where we’re opening. Currently right now as well, we’re opening a brand new location in Manhattan Beach.

This is for anyone here in Southern California on the West Coast. This is a it’s a prime location, Manhattan Beach, you know, it’s a gorgeous area, great place. And we have a main and main location there. So this is kind of a flagship for us. And also to what it does is, you know, this is a catalyst for us to really, you know, build something this concept. So obviously now it gives me something to go and begin to try to to develop and scale this out, you know, to a much larger larger audience.

So so that’s definitely on on the high on our task list for this year. Really just pushing this brand forward and trying to ensure that we can touch as many people out there to let them know that we are we are completely going into, you know, we are not just the barbecue company, but we also have, you know, a different flavor for for a different different audience as well and a different experience within within our restaurant group.

Anthony Codispoti: And this new location, will it be the first one that has a lot of these sort of new operational efficiencies baked in that we were talking about earlier?

Chris Crawley: Yeah, so the unique part of this this location that we’re building in Manhattan Beach, this this will be a location where that we’re actually building from ground up. The other locations they’ve been conversions of restaurants and buildings that we have run in the past.

So yes, this this will be the first location that we kind of, you know, built out organically and exactly to spec on how our ownership vision of this concept looks like.

Anthony Codispoti: Well, Chris, I want to be the first one to thank you for sharing both your time and your story with us today. I really appreciate it.

Chris Crawley: I appreciate it as well. Anthony is a great great to be be a part of the Inspired Story podcast.

Anthony Codispoti: Folks, that’s a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories podcast. Thanks for learning with us today.