Episode Details

In this episode of The Pre-Shift Podcast, we talk to Dave Paul, co-founder and owner of Pluckers Wing Bar, a 34-location Texas concept that's still independently owned. He explains how they decide when to open a store, who gets promoted, and why his managers hear more about sales and people than labor cost. Dave and his business partner Mark opened the first store two weeks after college, waited seven years for the second, and now leads about 4,000 team members. If you’re weighing a second location or trying to keep your culture intact at your tenth, his approach to hiring, grading, and raises gives you something to borrow.

Key Takeaways

• Store 30 Should Feel Like Store One: Hear why Dave waited seven years to open a second restaurant, what went wrong when stores two, three, and four opened in within nine months, and the test he still uses before approving the next location.
• Sales and People First, Labor Second: Discover why Dave doesn’t place too much importance on labor cost, and how that keeps a manager from cutting hard with a full dining room.
• A Grace Period for New GMs: Learn how a replacement GM’s labor goal starts at the previous number plus 4% for four months, then plus 3%, so they can focus on growing sales instead of worrying about the wrong thing.
• Culture Is Half the Grade: Find out how eight to 10 managers grade every team member each quarter, why that cultural grade counts for 50%, and why nobody gets a raise without a cultural A.
• Raises Tied to Numbers, Not Tenure: Understand how a bartender who makes 60 bar items an hour, or a cook working toward 33 items from 30, knows exactly what earns a raise, and why people only see where the top three sit, never their own rank out of 10.
• Two Interviewers, One No Is a No: Hear how a 15-minute video cuts about 80% of applicants, why every hire is interviewed by two people, and what Dave learns by asking candidates what role they play in their friend group.
• Training Built Like a TikTok: Discover how Pluckers went from 30 minutes of cook training in 1995 to about 100 hours and seven tests, with videos that run three to five minutes and are built to be entertaining.
• Room to Fail, With a Number Attached: See how Dave gives a new cook 20-25% more time than the 16-minute ticket standard, then lowers the target by a minute a day as long as progress is measurable.

Send us Fan Mail

📲 Connect with us
Email us
Follow on LinkedIn

More 7shifts
Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts
Subscribe to Food Runner, our Monthly Restaurant Newsletter
7shifts on YouTube
Follow us on TikTok
Read the 7shifts Blog

About Us
7shifts is the restaurant HR platform helping operators hire, train, schedule, pay, and retain their team in one place. With an easy-to-use platform and built-for-restaurant workflows, 7shifts replaces disconnected syst