John Marino (RAK Porcelain USA) & Chef Thomas Mandzik — Leadership, Trust, and the Long Game in Hospitality

not in a dining room. They don't happen when the plate lands, they don't happen when the check gets signed, and they don't happen when everything is going right. They happen behind the scenes, in the decisions, in the pressure, in the way people choose to build something or cut corners trying. Today is one of those conversations. John Moreno, president of rack porcelain USA, is with us in the studio. His story is built from the ground up,

operations, manufacturing, sales, leadership, and a very clear philosophy that runs through all of it. Solve real problems, build real relationships, and play the long game. That's not theory, that's a lived, and sitting across from a Miss Chef Thomas Manzik, Thomas understands what that actually looks like on the other side. He's operating inside a larger organization. He understands standards, volume, consistency, cost, expectation, and the reality

of delivering every single day. He also understands the play, how chefs, brands, and partners

“align when it's real, and when it's not. And that's why this conversation matters. Because”

this is not about product, it's not about promotion. This is about how the machine actually works. How trust gets built, how decisions get made, and what happens when the right people are in the room for the right reasons. Chef Thomas, welcome back again. Yes, I'm right back, man. We did cool stuff today. We have a super awesome guest in house, which we're going to get to shortly with John Reno. Before we do, let's, let's talk about these

dishes. I'm going to write it into it. First, I did a fish mosaic with an infusion of King

Ouro salmon, got some big eye tuna loing, and I got some squid ink and brushed it some seabring on a nori wrap, and then I put it in a pool of apple, yuzu, vinegar and smoked olive oil. That was the first dish. We're well into spring. We're coming into summer, and this is a perfect dish for this time of the year. Well, it's, it's bikini season. So you're going to, you know,

“yeah, I mean, I'm going to get there. I mean, by the way, I'd lost 15 pounds. Well, congrats”

that. Yeah. I'm just saying, how is their shots involved? Maybe on that saying is not, but whatever, I feel good about myself, and I'm okay. What you say, that is a perfect dish, you know, for, for this time of the year. It was indeed refreshing. Like, and a little cool, man. There was the green. You had the salmon color. You had the tuna. And you've got seabring. That's it. And then who's using seabring out there? Well, I was hoping

a few other people, but, you know, we, we definitely had to bring it today with Rack porcelain. And don't forget to end with that smoke. Good work. You had to dry eyes, quasi-innovative Thomas. I mean, you've really come in a long time. You know, it's almost like I hate to see you go. You're leaving. I am. Talk about that. Well, I'm officially, it's official now in the fall going into 27. I'll be moving to Corpus Christi to start my own place. It's

going to be called black lamb. It's going to be a 20-seat chef's table. And I'm super, super

excited. Why black lamb? 100% black lamb because a way that was a product is I always

kind of felt like I was the black sheep of the family. And then when I was doing some research and asking everybody in Corpus Christi, hey, are you guys ready for a chef's table? No, no, is that? And they had no idea what I was talking about. And they said, no, this isn't that type of town. So I figured I'd call it black lamb because, you know, I need to ask your serious question. I mean, when they said, this is not that kind of town. And you said,

“yeah, it is. How did you, how did you, how did you arrive to say, I want to pull the trigger?”

How did you get there? In the end, I knew that they just didn't understand it. Well, then I'll be the first. And I met a really cool guy named David out there. He's been out there for quite a while. He owns quite a bit of property. He's a foodie by heart. And he's super excited to have me come out there. He gave me a good deal on one of his properties. Let's talk about the cuisine. I've decided that it's my time. One thing that I've always wanted to chase

was the Michelin Star. This is my opportunity to do that. And I really feel amazing about it. I think the biggest thing for me is to cook with my passion and my artistry because first, everything has to taste good. But from there, I love putting art on a plate. When you say chasing a star, what does that mean to you? You know, it's not just an ego move or anything like that. It's for the last four years having the opportunity to be the executive

of the Tamaglub. We have an amazing clientele. And the members have always told me, it's

a man. If we could just let the inspectors come in here, you'd have one. And it's always just kind of drove me. And at this point in my life, I'm ready to go do it. I think we've known each other now for a good year. Ten years. Ten years is eight, ten

you had a good attitude. Right. And obviously we were all a little bit younger. And you had a hair. Yeah, you had hair. You had fire. But you still have the fire. Yeah, what's interesting about you is. And I'm not here to toot your horn, especially, you know, as you're on your way out of whatever, but to toot Texas. But you care about all of the processes

“involved in creating a dish. And for me, I think that's the first step in your adventure.”

That's your starting point. It isn't like, well, it's an area that might be primed to learn something new. It's not that. It's the fact that every time you clean a plate, polish your plate, use a utensil, whatever ingredient that you're preparing to create a dish, your part of every movement. That to me is why I think you probably have a shot because your food is awesome. And it looks stupid, beautiful. Like you put out really great plates. I

am going to be sad to see you go in one of your space on the other respect on the other

side of that. You're going to become more powerful. Right. So there's going to be a lot

of stuff that happens between walk-and-talk media and black lamb. You better believe it. You know, I really appreciate everything that you've done for me in this company and, you know, walk-and-talk media. But this isn't the end of me. And then we're just going to be out there in Texas. You like, "Oh, be one Kenobi." It's what I'm saying here, you know? You know, if you strike me down, whatever, what did he say? No. It's not talking to you. It's not talking to you. God, dish number two,

what was it? So dish number two, I was super excited to unveil this. It was a strawberry pebble of a strawberry panacotta, strawberry basomic gel, and finished with some basil, jellantau. I smell the basil. And again, like this is the time of the year for this refreshing, easy, eats, down dishes. What makes it special is that you bring in all the colors, you bring out all the flavors, naturally they're on, you know, rack porcelain. So, you know, it looks good. Oh yeah,

that goes without saying, staring at you, John. The other John. John Marino.

Well, ultimately, in the end, when you told me that John Marino's coming, and, you know,

we're going to be doing the rack porcelain, I had to bring my new game because with me, rack porcelain is the definitely the canvas. And it was just my opportunity to bring the paints.

“It's all about the artistry. And that's what I'm saying. I think that you fit this, this,”

awarded chef category. That's you. I want to say Michelin or beer, because I think that, I think you possess all of those skills. Obviously, you run a tight ship. It's not just about your food production or food quality, or even your conceptual approach to the dish. You have to run your kitchen. Correct. And you have to run the front of the house and the whole house. Everything has to be in sync in order to, to kind of get to that level.

But I feel like you have that. You have all the experiences in the world to pull that off. A little bit transparency is this week. I lost my CDC and I lost my grandmother's Asia. And it's a little tough right now. But, you know, I had an obligation to come here. I wasn't going to miss out on being here with rack porcelain. But, at the same time, the rest of my staff just stepped up and, you know, holding them to a certain bit of standards and accountability

“is really helped. And for me, that's what matters most. But, I didn't know. You didn't tell me.”

You just, I had no idea that you were in that kind of a tight spot. You could have very easily been like Carl. Man, I wanted to be there. This would have been great. I can't. You didn't do that. No, no. You figured out the work around and you trust the people that are there. And you're here. And you exit. When you're here, you execute. Thank you. You know, I think getting in. It's mainly because, you know, again, it's the staff. But, it's also the obligation.

And the, the respect that I have for you, the respect that I have for John. And ultimately, in, if I got to get up at 5 a.m., true story, then I'm going to give a 5 a.m. for the next couple of days and make it happen. I think this is a terrific segue. John Marie, you know, welcome to the program. Thank you for having me. I think it's been a long time coming. That it truly has for those in the audience that don't know, rack-porsely in USA and walk-and-talk media, our partners. So if you watch

our, our film work, weekly, and you see the photography that we put out weekly, there really is

an issue that goes through that doesn't have their product in it, which is amazing. It's a work

course, but beautiful. Support for walk-and-talk media comes from Metro Food Service Solutions, trusted by kitchens that need storage and workflow that actually does the job. Learn more at Metro.com.

It, it means a lot. It really does. It sincerely. Thank you. Yeah, definitely most welcome.

That's an hurt to get out of Ohio and come down the Florida. It's been a rough four, five months with between the snow, rain, some nice weather and then back to the snow. So thank you for having me again. Pleasure's hours. I have to tell you, it's been a rough year too. You know, the 50-degree

“nights here have been brutal. Brutal on us, you know, Floridians. I have to tell you. I think”

that next podcast is going to have to be in Ohio. What for to make me suffer? Is that what's exactly? Okay. All right, look. So you're here and you are the president of Rack, Porslan, USA. And John, we left off just now with, with Chef Thomas, the guy's an animal, and he's accountable.

He's accessible. He's all these things that make somebody, like, saw it after. Like, this is,

this is the kind of guy you'd want working in your company. He shows up regardless. You came up through operations, long hours, pressure, real environments. What does that experience teach you about this business that still drives you and how you lead today? Definitely a loaded question. It's one that it's taken me years to kind of unfold, build back the way I need to be built, but for Rack. The simple answer is, it's not an easy industry. And when you start to unravel it,

you realize how many layers there are to it. And unfortunately, how many organizations have gaps in what their offense and defense are as they go to market and and being able to grow up in this

industry. When I was 13 years old, I was in essence a bus boy and you know, the work in the

district and I worked on the line. I worked on the front of the house. I being able to understand how it all kind of came together. I was able to make assessments, understand what was working, what wasn't working and be able to identify that for that a specific organization. And it allowed

“me to kind of grow in the industry in a way that money weren't able to do that. I think a lot of”

the people in this industry, they find a foothold, they get themselves to establish. And then they realize it's still a lot of hard work to understand how it all kind of comes together. And they may, unfortunately, of the industry where I actually kind of rolled up my sleeves. I got more engaged because I wanted to understand how it all kind of came together. And from, you know, a operational standpoint, one of the hardest things on that side is just the staff. Chef was just talking about

the same where it's hard to find good people. It's hard to maintain those people and build those relationships and continue to elevate them within those organizations. And at one point, I was doing an exact same thing for other organizations. As I was coming up the industry, thankfully, I was being noticed. I was being kind of sought out to be more engaged in different roles in the companies that I was associated with. And one thing led to another and eventually I was able to

be in a position where I work for regional chains. I work for fine dining. I work for casual dining. And in the end, I was able to understand and be relatable from a lot of different standpoints. John, it makes sense. Not only did you learn the restaurant side. You have that experience to pull from. But even within your own industry, you meet a point to learn every part of the system, manufacturing, design, shipping, and it wasn't just sales, even though that was your baby for a while.

“Why was it important for you to understand the entire operation?”

Yeah, I mean, it came from the operational side of the same equation. I was trying to solve problems. So I would have an account that I would work with and whether it be something from a design flaw or a manufacturing defect or a timeframe that would be able to hold ourselves to those standards. I wasn't giving the answers that I wanted to. And so I would go to those different departments and say, why is this not working? Or what can we do different to make

this work better for these accounts? And in essence, it became kind of a sponge. And I wanted to kind of dig in and understand. So thankfully, at the time I was working with another manufacturer that was based in the United States. And I had different departments that knew if John Reno was working on a project that they would stop what they were doing and support me because they knew I was running art. And so that way, they wanted to run hard with me. And so I would

go out to the factory. I would spend time with the manufacturing team. I'd spend time with the operational team. I'd spend time with the production team, the design team, the lab team, and the shipping

on bottleneck in order to do that, I needed to understand that. So that I can go back to the management that was still above me at the time and say, this is where we are stuck. And this is why

we are still stuck. And here's my answer. I never wanted to be the guy that just complained about

why something wasn't working. I wanted to be able to understand why it wasn't working. And then be able to present a solution for how it could work better. Not everybody's built to figure things out, to identify what the challenges are, and then create the work around. Not everybody's going to be

“the leader. It doesn't exist. You have to have the, you have to have the guy or gal that understands”

that in each sector of business that you're in, you're going to have your specific challenges that need addressing. Every division of business has that. Whether it's on the shipping side, the pollers, pickers, you know, customer service, data entry, sales team, marketing, all of it. And that travels up to the sea sweet. It's, it's everybody has their set of problems. But when you go from, you know, bus boy, when you're kid, and then you work your way through all the ranks,

and you become president of a fairly large operation, and you're connected to the mothership all the way out to Ross Alkheimer in the UAE. That's a big deal. And not everybody can do that. You spent a lot of time in sales. Okay. And not every sales person has the capacity to lead. They can take their orders. They can manage their accounts. They could talk about the business. But to make the jump from sales to president, headed that change the relationships and the level of trust that you're

now with your clients, and even the team that you were still working with. That is a great question.

“Simply answers, trust. I think that everyone that knows who I am, what I'm trying to accomplish,”

who I'm trying to accomplish at West with knows I'm going to put the time in to outwork, anyone I'm competing against. Simple answers, trust. But I think that going a little bit more depth for you on that, I know enough to know I don't know at all. And more importantly, I try to put the right people in that room with me. And our mothership as you mentioned, the team that I have at the corporate office, the people that I've worked with throughout my entire career, you know,

I've had some very influential organizations that I've had the pleasure of working with. And each and every one of them have helped define who I am in this industry and what I'm able to accomplish collectively with the people that I work with. And they believed in me, even product times I didn't

“necessarily believe in myself. You have to remember, I'm a kid from youngstunnel aisle. You know,”

that was trying to find a way in life. We've got hooked into some really cool organizations and just kept working. And one thing led to another, my dream was, I've exceeded it, you know,

to be, for me to be in this role to do what I'm doing right now is absolutely incredible. It's

fun. I enjoy every day. The people that I get to work with and the things that we get to develop and design, it's, you know, chefs get to work with with what we're producing and they blows my mind that we get to do what we do and play the way we play and work with the people we get to work with throughout this industry and just keep striving me to try harder. John, I think you're selling yourself a little short because, you know, the conversation that

we had earlier and then even what I'm listening to now, you know, I've kind of realized that you were the first person in the room and you probably wanted to last people out of the room in every situation and I think that's really where your success came from being, you know, the bus boy, all the way up to the president in your situation because you were the person that came and grind every single day. Like you're the one that we talk about movies and the tales,

you actually did it in life. So don't sell yourself so short. Thank you. Yeah, it's not short.

I'm definitely always trying to be respectful to the people that help me get here because I wouldn't

be what I am without the people that help me accomplish these tasks and it's a collective of us and you know, even my team that that works for me, they know that as much as they would run through a ball for me, I'd run through the same ball for them. Support for Walk and Talk Media comes from Metro Food Service Solutions trusted by kitchens that need storage and workflow that actually does the job learn more at Metro.com. You don't get there by chance. You get there by trial,

that sound so cliche, but the truth is they're not like you have to you have to crawl through the

holes in order to learn in order to grow. Well, you have a philosophy that you you operate by. Yeah, you're absolutely right. There's been times in my career that there's been one moment that changed everything and that's kind of where this philosophy comes from. It's simple. It's keeping clean and simple, sustainable and scalable. And in my position in this company, at the head of the RackPerson USA division, the staff needs to come to me when they figured out how to

make a clean and simple. And it sounds cliche as to say clean and simple, but there's a lot of work that has to go into something before you can make it clean and simple. And to me, that's where a lot of organizations go wrong. They're looking for short-term games, which gives them long-term losses and that's not our philosophy here. I went long-term solutions. I'd rather take a longer to get it right than find a quick solution. And being able to make that clean and simple, you have

“to be able to replicate that. And that's how you get it to be sustainable. So I can make a bunch of silos”

and solve problems for independent individuals, but that's not making a clean and simple for the organization. So one of the key philosophy starts that if Rack's successful, we in turn will be successful. Rack's not here, none of us are here. So we have to make sure that Rack is

first successful. And in order to do that, I can't just make a clean and simple for you. It has to

be clean and simple for the organization. So when I was in my first year as president, I got very excited. How do you not? And so I wanted to go out and tackle all these different projects. And independently, here's having conversations with all the key members of our staff. And I was solving those problems saying great, run after this. Here's something that's clean and simple for you. Then there's another one clean and simple for another person, another one for a clean and simple

for another person, all I did was make silos. There is no pull-through. So what we needed to do was have connectivity in order to be able to make that clean and simple for you, can you tie that back into the company. And that was kind of year two, John Maria was president. So year one, Bruno was fired,

“year two, Bruno came at the helm and realized that this was not sustainable. And that's why”

it was no longer clean and simple. It was no longer sustainable. It was definitely not scalable. So year two, Marino said, okay, we need to be able to have this all tied together. In order to be able to do that, I need you to find a way to bring that back to the company, not just for yourself. And that was when we really started to make headway. You talk about staff. We work hand-in-hand with tatongas and the tinas and the kailies and they're all terrific. You have a solid staff. I don't typically

say this lightly. Everybody has their works, dresses, and stuff. All of us in art. And I think your people seem genuinely like happy people in life. That's a big deal. And that's a big statement. Whenever I go to a manufacturer or distribution house or whenever I go on site somewhere,

one of the first things I look at is it was working in the front desk and what's their

“what's their personality type. How do they look? Their appearance. Are they happy?”

That tells me almost everything I need to know about the establishment. When we met Tina and Franz at the F&B at C-Show, a few years back, that was a happy booth. If you remember early or we're talking about sad booths, right? At Trachos? Yep. They were a happy booths. And they were inviting. You know, they didn't know who we were. They were just representing the brand. And I was like, I can talk with these people. These are good people. And then it just opened up the doors

and the communication lines. And you know, here we are today, right? Pass forward. Kudos to you on the team, man. I just wanted to take a second to kind of point that out because it's a testament to what it is that you're doing up top. It has to trickle down culture. Trachos down from up top. It doesn't start at the bottom and trickle up. It comes down. Yep. I couldn't agree more. The number one resource this organization has is it's team. And you

have to have a balanced work personal life. And it to me, taking a specific approach to have a connection with each and every staff member within our organization, to understand what striving them on a personal level and making sure that they're enjoying their life, that things are working out, law for them, that we are dedicated to them both professionally and personally. They are definitely dedicated to us to make sure that this organization is working

well. And you know, that I think is at the helm of everything. And my personal life, I love

associated with the organizations. And they want to make sure that the organization they're working

for helps them do what they're trying to do from their personal life. So what I do is try to make sure that I'm engaged on those levels to understand what it is that they're trying to accomplish and make sure that our organization as a whole helps them accomplish those tasks at hand. Chef, from your side of this, I want to point out that the companies that you work with actually

“understand your world hospitality versus just trying to sell into it. You know, I think the”

biggest thing for that that you're talking about is the fact that, you know, if they're going to come in and they don't really know what we're doing or what our vision is, then it's kind of a waste of time on both sides of it. And, you know, I love a well-prepared representative, but I also love somebody that has the same type of passion for what we're producing. You know, there has to be a mindset. Let me offer some insight here. So if it's me,

I'm coming from the distribution lane. For me, it's more important that the sales person is accessible. Oh, John, we're talking about this earlier. You can say, yeah, I want to be accountable. Well, that's cool. What does that mean? If you're accessible, if you make yourself available for your client at the off-times, five o'clock in the morning, midnight, whatever it takes, that's accessibility. That is what drives relationships deep far out into the future. And those

are the ones that, you know, when chef leaves, you know, location A to location B, they take you

along. Correct. They never, you never leave. It's a relationship that never breaks.

“No, you definitely nailed it because in the end, Carl, I think that's one of the biggest reasons”

that we've spent so much time together over the years because, you know, I always knew that I could call you. I always knew that I could say, hey, look, I need to have box-a-era-core bears. Or I need, you know, a case of this or that. And I knew at least I was going to enhance her. Yeah, that's funny thing when I would hire salespeople. Support for walk-in-talk media comes from crab-highland seafood dip, creating chef-driven crab dips made with real seafood

and bold flavor. Learn more at crab-highland seafood dip.com. I wouldn't, I would do interviews off of sight. I didn't want to do it in the warehouse. I didn't want to be in stuffy. It was always like a coffee shop somewhere. And I would dart questions and let them talk. We go for like an hour. Just, you know, just speaking, I want to hear how you're going to talk. What are you going to say? And when it comes down to one of those darts, and you know, how do you feel about answering your

phone? I am absolutely scoping body language, like, on fire, you know, in a non-fire way. Like, I knew, at that point, if this person was getting hired, we're not. Because in the sales role, especially in the food industry, where all the hours are, you know, a mess for everybody. If you're not willing to participate in the communication process with your clients, there's no play for you here. That is the single. That is my pet peeve. It's the

single most important thing to do is answer your phone. You don't even, your product knowledge

in my opinion. I know that a lot of people will, you know, fight me on this, whatever, but knowing

“your product is great, but that's not the most important thing. You need to back up your,”

you need to back up your clients. That's the most important thing. You can find out an answer on your phone now. You know, you speak it into your phone and you get an answer. All that stuff, it comes, but if you're actually going to be there to support you when you're up against the wall, that's the thumbs up. That's what comes. 100% you know, it chefs, these chefs naturally don't want to call you anyways, but believe it if they're calling. It's

for a lifeline. And the other part too, you know, don't, don't forget this part. You know, you were able to really read people and you also kind of understand a couple of times I wasn't happy and where I was at. And he said, let me call a couple of people and see what I got for you. You know, that meant a lot to me too, because that wasn't the, that wasn't the professional part of Carl. That was the personal part of Carl. I'm trying to make my life more happy.

So you can't offer that to everybody. Then that's the truth. That was part of my personality, but it was also, it's also part of the relationship build. If I thought you were a clown, if I thought that you weren't a performing shop, because I'm not going to put my reputation out to try to get you a job that I look bad with, right? But it is part of the relationship build for the right people. Yes, sir. You know what I mean? And I appreciate you saying that you didn't

have to bring that up. John, you talked about solving problems for individuals versus solving for the team and realizing one doesn't scale. What triggered that shift for you? So when we're

to build those holes in the end, what we were actually doing was just creating too many silos. And so that's where we needed to have different accountability and kind of pull back in,

“kind of refocus the team. So there's times that you can run hard and there's times you have to”

kind of pull back. And that's a hard mix that, you know, when you're always telling your team,

run as hard as you can, you know, chase as much as you can chase, go after every opportunity that that's relevant to what our brand is strong at. And then telling them that kind of pull back to refocus, that taking another run at it. When you're a mile-wide at an inch deep, it's hard to really have any sustainable growth. And that kind of goes back to my original philosophy, clean and simple sustainable and scalable. And that's one, it kind of occurred to me that we were

having certain successes in certain categories of our business performance. We were growing in to a national council, we'd be growing in hotel and gaming or in cruise line or street sales, but they weren't running at all the same pace. And so what I'd have to do is kind of pull back, reorganize what we were trying to focus on, and then go back out that. And that's when we start

to finally realize that it was more important to be sustainable than necessarily scalable. And that's

why there's some times that I've been challenged on that, don't you want to be scalable more than

“you want to be sustainable? And the short answer is no, because you need to be sustainable before you”

can start going after and more depth. That's the caveat, I think, that most people miss in the industry is maybe they do figure out how to get it clean, simple. So that it is replicatable. So that when that messaging is getting out to the field, you know, we do work with our reps. We work through the reps that go through the distributors, distributors or generally the ones working with the end user, the national accounts. And that messaging from, in essence, my voice, all the way

out to the independent operator in, you know, Tampa, I got to be able to have that message get to them clean and simple. And if it doesn't, we have no chance of having a reputation that we're trying to accomplish as, as rock porcelain USA. And that's where that sustainability really kind of amps up. And we're now to the things that we're pretty sustainable in most markets. Now we're starting to skill that approach. If it isn't sustainable, it creates burnout. And if you create burnout, you

stymie the whole operation without question. Rack is on a terrific pace. And it feels solid. How we work together? To me, it's very organized. And you guys have targets and you have goals and you're doing it in a smart way. The one thing that really kind of stands out to me we're not trying to be anyone else. We're trying to be Rack porcelain USA. And in my opinion, if you're chasing your competition, all you're doing is reinforcing the rate strategy. And I

disagree with that completely. We're not chasing anyone. We are doing it the Rackway. And in my opinion that allows us to create the new standards that the markets looking for. And we're trying to find the right partners that want to stand up and stand out and not do things that we're done just because it was advised to them at this made sense. And I have to say, I'm going to say something that I don't know. I'm willing to concede up. I'm willing to have debate on what I'm going to say.

And that is companies that spend too much time in KPI meetings are the ones that have a hard time acquiescing to their market. Obviously KPI meetings are important. You have to have them. But if that is the main driver for every single thing that the business does, you lose the soul or heart or life of the business. And your salespeople, the those who are actually out with your clients, they lose the humanity side of what they're trying to do. And I feel like

that's where a lot of companies end up landing. I could be wrong and I know I'm going to get flack for that. But at the end of it, what's that you? Yes, I agree with that answer, but I also think

“that you need to have balance. I think that if you start pushing too hard on any one thing,”

it's never a good thing. So what we try to do is have meetings that allow us to have

longevity. So one of the my favorite books is Traction was written by Gino Wickman.

Florida Citrus and juice solutions to food service professionals nationwide. Learn more at CitrusAmerica.com. What you want to track for to say a 10 year plan? And so that that 10 year plan,

“you have to have a 3 year plan that helps you get to that 10 year plan. And then you have a”

1 year plan that helps you get to the 3 year and then you have a late 90 day rocks that help you get to the 1 year plan. And if you're not working towards those goals, you're not working towards anything. And so you need to understand what you're trying to accomplish in order to be able to accomplish it. Most people don't set clear sustainable goals. Remember when I was in my very first class and college, I had a professor that said, you know, if you remember this one thing, you'll have a

pretty successful career. And in essence goes like this that if you have company A company B, both are digging ditches, the most that ditches you could ever dig was say six. And the goal was seven in order to hit your bonus. You know, the company that set the goal at five, the other one company said the goal at seven, the one that set the goal, achievable goals was the one that was

obviously successful. The one that set the goals at seven was never successful. And being able to

tip the put rocks in the place so that you can actually have achievable goals because everyone's the feel good about themselves. Everyone's the feel like they're accomplishing the task at hand.

“And when you don't feel like you're making those accomplishable tasks, that's definitely the best way”

to burn out your entire team. You want to be proud to work at the company that you're at, 100%. And you can only be proud. Number one, if you're successful at that company, you get successful because of the tools provided to you by the company. Part of the tools package is how they build out the the target structures and the goals and planning and whatnot. If it's done properly, man, you wake up every day and you say, you know what, I enjoy what I'm doing.

You know why? Because I can do it. It's a philosophy that, you know, I know from my own experiences that doesn't exist everywhere. Thomas, you've worked in larger operations. And in doing that, you have to balance individuality as a chef with systems that have to work every single time. That's an important thing. We talk about that a lot. Earlier, we had a discussion

“and it was about how rack has specific operations that do the same thing. Do you remember what that was?”

I do. And I think that what impressed me most when I was kind of ease dropping as I was setting up is the fact that with the tools that you were talking about, you know, a wrecked porcelain is we're seeing it in the business now that they're starting to separate themselves from the other competition. The production line and the plants that you guys have. And then the interesting education that gave me about the fact that, you know,

sometimes my plates don't match and there's a off-color or something like that. And I realize from what you tell me is everything you guys can tell me exactly where and when those

products were produced from rack porcelain and when I've never heard of that before.

With us being in essence the newest dinner or a many factor on the planet, our division as a whole is only 20 years old. So when we came online, we had the newest cool state of the art equipment that anyone could buy on the planet. It's like having a brand new task kitchen, they get to work with all the newest cool equipment that's out there or you can go to another restaurant and be working with equipment that's, you know, 30, 40, 50 years old.

And that could be for some of these facilities, even newer equipment, when I was with another company in the United States, they had a piece of equipment that was still working from 1902. So in the amount of effort that has to go into manufacturing on a piece of equipment that was, you know, that old, really cool to see, but it's not anywhere near as efficient as what we're doing in today's environment. And being able to say that we are a single source, then or a

manufacturing that every single piece of production comes off of our lines is quite remarkable. It's unbelievable knowing what we have over 10,000 SKUs, not counting all the different decorations and patterns that we're making out of it. In one facility is quite remarkable. The technology that that advanced over the last, you know, 20, 30, 40 years is remarkable.

We're able to produce yields, you know, in the '97, '98 percent, which is, you know,

well above standards of the industry right now, same thing with the anywhere manufacturing,

minimum double that or for not more. So, you know, being able to say that we are at 97

percent yield that we're able to produce a fire product, you know, twice as fast as the industry standard and then also the actual production. Instead of being, you know, 30, 40, 50 seconds a piece, we're able to actually produce pieces of product on our isostatic machines, then under three seconds is quite remarkable. All new standards of the industry. Thomas, if I were in sales for Rack Porcelain, I would lead with that every single time when I'm talking to a chef,

every single time and you know why, how come? Well mainly because, you know, when we need something,

“like we need it today's Friday and we need it on Tuesday and I think, you know, also understanding”

that we can trust in the fact that when these plates come in, when these deliveries come, you know,

just from what John was saying, is that it's all going to be the same. It's all coming from one area and one place and fast and fast. You can't beat fast, fast wins and just about everything. Obviously, quality has to be there. If you don't have the quality, then you're at a, you just out of the game. You know, you can talk about pricing, pricing is what it is. But if you don't have the quality or that depending on your brand or whatever that service value proposition, then you,

you're at a luck, you lose. With everything being equal, let's say, speed destroys everybody.

If you can deliver before the other guy, you win, period, which is the way it works. Even if you're

a little bit more expensive, too. And if your quality matches that dollar, you blow everybody up. John, when a chef and a brand really truly trust each other, what becomes possible that normally doesn't happen in this food industry of ours? At to me is probably that the crux of this entire podcast, you're able, in essence, to create the new standards that the market's trying to achieve. When they, when you can have a

factory, that is, I don't want to say unlimited resources, unlimited creativity. And you get that that ability in front of the right, right chef, the right influencers. We can create anything that that is desired for them. But we need both. It goes hand in hand. The right hand doesn't know what the left hand's doing. You're not in sync. If the left hand's not doing what the right hand's doing, it's not in sync. When they're working together and unison, that's where poetry comes from.

“And that's what Rax stands for is trying to set the new standard and all table top things.”

And when we get the work and see what chef can create, it's absolutely remarkable that they take our canvas and apply that art to it. Got me. I mean, that's it right there. You nailed it. And, you know, let's take this even farther than just chefs. The entire organization, and the entire, you know, hospitality is the fact that you can help us create that identity in what we're trying to produce and what we're trying to serve. So when I say this industry of ours,

it's a giant, massive thing. And there's so many different layers to it. Different people, responsibilities, companies, categories, whatever. From where you guys are sitting, what does this industry need more of right now to move forward the right way? This is 2026. We know what our challenges are. What do we do? We need more independent thinkers. What I see happening right now in the industry

“is the people that have been at the helm have been at the helm for a long time. I think the”

people that should be at the helm are not necessarily getting as much mainstream attention that we need. And that's exactly where walk and talk comes in. I think people don't know the right questions to be asking it to be getting the right solutions. And as more and more people are watching what we're doing here, watching what you guys are doing here, looking for solutions outside of the standards that works currently being said. I think that

from a marketing standpoint, there are several phases of product introductions or brand introduction. Generally there's like the early adopters, there's the mainstream, and then there's the way to doctors, and it gets more complicated than that. But what generally happens for the

that establishment. Generally, the ones that are actually forward thinking, looking, that's where

“the new trends are said. That's where the new standards are said. And I think in order for things”

that to move in those directions, I don't want to be the standard where 80% of the businesses done on 20% of the product. I don't need to be in every market seeing the exact same thing. I've traveled almost every city in this country, and a lot of them look alike. It's the same main players, the same restaurants, the same, the same. What we need to do is be able to be a little bit more unique, stand-ups, stand-up, express yourself, and make sure that you're putting yourself

in a position that allows you to be an independent thinker, and I think that in the end,

if you were opening up a steakhouse, and you lived on the East Coast, you're going to Manhattan to see what the coolest, newest steakhouse is, and you're going to try to replicate that. If you're in the Midwest, you're going to go Chicago, if you're on the West Coast, you're going to go to LA. You're going to try to replicate what those signature brands are doing in those signature markets. Generally, the flyover states know America, which is where some people think that I live,

I still think Ohio is on the East Coast, but that's a topic with another discussion. But nonetheless, it generally takes two, three years for those to be kind of re-enthrew the entirety of the markets. And what happens is a lot of it kind of gets stale by the time it gets to a lot of the markets,

“and I think that if they could stand up and stand out and look to see what's actually available,”

I think there would be a lot more cool things running across this country. What I think is honestly consistency, being genuine and passion, and you know, was this one I'm going to do the episode when I do. You know, if you guys didn't bring those three things into the basket, you wouldn't be sitting here right now, getting and setting ourselves up for episode 200. And I think it's missing generally in this profession.

We're going to experience today. And I mean that between everybody here, even you, John, John Hernandez, John, photographer, John. Super excited about what's going on here. We got test though, their new segment coming up this month in April with Eric Moore. It's going to be about food safety, all things food safety. So everybody loves that. It's a great thing. Super excited. John Ray, are you had fun today? Absolutely. It was an absolute blast. It was a blast.

I know you had a good time. I saw it on your face. I saw it. How do people, how does Chef's

“follow you? How did it was the best way? Each is where the finest would be going on Instagram and”

just following us on RackPoorSland USA. Chef, as always, you brought the goods, man.

Thank you for having me. And they're gorgeous. This is Michelin level stuff. I'm just putting it out there like that. Michael Colantes, eat your heart out. Watch out. He's coming for you. John, baby, you are a genius. I appreciate you so much, guys. Thanks for everything. We are out. [Music] Marketing is hard. But I'll tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be. Let me point something out.

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