Learn how to turn your restaurant into a guest centric destination with the Founder of The McHenry Group.
Give An Ovation is the podcast where we interview restaurant owners, operators, and experts, to get their strategies and tactics so that you can deliver a 5-star guest experience. Available on all major podcasting sites.
Tune in to this week’s episode with Michael McHenry, the mastermind behind The McHenry Group, as he joins us to unravel the intricacies of curating dining experiences that linger after the last bite. Michael shares his creative journey, revealing the fusion of tradition and innovation that goes into each menu item’s conception, ensuring that it not only delights the palate but also touches the soul.
What is the most important aspect of the guest experience nowadays?
“How you make them feel because that translates. Feeling creates essence, essence creates opportunity . . .
. . . It starts for us at the front door but you sit down to that goat cheese and you walk into that environment and the team serves you. There’s a feeling that creates and that feeling, selfishly for us, creates advocacy.“
How do you come up with a variety of concepts and what makes them successful?
“Whether you are a boutique or large scale company in the industry, you know they’re always looking for the next idea. They’re always looking for like what’s next. I’m just different, I look at where there are opportunities in the marketplace. I truly came in this business from the guest perspective, I wasn’t a server or a busser or like a line cook, and I didn’t go to culinary school. I’m not obsessed with wine or cheese, I’m obsessed with people. When you look at my concepts, I build them with the guests in mind always. I don’t build them with my menu, I don’t build them with my pro forma, I don’t build them with my obsession with cheese, like I mentioned before, or my love for anthropology or the design of space. I do it with the guest in mind every single time.”
Who in the restaurant industry deserves an ovation?
-Tyler Stokes, Chef
“One is my culinary partner, my thought partner, one of my closest friends, chef Tyler Stokes. He came from fine dining. He owns Provisions in Milk Creek, which is like one of Utah’s number one spots for dinner.”
-Lane “Lefty” Montoya
“He just recently opened Ogden River Brewery there on Ogden,Utah on the river.”
For more check out @themchenrygroup on social platforms and their website!
Thanks for reading! Make sure to check out the whole episode, as well as other interviews with restaurant gurus by checking out “Give an Ovation: A Podcast For Restaurants” on ovationup.com/podcast or your favorite place to listen to podcasts.
