The New King of Fried Chicken?! ($1,000 Startup)
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Published 2023-09-25
Chef Vinny has been a restaurant owner for 40 years, and he did just about every job you can think of in the restaurant industry along the way. Now he’s sharing how to open a restaurant with a shoe-string budget and grow it to 7-figure yearly revenue.
At 17, Chef Vinny got his first food industry job, working the graveyard shift at a chicken processing plant. Within 2 years he’d advanced to management, experience that would prove valuable when he pivoted to opening a restaurant of his own.
Chef Vinny built Honey’s Kettle Fried Chicken from the ground up. He’ll explain how he built a brand around his new business and his tips for successful restaurant marketing. We’ll also learn about how he chose his location, developed his recipes, and all the other details of how to start a restaurant business as a new entrepreneur.
Honey’s Kettle has become a true family business. Chef Vinny and his wife run the restaurant business, and his son has also been working for them since he was a kid. We’ll hear their secrets to successful restaurant management and how they’ve built a team that feels like a family, even for those members of it Chef Vinny’s not related to.
In 40 years of business, Honey’s Kettle has had a lot of successes, but also its fair share of setbacks and mistakes. We’ll hear Chef Vinny’s insights into why restaurants fail and how he’s overcome the challenges of growing a restaurant startup into a 7-figure business.
If you want more insights into how to start a restaurant, check out our past interviews:
How I Turned My Last $5 into $10,000,000 ►
• How I Turned My Last $5 to $10,000,000
How to Make $1.7M/Year in Restaurant Business ►
• How to Make $1.7M/Year in Restaurant ...
Resources
go.melio.com/upflip - A simpler way to pay vendors and contractors
honeyskettle.com/ - Learn more about Honey’s Kettle on their website
www.upflip.com/academy - Start, Build & Grow Your Business
www.upflip.com/blog/how-to-start-a-restaurant - UpFlip blog post with more advice on how to start a 7-figure restaurant
www.upflip.com/courses - Get step-by-step guidance to start a business with UpFlip’s courses
www.upflip.com/equipment-list - UpFlip's Premier Equipment List
Timestamps:
00:00 - START
00:53 - Meeting Chef Vinny
02:05 - First job
03:12 - Culver’s city location
04:00 - Financing
06:03 - Fan blitz
08:39 - Lessons as a teenager
09:42 - New menu items
10:56 - Revenue
13:28 - Challenges opening
15:00 - Startup costs
17:11 - Working with family
19:34 - Ingredients
20:06 - Paid advertising
21:31 - Standing out from competitors
22:34 - Starting Honey’s Kettle
23:20 - Getting started in the food industry
25:07 - Starting from scratch vs. franchising
26:35 - Things to avoid in business
28:12 - Customer feedback
29:12 - Proudest moment
30:42 - Final thoughts
31:47 - Outro
#friedchicken #restaurant #food
All Comments (21)
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A simpler way to pay vendors and contractors: go.melio.com/upflip
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You can win. You can lose. You can even get beat, but one thing that you can’t do in life is quit. His father’s advice was golden!!
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Success couldn’t have fallen upon a better guy. God bless him.
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This man is the epitome of a business person. His wisdom, experience, savviness, demeanor, and mindset. I enjoy every second of this episode. More power to Honey's kettle and Uplift! 💙
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"Be careful of instant success" Words on marble. Good one again upflip.
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Chef Vinny has such a positive, skilled, honest, smart, professional, affable, well-spoken, vibe....a man with a big vision and a bigger heart.
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I wish kids in school were taught lessons from a real entrepreneur like this, legend of an owner
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He was dropping gems the entire episode!
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This place is no joke. I live on the east coast, and on my first ever trip to Cali last year I made sure to visit and it was delicious. Whenever I make fried chicken at home now, I use the same method that Honey Kettle uses.
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You could feel the past struggles and the present relief and happiness from him. a case of "whatever is worth doing, is worth doing well". inspired
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Peanut oil is the best oil to use when cooking.
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During my high school years, I had the privilege of working at the esteemed Golden Bird on La Cienega. This cherished establishment, proudly black-owned and guided by the remarkable Stennis family, held a special place in my heart. Willie Stennis, the visionary founder of the Golden Bird fast-food chain, was an inspirational figure. Alongside his wife, Zelma, they introduced their mouthwatering fried chicken recipes to the world in 1957. At the pinnacle of its success, the Golden Bird chain thrived with a total of 16 locations. Tragically, Willie Stennis passed away in 1993, followed by Ms. Zelma in 2013. Eventually, the family decided to divest their interest in the restaurants, marking the poignant end of an era.
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To see a black man come from the bottom with nothing and now be named the king of chicken is so inspiring. I'm really happy for this man and to top if off he's so humble and intelligent. God bless him💯💪🏾
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Pandemic and losing my father to covid shut my place down. This video gave me hope and much needed info to get off my ass and get it back going. Great video! Got a new subscriber.
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there is always one thing i notice with people like this man. there are so many nice chicken, pizza and burger places but the ones with the biggest hearts and best stories seem to be the long standing ones. love to see it
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I am my self running a small restaurant in my country. When I hear the Chefs word of advice I am inspired. I agree 100% of his advices which are after all coming out of a person who have gone through the mill. May God give him more strength and to serve a generations of people. I thank you for creating this awesome videos. May you create more and more inspiring videos.
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What a positive gentleman, professional, happy, hard working....blessing upon blessing to you...
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It's people like this guy that are the backbone of America. God bless him.
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I like how he said, "nice to meet you" until the very end rather than the usual greeting. A man of old school principles and values, you have to earn his respect. His brief experience with UpFlip (edited from UpLift 🤣) had pleased him enough to say what he said as a farewell.
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I love him because he is spot on - when you want to offer the best, the only way to offer the best is by using the best ingredients…people Will pay for good food!
