Put down the ramekins: How Joe Fontana built Fry the Coop to 10 locations | 077

Two hours into portioning sauce into cups, Joe Fontana decided he was done doing the work and needed to start building the system. In this episode of The Pre-Shift Podcast, we sit down with Joe, founder and owner of Fry the Coop, a Nashville hot chicken concept with 10 Chicago locations and an 11th on the way, to talk about how he built a business that could grow past one restaurant. Joe shares how a meatball concept he couldn't fund led him to a simpler menu, why he trains with one page instead of 40, and why he won't swap beef tallow or real butter to save money. If you're weighing a second or third location, or you're past five and feeling stretched, Joe's playbook for hiring, training, and marketing is worth your time. **Key takeaways** - **Two hours of sauce cups:** With two restaurants open, Joe spent two hours portioning sauce and decided to pay someone else to do it. He used that time to build training packages, write tests for his team, and hire managers to lead their own teams. - **From 40 pages to one:** Joe's training manual used to be 40 pages. Now it's one page, and his service standard is six bullets, from saying hi at the door to saying goodbye on the way out. - **The beer test:** Joe spends the first 90% of an interview asking questions, then considers whether he'd want to grab a drink with the candidate. If they pass, he can train them on almost anything, but the "hospitality bug" (enjoying helping people) isn't something he can teach. - **Thank-you cards don't write themselves:** Joe found managers won't recognize their team unless he pushes, so he hands them thank-you cards with $10 Starbucks gift cards and asks for a list of their five best people. With a couple hundred employees, he says recognition has to come from store leaders. - **Stay under the cap, share the profit:** Managers see team availability and a weekly hours cap while they build the schedule, and the more they stay under the cap, the more profit sharing they earn. Joe also relies on attendance records. When he lets someone go, he can back his decision with data. - **Announcements that the team watch:** Joe records training and announcement videos edited like TikToks and sends them through 7shifts, where he reports a watch rate near 100%. For a National Wing Day special, his videos trained 200 employees on a ranch-powder wing. - **One hour, 30 questions:** Joe recorded about 30 short YouTube answers to questions people search about Fry the Coop, like "Do you have a patio?", in a single hour. He aimed for search rather than views, since YouTube transcribes spoken words, and he pairs it with a weekly email that tells stories instead of selling, now at 111,000 subscribers. - **Growth came with pay cuts:** Joe took a pay cut after restaurants five through eight to hire the people they needed. He needs about 20 restaurants before he can get a raise. His goal of 75 stores in 10 years needs an estimated $30 million to $40 million, and the 11th location will combine a storefront, a commissary, and the office. Send us Fan Mail 📲 **Connect with us** [Email](mailto:marketing@7shifts.com) us Follow on LinkedIn **More 7shifts** Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts Subscribe to Food Runner, our Monthly Restaurant Newsletterhttps://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8zOTgyY2RlNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw7shifts 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 systems for 55,000 restaurants.