How do you maintain your sanity with being a busy restaurateur, and a mom? I am not sure I do maintain my sanity…is that really possible? I guess I would say I just go with it. Just being overwhelmed…and then when I can’t anymore, I put my phone away, shut the laptop, veg in front of the TV, and drink wine. It helps, lol.
The restaurant business can be one of the most exhausting businesses to be in…Any advice you can give as to making it all happen every day and juggling that work/life balance? Just do your best. No one can ask for more than that. Practice what you feel like balance is to you. We really all have a different perspective on that. When we set out to do this restaurant, we wanted to maintain as much of a “normal life” as we could for our children. Of course, what we consider normal is not always normal to someone else. This is the reason we are closed onSundays and Mondays. Sunday has always been a family day. This is also why we close for a week in August to go on family vacas, and we close at Christmas and New Years. Our kids needed us to be there, and by doing that it helps us stay balanced.
What do you do for fun? Going to the lake, fishing, going to Target with my daughter, chillin outside with my son, having coffee with my mom, concerts, cooking, listening to music, and sometimes I just sit and watch reality shows for hours.
If you were going to give one piece of advice to a young person who wanted to get into the business of barbecue or just “food” in general, what would that be? You really have to love doing it. You have to love not just smoking meat or the cooking, but running a business. It’s much more than just food, it’s all of it…employees, taxes, costing, vendors, taxes, fix this, fix that, rarely a day off at the beginning, taxes, and still providing great food. It really is all worth it if you love it, but you have to go in with the love of food and the love of running your own business.
If you could do something outside of the restaurant/hospitality business, what would that be? Real Estate. I did commercial leasing and corporate housing prior to this and absolutely loved it. I decided to put it on the back burner to be a stay at home mom, which I would never trade. We do own some properties so I get to dabble in it a little and hopefully a bit more in the future.
When you actually get the chance…what do you do for fun with girlfriends or a “Night Out?” Wow, that’s pretty rare, typically a night out would be Will and I going to eat fajitas and drink margaritas or dinner with some friends. We really aren’t “night out” kind of people. We really prefer just chillin, playing darts, or hanging out… nothing crazy.
When you have guests in town are there any local restaurants, shops, or favorite attractions you like to direct them to? We really do love to go to the shops in Old Town Spring where the restaurant is. There are a lot of great new restaurants there too. We take people to GuadalaHarry’s in Conroe, a really fun place on the water.
Favorite Musician? My daughter for sure! She has an amazing voice, writes amazing songs, and has so much passion when she sings. As far as famous artists.. I can’t narrow that down. I love all kinds of music and there are just too many to choose from.
