EPISODE 55

You Only Get One Chance To Open a Restaurant

(Heres What Really Happens)

Listen: ON SPOTIFY

Watch: ON YOUTUBE

Opening a restaurant isn’t a ribbon-cutting moment — it’s a bare-knuckle fight. The ovens don’t light, the tacos split, the cocktails take 45 minutes, and the phone doesn’t stop ringing. But that’s the job. That’s the chase.

In this episode, Tony and Peter sit down to unpack the raw side of a restaurant launch — the soft openings, the sleepless nights, the test drives, and the hard lessons that don’t make the press releases.

From tweaking masa dough to managing a kitchen of 15 under the heat of a full house, this is what it really looks like when you go from blueprint to service. They talk about the third-visit rule — the idea that real loyalty isn’t won on opening night, but earned meal by meal, until the guest is yours for life (unless you screw it up).

There’s tequila talk, lamb debates, and a fair bit of laughter about the chaos that comes with trying to make something worth remembering. If you’ve ever wondered what it actually takes to open a restaurant — or if you’re just in it for the stories from the trenches — this one’s for you.