“You’re Getting Scammed!” Joshua Weissman Reveals How Restaurants REALLY Make Money

Culinary Beginnings [00:00]

• Weissman started as an overweight teenager and transitioned into a successful culinary creator through real-world restaurant experience.
• He emphasizes that his goal is to provide value by helping others avoid the common mistakes he made throughout his career.

  My goal is to help other people avoid making the same mistakes I did in cooking.

The 10,000 Hour Rule [02:30]

• Mastery in the kitchen is achieved through the simple rule of repetition over time.
• He notes that failing repeatedly is a necessary part of the learning process to reach a tipping point of understanding.

  The more time you spend just failing and up and, you know, making small modifications, getting a little better every time. Eventually, you're going to reach a tipping point.

The Gastrique Fire [05:25]

• Weissman recounts a humiliating experience in a professional kitchen where he forgot a pot on the stove, resulting in a large fire.
• He learned the hard way that salt is ineffective for extinguishing certain grease or sugar-based fires, requiring intervention from his superiors.

  I suffocated it with salt. I took kosher salt and I just poured a bunch of kosher salt until literally was mounded up in the pot.

Restaurant Sanitation [07:15]

• When visiting restaurants, Weissman first notices the cleanliness of the space and staff interactions rather than the menu.
• He prefers a relaxed atmosphere over the "monotonous" and awkward experience of having every dish explained by waitstaff.

  If the table's really dirty and I put my hands on the table, I'm like, you know, you notice that it's sticky.

Why Restaurants Fail [09:30]

• The margin of error in the restaurant business is extremely small due to high overhead and staffing costs.
• Even celebrity chefs with extensive experience are not immune to the volatility of the industry.

  Running a restaurant is really hard. Like I think people don't realize how hard it is to run a restaurant. Margins are thin.

The Economics of Steakhouses [11:10]

• Steakhouses are highly profitable because they leverage the customer's "perception of value" for special occasions.
• Some high-revenue locations can generate $40 million annually, though profit margins remain variable.

  Most of the time when people walk into a steakhouse, they are prepared to, and are okay with spending high ticket.

Sushi Profitability [13:20]

• Sushi restaurants often have high ROI due to small footprints and the ability to charge a premium for raw ingredients.
• All-you-can-eat models likely survive by utilizing lower-cost fish and maximizing volume during off-peak hours.

  You're making a crazy markup on that fish.

Opening Ben and Lynn's [15:10]

• Weissman opened his own restaurant to connect with his community and express his passion for hospitality.
• He consciously chose a "second generation" space to minimize initial build-out costs and avoid taking on outside investors.

  I really want my first place to be a place that anybody can eat. I don't want to like be another person that's opening a super expensive restaurant.

The Fried Chicken Formula [18:50]

• A perfect sandwich requires chicken that stays crispy despite sauces and pickles, precise cooking, and heavy seasoning.
• Weissman avoids drive-thrus for now due to the complex logistical and permitting hurdles involved.

  The chicken has to stay crispy for a long time because once you put it on a sandwich, all the sauce and pickles and everything, it's going to go like flaccid and chewy.

Celebrity Treatment [24:10]

• Restaurants often keep tables in reserve for walk-ins, which are sometimes given to celebrities to ensure the space remains full.
• Weissman admits to cringing when using his status to secure tables at booked-out venues.

  If a celeb calls and maybe they really like that celeb or they, they want them in the restaurant. Yeah. They'll probably pick off one of their seats that's reserved.

The Alchemist Experience [26:10]

• Weissman shares a story about a 50-course, seven-hour dining experience in Denmark where the chef accommodated him at the last minute.
• The experience was so exclusive that the restaurant had to add new tables and chairs to every dining room just for his party.

  I DM him and he goes, let me see what I can do. And then he comes back to me and he's like, we got it all sorted.

Food Waste [28:30]

• Waste in professional kitchens is often high, particularly when chefs trim high-quality meat to achieve perfect portions.
• Some restaurants track waste meticulously, while others discard significant portions of product.

  If they're throwing trim away, they're, they're wasting probably anywhere between 30 to 50% of all of the meat that they use for that.

Cooking Myths [32:10]

• Weissman defends MSG as a safe flavor enhancer naturally found in many foods, debunking common health fears.
• He dismisses truffle oil as often being an artificial scam and considers A5 Wagyu overrated for everyday consumption.

  I know that there's all sorts of things on the internet of people saying that they get nightmares and they can't sleep. I have never experienced that personally.

Substance Abuse in Kitchens [36:20]

• The restaurant industry has a low barrier to entry, which attracts a diverse workforce but also those struggling with personal issues.
• Long hours and high-stress environments often lead to maladaptive coping mechanisms among staff.

  It starts like this, right? You go, you work your first restaurant shift. Maybe you have personal problems, maybe you don't, but if it's not a good working environment or it's a toxic working environment, you don't know how to cope.

Investing and Finance [43:20]

• Weissman is a conservative investor who favors the S&P 500 and Nvidia, rather than day trading.
• He warns against the risks of volatile assets like Bitcoin, noting his own negative experiences.

  I'm not trying to make money quick. I'm just like, you know, put my money somewhere where it'll grow through the nature of attrition and call it a day.

Creative Optimization [47:10]

• Weissman expresses concern over the "Mr. Beastification" of YouTube, where unique ideas are quickly commodified and optimized.
• He believes the industry will eventually see a pendulum swing back toward more analog, less hyper-optimized content.

  Anytime somebody does something cool and unique, 500 other people do the exact same thing. So then now that cool and unique thing can never blossom into a greater thing.