Celebrity Restaurateur Johnny has a heartfelt, candid discussion with Dr. Flowers and Robin regarding his life journey, his love for food and family, the trials and tribulations of success, his beautiful (and well written) new cookbook entitled With Gratitude and how passionate he feels about his employees. Johnny’s wit, humor, and charm are a definite “like, comment, and share” for this week’s episode of “Understanding the Human Condition.”
Key Takeaways:
04:08 – Why Johnny thinks everyone should work in the restaurant business
08:19 – Johnny shares his experience at Sam Houston
10:31 – Why the best teachers are the ones who don’t preach but set an example
13:51 – Johnny talks about the influence of his grandparents
17:05 – Johnny shares the secret sauce for keeping staff
22:49 – How Johnny managed to keep his business afloat during COVID
26:43 – Johnny’s charity work
31:02 – Advice to listeners facing personal challenges
Resources Mentioned:
JFlowers Health Institute – https://jflowershealth.com
JFlowers Health Institute Contact – (713) 783-6655)
Subscribe on your favorite player: https://understanding-the-human-condition.captivate.fm/listen
Johnny’s Website: https://carrabbafamily.com
Johnny’s Book: With Gratitude, Johnny Carrabba Celebrating 30 Years of Recipes, Stories and Family
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable.
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Listen to the podcast here
Family, Food And Gratitude With Johnny Carrabba
Introduction
Welcome.
Robin, how are you?
I’m good, how are you?
It’s good to see you.
We have a very special guest.
I am so excited that Johnny Carrabba is with us. Thank you for doing this with us. You are so busy. You also have so many things going on in your life during this turbulent period, and you decided to come spend an hour or 30 minutes with us.
Thank you.
It’s my pleasure. I appreciate the invite, and you said I’m busy. All you’re doing is interrupting a golf game.
You are going to be super authentic out there, aren’t you?
Absolutely, yeah.
I thought I could read a little bit about your bio, a little background. I’m sure everybody knows you who’s reading, but for those who don’t, Johnny was proudly born and raised in the East End of Houston, Texas. Johnny Carrabba III was raised in his parents’ family-owned grocery store, Carrabba’s Friendly Grocery, and attended St. Thomas High School.
In 1986, Johnny opened the original Carrabba’s on Kirby Drive. The second location on South Foss Road opened its doors in 1988. In 1993, Outback Steakhouse created a joint venture partnership consequently opening over 230 Carrabba’s Italian Grill restaurants nationwide, 10 locations in Brazil, and future locations in Mexico.
Johnny and his family continue to own and operate the two original Carrabba locations. In 2012, the family’s new fast-casual concept, Mia’s Table, opened one block behind the original Carrabba’s on Kirby. In 2014, Grace’s, affectionately named after Johnny’s grandmother, Grace Mandola, opened its doors, forging the fourth family-owned and operated restaurant for the Carrabba family.
Mia’s Table now has 3 additional locations and continues to grow throughout the greater Houston area with 2 more sites scheduled to open in 2020. Johnny is a philanthropist at heart and gives back to the community through many venues and charities, especially those benefiting children. Johnny has two beloved children, Johnny the Fourth, who proudly attends the University of Alabama, and Mia, who attends Southern Methodist University. The family enjoys traveling, playing golf, and simply spending quality time together. Welcome.
I did not know your son was a student at the University of Alabama.
Right now, he’s taking a little bit of a break. He went there for two years and he’ll probably go back, but right now, he wants to work in the restaurant business. He’s a fry cook for me at one of my Mia’s concepts. He’s getting a real education now.
That’s right. I think I started working in restaurants, literally when I was fourteen years old in the back of restaurants. It’s an amazing business to grow up in and learn. I went from a dishwasher to a busboy to eventually a waiter and waited tables all through college, mostly at some of your family’s restaurants here in Houston.
James, I tell people all the time I should call you Dr. Flowers.
No, James is great.
I mention this to people all the time. I think that every person should work in the restaurant business. It doesn’t make a difference if you’re going to be a doctor or you’re going to be an engineer. I think the restaurant business teaches you a lot about life and people. I think that’s good training.
The restaurant business teaches you a lot about life and people.
Thank you. I have a quick, interesting story to tell him about. My undergraduate degrees were in Marketing and Finance. One semester, at the end of my sophomore year, my assignment was to write a business plan. I wrote a business plan for a restaurant concept. It was going to be an oyster bar, poor boy’s fried shrimp, tap beer and a jukebox. I wrote this business plan and turned it in to my professor, who was the dean of the School of Business, and he came to me after giving me an A on it and said, “This is a good business plan.” Don’t ever tell me it’s a good business plan. You know what I did? I went and opened the restaurant.
You did?
I did.
Did you know this?
You’re kidding me.
I am going to open a restaurant. My grandparents were paying for my college, but they weren’t going to give me money to open a restaurant. I took that business plan to seven different little community banks around town. They all were like, “No.” I walked into this bank, and it was a community bank, and it was early one morning, right at 8:00, and I walked up to the secretary and said, “My name is James Flowers, and I need to visit the president of the bank.” He happened to walk behind me.
How old were you?
I think I was 19 or 20. He walked up behind me and he said, “I happen to be the president of the bank.” He shook my hand and I said, “I need ten minutes of your time.” I sat down with him. It was a $500,000 loan. A day later, I had a $500,000 loan. They approved it and I opened a little oyster bar. I named it DG’s Oyster Bar.
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, we had between an hour and two-hour wait. My mother was so mad at me because I worked fifteen-hour days, going to school and coming to work. My mother was like, “You cannot do this. You have to finish school.” I did finish, but here’s my business savvy, and then one day, this man walked in at lunch, and he was wearing a suit and sunglasses. He came up and he had a badge and I was like, “Can I help you?”
He said, “My name is John Doe and I’m with the IRS.” I was like, “What? Okay.” I hadn’t paid my sales tax. He was with the state revenue comptroller or something. I hadn’t paid the state of Texas taxes. I was like, “Do I have to pay you all?” It was a great success. The mayor happened to be sitting in the restaurant at the bar. She came every single day for lunch and had a crab salad every day.
She was sitting there and she got up and she said, “My name is Judy McDonald and I’m the mayor. Can you give him some time and leave us information and we’ll get back with you.” He left his card and said, “I need to hear from you.” She left and she said, “Are you going to be able to pay this?” I said, “I can come up with it, I guess.” She went and talked to three businessmen in town, and they came back and wrote a check and bought the restaurant from me. I went back and finished school. That’s my restaurant story.
That’s awesome.
It was amazing.
I think it’s a great concept. My Uncle Tony Mandola had Tony Mandola’s Blue Oyster Bar. You pretty much described it.
I grew up at Tony Mandola’s Blue Oyster Bar. I love it.
I worked there for a while.
Did you?
Yeah.
That is so wild but I had the best time but it is hard work, isn’t it?
Only if you want to work eight days a week.
Life In Sam Houston
You and I have something else in common other than my one little restaurant experience and my waiting table history. We both went to Sam Houston. What was your experience like there?
It was a two-year stint. I had a lot of fun. I loved Sam Houston. It was a big deal for us to get away from our parents. About 3 or 4 of my good buddies from St. Thomas High School went up there and we got good at everything but school. One of my experiences in Sam Houston was I worked for my uncle Damian Mandola. He had a restaurant called Damian’s right there on University Drive. I was peeling garlic one day and I was looking out the kitchen window and I saw some of my friends and they all looked like they were having a good time. I said, “I don’t think peeling garlic is in my future. I want to go have a good time.” Guess what? Peeling garlic was in my future. I love Sam Houston.
Sam Houston’s a great school. I worked for your uncle, someone who’s an icon in Houston and someone I loved very much. It’ll make me cry here in a second, but it’s Vincent Mandola. I loved that man. He passed away. Tell us a little bit about Vincent.
You say you’re going to cry. We’ll start crying. Italian people have a tendency to be emotional. My uncle Vincent, I looked up to him. He was a Vietnam veteran. I would write him letters when he was in Vietnam. He always made an impression on me. He’s a gentleman. Very neat and impeccable with his word. All my life, he made an impression on me. That’s as simple as I can put it, but then when I worked with him, that’s when I started realizing how hard and dedicated he was.
He taught me some things about the restaurant business, but he taught me about ownership. The best teachers are people who don’t preach. I’m a preacher, but they don’t preach. You could learn through the example he was setting. I was very fortunate, James, to do the eulogy at his funeral. My Aunt Mary asked me to do the eulogy. I’d have to say it’s the biggest honor of my life. He was neat, clean, hardworking, and the best family man I’ve ever met.
The best teachers are people who don’t preach. You could just learn through the example they are setting.
That’s what I admired about him the most, but I think what I admired about my Uncle Vincent the most was that I must have had 300 text messages, emails, phone calls, or more. They talked about how special he made everybody feel. I think that the quote is that people will forget what you said, and people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. Maya Angelou, legendary.
I told you a little bit earlier. I was working for Vincent Mandola on the night that Pan AM Flight 103 in Lockerbie, Scotland, crashed. If I’m not wrong, I think it was Christmas Eve. The TVs were on at Vincent’s and everyone was crying. He came up next to me for some crazy reason, this waiter, and he put his arm around me and started talking to me about life, how quickly it can disappear, and how important it is. I will never ever forget that. Very genuine.
He was raised by genuine people.
Speaking of that, your mother is the reason that I now have switched from the Kirby location to the boss location because she has this knack for making everybody feel super special. I know she doesn’t know me from Adam, but every time I come there, she’s like, “It’s so great to see you again.” She doesn’t know me from Adam.
She’s seen you in a magazine.
Still, that’s a gift that your family has. One of many.
I gave a little talk one day to the Carrabba’s Italian grill people. I own the two originals, but the other ones and I went to a conference. I go to a conference every year with them and they always ask me to give a talk. This sums up my mother. They didn’t know who I was speaking about, but I said, “There’s a person that I know that would not know how to open up the front door, would know how to turn the point of sale system on, would know how to get the music turning, probably wouldn’t know how to make fettuccine Alfredo.”
I went on through like the restaurant business, right? I said, “This person happens to be one of the best restaurateurs in the city of Houston, Texas, because this person cares and makes people feel special.” That happened to be my mom. I was a little bit more long-winded than that. In the restaurant business, you have to have good food, good service, and all that stuff. Basically, it’s the hospitality business. My mother, if I had 30 moms, I’d be a damn good businessman.
You had two great-grandmothers, too. The best.
I love my two grandfathers. They taught me a lot about overall, being a man. I’m fighting back a little emotion. My grandma Carrabba was selfless. She did everything for everybody. She had 7 grandchildren at the time, she had 9, but she made me feel like I was her only grandchild. My grandma Mandola, there would never have been Nino’s, Vincent’s, Damian’s, Tony’s Mandola’s, Carrabbas without her. She was the best cook I’ve ever met. I admired her because she was born privileged in Louisiana. Her father was a very successful businessperson but had a bad fire in his business without insurance back then. She lost it.
She eventually moved to Texas and married my grandfather, Tony Mandola. Tony was a very successful businessman. He had a very bad car wreck where he was like in a coma for like sixteen days, but he ended up loosening. My two grandmas were raised during the Depression. We have COVID, which COVID means bad, but they went through some trouble.
When you look at my grandma, Mandola, who went from I say riches to rags, but she never ever let us know the pain that she went through. That’s why I admire my grandparents. They endured. I’m glad you brought them up because my parents taught me a lot. I think my coaches at St. Thomas, even though I was a mediocre athlete, there are different people in your life that make an impact. I’d have to say that my two grandmothers made the biggest impact on me.
The Human Condition
I would say that in my family, too. My grandmother made the single biggest impact. My grandfather was a surgeon and he was an important role model for me, but my grandmother is the one that was the single biggest impact on my life, too. All of what you’re talking about right now is part of what we call on this show the human condition, understanding the human condition. The emotion that you’re showing when talking about your grandparents, your family, and Vincent- every bit of that is part of your human condition. Your grandmother helped shape your human condition of where you are today. Thank you for sharing that.
I’ve got to tell younger people now, “You never know who’s going to impact your life,” but you look back. You learned a little bit from everybody. James, you learn how not to do some things from some people.
You learn a little bit from everybody, and you learn how not to do some things from some people.
Staff Longevity
Let’s talk about your staff because they stay with you for a very long time and you’ve got serious longevity there with your staff. What’s the secret?
You reap what you sow. I’ll give you a little story. If you give people love, and love is not, “I love you, you’re the best.” That’s a form of love, but love is like you would raise children, your own blood, but love comes in every different form. When you’re there for people, they’ll be back with you through thick and thin. The two original Carrabbas, probably 240 employees and 110 of them have been with me 15 years or longer.
Love comes in every different form, but when you’re there for people, they’ll be with you through thick and thin.
Before we started airing this, Robin, I think I showed you a video of a lady who’s been with me for 34 years, since the beginning, and she was making a vinaigrette. Just the pure execution and love. I sent that out to my company. Instead of me rambling, I’m going to tell you a story and I hope you have time. I used to have a man that used to come sit at the bar.
It could be a long story, but I’m going to cut it to the chase. I never knew what he did. Everybody knows what I do because they come to my restaurant. They know I’m in the restaurant business. I got to know the guy, but I thought he was like a barfly. Somebody that came in the bar and drank. Maybe ate a little food, but whatever. His name was Mr. Sidney Patterson. He’s always giving me good advice.
He taught me about organizational structure and segregation of duties. I knew the guy was smart. I thought he just liked vodka. One day, he said, “Johnny, come here, boy.” I go sit next to him and he goes, “I will talk to you about something. I want to talk to you about your employees. I graduated from Wake Forest, and I got recruited by Gulf Oil in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I knew when I went to work at Gulf Oil that I was going to be there for the rest of my career. I was going to raise my family, build a house, and all this stuff.”
He goes, “Things have changed lately. People always say that people aren’t the same anymore. Employees aren’t the same. They’re not loyal anymore. They go from one job to the next. Yeah, that might be true, but people are people. What the problem is, is companies aren’t loyal anymore. Once you start climbing that corporate ladder, you start making money, they want to hire somebody lower. If you are loyal to your people, they will be loyal back.” I think I already had it instilled in me, but I think he enforced it. You reap what you sow. You give them a lot, and you’ll get a lot back in return. I think in my career, what I’m the most proud of, I have my people.
If you are loyal to your people, they will be loyal back.
You’re a very authentic person. You don’t go in the restaurant and say, “I’m the owner of this restaurant and look who I am and you do this and you do this.” People that have been with you for 30 years know exactly what to do and that’s how to treat the restaurant right, how to treat you right, show you appreciation and you must show them amazing appreciation.
I was at my mother’s location and we have huddle ups every day. That’s how we start our day. We’re talking about the specials, and we might talk about a little wine, but we had three new employees there. I’ll let everybody know that they’re part of our family now. I said, “Yeah, they have to work, but you need to be there for them.” I wanted them to feel welcome. I think that you have to be approachable. Sometimes, I get mad at myself because I’m too approachable. I have everybody coming up to me saying, “Johnny, can I borrow $5? Johnny, I have a marital problem.” I said, “You want me to help you with marital problems? I’m the wrong guy. I can get you to help.”
I know how proud you are of your children.
I’m proud of them.
We talked about that a little bit earlier. They’re literally your heart walking around outside of your body, right?
They are. You have a whole new appreciation for your parents when you have children. I’m not the easiest. I’m a loving father. I want the best for them. Naturally, they could get a little spoiled. I’m always telling them that the main thing is to keep your feet on the ground and live by the golden rule. You’re not even better than anybody else. I think that my biggest deal is for them to stay real.
Dealing Through COVID
Authentic. I don’t want to bring up something stressful, but I’m going to ask you about this. Are you ready for this? 2020 has been a tough year in the restaurant and entertainment business, and your family is part of this huge Houston dynasty. You don’t need to talk about your whole family, but you, in particular, how did you handle the immense amount of stress that you must have been under when COVID hit?
Personally, it’s been a tough year. Not only did COVID hit but I went through a little personal trauma. My dad had a stroke at the beginning of COVID. My dad’s in the hospital. I visited him, I came home. I fed him at the hospital, came home, fed my mother, and then I got in my driveway. After I left my mother, their house caught on fire.
You have COVID. We talked about this earlier, but for the first time in 34 years, I felt a threat that I was going to lose everything that we’ve worked for. You start throwing yourself a pity party. I started thinking about my ancestors a lot. I got the phone with Damian before I drove here. I was talking to my Uncle Damian and I said, “I’ve been thinking about our ancestors. They had it hard, but they persevered.” I think that to answer your question, a lot of this stuff is out of our control, but we do control some of it.
A lot of things are out of our control, but we do control some of it. You just have to stick to your game plan.
I threw myself a little pity party in the car one day. I said, “We’re going to make it through this. You just got to stick to your game plan.” I believe in meditation. I like meditating. I’m not the best at it, but I don’t care. I think doing a little cardio helped me, but I think work, for me, I pulled away because of my dad and stuff. I pulled away, but then I said, “I have to go to work. Work is therapeutic for me.”
Some people call it workaholism. I call it therapy.
I love what I do. I can remember like in the old days, if I was having a hard day, I would go in the kitchen with people in my prep kitchen and peel garlic with them. I lived in the kitchen, but it’s very therapeutic for me. I love what I do. I don’t know if I’m answering your question, though.
Absolutely, you did. I think it’s amazing that Johnny Carrabba is sitting here saying meditation. It’s so important. You don’t have to be good at it. You have to try it. You have to concentrate on it and build your skillset. Meditation, exercise, cooking, working, keeping active, and doing those things.
Cooking, I’m glad you said that. My grandma Mandola made a great chicken soup, which we had at the restaurant.
Is that in here?
That’s in there. One day I called her up and said, “Mama, can you give me the recipe for your chicken soup?” I went shopping and I made chicken soup for the whole family. I was going through a little hard time. Not that I have hard times, but I was going through a hard time.
Everybody has hard times.
I made it and delivered it to all my uncles and aunts. It was like, “I’m good.”
Did you say this is Mama’s recipe?
Yeah.
That is great. Robin, what are you holding?
This book With Gratitude. A friend of ours worked on the book with you.
Doug Williams.
He’s the reason we’re all here. They sell this at all of your restaurants, correct?
Yeah.
Charity Work
This was actually a gift from one of my girlfriends, but also, in the book, I didn’t realize that part of the proceeds go to a charity. How did you get involved with that?
I know the founders of the School. Everything gets emotional with me, but the young lady who works for me, Lauren, has been with me for 15, 16, and 17 years. She helped me quarterback this book from my side. Her daughter went to that school.
How long did it take you to put this together? I’m in trouble because Doug said, “Do not mention my name. Do not even bring me up. This is all about Johnny.”
I would say it took a year. From start to finish, it was a year.
It is a beautiful book. It’s an amazing book.
My sister’s coming and we’re going to try to make the cannoli. Is it difficult to make? She’s married to an Italian, so I think this will get her a lot of attention from her husband.
What I would do is we make the shell.
Can I call you if we have trouble?
I would cheat a little bit and you call me and I’ll give you the homemade shell. That would maybe give you a little bit of a problem but it’s very easy it’s in the cookbook and it’s easy if we can do it. Come by and I’ll give you the shells and you fill them and he’ll love them.
Perfect. That would be great.
I want to do a little rapid-fire. Get your rapid-fire questions out for Johnny.
I’ve got my rapid fire. Are you ready?
Yeah.
Favorite pasta.
Rigatoni.
Favorite fast food indulgence.
It used to be a late-night Jack of the Box tacos maybe when I was under the influence. Chick-fil-A.
Marinara, Alfredo, or pesto?
Marinara by far.
What do you like to do on the weekend?
I like to play golf.
Canoli or tiramisu?
Canoli. I’m Sicilian, okay?
What is one thing that Johnny Carrabba cannot live without?
Golf?
I’d have a hard time without golf. I would say years ago, it would be pasta until I started watching my waistline. I would have to say I can’t live without probably my two children.
What was your first car?
It was a hand-me-down Delta ‘88 and then I got my first Monte Carlo. I bought a Monte Carlo. I’d say Monte Carlo was my first love in a car.
There you go. Do you have any nicknames that people call you?
In the hospital, they called me Chi Chi, but then I had a good friend of mine named Luke McCann who called me Chopper because he loved my veal chop.
Favorite vacation spot ever.
Some of my family won’t be happy with me, but golf at Cypress Point in Pebble Beach, California.
What’s one thing on your bucket list that you have not done yet?
I haven’t played Augusta National.
I bet somebody out there reading is going to take this man to Augusta National. I know a few people.
That sounded very simple-minded of me, what I’m saying, golf or pasta.
Overcoming Challenges
You’re at a great point in your life. You can do that. Before we go, what’s your advice to readers out there who may be in the year 2020 going through COVID that are stressed, have anxiety, and have had some personal challenges? You’ve had a ton of personal challenges. What do you want to leave people with the last thought of getting through that?
I say surround yourself with people that you want to be around. Sometimes, we hang around the wrong people. I think there’s way too much drama in our lives nowadays. People make drama. We’re all going to make it. Some way or the other, we’re strong. We’re going to make it, so stay positive. I said this earlier, but think about your ancestors and what they went through, either through the Great Depression or migrating to this country. We’ve had a very privileged, blessed. This is the first big challenge of my life. I think you have to suck it up. I also said earlier, though, James, I think you have to be selfish a little bit. I think you have to spend some time with yourself. Nothing wrong with that. I think selfish is selfless or something like that.
Some way or the other, we’re all going to make it, so be strong and stay positive.
I get up an extra hour every morning and I’m not a morning person. I get up at 5:30 so that I can have one hour to myself still with a cup of coffee, a magazine, a book, a cookbook, whatever it is so that I’m Robin for an hour. I’m not somebody’s employee. I’m not a sister, a friend, a mother, all those things and it’s made a huge difference in my world.
In my car, in my visor, I have things but one thing is that I have notes written and it says, “Spend time with yourself.”
It’s difficult for some people to be still.
Spend time with yourself, be still. I love that, absolutely. I am sorry that we interrupted your golf game. Thank you so much for being here.
Thank you.
It’s such a pleasure.
Thank you so much.
Thanks, everybody.
