Audience Q&A: Tilman Fertitta

well I'm gonna preface this with I think that the key to any successful business is customer service and I remember the time when I could pick up the phone and talk to a person as opposed to a recording and get transferred all over the place and then finally talk to a person that cannot solve my problem how do you deal with this in your business well number one is you are so 100 percent right and and we have never gone to a totally automated system in my corporate office because of that fact that people want to talk to people and and it's the world that we live in today and it's you know every call center is out of the country just about and it's extremely disappointing and it's what our world has become and you have to hear it in three or four languages okay and and I thought we were in the United States of America so so I have all the same issues you have in your 100% right and and all I can do is my little part we call one of your businesses we get a human being yes okay sir gentlemen I think you gave me the answer to the question now that I've heard you speak but as a former stockholder of Landry's we were really sad when you took a private can tell us what drove that you know it's really funny because I grew Landry's from when I took it public and when I took my company public I owned 100% of it and I took it from I think I was doing 30 million in revenue and seven million in EBIT uh and I was just so you know I was doing great then you wake up the next morning you go public and you're worth a hundred million dollars very few restaurant companies do well as public companies and and I went because it's just grow grow grow but in the 17 18 years I was public when I took it private it went up 400% my stocks well from 12 to 48 split adjusted and and it was just an opportunity because the world had crashed and sarbanes-oxley and everything and I just would you do it again of course you would I said no but there's there's the there's there's the the possibility that that I could do it again you know it's it's it's interesting but what I think is funny in 17 or 18 years I think when I went private I was worth this is what's crazy about the stock market because it's all about your PE and your growth rate yeah and and I grew my company from a 30 million dollar company to do 2 billion in revenue but my stock was basically even higher at when I was only a hundred million dollar company cuz your growth rate was like this and that's why you look at companies and and what's been accomplished and and you know this company's in the crapper but yet its making three billion dollars a year just it's just but but but going private I grew my net worth by billions you know it's it's but but you run different courses so yeah I've even looked at taking the whole company public again because it would be such a monster you know in such a bellwether that it would have to be in every fund and and what kind of a challenge it would be fun to do that way yeah you know it's it's fun to go back and have a gun to your head that you've got to constantly be not deals and and right it's just more fun by suddenly you're working for this guy go ahead where do you specifically draw the line between protecting your brand and allowing a player to speak out in X 1400 comes to mind you know the NBA seems to have been further ahead than the other leagues and the NBA has a rule that all players have to be out there for the national anthem and you have to stand for the national anthem you support that and 100% supported and I'm so glad I never have to get involved because I have to follow the rules just like everybody else and this is an NBA rule and so we're gonna follow the rules so James Harden does the equivalent of taking a knee it's out of your hands he gets I don't have to do anything because the NBA league comes in for me and that's where the NFL made a mistake okay I I personally feel like the greatest thing about America is that you can protest okay but but people are coming to watch you at a football game or a basketball game I personally don't think it's the time to protest when you walk out of the building you go protest to anything you want to do and and I'll support you even if I disagree with you because it's your right to protest but people don't go to a football or basketball or baseball game to watch you protest good ma'am you know people have always said why don't we have a vision statement and in all this I've never done that in my company because I read people's vision statements and it doesn't have anything to do with who their company is and their company changes and evolves and and you know our culture is you you it takes a team you run as one and and you take care of the customer and we're all here to take care of the customer and that's who comes first and we come second and and and that's my culture but I don't need to do it you know companies get together whole let's be a lifestyle company let's come up with this great vision statement a lot of times people don't live by it putting the customer first sounds like a vision statement it is but I don't need to write it down okay everybody not literally that okay well they preach it I mean and we preach it and and you know it's easy to communicate with your people today I mean there's all kind of stuff that we do to to we're in constant communications through our internet remember we live in our own internet world with all of our restaurants and locations in our own system we're like our own network with our own employees every day so took turns for coming today also ones that especially thank you for all you've done for the University of Houston although I met my wife and she was an engineering student at A&M she's most proud of her master's degree from the university hey well uh we're gonna have a cousin whose daughters now proud cougar and I mentioned that because she's a pistola and the pizza tolas are a big Sicilian family from Galveston I suspect our families knew each other back then I don't know if you want to comment on your family in Galveston or that's well my family in Galveston goes back you know my father's side since I guess the 30s they used to operate the Balinese room for many many years my great uncles and then my grandfather's the Balinese room was closed in 1957 the year I was born so I really don't know very much but I have great pictures because it was kind of the place of the south I mean Frank Sinatra Sammy Davis jr. Joey bishop I get to see all these old pictures it's very different very different galagos kind of back if you go read the old stories in Galveston how hospitable they were and how good these guys were believe it was what's a Monroe's Maceo but you didn't mess with them either but it's in your blood you know what yeah 100% 100% in my my grandfather on the other side was successful on the at his time both of them all died very young I never had any help in business uh you know nobody ever co-signed a note but but what goes back I got the good genes of the business genes from both and you still are very connected to Galveston you still have interest in Galveston yeah I have three hotels and only half a dozen restaurants an amusement park the pleasure pier yeah lots of stuff last one this was a great time to what I just wanted to ask you is that you have a great vision for resurgence of tourism for Galveston especially after hurricane I can really bring back pleasure pier to what it was originally conceived off and I want to thank you for that I don't want to ask you know chemo of course what for the memory of the next 25 years if you have any vision or plans for any projects to further the tourism and interest in Galveston and our Gulf what's what's next you know what's funny is our demographics have changed so much I don't even know who our customer is anymore sometimes so so it's just a different place and you know doing the pleasure pier was great I was a lifeguard at the flagship hotel when it was there and then to come back and buy that Pierre years later and and you know where I have the San Louie aisle it grew up in Adler circle right behind it and I used to play there all the time I used to play in that old mansion that I'm so mad I tore down as you get older you do appreciate trees and historical things and I'm so mad I tore that down and built the rainforest and the Landry's there but but you know it's fun to go back to your hometown and do stuff I mean but I don't I truly don't know what my vision is over the next 20 years for Galveston because it's so changing today I don't you can't look out like you used to because I don't know what the customers want and I don't know who my customer is looking out 20 years okay so so you're not a it's a different world today the demographics of the world are so different and what people want is so different and so if you get too far ahead of yourself you're going to fall on your butt so that's a good place we'll end on the word but please get killed Mira Tina a big hand thank you all for coming appreciate it

Channel: Overheard with Evan Smith

Views: 4,595

Keywords: klru, overheard with evan smith, evan smith, pbs, interview, Tilman Fertitta, business, entrepreneurship, houston, houston rockets, restaurants, billionaire, book, author, self help, advice, MBA

Id: I4LzTbnj26c

Length: 10min 9sec (609 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 23 2019