Billionaire Tilman Fertitta on new book ‘Shut Up and Listen’, getting rich, & how to be successful

on Larry Kay now entrepreneur and billionaire tilman Fertitta you got to know what you're good at and God gave us all a gift and I sure wasn't gonna win a Grammy I took guitar lessons for four years and still struggle to play a chord I wasn't going to do a lot of things I sure can't draw anything but you know what I knew that I've had a DNA gene of business plus with these podcasts and social media today if you're not on top of it you can't grow any brand today the old means of just advertising on television or billboards is behind the times it's all next on Larry King now welcome to Larry King now our guest today is American businessman entrepreneur tilman 47 he is chairman and CEO of landries incorporated that's one of the largest restaurant corporations in America Forbes called him the world's richest restaurateur he also owns the Euston Rockets and he started his own CNBC series billion-dollar buyer he released a book recently titled shut up and listen the book is currently available online and in stores other than that he hasn't done much with his life what do you mean by shut up and listen you know it's really funny is HarperCollins approached me about 18 months ago and said you know tell me we watch your TV show when we see you on all these business shows and sports shows and we read these articles and we love all these Tilghman isms and we don't want you to write a life story but we'd love these little one-liners that you use and we love the way you go so direct at people to to help them grow their business and and we'd like you to just talk about that not stories not a life story but the basics that's its take the word know out of your damn vocabulary it's there are no spare customers it's it's change change change it's it's things like that you have to know your numbers and and this is a it's an easy reading book in it and it really gets to the basics how did you come up with tilman isms you know I didn't come up with it but people that I do business with and investment bankers we would be in negotiations and thing and and and I would just always throw these out and they just kind of caught on and so when I wrote the book I called everybody of us to jump right down on my Tillman isms because you know y'all always talk about my Tillman isms and I don't want to forget any of them so there's a whole page of just Tillman isms in there why the restaurant business yeah it's kind of interesting is I was in Texas in the eighties and and if you remember the eighties the world fell apart that's when all the banks failed and and I had invested in one restaurant Larry and you couldn't do anything the building just shut down there no development and so I brought out all my partners and I said well I'll just go retro restaurants for a few years since there's no development happening and that's what I did and then in the early 90s that's when all the company started going public that was the big stock market boom if you remember when Clinton came in where they even got rid of the national debt because of all the capital gains but that's when like chiles and out back and Cheesecake Factory and Lone Star and Landry's we all went public and all of a sudden you wake up one day you have 12 restaurants but because of your growth rates are worth a hundred million dollars and so for the next you know 20 years I was basically public and then when the Christ has happened again and OH 809 I saw an opportunity cuz my stock was down to go private again owning a hundred percent and that's what I've done since then restaurant business is one of the toughest you don't get a second chance people don't come back if the food ain't couldn't you do not get a second chance it's amazing how even a restaurant can be brand new and people will not give it that second opportunity also people told me that the restaurant business is the toughest business to run from afar how can you run 18 restaurants well I'll run 600 you know its systems and controls and you've got to have a strong culture and you've got to have a good HR department and and it's and I've been successful because not only do I open up a lot of restaurants I've bought a lot of restaurant companies because upstairs the management wasn't doing a good job I mean just in the LA area look at all the restaurant companies that are owned everything from Mastro's to catch to Martin's to Bubba Gump to rainforests you won't catch yes yes on 50% of catch I'm doing bad not doing bad at all either is that Mastro's over there in Beverly Hills a lot of fun too a lot of fun you know it's great down great restaurants and I love being in the gaming business I owned the five Golden Nugget casinos and it's it's been good it's been good did you always want to be in on tree always it's kind of funny and I talked to people about this all the time and and one of the things I talked about in the book Larry is you got to know what you're good at and and God gave us all a gift and I sure wasn't gonna win a Grammy I took guitar lessons for four years and still struggle to play a chord I wasn't gonna win an Emmy I wasn't going to do a lot of things I sure can't draw anything but you know what I knew I knew that I'd had a DNA gene of business and when I was a little kid I carry around my briefcase of business and in junior high I was selling candy to students by high school I was playing the stock market and when I was 21 I'd already won my first cat alike selling Shaklee vitamins and I told myself and I'm 35 I'm gonna have my first jet and I'm gonna be on the Forbes 400 list when I'm 50 and thank God they all happen Larry did love play apartment you always have a little luck but you also set yourself up in a position to to be lucky and you know somebody asked me what about all these tech billionaires that all of a sudden they become millionaires just because they created a little app that never was gonna really be successful but you know what they got lucky cuz a bigger company bought them but they still set themselves up by being in the right place and creating something as lenders the biggest lantry's is is the parent company and there's only like 30 or 40 landries restaurants but like i said i have everything from bubba gump to rainforests of Mastro's to martin's to McCormick and Schmidt's chart house all those are mine they're all company owned Mastro's - yes sir Wow Dennis doesn't know I've owned it for almost 10 years almost 10 years and grown it to be a huge group of restaurants you specialize in steak houses and steak house and seafood a lot of seafood Joe's Crab Shack the Bubba Gump's or more seafood I hit you know what I just bought last week was Dell Frisco's I don't know if you're for me I hate there all the time which one was the one in New York yeah absolutely sure they just opened yeah I bought it three times absolutely they do a great job but but once again the restaurants were very successful but they had problems at the corporate level and you know you got to protect your balance sheet and you got to protect your liquidity and what I believed in and I talked about it in the book you got to be an opportunist and you know what happens when people are weak I like to eat them after the break we'll learn more about Tillman's road to success how he grew up plus what made him decide to buy the used in rockets his book is shut up and listen it's available now and we'll be right back our guest is children 42 the book is shut up and listen hard business truths that will help you succeed you're born in Galveston take a list in Texas Houston always want there to be a successful businessman right all right how did that urge to be successful work for you you had to have some failures I've had lots of failures Larry but I never had that one to bring me down and what I you know it's kind of funny it's kind of like borrowing money and this is where so many people make mistakes in business and they drink their own kool-aid is anytime I ever gave a banker performer of borrowing money always did another performance for myself that said worst case scenario okay because that's usually what happens 90% of the time but people start drinking their own kool-aid and thinking that they're smarter and better than they are and I always ran the numbers on if it is this bad am I gonna still be able to make it through tough times and I think that's one of the reasons I've been successful and you know I talked about in this the book there's a paddle for everybody's ass I have no fear but I'll worry about everything and and the day that you don't think that paddle can get you you know it will get you were you ever boat I was never broke because I was always conservative then I have tough times in the 80s and even in the 90s absolutely but but I was never broke I don't ever want to be broke that's a scary word Larry what made you buy to use thin rockets you know what's funny Larry is the they were the San Diego Rockets and I don't even know if you remember that long time long time I was in junior high school and I remember them coming to town and Elvin Hayes was there big and and I'm a big U of H person I'm still chairman of the board of regents there and they played in the game of the century remember Elvin and Lew Alcindor and Euston technically that was the first big basketball so I can yeah the biggest national talk ever there never been anything like that before in the Houston Astrodome and so I was a big since I grew up in there I was a big Elvin Hayes fan and the Houston Rockets were getting moved to Houston Texas and so I started listening to the radio because you didn't have the NBA on TV then if you remember and and they moved to Houston and I was a fan ever since and even today I'm like the 30th longest tenured season ticket holder is that not unbelievable that's how long I've been at Houston rocket fan and then I was a partner between 82 and 92 when I was very young cuz the team only sold for ten million dollars in 1982 you know how sports franchises have appreciate it ten years later the team sells for 85 million I have a bid in with somebody else to buy it for 80 we lose I next to Les Alexander for the next 25 years center court front row he's the owner and then I'll buy it 25 years later for 2.2 billion dollars why did you spend that much because I there's never been a sports team sell for less than it did before and it's the one thing you can count on is a sports change because of the content and you know our important content is today was gonna always appreciate so the employees all over the country you pay to most to buy your basketball players I've got to forty million dollar basketball players and James Harden and Russell Westbrook and I'm happy to have them Larry is it easy to sign those checks you know the numbers have to work on any business and and and it's all part of the business of that business and with sponsorship money and ticket revenue the numbers work okay because they have to work or you couldn't do that and it doesn't really matter remember your only cost to sales your big cost of sales there is the players and and it's a collective bargaining agreement and you're gonna have to give I think it's 50 and a half something like that to your players and then you decide how you want to spend it's a degree of socialism to it you can control the right air on your team might take a cut to get you to sign the other guy that doesn't happen very often it doesn't happen very often so so it's also kind of set up in the NBA where there's no crazy bidding because if you are this tenured of a player and you've won an MVP or you're in all-star this is the most you can make that's why like LeBron and James Harden and Russell Westbrook and all these guys and Chris Paul make a certain amount of money but not more than anybody else there's a bunch of them in that top category right there are they gonna do this year I think it's gonna be a great you know shootout in the West I mean it's open I don't think this has ever happened before but with what the Clippers did with what Utah did as good as Denver is Golden State with us having Russell and James and Clint and PJ and Eric I think it's gonna be a lot of fun this year Larry I think it's gonna be a whole lot of fun any games you go to I go to 40 probably out of 41 home games you always had that one game a year that you just have a conflict that you can't get out of and road games probably 25% but I love to come here in LA and watch the Clippers and the Lakers okay we'll be right back with more of to 142 the bookies shut up and listen next we'll talk about what it takes to be a good leader plus we get to know him better with a round of if you only knew the book share of a muscle back back with children 42 the book is shut up and listen what makes a good leader I'll tell you it makes a good leader your people have to have faith in you and I've always said a leader always has to be the bull in the room and and they don't have to always like you but they got to really respect you and I can tell you this anybody that works for me directly will tell you that is the toughest son of a gun to work for but I would never work for anybody else and and I tell this to my people all the time I have probably 25 VPS that answer directly to me that have worked for me for 25 years I don't lose people that answer directly to me can you do you think it can be inborn someone is a born leader I think so I mean I think that I'm not saying you can't learn to be a leader either Larry but I think that God makes us all special in our own way just like he made you special and made these guys special at what they do the guy that can take the engine apart and put it back together as the smartest guy in the world the guy that can carve something for those little cars and Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts is I couldn't do that my kids always won because I had to pay somebody to do it but but I just think we all have a talent and you have to realize what that talent is why did you call it shut up and listen when the book was being written and and first off people don't want to listen today and and one of the reasons I think I've been successful as I've listened a lot but we're all sitting around and and and I say this kind of funny to my people sometime and everybody has a voice in my company I listen to my employees and and I said we taught you shut up and listen for a minute and somebody said that would be just as such a great name for the book and and that's kind of how it happened kind of accidentally but at the same time it's really a good book it's very fast reading we really worked hard on this book to make it easy reading it's amazing how many people don't listen someone asked me to key to interviewing is listening 100% when I never learned anything when I was talking and you were exactly okay we play a little game of if you only knew a lot of questions that you biggest risk you ever took buying the rocket for 2.2 billion luxury you can't live without my g5 you want a g5 two of them why don't you need a second you know just other people the family and some employees and one's always in the shop yeah my first jet I bought it 35 years old and that's just a luxury I'll never give up and the g2 is a great plane GT is a great point - best piece of advice you have a god it's nice to be important it's more important to be nice worst piece of advice you got stop growing why do you you're making a couple of million dollars a year why do you want to keep growing you're so successful what's something a lot of people don't understand about owning a business it stops with you and you have to know all facets of the business you might be real creative but you better understand the operating side and the financial side and if you're gonna go into business you better find somebody who knows the parts of it that you don't know favorite restaurant I have to say one of mine Mastro's or catch your favorite food there's nothing like a good piece of lemon pie but there's nothing like a great steak is there Larry lemon meringue lemon meringue is as good as it gets you should serve it more you've got a good restaurants you don't serve lemon meringue I know it because you and I like it but a lot of other people don't biggest regret you know I got to ask this the other day and I don't have a lot of regrets but I had a chance to buy this great car collection about 25 years ago in my hometown luxury cars no vintage cars tons of muscle cars just an unbelievable collection and and you know what Larry I negotiated a little too hard and I lost it and I learned a lesson from that if you really want something what's the extra 50,000 or a hundred thousand dollars favorite thing to do on a day off do you have a have a day off yeah I'm always working but I love to go on my yacht and relax or sit at home and just watch basketball or football what's it like to know you can go by any store and buy anything what's it like to know that what's it like you don't feel the need to do it I own the Bentley rolls Bugatti dealership in Houston but always drove just a Cadillac Escalade I don't go out and buy Brioni suit because I know I can I did that when I made my first money 40 years 30 years ago knowing that you can do it you don't feel the need to do it you don't have to show off and do it yes Jeff I have a boss it's been a long long time I couldn't even tell you someone Dead or Alive you would like to take to lunch both of my grandfather's were entrepreneurs this so I definitely have the DNA and one died when I was three and one died when I was 11 because back then in the 60s you had a heart attack they just gave you morphine and you died I'd love to go to lunch with my two grandfather's that's well for my guilty pleasure lots of guilty pleasures I don't hope not I just a guilty pleasure probably when you know what my guilty pleasure is on my on my birthday last year I want it Popeye's fried chicken because it's so damn fattening and to eat those red beans and rice and to eat those rolls and wanna buy it you know what I'm mad at myself for not buying it when it was sold about four or five years ago in US that's one of my regrets not buying Popeye's fried chicken one of mine too in our final moments Tillman will answer some of your questions from social media don't go away but with tilman Fertitta the book is shut up and listen hard business truths that will help you succeed with his Tillman isms all right we have some social media questions destiny rocks on Twitter I've been running my business the same for 30 years I'm doing ok but not anywhere I should be I'm behind the times how do I make it more relevant again the first few steps I sell aerospace aviation hardware well this guy's way too smart for me but as I talked about in the book has changed change change and any business that you have if it hasn't continued to grow and you've been doing it for 30 years you're doing something that you haven't changed when I bought in Martin's 10 years ago and I'm sure you ate in Martin steak houses great food but they let the atmosphere and the restaurant change they let the the menu not have a much diversity to it and and you you have to change and and that's what I've done better than anything else has always changed this person needs to analyze exactly what he's selling and why if you've been in that business thirty years it should be growing so he needs to figure out what he needs to change Leslie Howard on the Larry King now blog how important is social media when it comes to promoting one of your brands social media is huge today Larry as we all know our world has changed in front of us and with these podcasts and social media today if you're not on top of it you can't grow any brand today the old means of just advertising on television or billboards is behind the times you have kids that don't even look at TV anymore that's why if you look at so many of the big companies like it's a mountain it's amazing the amount of kids that don't even care to subscribe because of ESPN or whatever anymore they do everything on their phone and they do it that way you have to change with multimedia today or you are left behind Frank McGinnis on the Larry King now blog what is the next trend in restaurants I think the restaurants are gonna continue to be more of a social gathering where years ago you know this Larry people used to just go eat for a meal and there was nothing social about it there was no entertainment value as a white wall with a picture hanging on it today if you're successful it has to be because it's a social gathering with the great atmosphere and of course great food and service good food and service don't even get you there anymore you have to do all the other things right also how have your goals as a businessman changed throughout the years well as you become more successful you get more conservative too because you don't want to lose it so you make sure the next deal you do is really good and you do heavy due diligence and finally what keeps driving you what do you need another restaurant what do you need another hotel or another casino because it's sport to me Larry this is sport to me just like a musician loves to keep writing music or playing their guitar or whatever this is what I like to do every day why are you doing what you're doing after 61 years because you love it it's sport to you is to sit here and interview people and you've had a great life doing it the best ever thank you man thank you sir Tillman 40 though make sure to check out his book shut up and listen it's currently available online and in stores and as always you can find me on Twitter at Kings things I'll see you next time [Music] you

Channel: Larry King

Views: 8,775

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Id: sqDI0ZitsqM

Length: 23min 48sec (1428 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 29 2020