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Shila Morris and Kay Salerno Make Room For Everyone to Squeeze In and Soar to Success

  • by Pat
  • 4 Years ago
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Shila Morris and Kay Salerno

With humble beginnings and a small restaurant in Truckee, California, two millennials have built a restaurant and marketing empire.

Shila and Kay were 17 and 10 years old when their parents bought a restaurant that would, unbeknownst to them, become their primary “big girl” jobs. It was a breakfast and lunch diner, just 10.5 feet wide with a counter and a few tables.

Shila, current President of Squeeze In describes it,

“It is so cute! A hallway with tables and a casual atmosphere. You have to squeeze in to order the Best Omelettes on the Planet, as well as, Bloody Mary’s and Mimosas.”

Guests are in such close quarters that people at tables talk to each other; friendships have been forged and even a marriage or two got their start at the “Squeeze In.”

Growing up involved in a family restaurant business, evening dinner topics included such things as what changes to make on the menu and how to prepare for upcoming busy weekends. They learned the business from the ground up, bussing tables, baking biscuits, making coffee, as well as, completing every other job that is needed to run a successful small restaurant.

The age difference allowed each sister to be taught a particular skill set by their mother. Shila, being the older, was taught leadership and management skills. Kay, now Vice President of Squeeze In, was mentored in operations and marketing, and together they form a formidable team.

As the girls matured, the family opened more restaurants.

“We owned one restaurant, then two, then three and four. We began to feel like, ‘Hey, we’re pretty good at this restaurant owning thing.’ So, we started to franchise and quickly learned that franchising is a totally new process. It’s not just copy and paste. It’s a whole new system.”

What they thought would be a six-month process took over two years to finalize. Just because you can run a couple of successful small restaurants doesn’t mean someone else can take your process and be successful.

“You had to know how to run a system inside a single operation. A system had to be written to get the eggs to the location, another on proper serving technique and how to properly grind the coffee. Plus, these individual systems had to be the same all across the country.“

Today Shila and Kay break down their business into three operating groups, the restaurant group, the franchise company and their personal brand.

The main premise, developed in their very first restaurant remains the same,

“Squeeze In’s main concept is that it’s a place where all people are welcome. It’s a place of expression and great food. Our employees are incredible, plus we nurture an environment where they can express themselves fully. Guests know they will get a great experience and be taken care of. It has been wonderful to see communities embrace this main idea and continue to return.”

The Impact of John Maxwell Trainings

In 2013, the girls’ mother, Misty Young, always hungry for new learning and the leader of the company at the time, attended a John Maxwell Training workshop and her overall concept of management completely changed.

“She was so different. Mom went to a conference and came back a completely different person. People became the main focus, with systems and efficiencies taking a back seat. We joked that Mom joined a cult.”

The company went from processes, systems and efficiencies to focus on people, systems and efficiencies. It was a core turning point in bringing the awareness that the culture and how they treated their people was really key, a concept that Kay and Shila had always embraced.

Just like most small businesses, it wasn’t just an upward trajectory to success though. The company had grown to four restaurants but was barely making payroll. The growth came too fast and they found themselves strapped for cash. Shila and Kay’s parents had to move in with Shila and her husband for a time. They were taking too many chances, betting it all, which is not a sound strategy for long-term sustainability.

The John Maxwell training allowed them to slow down and focus on people, which catapulted them into a strong growth cycle that continues today, with twelve locations and additional growth imminent. That seven-year journey derived from that singular turning point and awareness at a John Maxwell conference, made all the difference.

Another key decision, made at the time, was to engage Tanya McCaffrey, President of the CFO Group. She helped organize the financials and create a sustainable growth strategy that wouldn’t drain cash reserves, but still add profitability.

Learning these business principles at a relatively young age has helped create a stable working environment in their restaurants. They are continuing to pass on their skills through employee workshops and retreats to keep all employees feeling valued, in the loop and productive.

Family is the Economic Engine

Kay and Shila told us, “You have to have an economic engine to power your life. Family can be that engine, but if it is, you must nurture those connections.”

To assure there was always a separation between business and family, the girls developed a hand slap signal that allows them to have heated discussions and maintain their close bond. After the arguing is done, the hand slap expresses that they still love each other as sisters and are ready to move on.

When we asked how they balanced their family lives with the businesses they are building, Kay and Shila told us that they don’t. They have a huge team of support and help that allows them to stay in their strength zone and not go crazy trying to do it all. The beauty of their positions, at this point in Squeeze In’s business life cycle, is that they have the time freedom and flexibility that small business owners yearn to experience. They get to drop kids off at school, take them to practices and other activities. But it’s the result of years of hard work, when that wasn’t necessarily the case, as well as their efforts in putting a great team in place.

They told us: Now, if the business needs us, the time goes toward the business. There are times when emergencies happen, and it doesn’t matter if it’s 2:00 in the morning – you are there. And that’s business ownership.

Social Media Accelerates Their Personal Brand

Shila and Kay also followed in their mother’s (John Maxwell team) footsteps and took it one step further: once they attended a live event in 2015 and saw the lack of social media efforts, they approached the John Maxwell organization and soon were handling their social media.

The confidence to make that proposal came as a result of Kay’s experience and training. She was trained by Facebook, not on Facebook but by Facebook itself. Companies approached her to find out what she was doing for Squeeze In and one such inquiry led to the marketing of Rita’s Italian Ice. Kay helped sell 700 franchise locations on the West Coast and completely changed what selling franchises looked like for Rita’s Italian Ice. So that win, combined with their knowledge and experience helped them believe that they could make a difference for the John Maxwell organization too.

Kay physically moved to Florida for 18 months and built a marketing system for a $90 million dollar business. Once that was done, John Maxwell asked them to teach their members to market their individual businesses. They are now the Maxwell Method of Marketing faculty members.

They travel to Orlando twice each year to train and certify new members in the Maxwell Method of Marketing. Plus, they do other speaking at digital media and market summits, as well as, personal growth retreats and conferences.

To accomplish all of this, plus stay close to their growing families, they have developed a strong team that allows them to maintain a successful restaurant business, as well as offer marketing advice.

The Year of the Quest

To spread the word even farther, they have a podcast that is now in its third year. The goal is to make their content digestible for their audience, by keeping it short and to the point. This year it’s called Mentorship Quest WITH KAY & SHI. It is a five-minute Monday through Friday daily podcast.

The question they want to provide the solution for is: how do we make growth easier for people? So this daily five-minute teaching is one way.  Each day they talk a little bit about the origins and the science of an inspirational quote, and then provide a little daily quest, something that can be done that day that moves you forward.

These are available at Kay and Shi’s Millennials on a Mission website.

Plus, they are in the process of creating a book to bring their story to the world.

We thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent talking with Kay and Shila; be sure to tune in to our podcast for the full interview, parts of which were the basis for this article, on Spreaker.

If you would like to learn more about Shila and Kay visit: @kayandshi on Facebook Instagram and Twitter. Get more information about these Millennials on a Mission at: https://www.kayandshi.com/, and learn about the Squeeze In at https://www.squeezein.com/ and franchising at http://SqueezeInFranchising.com.

 

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