When I spoke with DinnerLab co-founder and CEO Brian Bordainick in July, the company was operating in 19 cities and running their first chef tour across the country.
Fast forward only two months (yes, you read that right) and DinnerLab is hosting private pop-up events in 20 cities across the U.S. and leading their second restaurant tour; Only this time they’re doing it to establish their first brick and mortar restaurant.
In traditional DinnerLab style, the team’s planning on opening their first restaurant in December with the next one opening in early 2015. Of course, that one will operate under a different model and with a different rotation of chefs.
I think Chase put it best when he asked Brian how the team is scaling DinnerLab with chaos at the center of their business model. Brian simplified it by encouraging founders to figure out each inefficiency in their model, remove it as much as humanly possible and then go for it.
Similar to eliminating weaknesses in their business model, Brian urges founders to identify their weaknesses and quickly find someone to perform the tasks more efficiently. Although it seems challenging, Brian’s incredibly comfortable knowing that he isn’t the smartest person in the room. It’s that honesty that’s created an open working environment at DinnerLab where each employee is actively working on his or her strengths and delegating their weaknesses.
DinnerLab’s wild-fire success hasn’t been all about Chef Mario Abdus’s mango marinated quail or Chef Daniel Espinoza’s blackberry mole; After attending the company’s launch in New York and flying back to New Orleans the same night to fulfill his commitment working with 4.0 schools, Brian quickly realized that balancing two careers was simply not sustainable.
Today, he fulfills his deep passion to serve with DinnerLab. Instead of focusing on building a business that ends up on the shiny NASDAQ billboard, Brian is contagiously passionate about giving individuals the opportunity to create wealth for their families and his highest goal is to make New Orleans a hub for entrepreneurship.
To learn more about DinnerLab tune into Brian’s 33founders episode; where he discusses how he’s building the team and scaling the business while growing as an entrepreneur himself.