How to Build a Restaurant That Can Scale Without Breaking: Jeff Fenster, Everbowl

**Josh Kopel** (0:00)
What are you doing this month to make sure your business grows? Do you mind if I make a suggestion? This month's free Restaurant Marketing Master Class is about one thing, using AI to create an unfair advantage. And not by replacing what makes your restaurant special, but by helping you move faster on the work that actually drives growth. I'm taking my proven tactics, tools and strategies and showing you how to use AI to sharpen your marketing, speed up execution and turn good ideas into action without getting buried in the details. You'll be working with me personally to build these strategies into your business in real time. And because of that, space is limited. But you can sign up for free today by going to restaurantbusinessschool.com.
Again, you can sign up for free today just by going to restaurantbusinessschool.com. I'll see you there. Now here we go.

**Jeff Fenster** (0:54)
I don't try to change behavior. I try to remove the things that I can't and I'm not going to change.
Cash has legs. It's 2026 No one needs really cash. If there's no cash, there's nothing to steal. There's nothing to count. There's no integrity issues.

**Josh Kopel** (1:09)
Welcome to FULL COMP, a show offering insight into the hospitality industry featuring restaurant tours, thought leaders, and innovators served up on the house.
Welcome to the 2026 Restaurant Playbook, a special five-part series presented by Square. Opening a restaurant has never been easy, but today's operators are facing a different kind of challenge. It's not enough to have great food, a strong location, or a beautiful brand. The restaurants they win in 2026 will be the ones people remember, people actually want, and that are built to survive, grow profitably, and scale without breaking. Across this series, I'm sitting down with some of the brightest minds in our industry to unpack what it really takes to open your first restaurant or open your next one smarter. And to help you put these lessons into action, we've created a free companion download, the 2026 Restaurant Playbook. You can grab it now at joshkopel.com/square. A big thanks to Square for making this series possible and for continuing to support the operators building the future of hospitality. Now let's get into the episode.
What if the reason we keep breaking our commitments to ourselves is because we're relying on willpower to keep them? Jeff Fenster is the founder of Everbowl, the super food franchise he's built across more than 30 states. In three years after his first time on the show, he's back with a sharper answer for how he actually wins. What he's doing is he strips out whatever gets between him and the result, instead of trying to become a more disciplined version of himself. In today's conversation, we get into why your truth changes the moment your perspective does, and how to treat AI as a multiplier instead of a crutch. Lastly, he covers in-depth why building a personal brand has nothing to do with wanting to be famous. If you're grinding on discipline and still coming up short, this one's gonna change how you operate.

**Jeff Fenster** (3:13)
You said something that was, I think, so profound, which is, our truth changes over time. And it's not because we weren't telling the truth then or now, it's because, like you said, what creates our truth is our perspective. It's like a six and a nine, right? We're on opposite sides, it really is both. It's what side you're on. And what created success, or you thought was the reason you were successful, doesn't necessarily, or failed, or pick your path, doesn't mean that that was actually the right answer. It's just what your belief was at the time. Until more data came in to, or life, and changed it. And so, it's so fascinating, you said, I've actually never thought about it like that. So what's changed in three years? Holy smokes.
From a speaking inside, to address that part, I used to do this because I wanted to be good at it.
And now I don't try to be good at it. I just try to be myself and impact one person. That's been my goal. I used to want to impress everybody. And so I would probably over engineer answers and try to land the plane that would work for as many people as I can, instead of realizing that that's not who I am. That's not what I preach in my real world. So why was I doing that with my message or these conversations? Because these conversations are so powerful. When I listen to shows, it's not listening it for entertainment. I'm listening to it for content and mentorship and coaching. Because we have the privilege today of having access to the smartest, greatest creative individuals in whatever walk of life, from medical to business to relationships to stock market, picket, real estate. And you used to never have access to this kind of information. So the whole thing, like I was fortunate to have great mentors as a teenager and a kid when my peers didn't, that was a huge leg up. We all have it now, literally, for sure. And so taking advantage of that is important. So I find these conversations to be so beneficial for myself, even what you just said to open this up, like you just gave me something to really ponder in profound thinking as opposed to just regurgitating canned answers to canned questions that are duplicative and everybody could go listen to 1800 other shows and get the same responses. You know, like, that's what this is about, like real conversation and the fact that guests who are listening, when I'm listening, I get to front row seat to a private conversation. And that is so cool.