Jeremy Lett: The Product Failed, Not You

**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.

**Jeremy Lett** (0:54)
I would lose sleep at night. I was so sensitive about my food being good. If anybody told me they didn't like my food, it just crushed me. You know, chefs act like they're tough, but all chefs are sensitive little souls that just wanted to make everybody happy. And so when somebody's like, this sucks, it's like it crushes you.

**Josh Kopel** (1:13)
Welcome to FULL COMP, a show offering insight into the hospitality industry, featuring restaurateurs, thought leaders and innovators, served up on the house.
What if the thing that is holding your restaurant back most is your refusal to trust your own taste? Jeremy Lett spent 26 years at Bloomin Brands building food for Outback and Carrabba's, Fleming's and Bonefish before taking over innovation at Cracker Barrel, which is a 650 unit institution that he joined right after the brand was weathering the biggest public firestorm of its life. In today's conversation, we get into why a great menu grows through subtraction, how to separate a product failing from you failing, and why your taste earned over thousands of reps is the one competency no spreadsheet can replace. If you're sitting on a concept people respect but won't repeat, this one's going to show you where to cut and what to trust.

**Jeremy Lett** (2:19)
I've had a long career in the restaurant business and then I've done a lot of different things. I started as an hourly as a line cook with Carrabba's Italian Grill. I became a kitchen manager there, became a kitchen manager in a new store opening. Then I became a regional training manager with Carrabba's, overseeing 19 locations in the West Florida area, primarily focused on back of house training, manager development, food quality. Then I transitioned into the corporate world where I took an entry level position in supply chain and I did logistics and restaurant support. But I had a dotted line to R&D because that was where I really wanted to be at because I was really interested in the research and creativity part of R&D. Seemed like it would work well with my interests. Then I was fortunate enough to get a spot on the R&D team. Again, I started at the bottom and I had some great leaders that showed me the way and helped me develop into a corporate chef. Then I became the corporate executive chef and led innovation and menu development for Fleming's Prime Steakhouse. Then I went back to Carrabba's and led innovation for that brand. Then I took over responsibilities as the corporate executive chef of Bonefish Grill.
All the while, I'm working at Bloomin Brands. I'm working on Outback Steakhouse too because that's our big... That's the money maker.
You had a great career there. Twenty-six years, it was a really fun career. Things always kept changing for me.
Nothing ever got dull when I kept growing and advancing, and I had really talented mentors around me. But I always really wanted to work in Southern food. It was something that's personal to me. I'm from Birmingham, Alabama. I grew up with my grandmother's cooking. That's very reminiscent of Cracker Barrel food. I've always loved Southern food and I've always wanted to work with Southern food professionally.
When I saw the opportunity to come to Cracker Barrel, I decided to make the move. We moved from Tampa, Florida, up here to the Middle Tennessee area, right outside of Nashville. I've been here at Cracker Barrel about six, seven months now.

**Josh Kopel** (4:12)
What does it look like when you enter an organization? I don't think anyone gets really popular by coming in and just changing a bunch of things out the gate.
When you approach an organization, especially you've worked for so many legacy brands, what do you do to get acquainted?

**Jeremy Lett** (4:27)