LMU Magazine - The Magazine of Loyola Marymount University

Grilling With Numbers

Don Camacho's family business opened the Café de Camacho in Los Angeles' historic Olvera Street in 2010.

Published: December 13, 2011

Don Luis Camacho M.B.A. '00, Law '02 is president of Camacho's, Inc., a restaurant business started in 1994 by his father, Andy, that now has outlets from Camacho's Cantina in Hollywood, to Dodger Stadium and the Pepsi Center in Denver. He is president of the Los Angeles chapter of the California Restaurant Association, and in 2010 he received the Role Model Award from the LMU Mexican American Alumni Association. In early December, Camacho came to campus to receive the Conrad Hilton Distinguished Entrepreneur Award from Fred Kiesner, professor and holder of the Conrad Hilton Chair of Entrepreneurship in the College of Business Administration. Camacho was interviewed by Editor Joseph Wakelee-Lynch.

It’s often said that when the economy is down, consumers cut back on non-essential spending, like eating out. Have you observed that in your restaurants?
Certainly, people go without non-essentials in a recession, and restaurants fell in that non-essential category in the past. Nowadays, restaurants have become meal-replacements for people with busy lifestyles: moms and dads, or single people, who don’t have time to cook, a desire to cook, or know how to cook. So what we’ve seen in this economy is that the volume, in terms of people in the restaurant, holds steady, but the spend is less. Instead of having two margaritas, people have one, or they share appetizers or cut out a dessert.

When a slumping economy improves, are restaurants generally ahead of the wave, on the wave, or behind?
It comes down to how the business is run. If you’re focused on incremental costs, raw materials costs, efficiencies and systems, you’ll be well served when things pick up. So the question comes down to are you doing the things to prepare your company and your people for future opportunities, and that means focusing on the things people rarely look at.

If a restaurant owner is contemplating expanding from one outlet to several, is there an important business fact of life about expansion that’s easy to overlook?
The easiest thing to overlook is the danger of assuming that if the first outlet is successful then the second will be, too. It’s easy to assume that and be wrong. It happens all the time. Often, it’s not so much about the menu; it’s about the lease. Or it’s not so much about the look of the place; it’s about the location. Is there parking? Is the door facing north or is it facing south. You may not have had a sign at the first outlet, but when you try to do the same thing in the second place you discover quickly you needed a sign there. Each location becomes different campaign.

With many ethnic cuisines, customers often seek what they’d describe as authenticity. What does authenticity mean for the restaurant owner?
The dangerous thing about authenticity is that you may have grown up with a certain type of taco or sauce, and it may be authentic to you. But food is very personal thing. Authentic may mean something totally different to someone else. So one question is how do you find the truly right recipe. Also, finding the highest quality ingredient or the most unique herb or chili gets real expensive real quick. You may find it and be able to serve it. But can you execute it day in and day out, when you’re not the one executing it. You’re paying an hourly person to do that for you. Will that person have a good night, or a bad night? If you get all that right, can you still charge an appropriate price and make a healthy margin on it?

In theory, authenticity is a simple thing, and you want to be authentic. But there are a lot of layers and decisions you have to make to get there.

What is your greatest satisfaction for you in your business?
The greatest satisfaction is when everything works, like a symphony. Everything moves at a certain pace: the host or hostess welcomes the guest in the right way, the guest receives a clean menu that is set on the table properly, the host introduces the server, the appetizers come at the right time, the food tastes great, the music, the sound, the lighting, the restaurant is full, the kitchen is not falling behind. When you see at the peak, busiest time that all the training and hard work is working, that gives me the greatest rush. It isn’t a financial thing. You’ve had an impact on the guests’ experience and even the experience of our hourly associates. They’re enjoying it, too. Seeing the operation hum and hum well is the most fun.

If an LMU senior says to you, “I want to start a restaurant business, so what’s one thing you want to warn me about,” how would you answer?
Get a good lease.

And if that senior asks, “What am I going to love about starting a restaurant business,” what’s your answer?
You’re going to love the people. It’s all about people. It’s all about the guests’ experience and the people who work with you to make it happen. If you like people, this business becomes addictive real quickly.