We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cathy Jones a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Cathy, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Richard Jones , founder has worked in the restaurant business his whole life. His wife Cathy also comes from a long line of restaurant experience as well. Sunday dinners were a staple in the Jones house. Family and friends would come by and make plates and enjoy the company. We had always wanted to open our own restaurant and an opportunity arose and Richard began the process while Cathy still worked .

Cathy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’ve been working in the restaurant business since I was 15. I started out like most at McDonald’s and spent most of my years there learning all I could. I strived to do everything the way it was taught to me and thats exactly how I manage my own restaurant. It starts at the top so if I teach you a certain way to do something everyone in my business needs to do it exactly how I do as I’ve tested and perfected it to ensure it’s great for my restaurant , my staff and the customers . I’ve made it my motto to work smarter and not harder so everything I do is based on being efficient. I think what sets us a part from others is our attention to detail, our food, and the fact we deliver all 3 that make a restaurant successful 1. Great customer service, 2. Clean restaurant, and 3.Good food each and every time. I’m most proud that I have made this happen and that I’m able to provide great southern food at an affordable cost for our customers. I didn’t start this restaurant to become a millionaire but to use my skills to provide something I am very passionate about.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

As business was picking up after like 5 or so months of being open I thought I could step back and let my staff run the business. After we opened for the day I would leave and go to the beach. I thought that’s what owners did. Well my wife started talking to me about finances and where was all the money going and it wasn’t until we were almost to a zero balance that I realized that by me not being there still so early into the business that I was taking from the profits. My labor was too high for the amount of business we were doing. Being in the business for so long I know about food and labor cost as that is a huge factor in falling restaurants but for some reason I wasn’t thinking clearly. Needless to say I got myself back on track and the business has been doing well since.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Word of mouth and social media. Both of which cost you nothing. As I always say if you give customers what they want each and every time they will come back and that’s exactly what we do. We get new customers every single day and we have been open 8 years and this is just as important as maintaining customers to ensure business growth. This is exactly why our sales have grown every year since we’ve been open.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shutemdownasr.com
• Instagram: Ashutemdown_asr
• Facebook: shutemdownasr

Image Credits
Jordan Walter