We recently connected with Cristian Liang and have shared our conversation below.
Cristian, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Growth is exciting, but from what we’ve seen across thousands of conversations with entrepreneurs it’s also dangerous if costs aren’t watched closely – sometimes costs can grow out of control outpacing revenue growth and putting the viability of the entire business at risk. How have you managed to keep costs under control?
Cost management is always a constant battle for every business. As a restaurant operation we always have to watch food and alcohol costs and labor costs. Controlling these costs will directly effect the bottom line for the business.
Our mission is to provide great food and drinks while not sacrificing quality, but also not loosing too much money. We provide budgets and cost percentage benchmarks for our chefs and head bartenders so they can operate within guidelines. And we challenge them to create amazing menu items while staying within the budgets on a monthly basis.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’ll start with a little intro and background! My name is Cristian A. Liang and I am one of the owners here at Common Theory Public House, and my other business partner is Joon Lee. Joon and I have known each other for about 20 years now; we met during our high school years, and really became good friends during our studies at UCSD. I graduated from UCSD with a BS in Structural Engineering and pursued a career path with a local Geotechnical Engineering firm here in San Diego. I spent about 7-8 years between a few engineering firms in town, meanwhile Joon had gotten into the hospitality business by opening a franchise of Rice King brand fast-food. The corporate gig was paying well and was very stable; however, I was at a point in my life where I felt I needed to do more, do more for myself and for my growing family. So out of this entrepreneurship, Joon and I started brainstorming and formed a partnership in 2013. Starting my first business in the restaurant industry was comfortable to me since I basically grew up in a restaurant! My parents built, owned, and operated a Chinese Restaurants for over 30 years. As a kid I grew up helping and working the family business after school and on the weekends.
The concept behind Common Theory Public House was inspired by our group of friends who were always in search of quality craft beers, great food, and an overall good time. We always found ourselves hanging out and sharing beers at each other’s houses, or brewery hopping on the weekends. We would get excited going to our local liquor stores to see what new IPAs they had each week, always enjoyed exploring new beers!
So we sectioned-off these three components; (1) being lovers of craft beer ourselves, we wanted design a beer program that offered a rotating selection of high quality craft beers. We set out to procure simply the greatest tasting beers around, from here in San Diego and all over the country and abroad. And it’s not a surprise that a lot of these amazing beers are brewed right here in our home town! Our beer philosophy is that there should always be something available for everyone, and if a specific style of beer isn’t available, we would make sure to find our guests a beer that suited their palate. We let our customers know that we apply the literal meaning of “rotating selection”; our 30-tap draft beer system rotates beer brands and styles constantly. We love to explore new brews! Being in the Craft Beer Capital of the world, we strive to keep the draft beer system clean by performing regular maintenance and cleaning in order to pour our customers a clean, crisp, and tasteful glass of beer. Just the way the brewers designed it!
(2) The goal for our food was to create an eclectic menu that complimented the varieties of beers on tap, and vise-versa. The food coming from our kitchen revolves around the theory of simplicity, offering American pub fare with an upscale twist. The chef and our kitchen staff take pride in cooking food that focuses on enhancing natural ingredients using contemporary cooking sensibilities while maintaining authenticity to each dish’s cultural background. In our menu you see hints of our cultural backgrounds; American, Chinese, Korean, and Mexican. This culture clash concept makes it perfect to call ourselves Californians!
And (3) we wanted to create a space that felt homie and welcoming, a space that would appeal to the local neighborhood and the casual connoisseur from other parts of San Diego. Our goal is to provide customers with a relaxing and fun atmosphere to enjoy simple-straightforward food at reasonable pricing, paired with a variety of craft beers and cocktails to come.
Being a first time business owner I can’t say that the road has been smooth, which was expected. We have learned so many lessons and have grown so much as individuals. Personally, one of the most surprising struggles I have faced in running a restaurant has been the management of staff. Operating lunch and dinner service 7 days a week required about 30+ employees; being the active owners/managers that we are, we had to do all the service training, steps-of-service protocols, beer classes, scheduling, etc. Staff turnover rate in the restaurant industry is typically, and we’ve had our share of turnover; however, our retention rate is really good, and the tenure of our staff is typically 1-2 years. We are certainly proud of the fact that we still have 3 bartenders and 2 cooks who have been with us since day 1. Managing of personalities is one of the most important things when achieving a certain level of service, and to create a certain culture and vibe. At the end of the day, I believe that every staff here at CT is an extension of me and our brand. I tell the staff directly that they all represent CT and they are CT. We are in the hospitality business, and to us that means making sure that our guests feel welcomed and at home when they come in. That can only be achieved if the staff represents the CT culture and brand with a sense of ownership and pride.
Staff management is one of the struggles that most surprised me, but there are others like struggling to keep the food consistent every time, or managing the ticket times for food orders.
I believe that Common Theory Public House is unique because our passion for beer and food really shows. We care for both deeply and push ourselves to serve high quality beers and dishes, and we always try to find a way for the two to mix and complement each other. Believe it or not, but our food sales are always higher than alcohol sales, which shows that we put a lot of emphases on the quality of the food coming from the kitchen! The 3rd reason why we set ourselves apart is because of our culture and atmosphere. We designed the place ourselves to create a layout and ambiance that was open and comfortable. We wanted to create an environment that appeal to the masses, and people from all walks of life could enjoy our common interest in good beers, delicious food, and an overall great time.
Every day that I come to work I set out to do one thing, and that is to make sure that our patrons feel the genuine touch of hospitality. You can say that’s just my personality! I’ve met so many great people and have made so many friends here at Common Theory. I thank them every chance I get, it’s their support that keeps us going strong every day, keeps us wanting to improve the overall experience we’re trying to offer.
You can walk into Common Theory any day, and I promise you that for being a neighborhood bar/restaurant, you’ll be surprised of variety of folks that support our establishment. You’ll see anywhere from babies all the way up to retired, and all shapes and colors, it truly doesn’t matter. We have German beer hall-style benches or slightly more private booths for seating, but if you decide to pull-up at the bar you will witness that the friendliness of our staff will make it easy to sit next to any stranger at the bar. I’ve had 3 separate lady patrons, who are like friends to me now, thank me and tell me that they love
Common Theory because they never ever felt unwelcomed or uncomfortable when they come in. Whether it was with some friends or by herself, they said that they feel relaxed and at home. They said that it’s not just because of the friendliness of the staff, but the culture and vibe as a whole that translates out to the guests as well. So, I would say that the culture and vibe we have created is definitely the most important thing I am proud of here at Common Theory!!!
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
During the tough years of COVID-19 we pivoted numerous times. The restaurant and hospitality industry went through a very difficult time, it felt like every week we were presented with new regulations and new requirements. It literally felt like running laps around the track with hurdles every five steps.
If we wanted to stay in business we had to be nimble and be able to pivot at a moments notice. Common Theory Public House is genuinely a hangout spot, it’s a place where you commune with your friends and family, join together to enjoy food, drinks, and each other’s company. So you can imagine how COVID put a halt to all of that. At the time we tried doing take-out, we tried limited outdoors service, we tried spacing out sections, we added plexiglass everywhere, we tried everything to stay in business. If the CDC and local health departments put out updated rules of operations, we would pivot and make changes to our service in the hopes of getting more business.
Looking back at those 2-3 years, it was one of the hardest moments we’ve gone through in this business. It was tough having to pivot so much during that time, but I’m glad we did because we’re still in business and our regulars are back to support us!
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
Experience is the key to any hospitality business. For Common Theory specifically, the experience goal is to insure that the guests feel at home, and feel that CT is their local neighborhood pub. When the customers enjoy great craft beers, delicious food, and build a good connection with our friendly staff, they leave here with a great experience! An experience they will share with friends and family, and eventually will gather them all to come back and join us once again.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.commontheorysd.com/
- Instagram: @commontheory
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/commontheorySD/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/common-theory-san-diego-3