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

Hi Heather, thanks for joining us today. Your ability to build a team is often a key determinant of your success as a business owner and so we’d love to get a conversation going with successful entrepreneurs like yourself around what your recruiting process was like -especially early on. How did you build your team?

We purchased an already operating restaurant, with no interruptions in service during the transition. We gave every employee an opportunity to sit down and speak to us about whether they would like to keep their jobs, or if they were moving on. We acquired and kept some amazing employees, which have now become like family. We brought our children, parents, and some friends along with us also, who have played huge parts in our success thus far.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Kurt’s parents owned the original Quatro’s which closed in 2011. We decided to purchase Brass Monkey, with the space next door open for options. Covid hit one month into ownership, which gave us three months of down time to remodel and plan for our next move. We sustained the three month closure on carryout and delivery, and opened a re-established restaurant also called Quatro’s. Again, they were both shut down for a second covid streak, and ever since the re-open has been consistently growing! We are all from scratch fresh food, made to order which can accommodate most food allergies. You can order from both restaurants, no matter which side you sit on. We then opened Harbor Hook and Grille in May of 2024 as a third location, on the other side of Monroe. This is still in the building process, but is slowly and steading getting traction.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

Kurt and Heather met while working and managing Harbor Inn and Ale, the restaurant we now own as Harbor Hook and Grille. Working together in the industry for so many years, we knew we worked well together in this setting and complement each other’s weaknesses.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Word of mouth! I think the best way to get people to know we have great food, is for the people themselves to tell other people, who come to try us out and they tell other people etc. Reviews get you so far, but the best way to now something is good is by the people telling everyone else how great of an experience they had here.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.musthavemenus.com%2Foo%2Fplaces%2Fquatros-monroe-mi%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0isFlZNdgPUjrzbFKTdNO7xZaLSpkjNZthv9SuJ2IH0sAxkvZz0UzsrpI_aem_0UyMwpBTia3EfYE4xtUBZw&h=AT1jPnIi5ixQKeYdf5hk2cAmibnxj9l4xw2g9j6IXbBcrr16jojiPfgtelthUefGiI8VGQoEFV1GnpoOlg8QikOl0mxDjlCtrlk8y6Gtrp3HneZuvtEys165FlafqJF7_X10BA
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quatrosmonroe
• Other: https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.musthavemenus.com%2Foo%2Fplaces%2Fbrassmonkey-monroe-mi%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR1DZtsnWT5E6oz5ehdl7_eklhCZWR2G96diHTTrCpC0cksIeFkGrAC90Bk_aem_2wzgWaB94OHnMEeaQGYTAw&h=AT1X05-dIZyZB0uyYrLU_unFT8tTbUmiBPAI6lovQTt8rydBmDiCTJDLgZLVcRMlMMxJLRC7uudxuPof3Bm1GJqUgtb3Co_q6N6vRzexMr1N1zYNitZ-ai3cQRR23iCtunK_qQ

  https://www.facebook.com/brassmonkeypizza/