We recently connected with Kate McLean and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Kate thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

Since returning to Tony’s it feels like my brain has been on fire with ideas for the business, and of course the menu! In terms of food and dishes what I like to do is discard my first three ideas because in theory they are the easiest to come by. Around the fourth and fifth version I get to more of an original and unique idea and then I source ingredients and product with the different purveyors we work with. Along the way during that process I run my thoughts past our sous chefs and upper management team and their feedback helps grow the dish into something much better. Then we put the dish on the menu or run it as a special and hone it further until I feel we are executing that dish at the highest level we can and in a way that makes sense for our team.

Kate, 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?

Really, I’m just a creative with a very strong work ethic and thanks to my mentors along the way I’m always shooting to execute at the highest level I can. I am a product of my past mistakes! They have taught me more than anything what works, and most importantly what doesn’t. I am most well known for being a chef, have spent the most time doing that, but I’m also a writer and thanks to my management experience also enjoy creating systems and teams to execute those systems.

I’m most proud of working for Tony Vallone at Tony’s for seven and a half years and now returning as executive chef and partner. He gave me all the tools to succeed and also we shared the same drive of cooking food at the highest level to provide for our guests.

What was special about Tony, and what I also strive to achieve is having that new dish, that new twist to amuse our guests with each time they return. Really their enjoyment is all that matters- that and having a happy and healthy work team– in restaurants you really are only as good as the team you stand with, and as Tony used to say, ‘you are only as good as your last meal.’

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

Going to talk to them when they dine with us. OpenTable is very helpful of making notes for guests. Being genuine in how we source product and admitting when we haven’t hit that high bar and acknowledging what needs to get fixed so we can get back there.

Really the way I see it is people are people, we are all human, and we want a reason to relate to each other. When you dine at Tony’s you are in our hands and we delight in taking care of you and your experience.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Oh yes, I actually very much enjoy situations that push us to be resilient. Twelve years ago when I was working in Hawaii, one night I was moving a sauté pan of hot oil too fast and it washed over my hand. I was shocked and burnt pretty badly, but I needed to work the next day so I just did. Two days later when I made the hour long trip to the Southside of the island to visit the hospital they were like, ‘you’re an idiot, you should have driven down that night.’ It was painful and scarred the whole top of my hand but I just kind of got through it.

I spent the next month working the salad station with one hand, because the other had to be in a sling and the joke was that I was faster on that station with one hand than anyone else with two hands. The compliment was worth it, I’d say.

Contact Info:

• Website: tonyshouston.com
• Instagram: ironbutterfly_hou
• Facebook: Kate McLean
• Linkedin: Kate McLean
• Twitter: @h0wdidittaste
• Youtube: Kate McLean

Image Credits
Andrew Hemingway, me in the bow tie Julie Soefer, the headshot of me in black