What you’ll hear in this episode: 

• The story of Kerbey Lane’s early days, when Mason’s parents founded the restaurant 
• How Kerbey Lane has been a pioneer in the ATX community for affordable quality food, farm-to-table, and alternative dining environment 
• What Mason Ayer is most proud of in his time as CEO of the restaurant, and his advice for aspiring restaurateurs

Whether it’s an pancakes at 11 AM or queso at 11 PM, Kerbey Lane has got you covered, serving comfort food to Austin since 1980. Not many CEOs can say that they were raised inside the four walls of their business and started out scraping gum off of the bottom of the tables, but President and CEO Mason Ayer can claim both as part of his story. 

Raised in and around Kerbey Lane, Mason Ayer’s parents David and Patricia are the original founders, and the restaurant is proud to be 100% family-owned to this day. David and Patricia founded Kerbey Lane with a straightforward mission: to serve Austin food that was not only high-quality, but also affordable. They built and sustained this reputation from the start, and have developed their community-focused brand even more. 

Early on in the restaurant’s development, Mason explains that his parents made the decision to source their ingredients from local vendors. They found it to be more ethical, sustainable, and responsible, benefiting the environment and the community. In this way Kerbey Lane Café pioneered the “farm-to-table” initiative, which is now a gold standard for the vast majority of restaurants based in Austin and across the country. Developing relationships with farms and local vendors was a lot of work, but it was worth it to Kerbey Lane, and provided the added benefit that the customers enjoyed a better product. Third Coast Coffee is just one of the local vendors that they partnered with from the very beginning, and Mason explains the peace of mind that comes with knowing that every cup of coffee consumed at Kerbey Lane is ethically sourced, fair trade, and benefiting farmers around the world. 

Another thing that is common now, but Kerbey Lane did first, is foster an accepting and casual working environment. Almost all restaurants today allow their servers to have piercings, tattoos, and unconventional hairstyles, but that wasn’t always the case. Kerbey Lane Café wanted their employees to be able to be themselves while they were at work, and celebrated these kinds of alternative styles and differences back in the 80s before it was an industry norm. 

In addition to letting their employees express themselves, Mason explains that Kerbey Lane is all about treating their staff fairly, paying above minimum wage, offering employee benefits, and maintaining an “open-book” policy about their operations. One of their employees has been with them for over 35 years – almost since the beginning of the company. 

“You don’t make it 40 years in business unless you’re doing something right,” Mason laughs, and Kerbey Lane Café does many things right. One of Mason’s favorite things about their “comfort food” menu and equally comforting environment is that it helps their customers to escape from their daily worries and troubles and relax for an hour or two.

Listen to the full episode to hear Mason’s advice to new restaurateurs, his favorite Kerbey Lane dishes, and one of the craziest late night stories from all his years at the restaurant. Once you’ve worked up an appetite, give Kerbey Lane a visit and like, subscribe, and share the Packing Taste podcast with a fellow ATX foodie! 

Host: Axel Brave

Guest: Mason Ayer

Transcript:

This is a founding media podcast.

Hello everybody. And welcome to another episode of packing taste. I’m your host . And today we have Mason heir, the CEO of Kirby lane, and high note. I had an awesome conversation with Mason today, and we talked about his family starting Kirby lane. How it’s still family owned. And all the successes and techniques they’ve used over the course of 40 years to remain one of Austin’s favorite comfort food locations.

, we then talked about. His new venture high note, which has a different take than Kirby lane does. So if you haven’t been, you should totally check it out anyways. Let’s just jump right in and, oh, don’t forget to listen all the way to the end to hear Mason’s favorite late night story that happened in Kirby lane.

Welcome everybody today. I’m on the news. The latest episode of packing taste today, we have Mason air from Kirby lane and high notes. , I’m sure most of you guys, most of our listeners, at least from Austin have their own stories of Kirby lane and how much they enjoy it. But yeah. Welcome to the show.

Thanks so much, Axel.

It’s great to be here.

Yeah. Yeah. Finally, I know we were going back and forth a little bit on, on when you can come, but I’m glad you finally here found the place and excited to talk to you. At least for me, Kirby lane has a lot of history for, uh, when I grew up here, a lot of stories that we can share once we’re done here, but I’m sure you’ll, you’ll giggle and laugh at some of them.

But I think where I’d like to start off today is, , how was it like growing up here in Austin, around this kind of community and kind of, what were your hobbies? What did you do? And then how was it like having. Parents in the restaurant industry, there’s all like three questions, but you can answer them.

Yeah. There’s a lot of time back there. , while I love Austin first and foremost, , you’re not going to find me as one of those native Austinites that’s going to bemoan the old Austin that no longer is here. I think that the fact that Austin has evolved into the city, that it is, it’s a great thing. , it’s been a great thing for our business and it’s.

It’s been a lot of fun to see the city grow as a kid. I did normal kid stuff. Well, what at the time was normal kids stuff. I rode my bike. Yeah. What’s

normal kid

stuff in Austin. Yeah. Well, I mean, getting in trouble, , building, building forts in Shoal Creek and getting into poison Ivy and jumpinging in rivers, all that kind of stuff.

, I mean, I think it was a normal urban childhood, uh, And then I had the whole restaurant in the background, which was, I thought it was awesome. I got to have pancakes any night I wanted, , which not a lot of kids got to do that. , being around Kirby lane, my entire life has, has been, has been a great thing.

Uh, I have. Very fond memories of the original and the original south Lamar location and the original Northwest location. It’s, it’s been a really cool thing having that as part of my life. Yeah.

And I guess, did you w when you would see your parents and they’d be working at the restaurant, , Did you see them as the same as all adults?

Or were you like, these are kind of specific food people that are always around food think food, or did they just seem like, do you get what I’m saying? Yeah.

And I’m going to answer this in a way that’s completely different than you’re expecting. Okay. So I’m, let’s say I’m 10 years old. I look at my folks, they are running Kirby lane cafe together.

They also divorced when I was two. Effectively. , they, they all intensivists. They divorced when I was two. And so when I was a kid, I wanted a 10 year old kid. I’m looking at my phone cause I’m thinking, well, sure. It’s normal that a mom and dad are no longer married and run a business together because that was normal for me.

It’s only, now it’s only a bit as an adult that I’ve looked back and realized what an odd situation that was. Men, it’s an incredibly odd situation, but I’m also in a lot of ways thankful that the business was there, because if your livelihood depends on getting along with your ex spouse, the person that you’ve had children with, it makes it a lot easier for those kids.

They, they had to get along. They had to make it work. And, uh, it was, it was a pretty interesting situation. I don’t recommend it. They, they made it happen. Yeah. And here we are today. Well, yeah.

And do you think, like, I don’t know, I have this conception of people who work in the restaurant industry, mainly like the back back of house and management.

They have very tough skin and they’re always willing to get the job done. Is that, do you share that with me? Like, did you see your parents?

And then there was a, I’ve talked to my dad about this a lot. I was like, so what music from the eighties did you like? And he’s like, I don’t really remember the eighties because I was working the entire time and my mom’s same thing.

So my dad was kind of, yeah, he was the ops person. My mom was the n bers person that, that worked. My dad was the visionary. My mom was the person that would grounded out and grind out the accounting. And that’s, that’s how it worked. And. They worked a lot and I am so thankful

for it. Yeah. What was, what was your favorite eighties music?

That’s, that’s a, that’s a tough one. , one

band that just

comes to mind.

It’s it’s hard not to like journey, but I know that that’s a, yeah.

We can edit that out. Don’t worry. Yeah,

probably better edit that out. , I’m going to have to think about it. I will have a good answer, but okay,

well we’ll touch back on that, so, okay. So your parents are running, uh, a restaurant. Was it always called Kirby lane because didn’t, they work somewhere else first and then they opened up Kirby lane.

Yeah. So this is, I don’t know. I don’t know how public this story is. , well, let’s hear it. Yeah. My mom moved to Texas from Minnesota. Uh, she was a musician and artist sort of doing what you would do as a 20 something in the seventies. , she ended up marrying a guy named Kent Cole and Shane Kent started a restaurant which is now called.

, she, she and Kent started at the time. It was called ambulatory west, but, but they were running this restaurant that has since become Magnolia. Uh, my father, like really serving it was breakfast essentially. I mean, it’s the same menu essentially that Magnolia has today. , my dad, like most UT graduates with honors in government and history did what.

You do, which is get a job as a line cook after college at Magnolia. , which made total sense. , I don’t know the lurid details. I don’t even really want to think about those details, but at some point my mom stopped being married to Kent Cole. She and my father ran off and started Kirby lane and had Nate and the rest kind of history.

Yeah.

So w when they started the Kirby lane, Did that look like? What did you guys serve? Sure.

So the menu is quite different today than it, than it was at the beginning. Now I was Kirby lane predates me by about six months. So I guess in some capacity I was there at the, uh, at the beginning. Yeah. , actually in fact, that’s always made me, made me think that I was probably not a planned pregnancy.

Cause I don’t think that. Don’t think that you start a restaurant and have a baby, but I’m very, very thankful that it all worked out the way it did. , I actually lived in the original location for the first couple of months of my life. Uh, they, I mean, they were poor. They like

metaphorically lived there, actually lived

there.

The, what is now dining room in the back of the restaurant used to be an apartment. And so they couldn’t afford a house and a restaurant. They couldn’t afford rent for both. And so we literally lived, literally lived in the restaurant for the first n ber of months of my life. , and it was from what I understand, it was work, work, work.

Yeah. Do whatever it takes to make this thing successful? No. No. Did, did

your parents come from families that did a lot of cooking? Cause I’m trying to, I’m trying to find how was the cooking? Just something you guys did because it’s like, okay, we need to make some money. We want to live here. How do we do it?

Well, let’s just fry some eggs, make some hash Browns, start slinging some food. Yeah. I

mean, I could make up a story about how it was very deliberate and well thought out, but no, they. Just sort of stumbledled into it. I think that they didn’t really know what they wanted to do with their lives. And they said, well, it might be fun to open up a restaurant and I I’ve got some skill in the kitchen and, uh, I know how to run the books.

So let’s, let’s see what happens. What’s the worst that can happen. We don’t make it, we’ll figure out something else. , and here we are 40 years later.

Yeah. And, and it was, it was, I imagine I know the menu is different today, but I imagine. Uh, comfort foods that we know, like the breakfast food that you can eat until 3:00 PM kind of thing.

Yeah,

yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was, I understand the original menu, , had items that we don’t have now. Like there was a scallop dish. My, my father has always been really proud of the scallop entree, which that doesn’t really fit with Kirby lane today. , but there’s always been breakfast. Uh, that’s something that’s been a staple of the restaurant since inception, uh, It’s evolved.

I mean, it’s evolved as Austin, as a ball it’s had to. , if we hadn’t, I don’t think that we’d still exist as an organization, but it’s just something that they kind of stumbledled into. And the story that they tell is that in Austin, Texas in 1980, it was really difficult to find high quality food and affordable price.

You could find high quality food. You could go to Jeffery’s or fond of San Miguel. And you could find food that was affordably priced. You could go to McDonald’s or burger king, but finding both of those things, uh, just, it wasn’t there. So they were trying to fill that need. And that’s really, I sort of said in jest earlier that they stumbledled into it.

That was the thing. That was a thought process. That’s why they did it.

Okay. And so you grew up around all this, then you decided to go study law, right? Yeah. And then came back now you’re CEO. But what I’m curious about, and I think I read this somewhere, but what was your first position at Curry lane?

Cause I know, , I’m definitely sure. Your parents made you work when you were young and you were around, right? Yeah. I

actually have a winnable child labor suit, uh, against them that I haven’t brought, but it’s in your back pocket. Yeah, I got it. Yeah. , Yeah. So when I was four or five years old, I’m six foot four now, but that’s not always been the case.

I used to be a little guy. Uh, and my, my original, very first job at Kirby lane was to go around with a putty knife and scrape g off the bottom of tables. , and I loved it. Like I felt like I was contributing to the family business. It was a, it was a, I took a ton of pride in having that job. And then through, through my teenage years and high school, I.

Bus tables. I hosted, I waited tables. My favorite job in the restaurant was always cooking. , that was always my favorite. Uh, in fact, I remember distinctly in law school, I was taking a oral presentations class and we had to give a presentation on something that we thought was interesting and it was going to teach the class something.

And so I gave a presentation on how to flip an omelet, , and I ended up doing great because other people were doing presentations on it. Poppy poppy growth in Afghanistan and, uh, civil rights issues in the south. And I was like, eh, I’m gonna, I’m gonna, yeah. Well,

listen, one of the hardest things to make, or, or I think to determine if someone’s a really good cook, you ask them to make you an omelet, making a damn good omelet, like a perfect omelet is really hard to do.

Actually. That’s the flip, correct? Did he do the half flip or did he do the Flipboard?

Do you? No, it was a, it was a full motion. Everything goes up in the air, flips in the air lands in the, in the pan. Uh, I could actually, there was a point in my life where I was able to flip two on what’s at once. One in right-hand one in the left hand.

Really? Now that point is long gone. I’m past my omelet, fl e prime. ,

but it existed at one point. Yeah. So, so you, you loved being in the kitchen. I would have been one of the g scrapers, I think, but anyways, working in the kitchen is totally fun. The line cooks will let you squeeze in there somehow I imagine.

, and when did you start, did you notice, , I guess everybody in the restaurant focusing more on like, okay, let’s think about what we’re putting on the menu. Let’s instead of just making eggs and toast and hash Browns, let’s give it some more Austin flare, maybe throw an avocado in there. Something, was there a transition there?

I’m trying to understand how the menu went from what it was before to what it is now. Cause you said it’s different. Yeah. It’s it’s

it’s dramatically different. Mainstay has been breakfast. Yeah,

I guess I want to give the audience an idea. We have what conf comfort food today is because everybody eats it.

But I don’t think a lot of people know that we call it comfort food.

So that’s a, that’s a tricky question. Yeah.

Well, that’s why I brought you in, because I need an expert to talking

about the big philosophical issue is we’re we’re, we’re solving the big problems today. Exactly. Comfort food for me is anything that allows you to escape your day-to-day stresses.

, and if, if for you that is a bowl of CAISO or a stack of pancakes or a plate of sushi from Uchi co, or for me, comfort food is, and probably always will be a mat salt Rancho. There is nothing that causes me to escape, whatever else I have going on in my mind, in my life. Like Ababa and respond dip and some fajitas and that’s all Rancho.

But to the question about Kirby lane, breakfast has always been there. I think for, for people, breakfast is a personal thing. It’s habitual thing. , they, David Patricia, my mom and dad wanted to provide that for the Austin community. And I mean, there’s guests that have been regulars for 40 years because it allows them to escape.

Those worries. In terms of the restaurant evolving. Uh, I mentioned earlier in this interview that my father was always the visionary and, , it’s true. He was, he, he pioneered and I know it’s cliched today, but he pioneered farm to table in Austin, Texas. It did not exist prior to Kirby lane. , and the 1980s, if, if you want.

Essentially central Texas grown vine ripe tomatoes. You weren’t able to call Hardy’s or Segovia or any of the local produce companies that are today. , what you did is you got in your 1984 Plymouth Voyager minivan, and went out to a farm in Manshack Texas. And you collected tomatoes with, with the farmers that, that we had developed relationships

with.

Yeah. And what, and why was that important? Did your father want, you know, a cutting edge, uh, I guess, technique for his restaurant or cause why didn’t you guys just get the crappy tomatoes at the grocery store? What was the purpose of driving out to the farm? I, it sounds like a d b question out loud, but back then, back then.

Why was there this like move to be. Health conscious when it comes to,

well, I think there was a nurse that is stick with the status quo. , we would get tomatoes that were picked green on the vine in California and shipped across the country and left to ripen in a warehouse in San Antonio. And by the time they reached the backdoor Kirby lane, it wasn’t a product you wanted to serve.

And so in some tasty, my folks looked at that and they were like, we can do better than this. Yeah. And so they really did pioneer farm to table by going and developing those relationships with farmers. And to me, I think that that’s probably the most important decision that they’ve made in the history of the company.

And

that’s when you saw some sort of shift within the company and you’re like, okay, this is where we’re doing something, none of the restaurants around to start doing. Yeah. Because I mean today, and I’m going to get your opinion on this, but today everything here is farm to table. But this was happy. You guys were doing this in the eighties, nineties

five.

I mean, that’s probably when it began. , and I firmly believe Kirby lane does not exist today if they hadn’t made that decision because it was it’s what differentiated us.

Yeah. Oh yeah. I mean, I want to argue with you, but I don’t think I can because the food there, like comfort food to me. When we were talking about comfort food, you said like, oh, comfort food.

It’s like to get rid of the stress. So it could be Chicco. It can be mats wrench. It can be, but we’ll see, every lane is doing is like what I think comfort food totally is. And your restaurants are always packed if you don’t have a reservation on the weekend, forget it. Like, I mean, don’t forget it, but it’s going to be really hot.

I guess it’s worth waiting like the hour long. , but the, the comfort food there, I don’t know about getting rid of my stress, but it relaxes the hell out of me dipping my chip in that Keso and, or waiting for my pancakes and just like finishing the food there. I feel successful. I feel like very comfortable, comfortable, , anyways, but the, I guess, going back to the shift between going to farm to table, why weren’t the other restaurants doing that?

And when did, when did you notice this? The Austin food scene gain more popularity in that?

I don’t know why other restaurants weren’t doing it, but I suspect because it was hard. , I mean, like I said, there weren’t, there weren’t produce companies back then to the way they are today. The produce company was us and our minivan and that’s what it was.

You’re right that today. And if you’re not a quote unquote, farm to table restaurant in Austin, you’re doing something wrong. , and I think that that shift probably took place in the early two thousands. I think that’s really when moment around the locavore movement, uh, gained steam here. And I mean, for us, it was, it was.

It was a mixed feeling because on the one hand, it was great to see these local vendors, these local farmers purveyors get the business and the credit they deserve for producing the products that they produce. But on the other hand, it stopped being one of our big differentiators. So we had to come up with other differentiators.

I’m thankful that we are where we are today in terms of Austin being a foodie city and being in a place where you can get great local products that a lot of different places.

But, but you don’t, you don’t think you can have Kirby lanes because so there’s eight Kirby lanes or nine. There are eight eights and they’re all in Austin,

correct?

I mean, round rock and round rock. Yeah. Yeah. , nine will open at the beginning of next year in San Marcus. Okay.

So that, and I was going to ask. Because I think Kirby layman could be successful in any of the cities in Texas, any of the metropolitan cities.

Do you think so? Yeah. Yeah. I think we are incredibly fortunate to live in a state where four of the 11 largest cities in the country exists.

We don’t, we don’t have to go outside the state of Texas in order to grow the company. Uh, we have, we have everything right here, uh, within 200 miles. Yeah.

Kirby lane in Texas, uh, worked so well together.

You don’t make it to 40 years as a restaurant unless you’re doing something right. So I totally agree.

, The restaurant business is a tough, tough business. And, , being able to have that track record and sustain that for so long speaks to the product that that we’ve produced. It speaks to the brand itself. It speaks to the people that are on our team. The other huge advantage that we have is that the university of Texas is in our backyard.

Uh, how many thousands upon thousands upon thousands of UT students have gone through the doors of Kirby line and have great memories. Honestly in a lot of cases, they don’t have memories, but they were there probably for the best, , men. They’ve all, they’ve all been through our doors over the last 40 years.

And guess what? They moved to places like Houston and Dallas and San Antonio, and they want to have those memories. They want their kids to experience those memories. And I think that that’s part of why not just Kirby lane has the potential to be successful in other markets, but it’s why so many Austin businesses have done well in other markets, whether it’s Chewy’s or Torchy’s or Pluckers.

I mean, there’s a ton of Texas, Austin based restaurants that have, that have thrived throughout the state of Texas. Yeah.

Yeah. That there’s something about yells food and that. I’ll be able to pinpoint it here in a bit, but there’s something about y’all’s food that does something magical and keeps these people coming back.

Cause yeah, it’s all, it’s all fun to go there at three in the morning, two in the morning with your friends after a night out. But like when you go, when you actually go at 11 o’clock in the morning and you’re eating and you can just keep coming back. And I don’t know, I guess there’s not a simple answer to that because I’ve asked other restaurant tours or other chefs like, oh, how do you make you’re so successful?

I guess I’m looking for a certain key. Well,

I think that there is something that absolutely something to be said about sitting in the physical environment and absorbing the energy around you and having a server who looks unconventional. , I mean, that’s been something that’s always been a staple of Kirby line is that we, we hire people.

Tattoos and piercings. And again, everybody does that. Now nobody did that in the eighties and nineties. Yeah. And so I think there’s something to be said of the actual in restaurant experience delivery is a huge thing these days. And I think that delivery is great, but it’s very, very different enjoying and eggs Francisco at Kirby lane versus on your couch while watching Netflix, it’s just a different experience.

Oh,

I totally agree. Totally. I think, yeah, I’ve never ordered Kirby lane and aided at my house, unless, unless it was leftovers, but no being in Kirby lane with your best friends, that’s other, that you can’t just do that in any restaurant. I don’t think, but speaking, speaking of restaurants, tell me, tell me about high note.

Cause I’ve I keep hearing about it. I haven’t had a chance to go, but is that something new you guys?

Uh, we opened high note this year and, , A lot of people ask why, why did you guys decide to do high note? What is high note? So high note is an entirely different concept from Kirby lane. Uh, we, we looked at our operations and we said we’re pretty darn good at running restaurants.

, and believe it or not, I mean, Kirby is not, it’s not a place where you have a. Yep. $15 entree that just doesn’t exist. , but it’s incredibly complicated to execute. And we said, okay, well, we want to use some of this operational expertise and execute in environments a little bit simpler. , and it was with that.

It was with that idea that we, that we came up with with high note, a high note is a totally different concept. It in and out a lot in a lot of ways. It originated with the same thinking that David and Patricia had when they originated Kirby lane, we wanted to come up with a restaurant that had bold international, global flavors and serve these items at a price point that just about anybody could afford.

And so we were trying to fill a niche that didn’t exist before. And so that’s how high note was, was developed. It is. It is a, it’s a totally eclectic venue. You can get anything from a salmon Curry to, oh, well, , we’ve got a really, really good burger. , it’s it’s the flavors are all over the globe from kimchi beef to, uh, added chicken salad sandwich from there.

So it’s, it’s uh,

what’s your favorite? Uh, what’s your favorite cuisine? Do you have

one? At high note or generally in general, I could eat TexMex every day of my life. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Which is not, it’s not necessarily good for you, but yeah, it’s good for the

mind and the soul. That’s it. , okay. So, , I am getting more curious about all, all the excellent stuff you guys do and how that makes you successful.

So I do want to talk about. If somebody wants to open up a restaurant, , and this is like totally passionate about it. How do they, how does their restaurant become a staple in their hometown? What are like the three easy steps? No, but like what, what are, is community involvement? A big part of a restaurant nowadays?

, and I’m about to list of a lot of the stuff you do, but community involvement, like having real benefits for employees, , allowing them to like be themselves, does that help, , kind of create your own identity and that’s what lasts long for a restaurant or just, you gotta be competitive in pricing.

You may have st ped me on the three easy steps because I don’t know. I think then I think that luck plays a role. , I’d love to say that, you know, we are visionaries and have this incredible amount of skill, but I think luck being in the right place at the right time plays a big role. , Without diminishing ourselves, hopefully.

, yeah, I agree. I agree. Luck does play a big role in things, but 40 years of successful, like restaurants, like,

so you’ve got to have a good product. Yeah. You can’t serve bad fit. And I know that sounds obvious, but a lot of restaurants are, is don’t get that. , And I think price point matters. I mean, there’s places in Austin and you can go and pay a ton of money for a great meal.

And that works if you perceive value there. So think back to algebra. , and you remember just w I, I think of this equation and it’s it’s, I wish I had a whiteboard to show our listeners, but, , I still wouldn’t get it. So think of the equation of value is equal to experience divided by price. So. Really really phenomenal experience at a really high price think, think Perlis okay.

I perceive value there. Yeah. , it’s, it’s a higher price than I am probably gonna pay just about anything where else

experience over price

experience divided by price. Okay. Now let’s go to the other extreme. It’s going to McDonald’s Hmm. Experiences what it is, but if you’re paying 99 cents for a, for a cheeseburger.

You perceive value there. Okay. I think Kirby has been squarely in that value proposition for 40 years, and that’s why we’re still around. Uh, the experiences is a unique experience that you’re not going to get anywhere else. And the price point is our average ticket. Our average, our average ticket is $13 per person, per person.

Okay. Yeah. Which is, , not a lot. That’s a lot of that, a lot. That’s a lot of eggs and pancakes.

Yeah, that doesn’t make sense in my head. Cause I eat a lot of food there. 13 bucks. Yep. Okay. And I mean it’s so if you want to be a hometown, Texas restaurant like staple, do you have to have certain pro other than having your right, like other than having a great product, do you need to have a cellist keyless on the menu?

Do you need to have a migas on the menu? Does ever does it need, does honestly, does it need to be farm to table now or people won’t eat it like maybe here in Austin, but what about like Brenham, Texas, or,

yeah, you’ve got to have avocado toast. You’re not going to play to the millennials without all the cottage.

We don’t even have all the post.

I was going to really ask you if there was an avocado toast. So

there’s, there’s a there’s

you guys can make it. If somebody asks.

But that’s not something we aren’t, we aren’t going to go down the Trinity road, a lot of creativity there, , farm to table. I don’t think Hertz.

, now I’ll be perfectly honest that as we’ve gotten bigger and bigger, it’s harder and harder to find local suppliers that can keep up with our vol e. , we serve on an average week across all, all eight locations, we serve something like 65,000 people a week, , 65,000 people. Yeah. So yeah. Sizable n ber of folks.

Oh, how many eggs do you guys go through?

Sounds like a, this sounds like an interview question for like a McKinsey or a Boston consulting group where you have to go and sort of back out. But the math, I don’t, I don’t know. I’m definitely more

than 65,000

though, right? Yeah. I don’t want to on an annual basis, how many eggs do we go through?

Jesus. I mean, if you want to get the whiteboard back out, we can try to figure this out.

Jesus. Okay. That’s a lot of eggs and one thing I’m, I’m becoming more interested in are the restaurants that just focus on sourcing locally and people think, oh yeah, within your city. But I’m talking about like a 200 mile radius, which is local to me, or even just within your state.

, because let’s say you want to move to Lubbock sourcing locally. There would look totally different for you than what it looks like here. , how important is that nowadays when it comes to restaurants? Cause as, as people are becoming more aware of what they’re eating and people are caring about what they eat.

I think more people are realizing that eating what’s closer to you is not only healthier, but tastes better. , so how important is that on a restaurant level?

Pretty important. Yeah. I think consistency is probably the most important thing. I want the experience that you have in Lubbock to be exactly the same or as close to the same experience.

You have the original here in Austin. , but then it’s like, I think of a restaurant, like a, like a shake shack. , I thought it was really cool when shake shack came here that they maintain their shake shack menu, but they also partnered with, I want to say they partnered with UCI across the street, on south Lamar to come up with some sort of, , Austin specific depth.

And so I think it’s, it’s a way to keep your supply chain that you’re using throughout the rest of the country, but then you have these local, these local centric items that make it a uniquely Austin experience.

Yeah. And I mean, not only are you connecting with the community. It’s like, oh, shake Shack’s now here.

But they work with UCI. That’s cool. Yeah. , but supply chain wise, it makes sense as well, right?

Yeah. I mean, I think that I didn’t realize how incredibly important supply chain was when I came into this business. But in fact, that’s been a, that’s been a big challenge for us. When I first arrived at Kirby, we were not selling anything close to 65,000 meals a week.

, yeah, it was a lot less than that. And what that allowed us to do is it allowed us to work with more local vendors. And so it’s a, it’s a problem you want to have you outgrow your local vendors

now, is there, is there some desire within the company to like, Have this, uh, what is it called? Not vertical, horizontal integration where you own the chicken coop with the eggs and you own, you know, the avocado farm.

Is that something you guys talk about? Like owning the supply chain? No, no. , the relationship is no,

I’m going to let people who know how to do that, do that, and we’ll stick to what we do well. Okay. That’s no, not, not, no. Okay. I think about how bad we were at running a bakery. So like we can’t run a bakery.

There’s no way we can run an off the cuff.

Yeah. Yeah. That’s that’s true. I was just thinking like McDonald’s and how they’re like, okay. We’re just going to buy the potato farm. We’re going to buy the tomato farm. I have this weird integration of owning every step of the supply chain.

Yeah. I think that if you’re a multi-billion dollar company, like a McDonald’s, that probably makes more sense.

When I wrote about when they went into Russia, they had to basically create their own supply chain there. When you’re a family business that doesn’t really have at least current intentions of going outside the state of Texas. I don’t, I don’t think that makes sense for us. I will say. The one real benefit that I would see to that for us would be it ensures that the products we are, that we’re serving are sustainably sourced, that that animal welfare is, is cared about.

That environmental standards are adhered to. And for me, for us as an organization, when we look at vendors, local is. But how they treat the environment, how they treat their animals, how they look at sustainability is equally important. And so that would maybe be the one reason why we would ever want to do that is to ensure that that’s happening.

Have

you done that with any of your, uh, like vendors? Have we had that like, Hey, I want, I want you guys to pay your employees more or. Do you guys have this program in place? Cause we only work with those

kinds of companies. I mean, we are very, very selective in our vendors for exactly those reasons. I mean, we’ve actually left vendors because we didn’t think that they were adhering to the values that we care about as an organization who are.

Cool vendors that you work with, if you can share that. Sure. Oh

yeah. I’m happy to share that. , so our longest running vendor is third coast coffee. It’s kind of like the third rail of, uh, of our business. , I get coffee vendors all the time asking if we want to switch to them. And it’s like, there is, there is not a chance in hell that we’re going to do that.

Third coast has been a partner and we’ve grown with them. Right? How long? Almost 40 years. Jeez now. And what I love about third coast is as they’ve grown, they’ve taken on more social responsibility. And so they actually started something called the coffee cooperatives, where they work with indigenous farmers in places like Indonesia, central and south America, parts of Africa, a former.

Aren’t producing enough product to be a supplier for a Maxwell house or a Starbucks or McDonald’s. , but third coast with the coffee, coffee cooperatives banded together with other coffee importers and have created a market for these farmers. , and they pair them a fair price and they pay them a fair price upfront, which is a big deal.

, and so when I go into one of our restaurants and I see people enjoying their coffee, I make this connection in my head. I’m like, okay, is that person’s sipping that cup of coffee. Some farmer in Indonesia is living a better life. And I know that sounds cheesy, but it’s a hundred percent how we think about our vendors.

And

I think that’s how people or restaurants should be thinking about it. Right.

I would hope so. Yeah. We certainly want to lead the way in that, in that effort,

our coffee vendors, the biggest vendors that come to you.

I mean, no, the biggest vendor that comes to us is credit card processing vendors. I’m boring.

I mean, we can, we get inquiries all the time and, and you know, we’re going to take a, we’re going to take a look at people. And if, if, if you have a good product, we might not buy it too. But maybe we’ll put it on high notes menu, uh, or maybe down the road. It might make sense to switch. And so, again, it’s those values, it’s environmental stewardship.

It’s sustainability. It’s how you treat your animals. That’s really what we’re going to care about more than anything else.

Yeah. And I, I imagine, , Austin having this huge CPG scene, everyone has food accompanies. Do you have a lot of, uh, small, small brands that come to you and it’s like, Hey, give us the chance to sell our recyclable straws and your chains.

Yes. Or something that happens a lot. Yeah. There are some, there are some Austin CPG businesses that we’ve worked with over the years that we’ve actually helped help grow. So let me give a great example of a business. That’s about to go on our menu. , credo fits, , I don’t know if you’re familiar with credo or not being in the CPG business.

They are, they are a cashew CAISO, uh, CPG failures. Yes. Yes. So we met with Adam and Madeline, who are the founders and husband and wife team of credo and yeah. We thought it sounded like an interesting thing. And then we tried their product and we were like, stop. It’s really

good. This is dairy free,

dairy free soy free, gluten free, everything free that you guys don’t have that on your menu.

We have a vegan case, so. Okay. , but if I’m being honest, It’s not as good as credos if you can, case. Yeah, ours is based more with the nutritional yeast in a, in a roasted veggie, uh, recipe there’s is a cashew CAISO recipe. So we’re launching credo on our upcoming fall menu. And so the hope is that as a, as a local CPG supply CPG company, that we’re going to help them grow.

, when I think it’s great, it’s a win-win for everybody as it going

in all the locations. Yes. Nice. That’s awesome. Yeah. Yeah. The commute unity involvement here is unreal. I always, I think I’ve said that in every episode. , okay. How many, how many employees do

you have of bout 750.

Oh, so just a small amount.

Yeah. Now how the hell do you have so many employees? And I’m sure like a lot of them stay there and work there for a while.

We’ve got a lot of those. Yeah. I will say that this is the most challenging jobs environment I’ve ever operated in, uh, with, with the unemployment rates, sub 3%, maybe sub 2% in Austin and an explosion of restaurant.

It is very, very difficult to hire and retain people. , and it’s not something that we’ve ever struggled with before. Uh, so this is a

recent

struggle last couple of years. Yeah. I mean, for most of my tenure with Kirby lane or our turnover rate, our annual turnover rate was sub 40%, which sounds high. But for the restaurant industry, that is absolutely a world-class n ber.

Yeah. That has changed in the last couple of years, because there are so many restaurants. There’s not enough, there’s not enough people to staff those restaurants. And, uh, people will, will chase, not just an extra dollar, they’ll chase, an extra nickel. And so it’s been a challenge.

Yeah. But so you guys are offering, what kind of benefits do you guys offer?

Way more than most restaurants? So we start with health insurance. Everybody’s offered health insurance, uh, depending on whether you’re full-time or part-time, , the, the plan changes, but it’s a, it’s a rich, generous plan. , something I’m on, we offer paid time off. I don’t know if you remember, uh, I wanna say.

A year ago, there was a big paid sick leave debate in Austin city council where city council passed a mandatory paid sick leave act. And there was, I mean, it was an emotionally charged issue. And as a whole, the restaurant industry came out very, very strongly against it. , no for us, I. Want it to happen because that’s a competitive advantage of ours.

So if Sonic is offering paid sick leave and we’re offering paid sick leave, well, that’s, that’s now something that we don’t have as, as a, as a one-up on somebody else. I

didn’t

look at it that way now from a, from an employee standpoint, I think it’s, I think it’s a good thing. I think paid sick leave is a uniformly good thing from a public policy standpoint.

And so I don’t want

it. This is only for full-time it’s forever.

Really even part-time. Yup. That’s what they passed now that there is there’s litigation going on around it right now. And our state legislature is also looking at the issue, but I mean, I sent out a company-wide memo after Austin passed this ordinance saying, Hey, listen, I know that there’s this, this politically charged issue right now, you guys, you all know that you have paid time off.

You will continue to have paid time off. It doesn’t matter. What the city does things aren’t gonna change for you. Your benefits are going to remain very rich. And so that’s something that I’m really. Yeah.

Do, do you know, , do you have like an oldest employee that’s been there for 15 years, 20 years?

, we do, uh, there is a gentleman who works with us.

He is celebrating 35 years. Yeah, that’s awesome.

Isn’t it incredible, incredible. Those are the best people to come to your table to like a professional. I don’t even want to call them waiter like a professional. I dunno, but that’s awesome. Talk

about talking about knowing the brand. Yeah.

Yeah.

Jesus that we’re doing right.

I actually, I don’t even want to say what we’re doing though, because it’s a surprise for him. So I’m not, I’m not going to say a word, but, , we’re doing something special.

Yeah. Huh. Okay. Wow. I see, I didn’t know. Kirby lane to me was just a bad-ass restaurant that I can get really good food. I didn’t know the intricacies 750 employees.

Yep. Yeah, I know. It’s crazy. I, at that n ber is hard for me to swallow. Yeah. Yeah. W

what are some like staple items on the menu that you really liked?

That’s a, that’s a good question too. Are

we laying you don’t have all this cultural fusion like you do at home,

correct? I mean, it’s more to your point earlier, Kirby lane has comfort food.

Yeah. That’s what it is.

It’s it’s Southern Texan comfort food. You’ll you’ll get your like Latin mix in there. Yeah. We, we, we

do pretty well with, with TexMex. Yeah. , but yeah, it’s comfort food. And I mean, for me, what are the items I come back to over and over and over again. We’re not known for this, but our Buffalo chicken sandwich is the best Buffalo chicken sandwich in Austin.

It is damn good. , I probably shouldn’t be eating that on a regular basis, but I love it. , can’t go wrong with breakfast. Uh, just about any breakfast item is great. Uh, other items. I, I love our salmon. We actually have a salmon entree. That’s delicious. Those are kind of the big ones from it. Yeah. And do

you think you think Texans are ever going to stop loving that kind of comfort food?

I sure hope breakfast. I don’t think I want to be here if that

happens. I don’t think it will. I don’t think it will. We, that, that like cafe morning food as simple stuff, it’s not simple Backhouse, but simple to the customer. Uh, I don’t think I’ve figured out yet. Why Texans have such a connection with

that?

I don’t have the answer either. Yeah.

But you know, like I’m imagining the Kirby lane in New York city and that would just kill it. Like, I don’t think they have that kind of the big plated food with that can just cure your stress or your hangover or a lot of other things. Yeah. You’re

stressing me out, making me think about trying to operate.

Yeah.

Well, I think we’re going to have to leave it at that. Uh, I guess, do you have, , have you ever walked into work one day? Like into one of the restaurants and the manager was like, Hey, I got to tell you what happened last night was good before we end the show. Tell me one funny story.

, well I promise you first favorite eighties band, and I thought about that and it’s new order motor Jordan.

, so that’s, I, I, I wanted to make sure we, I, I, after saying better than journey, all the journeys, a lot of fun. Fun. Yes. So that’s the first answer. There’s a lot of stuff that I can’t say on air that happens, especially at late night. , and so I’m gonna, I’m going to go with, with one of my, one of my favorite Caribbean cafe stories, and this is the old south Lamar location where Gordo’s currently is.

, there was just this crazy random, late night where first. A woman got locked in the women’s room in the, in the women’s restroom because apparently the lock failed. And so she stuck in there, which tells you why we left that building among other reasons. So that’s happening. Meanwhile, there are these Aussies in town and they.

We’re having a good time. They’d had a good time before they got there. They continued to have a good time while there, and they picked up all of the catch-up bottles and started going through the restaurant and d ping up on everybody. So this guy, Scott Cantu, who’s actually a general manager with us now was like a brand new baby manager at the time.

And he’s trying to get this woman out of the restroom while these Aussies are, are wreaking havoc throughout the restaurant. And it’s like, yeah, that’s a normal, normal Thursday night at Kirby lane.

Yes, it is those damn mozzies everywhere. That’s hilarious. , well, Hey Mason, I’m really glad you got to come on the show.

, I’ve been a huge fan of Kirby lane and I don’t have a friend that hasn’t been to Kirby lane. , so for you guys listening, if you haven’t been there, which I’m pretty sure you all have go out to Kirby lane order, some Kiso get a little comfortable. , Go there and understand that you’re eating quality food and being taken care of quality by quality people.

, and yeah, that’s it. Thank you again, Mason. I

appreciate it. A lot of fun. Yeah.

Thanks again, Mason, for coming on the show, I had a wonderful time talking to you about what Kirby lane is kind of behind the scenes and what it took to get there. Because to me, it was always just a cons er thing, but I think you shine some light for us on how you guys became so successful. , and the story you told too funny, too.

Funny. Anyways. Thank you guys for listening and don’t forget to like follow and share.