It goes far beyond lower prices for us. In fact, much of what we provide tends to be more expensive, including buying avocados directly from the farm. We’ve tried to stay true to our beliefs about making quality food for our customers.
Success is important, but everything we do is for our customers and those that work for us. We make five-star food, provide five-star service, strive for five-star cleanliness, create a five-star feeling and boast five-star speed. It’s possible, and we haven’t always been good in every area, but we’ve made it our habit to improve and do our best in all five areas.
Connecting with people can go a long way in this industry, and we choose to always keep that intact. We want to connect. We want you to feel the warmth and goodness in our restaurants. Hopefully, it feels like you’re at our house, where we serve you, clean your table and always ask what we can do for you. That’s the relationship we’re fostering. We’re not always good at it, but we try to make that our standard. We never want to become disconnected from that feeling for others as we grow.
A divine hand
Remember that God knows everything, even in business. We’re religious people. It’s the way we live. I was brought up in a home where we prayed together every morning and night.
Raising our family of seven boys, my wife and I wanted to make sure they made good choices for the right reasons. That meant creating an atmosphere in our home that was centered on Christ. Every Sunday, we went to church together. We kept the Sabbath day holy and served others. We prayed together, had Family Home Evening every Monday and shared scriptures throughout the week. It was an ongoing attempt to live by seeking first the Kingdom of God.
The interesting part of that is, when you believe God knows everything, you worry less about the future of your business. I think we can get hung up on believing otherwise. There are 33 eateries around our original Seven Brothers restaurant in Hawaii; when we started, there were just three. How can we succeed when there are so many other choices surrounding us? But when you believe that God knows all things, it doesn’t matter whether there are 33 or 100 restaurants around. You can succeed if you have faith. If you’re doing right by God and doing right by the people you serve, you’re going to be OK. You can give your worries a rest.
Whenever a problem we couldn’t solve came our way, we prayed about it, even if it had to do with hamburgers! That may sound silly, but it isn’t, especially when you have a lot of differing opinions on how to move forward.
