Grace Media Group – NEWS/TALK 101.5 FM, 93.1 FM & WNWS.COM – visited with Bob Baudo for a question & answer session to discuss the trends in the restaurant industry – namely his business that is celebrating its 40th anniversary – Bob Baudo’s Old Town Spaghetti Store.
Question: You opened the Old Town Spaghetti Store in 1982. While you celebrate success, there have been – and there are major challenges – especially today.
What experiences stand out?
Answer: We’ve had a lot of ups and downs on this ride. When we opened, interest rates were 19 percent. We’ve had two recessions, a world pandemic, labor shortages in the 1990s, and now, labor shortages are at their worst, the worst it has ever been.
Restaurants are the worst risk of any business, but we have determination, and I’m not a quitter.
Question: What would you say is the climate in today’s restaurant industry?
Answer: Overall, the industry is not holding our employees to previous standards. We’re fortunate to have great employees, but we’re in a time where employees used to be on time, they cared about their appearance, and they were striving to get an education.
We’ve had college kids and high school kids, some who were in college stay with us for a while after graduation until they finally found the job they wanted.
Today, it’s very difficult to find people with that longevity.
We have three generations of employees who work here. We also have former employees who, let’s say, are in Knoxville, who will come home for a visit and they will come by the restaurant.
Some will call and tell me the work ethic we showed them has paid off.
We’ve trained people to be cooks who have become chefs in other cities.
We have a former busboy who is an area supervisor for Hilton Garden Inn.
Question: We are going through what is known as ‘The Great Resignation,’ where employees are leaving their jobs. Is this affecting the Old Town Spaghetti Store?
Answer. Yes. That’s exactly what it is, ‘The Great Resignation.’ You wonder where they go after they resign their jobs. I don’t know, but I do know it’s not just happening here.
We kept our employees through the pandemic, gave them raises, but once the factories gave sign-up bonuses, that’s when we started losing employees. We can’t compete with all the corporations and benefits such as sign-up bonuses.
People are job jumping. That’s money we can’t give, and the prospective employee is giving demands.
Question: As a businessman, have you talked to other business people, restaurant owners or managers to share ideas about how to combat the issues your industry confronts today?
Answer: We’re all in the same boat, wondering what do we have to do. We’re fighting high labor costs now and high food costs, high gasoline prices and people are making demands what they should be paid.
People who are going to have to work a second job to make ends meet – we believe (Old Town Spaghetti Store) is the perfect place, and we are hiring for summer help.
Question: Could you give us some insight into the future of Bob Baudo’s Old Town Spaghetti Store?
Answer: We never anticipated closing on Sundays. It was a shock, and with the culture we have today, I don’t know if we ever will reopen on Sundays.
We love Jackson, we want to thank our customers for 40 great years, and we hope to be here another 40 years. Our son Thomas is running the restaurant and we’re thinking about expanding.
But – there are some really difficult times.
(PHOTO: Bob Baudo)
