James Beard Award-winning restaurateur Kevin Boehm has opened 40 restaurants in his 30-year career, collaborating with top chefs while earning Michelin stars. His Boka Group is now one of the world’s most successful restaurant companies. Boehm’s journey has been complex, shaped by a turbulent family life and a shocking revelation about his father that drove him in the restaurant industry. There, he discovered the magic of hospitality and the thrill of a chaotic dining room.
Episode Highlights
- A book read in one sitting.
- Comparing The Bottomless Cup with Agassi’s Open
- Kevin’s first restaurant, Lazy Daze Cafe, and working 15-hour days while loving it.
- Profit sharing at the Indigo was ingenious.
- Waking up with purpose.
- Kevin’s mom was a partner in his first business.
- A deck of cards every manager should have and give away, one card at a time.
- Core competencies that are okay to bend.
- The story of the boy who bought his dad an ax for Christmas.
- On learning about his real father while in college.
- The path to a 12% bottom line.
- The reason Kevin has 15 accountants in his business.
- “How do I convert those patrons I have today into regulars?”
The Bottomless Cup is Kevin Boehm’s vibrant, funny, and frank account of a life in and out of restaurants. This is a memoir about dropping out and finding your place, about opening nights and what comes after, about chefs, partners, guests, and critics. The Bottomless Cup is a story of ambition and adrenaline, of reaching remarkable highs and reckoning with the costs.
Epic Quotes from The Bottomless Cup
“My mother always said that life’s like a pension—you have to pay into it. She was skeptical of anything that came easily and urged me to be the same.”
“If I had learned anything, it was that grit, determination, and just showing up were as crucial to success as raw restaurant IQ.”
“What is happiness? Happiness is a moment before you need more happiness.”
“I think opening a restaurant also must be like giving birth, in that most women I know claim that if you remembered the pain, you’d never have more than one child. I was ready to go again.”
“If you could go anywhere, Mom, where would it be?”
“A few weeks after we opened, I asked her what she thought about the business. ‘Well, it appears to me this business is all about effort. Whoever efforts the most, wins. That’s pretty close, Mom. Whoever cares the most wins. Usually that goes hand in hand with effort.'”
“I once met a Navy SEAL who told me that the key to enduring the unique stresses and stakes of their work is focusing on short-term goals—even just brushing your teeth in the morning. If you ponder the larger picture and its consequences, it’s like looking
down from a tightrope pulled taut across a canyon: you’ll likely fall to your doom. The need for income and self-reliance was my immediate, short-term goal. That should have been motivation enough, but what really drove me was the need for someone—or
something, namely a restaurant–to love me.”
“Ask any legitimate hospitality professional about their worst service and they can give you a detailed blow-by-blow of every excruciating step. Ask them their best, and they will struggle to pinpoint one.”
“Larry and Woody: I know you both did the best you could. I forgive you both, and I’m sorry for my part in our fractured relationships. If your spiritual landing place features a window onto my current life, I hope it makes you proud.”
Kevin’s Three Great Questions for the Restaurant Business
- How do I convert those I serve today into regulars?
- What do I have that no one else does?
- And how do I make those things sticky?
Episode Pairings
Unreasonable Hospitality
Will Guidara
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It’s Not About the Coffee
Howard Behar
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Restaurant Basics 101
Ken McGarrie
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