Today we’d like to introduce you to Ann Shaw.
Hi Ann, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My restaurant career started when I decided to take a semester off from college! I started waiting tables, slowly got into bar tending a bit and then worked into managing. All for the same owner and with college degree and a different job, playing into it. My heart kept coming back to the restaurant industry. I had a great mentor (who later became my husband!) who allowed me to use my personality and enthusiasm to build a rapport with customers and taught me the importance of “taking ownership”. Eventually, the owner sold the restaurant and I decided to venture out on my own. I visited a tiny little lunch spot on the south side of Fort Worth that someone had told me about. After lunch, I went up to tell the guy working the front counter, who ended up being one of the owners, that I loved my food and the whole ambiance of the place. Jokingly, I told him if he ever decided to sell his place I would want to buy it. He got my number somehow and actually called me a week later! Very quickly I found my self the owner of Scampi’s Cafe. A counter service Italian lunch spot. Just as quickly I realized working 5 days a week serving lunch only was not going to keep me and my single self in the tax bracket I was accustomed too! So, I plunged into catering and opened for weekend dinner offering a more upscale menu than what we did at lunch. Let me mention I had no liquor license, so I was BYOB . People loved it and would always bring me bottles of wine or offer to share theirs with me. Even sending a glass or two back to the chef in the kitchen.
At this point I must mention that my dad was a huge part for me deciding to venture out on my own. He was in the construction business, owning a successful residential & commercial construction company. He was contemplating retiring. He also loved to cook and was the mastermind in the kitchen at our church and Greek Food Festival. When I mentioned buying a small restaurant I invited him to be my cook. So, a second career was born for him and a successful partnership between father & daughter burst onto the FW restaurant scene. My father was an integral part of everything I did at Scampi’s but the kitchen was his primary domain. He relished telling people he worked for me and I was “the boss”. During my time with Scampi’s I created a flourishing catering business, ventured into the banquet hall business owning my own event hall, got married, opened another restaurant with my husband and adopted a baby. Once my little one was here, I re evaluated and decided that there was too much on my plate as a new mother. I sold the banquet hall, we sold our newest restaurant and I closed Scampi’s. We took the original Scampi’s space and opened up the two spaces next to it to create one large area and new restaurant-Shaw’s Patio Bar & Grill. Thus the business partnership with my husband, David Shaw, began in 2011. We have been growing and expanding ever since. Shaw’s is a culmination of my husbands many years of restaurant knowledge including the financial & construction/renovations side. I am the the creative side-menus, marketing, promotions etc. COVID was a real test for us . Without front of the house employees and only 2 kitchen workers, he and I did everything! We started from scratch building up the TOGO business, creating Family Meal Packages and adding Cocktail bundles (Margaritas by the gallon were are number 1 go to and we still sell them!) Marketing and promotions were integral at this point. I think what really helped us was the fact that we were back to basics and the customers were interacting with us more than just a swing by the table to chat. Now I was making there drinks and taking there orders. People commented all the time on the warmth and home feel they got when they came into Shaw’s. Once we were gearing up after COVID I knew I was going to need to do something to draw folks back to us. I didn’t want to go with coupons or discounts so I started investigating “experiences”. That’s when Trivia Nights, Open Mic and Karaoke were introduced. They became hits and solid event nights for us. We moved Live Music to Saturday evenings and started pairing Pint Nights & Spirit Tastings on this night. Not to mention we brought back weekend brunch. We worked hard to pump up the brunch menu and added cocktail specials that were primary to the brunch hour. We also found a great website company that did more than just put up our website. They worked with us on Facebook & Instagram, designed newsletters, email blasts and created great videos for us to use on our website.
The journey has been long, tough & exhausting at times but always interesting & fun. This industry is hard core and will bring out the survivor in you for sure! I’ve often wondered what I would be doing if I hadn’t defied my dad and dropped out of college for that one semester. Waiting tables because I needed a job turned my whole life into one long reality series I love waking up to every day! Did I mention our story keeps growing? We opened the Lazy Moose Lounge/Pub about 10 years ago and our newest location, Shaw’s Southwest Grille in Granbury, recently. Yep, we love this business!!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Never a smooth road! Labor/Employee issues are a constant, financially this industry is up and down month to month, commodities go up and down day in and day out, COVID was a big hit and sometimes location can be great for a few years and then take a dip for a few years. We have experienced all of this and still do.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
We specialize in great food, great service and great cocktails! We have a small staff that have been with us for a long time. We know our customers, offer fun activities for folks to enjoy and provide awesome food! We are a casual, comfortable establishment with reasonable & competitive prices. We have withstood many new restaurants opening around us, competing with us. But we are rooted in the community and believe in our product and our people. What are we known for? Burgers for sure but I think our hospitality as well. We are a down to earth friendly group of folks here! The owner is more likely to take your order as one of the servers. We don’t actually have designated jobs-you work front of the house means you act as hostess and busser as required. You might be labeled the manager but your job also seats guests, runs food and takes to go orders. Work in the kitchen? You are probably expoing food on the line as well as cooking or maybe washing dishes. We ALL help each other out and that creates unity and a family. Our customers feel that. Great food draws them here but our great service keeps them coning back!
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Opening a restaurant is a huge risk! Opening a second and third one is even riskier! Within this business I feel I have taken risks by trying different avenues to attract customers, Karaoke & Trivia being two big ones. They both were an idea I had to draw in customers but the cost was significant. Both require some time to bring people in and to retain customers that would want to continue to come back. Fortunately, both these events have worked out in our favor. However, I did try a comedy night series that was good but didn’t pan out for the long haul. The comedy wasn’t family friendly enough and we were just not a good fit for that kind of experience. Cost me some money but I learned what I could afford both financially and activity wise for this restaurant.
Pricing:
- Happy Hour, Tuesday-Friday, 3-6pm
- Brunch Cocktails:$5 Bloody Marys, $5 Sangria
- $5 Margaritas & $10 Margarita Flights Wednesdays, 3pm-10pm
- $4 Texas Draft Beer Thursdays, 3pm-10pm
- $4 Fireball Fridays, 7pm-12am
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.shawspatio.com
- Instagram: @shawsburgers
- Twitter: @shawsburgers
