Today we’d like to introduce you to Ian Vaughn.
Ian, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
At the age of 22, I had found myself in the right place at the right time when I joined Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers in Baton Rouge, LA. The company was only 9 restaurants at the time and offered a tremendous opportunity for anybody that would not only believe in it’s potential, but would also dedicate themselves to growing it through a complex, entrepreneurial culture. Ray Kroc once said, “The two most important requirements for major success are: first, being in the right place at the right time, and second, doing something about it.” These words inspired me to never waste this opportunity that had been laid before me.
In my first 7 years at Cane’s, I held 7 different positions as I started as an hourly shift manager and grew to COO. My last 5 years at Cane’s were as the COO where we made a clean sweep in all nationally ranked categories for Operations performance in my final years while exceeding 200+ restaurants in 18 states. In the end, it was the greatest experience of my life in so many ways, but it also opened my mind to an opportunity to create my own Brands — and this is where Rock n’ Concepts, LLC, the parent company of our “rock n roll” inspired Brands was born!
We recently acquired an awesome pizza chain called Pink’s Pizza in Houston, TX along with a really cool restaurant called Lola Diner from a close friend of mine. Outside of that, we have another pizza restaurant called Schlittz & Giggles, a live music bar called The Roux House, and our very own concept called Rock n Pops Paleteria [gourmet popsicles that are making their way here to Dallas later this year] as well as two small, startups called Lava Cantina. While those five restaurants are in Baton Rouge, LA, on May 4th we opened our very first full scale restaurant and live music venue, which is a large expansion of the original brand, Lava Cantina in The Colony. It is a 28,000 sf restaurant and concert venue featuring 3 stages, beautiful custom architecture and original art, 2 large LED walls, Creole food with a Mexican twist, and MUCH MUCH MORE!
Lava Cantina is a culmination of some very personal stories, trials and tribulations that are the ultimate outcome of my father and I partnering up after my grandfather passed away. The “creole” aspect of our menu is dedicated to my late grandfather while the “music” inspiration comes from my father’s lifetime of being in the music business. Of course, the general “entertainment”, “art” and overall “aesthetics and architecture” come from personal obsession of so many things. The “New Orleans” features are a result of our family simply loving the city and all the positive aspects it has stood for over time. We have sought to integrate that culture and vibe into our Brand today, and we sincerely hope people appreciate what we have brought to the North Dallas market.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Murphy and his laws have haunted us around every turn. Looking back at the road we’ve been down, I can say with confidence that we have learned very valuable lessons that have dramatically shaped our path for the future. We faced tremendous budget issues from initial forecast expectations of this project that we ultimately learned were several million dollars light that we had to figure out on the fly. We went through redesign processes and capital raises all the way to running out of money when the 1,000 year floods hit in Baton Rouge last year where we have 5 other locations, and yes, most recently getting the doors open to a very rocky start as we all adjusted ourselves to handle the extremely high volumes of guests while getting our staff of more than 200 people fully trained and up to speed. No matter how much you practice or prepare, when developing a new concept and opening the first one, you’re going to make mistakes, and unfortunately, many people just will not give you the benefit of the doubt.
I have stayed consistent in responding to each and every review and taking personal actions by sharing with our managers, taking swift steps to address each problem we have encountered, reorganizing our kitchen with our Chef and tweaking every piece of our service model almost daily as we continue to dial in the right formula for a place of this sheer scale and volume. If that weren’t enough, we also opened with news features where we were too loud for the neighbors, and while we weren’t breaking any laws, the absolute last thing we want is to be a bad neighbor, so we have been working diligently through that process to find our long term solution.
It hasn’t all been rough though. We ended up with a beautiful location in an incredible area and we have had some really awesome talent already come through our venue. While we have had our share of inconsistencies, we have gotten better and better each day, and we continue to work tirelessly around the clock to bring excellence to every guest that walks through our door and gives us the opportunity to serve them. The great news is that the vast majority of guests that are visiting us are having a great time and love the experience they are getting. We still have some ways to go, but our confidence improves each day and we are simply thankful for the opportunity to be here in this community living our dream as a family.
Please tell us about Lava Cantina.
Lava Cantina is a small family brand out of Louisiana. My dad is a career musician who toured with his band and played with many others throughout the 60’s and 70’s… when I was born, he decided to give up the road life and his dream or rock stardom to be a great dad and be at home with a regular day job to do his best to set me up for success in life. He still maintained a band on the weekends, so I’ve always been surrounded by live music and entertainment.
My grandfather was also very close with us and he was the last person in our family with French as a first language. As he passed away, my dad and I decided to start our own restaurant together, so we were going to do a little restaurant in Louisiana that had awesome live music, and we were going to pay homage to my grandfather by doing a menu that was inspired by the Creole French heritage. This is where the Creole menu items and the New Orleans theme came from [as it’s also our favorite city in the World].
My first landlord would only allow a steak or Mexican restaurant in the space, and therefore I put the thinking cap on and we decided to just put a Mexican “spin” on Creole dishes to satisfy the need. We have been dedicated to the arts as well [just like New Orleans], and so the large guitar right as you walk in the front entry is actually made of recycled wood and metals from homes that had to be torn down from Hurricane Katrina. There is also a mural looking down Bourbon St has birds on wires overhead that double as musical score for the song Silent Lucidity, which was a song of inspiration for me growing up when I went through some rough times.
The name “Lava Cantina” comes from the trip I went on when the Landlord originally told me the space had to be either a “steak or Mexican” restaurant. I went to Vegas for 72 hours to gain a little “inspiration”, and while there I got a ton of ideas, and this is where we ultimately developed the “fusion” concept behind the menu and Brand, and therefore, all it needed from there was a name. After digging through tons of research and sites, it became pretty simple as a formula… At the heart of a great Mexican restaurant is a great margarita. Great margaritas have great tequilas. Tequila comes from the “Province de Tequila” in Mexico, and the agave plant flourishes there due to the 1000’s of years of enriched soil from the volcanic ash… and therefore, without Lava, there would be no tequila! So you’re welcome!!!
Our menu is best described as Creole with a Mexican twist. We do carry a few dishes that would be considered Tex Mex, and while we don’t necessarily define ourselves as a brand by those dishes, we view it as though our Brand has been “galvanized” here in Texas, and therefore we sought to have items that represented that accordingly.
We also feature some of the greatest live music in North Dallas. We have a capacity of 1800 people and reach that nearly every show, which has been so much fun to watch the crowd engage with their favorite artists in a very unique setting. We have a retractable roof over the outdoor area, a replica flaming fountain from Pat O’Briens in New Orleans, a long line of awesome craft cocktails and margaritas and much more. There are no hanging pictures on any wall either… Everything is custom painted or hand-made, and every wall tells a story.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Nothing. This entire road has consistently been the hardest thing I’ve ever done around every corner. It has been cheers to tears from one hour to the next for the past 4 years, and I’ve likely aged 20 years in the process. I’ve averaged 16 hours a day and take a day off maybe once every few months…. and I’ve honestly never been happier in my life. My mom, dad and I are closer than ever as we all work together in this business. All that being said, “done differently” versus “having regrets” are two alternative Worlds. Trying to offer a proper balance of this business with that of being a great husband and father leave me with regrets on a daily basis. Moving forward, it is my goal to work hard to engage my wife and kids in what we are doing in the community and in this business as much as I can. Our family wanted to create a fun and exciting Brand that could be enjoyed for future generations for not only our family, but all of our guests and their families as we seek to grow our Brand across the country and deliver awesome dining and live entertainment experiences in every community we land. Engaging the entire family in the effort to build a legacy is extremely rewarding, but admittedly, it comes with serious sacrifices. We’ve given everything up from personal time, to every penny we’ve ever earned, to leveraging everything we own, etc etc to pursue this dream of ours, and we couldn’t be happier. It is with the sheer passion and dedication to our Brand that we wholeheartedly believe in what we’ve brought to the North Dallas market, and we will never stop until we achieve our ultimate goals of making this one of the premier restaurant venues in Texas and beyond!
Contact Info:
- Address: 5805 Grandscape Blvd.,
The Colony, TX 75056 - Website: www.lavacantina.com
- Phone: 214-618-6893
- Email: info@lavacantina.com
- Instagram: lavacantinatc
- Facebook: lavacantinatc
- Twitter: lavacantinatc
Image Credit:
Zoltan Katona Photography
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