- April 29, 2024
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Paul Barnes, 29-year-old owner/proprietor of Outback Steakhouse in Palm Coast, started in the company five years ago, as a busboy.
It was 3 a.m. in St. Petersburg, and Paul Barnes still had work to do.
His 15-year-old Buick stunk of bananas, which he purchased at cost and planned to deliver to gas stations wholesale. In seven hours, he would start a shift selling ads for a coupon book. After that, he’d strap on an apron for his first busboy shift at Outback Steakhouse.
For a month, this was the routine: 20-hour shifts with a 36 thrown in for good measure. But Barnes, then 24, and a lifetime away from his dream of playing pro baseball, had a wife and baby to think about, and he’d been laid off from his last two retail jobs.
“You can call it divine influence, or you can call it coincidence,” he said, but his first shift at Outback changed things. Despite the store’s six-month-experience policy, he was bumped up to server after two days busing. Three months later, he was made a manager.
Less than five years after that, he bought in, became a partner and took over an Outback three hours away, in Palm Coast. For his first two months as boss, Barnes commuted from St. Pete every day for work.
“I just happened to be in a lucky situation,” he said. Unlike a friend who took 15 years climbing the ladder, he did it in less than five.
But it wasn’t all luck.
Whenever the general manager was visiting, Barnes made sure to be scheduled, and visible. Even after being laughed at for requesting a promotion three months after starting, he forced the issue and aced the manager’s exam. And whenever he was eligible to advance, he did, taking training courses and internships, writing business plans, leading fundraisers, proving to the higher-ups that he was serious, and ready.
“You can say you’re doing a good job … but if people don’t see it, it doesn’t matter,” Barnes said. “Time is your biggest enemy in a restaurant, and also your biggest strength. You only have one shot to impress a client.”
Now a 10% store owner, Barnes aims to make Palm Coast’s Outback the most profitable in all of the Jacksonville market, and he’s on his way. In the seven months since taking over, his store has surpassed six others in profitability.
“I have a personal and business investment in how well this store does,” he said. If he doesn’t meet goals, it affects his paycheck. It affects his family.
Outside, a painter in speckled clothes puts the final touches on a new exterior, a rich yellow coat the color of Bloomin’ Onion sauce. The paintjob is the first in more than $10,000 of rejuvenation projects (see side box for all renovations).
“In this position, you see the potential: They give you the keys to a $2.8 million restaurant,” Barnes said. But the first year is also always the most expensive: There’s always the most turnover — and he and his wife are still living paycheck to paycheck.
There’s still a lot of work to do.
“It’s not just about taking over a restaurant,” Barnes said. “It’s about building a store in a community, and making Outback No 1. And you really have to believe that in order to be successful.”
Barnes worked hard to play pro ball; that never happened. He worked hard to become a restaurant owner; check. Now, he knows he’ll have to work even harder to run a successful restaurant. He’s determined. His two sons are counting on him.
SHAPE UP OR SHIP OUT
Outback Steakhouse in Palm Coast recently got an exterior paintjob and its patio refinished. But according to proprietor Paul Barnes, that’s only the start of the renovations.
Beginning early 2012, Barnes will invest more than $10,000 into refurbishing his store. Modeled after the Outback in St. Augustine, the Palm Coast store will go contemporary, starting with new tables, TVs and fans on the outside patio. The air conditioning will be repaired, and the lights, bar chairs, inside tables/TVs, the floor and everything else will all be changed.
It’s not easy to cut $10,000 from your profit/loss report during the slow season, Barnes admits, but he sees the projects as investments. Down the road, keeping a restaurant relevant always pays for itself.
