Rule #21 Love To Do Things The Right Way Like Johnny Carrabba

Earlier this year I walked into the first restaurant of the now more than 200 restaurants bearing the name Carrabba’s. You know how it is when you walk in to a place where an incredible story began? It’s like walking back in time to a certain degree. You walk in and then all of the sudden you say to yourself, “Wow. So this is where it all began.” It adds life to what I do. I listen to stories on my Texas Titan Podcast.

This day would be a conversation with Johnny Carrabba. As I sat and waited an older gentleman with an easy smile and donning an apron came in to ask if I needed anything. He introduced himself as Bubba. “I been with Johnny for 30 years. Be sure to mention to him you met Bubba.”

Bubba was as proud of his Carrabba heritage as my soon to be interviewee is of his Sicilian bloodline. Johnny was running a little behind schedule, and I was glad. It gave me time to set up my equipment. The main dining room outside the private dining area I had been escorted to hummed outside. Slight conversation crept into the room the clinging and clanging of dishes rang throughout. Outside those doors was the dining room Johnny Carrabba created some 30 plus years ago.

Then as though the volume has suddenly been turned up on a television the sounds of the dining room came spilling in with greater force when Johnny opened the French doors leading into the private room. There he was. The man whose name I had seen countless times on multiple buildings in multiple cities. Dark skinned, a wide smile, he looked like he could be cast in a Scorsese movie. However, this character didn’t greet me with a “Hey guy! How you doin?” one might expect from an Italian restauranteur. Nope this guy spoke with the same Texas twang of my ancestors in Sulphur Springs, TX.

It was immediately apparent Johnny Carrabba loves what he does. He loves what he’s built. He is humbled by the entire experience of his success. Johnny is kind. Johnny is self effacing. Johnny has a short attention span. Johnny is one of my favorite people I’ve ever had the chance to spend time with.

“Jason, listen to me, he said. Carrabba’s never should have happened. It’s almost a miracle.” He went on to describe how banker after banker turned down he and his uncle Damion who recruited Johnny to join him in the business in the first place. Johnny Carrabba is no stranger to being recruited. Before he had even, in his words, “waited a table” one of his uncles asked him to assume the role of GM of a new restaurant he’d be opening.

He proved his uncle right in that first restaurant . He had the discipline, the work ethic and the humility to be an exceptional restauranteur. In my Texas Titans Podcast Johnny gives the history of his success and the history of his family he credits that success to. However, of all the incredible antidotes I took from the interview there was one that, in my humble opinion, summed up the success of Johnny Carrabba.

Once again he leaned in and said, “Jason, listen. I want you to hear this.” Like a father teaching his son to hit a baseball and getting ready to throw a pitch. He wanted to make sure I had my eye on the ball before he hurled it to me.

“Jason,” he said. “I was never the best athlete. I just love doing things the right way.”

Bam! There it is. As is so often the case, the greatest lesson is so simple. Love to do things the right way. Johnny and I discussed Nick Saban and his legendary love of coaching “the process.” It’s all about doing the one job right in front of you correctly. That’s what Johnny has been doing for over 30 years and the fruits of his “right doing” are there for all to see.

So the next time you dine at a Carrabba’s, remember it all started with a Sicilian-Texan who while admittedly never was the best cook, as an athlete was “short but slow,” who didn’t even want to be in the restaurant business just loved to do things the right way.

You rule!