Commercial Construction & Renovation

JUL-AUG 2016

Commercial Construction & Renovation helps our subscribers design, build and maintain better commercial facilities by delivering content to meet the information needs of today's high-level executives.

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One-on-One with... » Tom McBride VP of Construction & Design, Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc. What's the most rewarding part of your job? Always working with my team opening stores and meeting deadlines. We don't celebrate until the last project is opened. Hitting those milestones is rewarding, and seeing my team members growing in their fields and hitting goals, is a charge for me. What was the best advice you ever received? I've received lots of advice along the way, so I could list many. One that sticks with me always was when my father, who was the largest homebuilder where I grew up in St. Louis, first put me out on a project. He told me two things: finish no matter what (complete the job), and be aggressive to hit your schedule and budget. What's the best thing a client ever said to you? I had a franchisee in California tell me that if it weren't for me, he would not have grown his company to the size he did. He made a lot of money as a result of my efforts. He is now one of the largest U.S. franchisees in their brand. Name the three strongest traits any leader should have. There are certainly more than three. The first is integrity, which brings together honesty, a strong work ethic and matching your actions to your words. Be honest with yourself first. Your word means everything. Second is creativity. I like to say that you must have to be creative to figure out how to reach goals. I believe that creativity in a leader includes being forward-thinking. Seeing the big picture, and then figuring out new ways to get there. The third is to be inspiring. A leader cannot win on his or her own. A leader must inspire people to see and strive to reach end goals. Great leaders on winning teams bring their team not just to score, but to win. What's your favorite quote? It comes from Vince Lombardi, who said, "Contrary to the opinion of many people, leaders are not born. Leaders are made, and they are made by effort and hard work." What is the true key to success for any manager? Figure out where you are going – in your career and in team goals. Be determined to get there. Devise a plan to get there. Be able to coach your team to get to a point of flawless execution. This is very difficult. Everyone has to perform. And finding those who will perform for you is key. How do you like to spend your down time? Fishing. When I get down time. Not often enough. My wife and I like taking day trips seeing new places and small town USA. What book are you reading now? I read a couple at a time. One is about pride and humility and using what God has taught us through the Bible in our jobs, work and life to stay humble. I also like to read about innovative things and inventors. BRINGING THE CASUAL COMMERCIAL KITCHENS Describe a typical day. There's nothing typical about any of my days. Every day and every week is different. If there is any one singular thing I do each and every day, it is pray. Other than that, we are construction people. You handle many different tasks throughout a day and that never changes. Tell us what makes you so unique? What makes me unique as an employee and head of the con- struction and design department is my ability to apply costs to the design, and design from the ground up versus the sky down- ward as we develop a concept or a building design. I know costs. I also know construction methods. Being able to provide savings to building costs is key. I've been successful doing this wherever I have worked. In other words, we begin a design with budget in mind first, and grow the concept design upward, stick by stick from there. Many other brands come up with what a brand is to look like first, not knowing costs, and design from their down. In the business of fast casual, you cannot allow architects to control designs. The architects must work within costs for designs. Now, let me be clear, you do have to have creative architects/designers to get the concept across and make it all work with a marketing strategy. However, you cannot let the costs or designs at any costs dictate the final outcome. Having been on both sides of this business as a GC being hired to build restaurants and now one who hires GCs to build, I can control costs, quality, timelines and expectations knowing both sides of the business. Being someone who has learned the trade side of the business, I can adapt costs to designs and come up with solutions for costs savings. CK 94 COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTION & RENOVATION — JULY : AUGUST 2016

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