Michael Salmon is the owner and operator of Flybird in South Florida’s vibrant Delray Beach. Flybird does one thing, and it does that one thing extraordinarily well. It specializes in chargrilled chicken, and thanks to its highly-focused concept and emphasis on quality, Flybird is the #1 rated chicken place in Delray.
Ironically for a chef who now focuses his efforts on one very specific type of food, Michael’s background includes a little bit of everything – training at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), working at iconic New York nightspots in the ’80s, and even cooking for the rich and famous.
So how did Michael turn all of these amazing experiences into the singular vision behind Flybird? Michael joined co-hosts Claudia Saric and Spencer Michiel on the most recent episode of So You Want To Run a Restaurant to share the whole story.
Going Back to Where It All Started
The journey to Flybird traces back to Michael’s earliest family memories. He explained that Flybird “is very Mom and Pop, and very well connected to my past.”
Michael keeps a photo on the wall of his restaurant to remind him of where it all started. In the photo, Michael told us, “I was about five or six. I’m standing in front of my grandfather's outdoor barbecue grill, and they stuck a chef hat on me that says ‘Chef,’ and they gave me a pair of tongs, and they went, ‘Oh, he's gonna be a chef one day.’”
It turns out they were right. As Michael acknowledged, “Everyone has a vision, like I'm gonna be an astronaut or whatever. This was the beginning of my food journey.”
Five Takeaways From Our Chat With Michael
That journey would take Michael far and wide — from the shores of the Caribbean Sea to the heart of the big city. It would also bring him face to face with celebrities and icons — both famous and infamous.
To hear some of the pretty big names Michael drops, check out the whole episode above. For our favorite moments, read on.
1. Connecting to the Past
From as far back as Michael could remember, his grandfather had been a defining influence. Not only did his grandfather impart a love for cooking, but even all those years ago, he was helping to shape the menu that Michael would one day create for Flybird.
He explained, “My family was always passionate about cooking. My grandfather was Eastern European. When they came to this country in the late 1800s, to be able to cook in your backyard was such a novelty.”
Michael’s family embraced that novelty wholeheartedly. He recalled big family barbecues where his grandfather presided over the grill. As Michael told us, “He was big into skewers. If it could fit on a skewer, it would go on the barbecue.”
All these years later, you can’t help but feel his grandfather’s passion and his penchant for char-grilled meat in Michael’s cooking.
2. Learning the Art of Personalization
Before Michael could follow his own vision, he had to pay his industry due. He started his upward climb with a startup in St. Martin’s — an island located in the northeastern Caribbean. But by the early ’80s, Michael’s journey had taken him to New York’s fine dining scene.
It was here, working at legendary spots like the Arcadia (closed in 1998) and the 21 Club (closed in 2020) in Midtown that he came to understand the true meaning of hospitality. As Michael recalled, “The 21 Club was classic French. Real clubby. The experience was very catered to individual people.”
Some of those individual people happened to be sports legends, New York City mayors, and even former first ladies. But whoever walked through that door, it was all about delivering on their individual expectations.
As Michael explained, “There are celebrities and there are people who are not celebrities, but people still want what they want, the way they want it. And that's just fine with me. It makes it easier for me. Tell me what you want and I'll make it.”
After decades spent serving the rich and famous, rubbing elbows with New York Yankees, and earning compliments from Jackie O., Michael had finally had enough of the big city. New York can grind you down after a long enough time, said Michael. So roughly a decade ago, he and his wife departed for warm, sunny Florida to launch Flybird.
3. Tell Your Story Through the Customer Experience
Flybird is a small restaurant by design. The way Michael explained it, “With a small place, people come up to my counter. I didn't want a sit-down restaurant. I have 14 seats, but I didn't want waiters. I didn't want that. I wanted people to come belly up to the counter.”
This approach gives Michael the opportunity to share his family traditions and his emphasis on good hospitality with his customers face-to-face. The reason this is so important to Michael, he explained, is because it’s exactly what he looks for when he goes out for a meal.
He noted that he generally judges a restaurant by “the first greeting I get from the first person who sees me. After all, you want to know you were seen. Everybody wants to be seen.”
That value is obvious not just in the way Michael engages his customers but in the way his team carries out his vision. He explained that his team shares the same passion for engaging customers.
He told us, “In a small restaurant, you can have stories. You can talk to people. And my staff has consumed the Kool Aid in a good way. Everyone's in the pot together, and that makes it all taste that much better.”
4. Learning on the Fly
Michael’s family continued to be a major influence on his cooking even after he went pro. He may have learned the ins and outs of hospitality working everywhere from St. Martin to Midtown Manhattan. But when he was looking for the perfect soup recipe to include on his menu, he turned to his grandmother.
“My grandmother used to make the soup every Sunday, and I loved it. It was the greatest thing in the world,” Michael explained. “But at 96 years old, she stopped making it. She was on a low-salt diet. I said Grandma. ‘I need the recipe, because I want to make this after you pass.’”
It turned out there was no recipe. It was a soup made from memory and instinct. When Michael asked her how to make it, she instructed him, “‘Go get some chicken and some barley.’ Everything was ‘some’. There were no measurements.”
It turned out that Michael shared his grandmother’s instincts for improvisation. As he recalled, “I went to the store and I bought whatever. And it was like, boom! I had it. I made Grandma Rose's barley soup. It's on my menu, and people love it. I sell lots of it.”
5. Navigating a Changing Industry
In spite of his success, Michael acknowledged that the restaurant business is changing, and it does create all kinds of new challenges, even for popular spots like Flybird. Over his time running Flybird, Michael noted, “We saw the evolution of the delivery services and platform fees and credit card processing and all these layers that get in the way of me delivering a chicken for a reasonable price.”
Michael pointed to a recent incident that highlights the pressure restaurant owners are under. He told us, “I got a review last night – four out of five stars. And then someone says, “It was delicious. But $15 for dinner was a lot of money. Still, the chicken was so crispy on the outside.”
Michael’s anecdote really underscores the importance of keeping the quality of your product high even in the face of these challenging conditions. Your customers will ultimately pay the premium if you deliver consistently on their expectations.
Control Your Costs With the Right Tools
Of course, you can’t get by just by raising prices on your customers. There is a limit to what your customers can and will spend to dine out. So it’s really about finding other ways to control costs, manage fees, and reduce waste.
All of these things are possible with the right combination of tech-based tools. Not sure where to start? For all the tools and tech you’ll need to help your business take flight, schedule your free, personalized consultation with one of our in-house restaurant tech experts and we’ll figure it out together.
