During our most recent episode of So You Want to Run a Restaurant, hosts Claudia Saric and Spencer Michiel welcomed Mo Jessa, president emeritus from Earls Kitchen + Bar. President emeritus sounds like a pretty fancy title, but Mo more than paid his dues on the way to this esteemed office. Mo began his journey to incredible success as a part-time dishwasher.
That type of upward mobility is a perfect example of what makes the restaurant industry truly special. The doors to success are always open to those with the vision, determination, and stamina to work for it. Mo embodies what is possible. When Mo landed his first gig as a part-time dishwasher, Earls was already a growing family-run chain with 13 locations in Canada’s Alberta province.
By the end of Mo’s tenure, he would preside over a brand spanning more than 70 locations across North America. On the one hand, this story is about scaling a business to its maximum potential. On the other hand, Mo’s story is also about how an amazing organizational culture can make this type of success possible.
Varsity Blues
Before we get into Mo’s recipe for success, let’s take a trip back in time. Mo’s family moved from East Africa to Canada in the 1980s, when he was still in his teens. Mo found adjusting to his new surroundings and his new school pretty easy.
“I graduated from high school at the top of my class,” he recalls, “and in my South Asian heritage, if you graduate anything like that, then you're either going to become a doctor or lawyer or an accountant or an engineer or a loser.”
So naturally, he went off to college with big ambitions. But he quickly found that the ease of high school had not prepared him for the challenges of college. As his grades spiraled, dreams of being a doctor or engineer quickly went up in smoke. Mo was facing what he called an existential crisis.
Five Big Takeaways From Our Chat With Mo Jessa
“I love the sciences. And I was passionate about learning, but I just couldn't get the grades,” said Mo. “And it was in that state that I showed up at Earls asking for a job, only so I could earn some part-time income.”
The year was 1988, and Mo admits now, he had no idea what he was getting himself into.
1. Show Up Ready to Learn
Mo started his career at Earls with a location in Calgary that no longer exists. He recalls that from the moment he began his training, he realized he’d stumbled onto something special. “It was a pretty inspired company,” says Mo. “The people that started training me on even the basic level of cooking were more interested in making me love food in the industry than I was.”
But something clicked. “I remember getting very interested in just the basics of cooking. I didn't want to fail at this. That was probably the motivator, because I was already failing at school. So I started really earnestly trying to do well.”
Then one of the chefs at Earls lent him the industry-acclaimed book On Cooking. He began to read about the history of cooking, about some of the great chefs, and about the science behind cooking. Suddenly, all of the dots started to connect for Mo.
2. Don’t Be Afraid To Teach What You Know
As Mo learned more, he aspired to more. And once again, his teammates at Earl put him in a position to grow. The more Mo read, the more excited he became to show up to work and share what he’d learned.
“People got excited that I was bringing that kind of information in,” says Mo. “My sous chef at the time, just saw it and said, ‘Wow, you know what? I love that you're so interested. I think for the next new team member that comes in, I'm going to put you on the station instead of me.’”
With that, Mo quickly graduated from student to teacher.
“I remember doing my first training session and getting somebody else to light up on the knowledge that I was teaching them. I realized that was something that I wanted to do for a long time. It was just so satisfying to teach someone else to do something that I knew how to do and watch them succeed at it.”
3. It’s Your Business
Earls has an organizational philosophy that predates Mo’s arrival at the company. According to Mo, the philosophy is called “It’s Your Business.” What does that mean exactly? “It means you're accountable to do the best you can and solve problems just like it was your own business,” Mo explains.
Mo recalls the moment he came to fully understand this concept. He was brand new at Earls and was in charge of washing dishes when the dishwasher broke. He went to the sous chef to tell him. The sous chef said to him, “It’s your business. What are you gonna do about it?”
So Mo went to the back office, opened the Yellow Pages (this was 1988, remember), and called a repairman. Even at this early stage of onboarding, Mo was given full ownership over his responsibilities. This was an important learning experience for him. “It's like you own not only the job, but you own the solutions to all of it, and you get to run things. That was really amazing.” Mo didn’t just rise to leadership. He was inspired to it.
4. Dress To Impress
There’s an old saying that you have to dress for the jobs you want. Earls has always lived by this philosophy. Mo notes that when he first joined the company, it really was a pretty basic burger and beer joint.
Still, even at that point, Mo recalls, “We had to have impeccable standards. We were not burger flippers. We wore our hats. We looked good. We shined our shoes.” But this was about much more than dress code. It was about keeping high standards in everything Earls did. Mo soon learned that this quality control extended from attire to food prep and everything in between.
“When we learned knife skills, and the precision of cutting, even in ‘88 we were using digital scales to measure everything. A half-inch red pepper was actually measured on a ruler, and the specs were so tight that everybody would not only make it a certain way, but there were checkpoints to make sure it was made a certain way.” This early focus on quality control and consistency helped set the stage for the type of scaling Earls would ultimately achieve.
5. Really Invest In Your Team
Mo may have stumbled into Earls. But his upward trajectory was hardly an accident. If anything, he was the best example of what can happen in a company that invests in its people. “The owners used to believe that to inspire their people to do great work, they had to invest in them,” says Mo. “And one of the ways to do it is to show them, to let them experience food and culture all over the world.”
Mo recalls that his first company-sponsored trip was to Italy, followed by many more visits, along with trips to France, Singapore, and an Oktoberfest along the Rhine River in Germany. “When you became a chef or a restaurant manager, you got to go on these cultural trips. These are some of the favorite memories I have of working at Earls.” This was more than just training. It was a real experience, it was immersive, and it was inspiring in a way that could truly make somebody want to build a career in the restaurant business. It was also something Mo remembered well when it was his turn to lead the company, and in particular, as he aspired to expand Earls into the U.S.
“When our first location opened in Miami, I sent our manager down there a year in advance. We said ‘Get to know Miami the way you know your own city or town.’ How do people move around there? What do they like? How do people enjoy the city? What makes the city move? Eat out at different restaurants, see where people are hanging out, hear what they're talking about.”
Get the Rest of the Story
Clearly, this strategy was a success, and Mo helped transform a beloved Alberta restaurant into an internationally recognized brand. Now I know what you’re thinking. We didn’t even get to the part where Mo became the first non-family member to serve as president of Earls, and how Mo helped to take the business to dizzying new heights.
That’s because we want you to hear about it from Mo himself.
And for more stories from our favorite industry movers and shakers, check out our weekly podcast with Claudia and Spencer.
