The Yard House...in Long Beach

This past December marked the 10th anniversary of what has become a behemoth in the food and beverage industry, The Yard House. Long Beach is still home to the flagship operation but 15 other stores in 6 states now join it.

What is it about this concept that produces gross revenues estimated to be in the vicinity of $115 million a year? One could certainly point to their upscale designs occupying prime real estate or the very deliberate selection of music that loudly plays. Perhaps it’s the highly acclaimed “American Fusion” menu that boasts over a 100 items created by Executive Chef Carlito Jocson.

Well, yes, those are all important to this chains success. But, It’s beer that steers this ship. In Long Beach, there are 250 separate beers on tap. That’s right, on tap. This is no small feat. It takes approximately 5 miles of tap lines to service the bar. And, think of this: there is somewhere in the neighborhood of 6,000 gallons of beer being cooled by nearly 2,000 gallons of coolant per hour. These are heady (the pun is intended) numbers.

The ideas that are behind the Yard Houses phenomenal success are fairly obvious. What isn’t so apparent is their management philosophy. Steele Platt, Founder and CEO, Harald Hermann, President and COO and the above-mentioned Carlito Jocson were enlightened enough to offer equity shares to key employees. What this does is makes owners of the management staff. Customers benefit because there is always somebody on premise that thinks and acts like an owner. The term “customer care” then takes on a much higher meaning.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons that The Yard House has won so many industry awards. If only more operations were so inclined.

-Gordonn Blue

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