Don't ever let your business get ahead of the financial side of your business. Accounting, accounting, accounting. Know your numbers.
Tilman J. Fertitta
You've got to stay strong to be strong in tough times.
I ask people what they do in sales, how much money they made last year, what their cost of sales is, and they don't even know. If you don't know your numbers, you're going out of business. I don't care how good your product is.
When we buy somebody, we cut the head off. We keep the operators who are looking - I hate to use this term - they're looking for a leader. We lead very well. And we immediately spend money on them and make them better. Everybody wants to be led. Except for me. I want to lead.
People throw in the towel because they don't know how to fight. You'd be surprised how much fight you have in you if you just do it.
I must have a God-given talent, which is the ability to multitask, plus I have great retention. I'm not the smartest guy, but I know how to do what I know how to do. I can handle things, and I don't have a lot of highs and lows. Sure, I might do some things for drama, but I'm not really upset. If you get hit across the head, you must move on.
There's nothing like history. I don't make mistakes today that I made many years ago, because I've already made them.
I have no issue with raising minimum wage, but then the customer can't say to us, 'Why are you raising your prices?'
I just don't understand the Big 12 not wanting to own Houston, Texas, which is soon to be the third-largest populous in the United States. To me, it's a no-brainer. I'm just kind of disappointed and shocked it's not an automatic.
Most entrepreneurs come up with a product, or they come up with an idea and they think they can be successful with it. But if they don't know the financial side of their business and understand credit and working capital and what it takes money-wise, you can't be successful. The product is just a product.
We will do whatever it takes to keep Tom Herman at the University of Houston. We're not going to lose Tom Herman because of money. If Tom Herman wants to go to LSU or Texas or Oregon or Baylor or wherever else, we cannot stop him from doing that. But it's not going to be because of money.
You have to know your strengths and weaknesses. If you don't have a particular strength, you need to go out and replace that.
Everybody wants to be led. Except for me. I want to lead.
You can put the greatest seafood restaurant next to an average steak house in an urban area, and that steak house will do more business than the seafood place. If you go to the water, you can put an average seafood place next to the greatest steak house, and people are going to eat seafood.
If you aren't listening, you are missing out.
You don't see a lot of super-high-end hotels being built in Houston because it's so expensive to build, unless you're in New York and can charge $1,000 a night.
I absolutely do not think it's a foregone conclusion that we're going to lose our coach. Tom Herman loves the University of Houston. He's happy to be coaching at the University of Houston, and I think there are only a few places Tom Herman would even consider.
I run in a local park two or three times a week. I probably should do more than I do, but I also do weight-lifting along with that cardio.
By adding Houston to the Big 12, all it does is make the Big 12 a power conference.
I'm not on a special diet, but I do try to stay away from a lot of fried foods and from a lot of carbs. Yes, I eat a little bit of all of it.
If you don't change and mix things up, you're going to get run over. One of the things we preach is change, change, change.
What I don't like - and I'm concerned about - as a Houstonian is that the SEC is starting to own Houston... There's more talk about the SEC than there is the Big 12.
I know how to finance something. It's easier today because, as you're more successful, everybody wants to do deals with you. But even in the beginning, when I took Landry's public, I owned 100 percent of it. I never had investors or anything. I was just always able to find a way to do it.
I like dealing with a peer so I can bully them. Because then, it's not bullying. It's just warfare.
We're all born with different talents. I'm really not that smart, but I can see things - financially and development-wise. It's just the way we're made.
Everybody notices if you're the last one in in the morning and the first one to go in the evening. Always remember that as an employee.
As much as you need to know your operations, if you don't understand the finance side and how to do the business, you're never going to be successful. So you might be the best operator or visionary, but if you don't understand the finance side... I'm successful because I know the finance side, but I also know operations; it's not an accident.
I buy things that are good properties that I'm going to have forever. I just don't have any intention to sell anything. I believe you acquire good assets and you keep them and operate them.
We don't use consultants at Landry's. We're our consultants.
I'm there for my friends, and I'd like to think I'm there for my employees.
I can't draw a stick person. I can't play a musical instrument. But I've always had a knack for making money.
When you're public, you're at the mercy of the markets. You can be doing extremely well, but if the markets are in the tank or your industry is in the tank, you don't get rewarded for it.
As the economy improves, there aren't as many opportunities.
I always ask candidates two things: 'How many times have you been fired?' and, 'Do you watch your clock when it's time to go? Do you look at your phone? Do you look at your watch?'
When you have to stay late, you stay late, and when you don't have to stay late, you go home. But, you do whatever it takes to get the job done that day.
I know all three facets of the business: the development side, the operations side, and I know how to borrow the money and how to put the deal together. If it was easy, everybody would do it.
The biggest thing I want to see is that people have the drive to succeed. If they can 'take it or leave it,' I don't do business with them. I enjoy mentoring. I like people who want to learn.
I could not pass up the opportunity to build and operate a casino next door to my hometown. This casino will be where Louisiana locals and Texans will want to play, stay, and enjoy themselves.
For years, people have been trying to talk to me about doing a show, and I wouldn't do one because I'm a serious business guy. I'm not going to do a stupid show. So, the opportunity came up with CNBC, and we started talking. It became a real business show. It's educational, people watch it, and it's great for small business.
If anything, I'd say my family was entrepreneurial - my grandfather and father. It was in our blood. But I didn't have this one mentor that was super successful.
There's a lot of administrator and ex-administrators and board of regents from Baylor that say that Art Briles was a scapegoat at Baylor. I've had calls from ex-chairmen of the board of regents there, current big booster there, lawyers that represent Baylor. I have not had one negative call about Art Briles.
Success to me is anybody who does something better than somebody else.
I don't care what business it is. I have the greatest respect in the world for that guy that can take an engine apart of a car and put it back together, or the house painter that can paint a perfect line, or the cameraman who can shoot the best shot. We're all talented in our own ways - just some of us make more money than others. That's all.
