The Main Course: The Power of Restaurant Narrative in Staffing

Not every restaurant makes an effort to fully integrate its
customer into the experience of eating and enjoying their food.
But for those looking for a unique dining experience, plenty of
such establishments present unique restaurant narratives. What
sort of restaurants emphasize storytelling in their dining, and
how do they handle staffing?


On this episode of The Main Course, host Barbara Castiglia
talks with Sam Hart, Chef, and Owner of Counter in
Charlotte, North Carolina. Born and raised in the city, Hart has
seen it grow exponentially. After a career in advertising, he
wanted to bring a unique dining experience to his community
involving a restaurant narrative. “For the past ten years, ever
since I was 21, I’ve had an absolute love and borderline
obsession with cooking,” says Hart. “I was cooking for a couple
of friends and clients of mine, and I kind of just had this idea,
almost like an epiphany, right in the middle of my dinner, where
I was like, it’d be really cool if a restaurant decided to pair
music with food and not just wine. And so thankfully, from day
one of my culinary careers, I knew exactly what the end goal was,
and that was to create the restaurant which is Counter today.”


This episode covers additional topics such as:


Advertising a new restaurant in intelligent and unique ways.



Working with and giving back to your community.



Using the restaurant to help employees reach their unique
goals.



While Counter presents a unique dining experience in the
restaurant narrative, Hart wants to ensure the restaurant
contributes to his community via charities and helping out his
employees. “What we wanna do here is to create a place that not
only is a successful work environment, but it’s also a place
where each of our employees feels that they are healthy,” says
Hart. “Their creativity is being showcased, that it’s a place
that they can grow and develop, and reach their next goal.”


Sam Hart started his professional career in advertising before
beginning Counter in early 2020. He worked for various companies,
including Sprint and the Union County NC Chamber of Commerce. His
skills in advertising and love of cooking have come together in a
unique fashion that has helped make Counter the success it is
today.