Free Training For Restaurant Owners
Free Training For Restaurant Owners

#139: Restaurant Owners Share Their Struggles and How They Overcame Them

December 10, 2025 by David Scott Peters

You know things are bad in your restaurant when you’re so overwhelmed you forget to eat for three days and your debit card is declined at the gas pump. In this episode of “The Restaurant Prosperity Formula” podcast, I sit down with Kristi and Tracy Carter, owners of JAC’s Craft Smokehouse in West Monroe, Louisiana, to talk about how they went from that rock-bottom moment to running a profitable, values-driven barbecue restaurant with a management team that lets them travel without worrying.

In our conversation, you’ll hear how they turned an award-winning sauce company into a full-service smokehouse, how they used systems to get out of survival mode, what changed when they finally embraced budgets and prime cost, how they rebuilt their marriage and work-life balance, and why they now feel confident opening a second concept.

Tune in for a front-row seat to what it looks like when an operator fully commits to the Restaurant Prosperity Formula and uses leadership, systems, training, accountability and taking action to completely change their life.

Think of this episode as a glimpse into what happens when restaurant owners stop trying to figure it all out alone and decide to build prosperity on purpose.

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