Creativity Meets Structure
“I always wanted to own a restaurant. Ever since I was really young,” said restauranteur Robin Covey. “I wanted to open a Mexican restaurant. I had the whole thing in my mind, what the waitresses were going to wear, what the tables were going to be like. The food. Everything.”
Robin instinctively followed his dream from the start when, at the age of 15, he began working as a bus boy. Food was his passion, and not just any food – wholesome, healthy, innovative cuisine. His first business venture was a health food store in Cambria, which he and his business partner owned and ran for four years before expanding to become Robin’s Restaurant – known for chow, tempeh, cioppino, curry, and unique vegetarian dishes.
“I loved food and I cooked at Robin’s. I was the initial chef, even though I never went to school or anything,” Robin explained. “When I was 17 I picked up this cookbook: The Complete Asian Cookbook, and I just loved it. A lot of Robin’s recipes – the curries and things – are from that cookbook.”
Robin’s Restaurant was eight years old when he decided to open his next venture, French Corner Bakery. Then, just two months later, he was approached about some property for a possible third business, and within that year, he opened Novo.
“It was very crazy. I had Robin's and the French Corner Bakery and Novo all at that time. Nothing was run super efficiently, but I guess it all worked!” said Robin with a laugh. He added, “I’m not the perfect business person. I do a lot of things by the seat of my pants.”
Admittedly, Robin’s natural strengths don’t lie in structural business practices. Because of that, he makes sure to have strong support to manage his more challenging areas. His business partner handled all the finances and technology from the beginning. And when he heard of Collaboration, he was immediately intrigued.
“I just really wanted to do it. I know what’s missing, but I just don’t know how to put those things into place. I need accountability to make it happen. And because I don’t have a business, or numbers, or management mind, I need professional help,” he laughed, as the words came out of his mouth.
“The customers don’t know what’s missing because we pull it off, but it’s not done in a clean, efficient manner because it’s too much shooting from the hip. There’s not enough structure. That’s what’s missing and that’s what Collaboration is helping me to do,” he said. “I can see that it’s working because I’m following through, being present and letting my employees know that I do care, and I’m communicating with them. I’ve always resisted numbers and management, and not liked structure. I’ve always thought structure is going to kill my creativity. But having the structure and the boundaries will help the restaurant move forward,” he said.
“It’s led to me taking on more responsibility,” added Robin’s assistant, Amanda Clements. “I have a lot more pride in my work at Novo. It’s really caught fire with me.”
“Working with Collaboration is really exciting. This is a lot of work. I’m not organized. I never went to college. I never had study habits. I always got good grades without having to study. So this is really forcing me to be organized. It’s been sort of a big learning curve for me,” explained Robin.
Now with a fourth restaurant, Luna Red, Robin is working harder than ever to establish successful systems, fine tune his operations and successfully follow his dream.
“I definitely believe a business has to be alive and growing and it can’t be stagnant because stagnation is death,” he said. “I want it to always be alive and growing which requires constant input and constant work.”
