Jon Murray: Get More Profit From Your People

What if spending more on your staff is the fastest path to a more profitable restaurant?

Jon Murray washed dishes at Applebee’s and spent six years in music before rising to Chief Restaurant Officer at Indigo Road, running more than 20 concepts on someone else’s terms. Then he walked away to build Noko and Kase in East Nashville on a people-over-profit model most operators would call reckless.

In this conversation, we get into why he hands 5.5% of sales back to his team, how four-day workweeks and free therapy dropped his turnover to 15% in an 80% industry, and why he believes loving your people is the real driver of margin.

If you think you can’t afford to treat your people well, this one will change the math.

That’s Jon Murray. To learn more about Noko and Kase, visit nokonashville.com.

The Playbook Takeaways

1. Share the revenue, not just the tips. Jon hands 5.5% of sales back to his team — a real cost he treats as an investment in margin rather than a line to cut.
2. Retention is the cheapest margin lever you have. Four-day workweeks and free therapy took his turnover to 15% in an industry running near 80%, which removes the constant drag of hiring and retraining.
3. You do not need a group behind you to run the people-first model. Jon rose to Chief Restaurant Officer at Indigo Road running more than 20 concepts on someone else’s terms, then left to prove the model himself at Noko and Kase in East Nashville.

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About the Author: Josh Kopel is a Michelin-awarded restaurateur, coach, and host of the FULL COMP podcast. More about Josh · the podcast · learn with Josh.