Running a Restaurant in Boone, North Carolina--Seth Sullivan

Interview conducted on the back porch of the Cardinal restaurant in Boone, North Carolina by Willard Watson for the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, in conjunction with the Smithsonian's traveling exhibition "The Way We Worked."

Who are you? When and where were you born?
"My name is Seth Graham Sullivan and I was born in Morganton, North Carolina, on May 12, 1985."

What do you do for a living?
"I own the Cardinal restaurant."

How’d you end up owing a restaurant?
"I worked in restaurants kinda through college and I found that I had a knack for it and I also really enjoyed the work. Basically in this area you kinda have to make a job, there is not a lot of industry and I really like it here. So I decided some years ago that that was the course I was going to take with my life. Then opportunities presented themselves and I jumped on them, with my business partners obviously."

Describe a typical work day?
"Today is one of my office days so I come in about nine o’ clock (in the morning) and make sure the kitchen has what they need to get started on prep, make sure the front of house has what they need to get started on their tasks for the day. Then I set about working on my office work. I manage a lot of the human resources side of things around here, so I do a lot of work with payroll, scheduling, hiring and firing and I also do the beer buying here. So Wednesdays and Thursdays I order beer. I am in communication with the beer reps and also different purveyors be that produce or the people we get our lemons from. Basically answering the phone, a lot, a lot of time in front of the computer, organizing spreadsheets and that kind of stuff."

Read the full transcript below.

Tags: BHS-work, BHS-Main-Street, BHS-Job-You-Had

Asset #7815