Restaurant Name: Broken Spirits

Owner: Isaias

Location: Long Beach, CA

Number of Seats: 161

Number of Staff Per Shift: 10 at their busiest, 3 at non peak times

Busiest Shift: Saturday Night

Isaias opened his first restaurant in June 2020. With the support of partners and investors, that single venture has grown into several locations across Orange County. Among them is Broken Spirits, a BBQ restaurant and spirits distillery that’s been serving customers for just under three years. As a shy teenager, Isaias’ parents encouraged him to attend a local job fair, which led to his first position in the food industry at Red Robin. As he puts it, he wanted to “change the world one burger at a time,” and he’s been passionate about changing lives through food his entire career.

Broken Spirits is more than just a place to eat, it’s what Isaias calls “a restaurant turned adult fantasyland.” The concept blends a full-service dining experience with an in-house distillery producing bourbon, rum, and vodka. Known for its house-smoked barbecue, the restaurant has built a loyal following by delivering bold flavors and a vibrant, welcoming atmosphere.

However, the restaurant isn’t making the money it needs in order to survive. Behind the scenes, there’s chaos: staff drama, a dirty kitchen, and systems that either aren’t being followed or don’t exist at all. There have been incidents of employee theft and misconduct, including a former manager embezzling funds. Now, the owners don’t know who they can trust.

Service and food quality noticeably decline whenever management isn’t present. The workplace culture has also spiraled, staff members have been caught drinking on the job and even hooking up with one another. To make matters worse, they talk about it openly in front of guests. On more than one occasion, customers have complained about vulgar, personal conversations overheard from the waitstaff.

The owners know this isn’t how a successful restaurant operates, but they’re at a loss for how to fix it. They understand the problems stem from within and they’re ready for help identifying what’s really going wrong behind the scenes.

Issues:

• Theft & Misconduct The restaurant has been bleeding money and not just from slow sales. Employees have been caught stealing food, liquor, and even cash. Whole cuts of brisket, ribs, and high-value product have gone missing, and a former manager once fabricated a sob story about a sick child to swindle the owners out of $10,000. He later admitted the child didn’t exist.

  Cleanliness & Sanitation Behind the scenes, it’s far from appetizing. There have been sightings of flies, insects, and even rodents in the back of house. Trash piles up, floors go unswept, and food storage areas are neglected. If a health inspector walked in unannounced, the place could easily be shut down.

  Service When Management Isn’t Watching The second the boss leaves, the standards vanish. Service slows, corners are cut, and attitudes shift. One employee even tracks the owner’s location so the team can “act right” before he arrives. Guests notice the difference and it’s clear the team only performs when someone’s watching.

  No Real Training New hires are thrown into the chaos with little direction. There’s no training manual, no structure, and no consistency in how things are done. Everyone learns differently and most of them learn the wrong way. As a result, mistakes are repeated, morale dips, and good workers burn out fast.

  Food Quality Complaints Customers have started to lose confidence in the food. Plates come back undercooked, overcooked, or just plain tough to chew. When guests complain, some staff brush them off instead of making it right. What should be a signature BBQ experience often ends in disappointment.

  Running Out of Key Items It’s a restaurant’s worst nightmare: being “86’d” on half the menu during dinner rush. The team regularly runs out of brisket, ribs, or other bestsellers, leaving servers embarrassed and guests frustrated. Poor ordering, bad communication, and lack of inventory oversight make it a recurring problem.

  Toxic Staff Culture The workplace has become more like a high school cafeteria than a professional restaurant. Cliques, gossip, and hookups among staff create constant drama that spills into service. Bartenders have been caught drinking on the job, servers gossip in earshot of guests, and customers have complained about overhearing crude conversations.

  Poor Delegation & Oversight Isaias struggles to trust his staff and as a result, tries to do everything himself. When he’s not around, the team flounders because no one’s been empowered or properly trained to take ownership.