IAM873- Restaurant Group Director Passionate About Mixology

Morgan Hurley is the Marketing and Beverage Director for local restaurant group, Mex 1 Coastal Cantina, in Charleston, South Carolina a local favorite serving crave-able tacos and killer margaritas in a relaxed, SoCal vibe surf bar. Morgan grew up in the Food and Beverage trade eventually getting a dream job at a high-volume beachfront bar on Folly Beach where he honed his mixology skills winning him a few awards. His love for craft cocktails and Tequila led him to help open Mex 1 Coastal Cantina and develop the cocktail program, and the brand and also became a Tequila expert along the way hosting seminars about everything Tequila. As the company grew, so did Morgan's knowledge base eventually working his way to Marketing and Beverage Director where they have won countless awards from Best Margarita and Best Mexican to throwing show-stopping events like their annual Snowboard Rail Jam and Cinco De Mayo Bash.

• CEO Hack: App- Feedly
• CEO Nugget: (1) Rigorous preparation before an event (2) Reflect on your experience
• CEO Defined: Being decisive and action-oriented

Website: http://www.mex1coastalcantina.com/

Instagram: @MixPourSurf

Full Interview:

Check out one of our favorite CEO Hack’s Audible. Get your free audiobook and check out more of our favorite CEO Hacks HERE

Transcription

The full transcription is only available to CBNation Library Members. Sign up today!

Please Note: Our team is using the AI CEO Hacks: Exemplary AI and Otter.ai to support our podcast transcription. While we know it's improving there may be some inaccuracies, we are updating and improving them. Please contact us if you notice any issues, you can also test out Exemplary AI here.

00:02 – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

00:29 – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Morgan Hurley of MEX 1 Coastal Cantina. Morgan, it's awesome having you on the show.

00:41 – Morgan Hurley

Hey, thanks for having me. Excited to be here.

00:44 – Gresham Harkless

No problem. Super excited to have you on as well too. And before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Morgan so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. Morgan is the marketing and beverage director for local restaurant group, Mex 1 Coastal Cantina in Charleston, South Carolina, a local favorite serving crave-able tacos and killer margaritas and a relaxed SoCal vibe surf bar. Morgan grew up in the food and beverage trade, eventually getting a job at a high-volume beachfront on Folly Beach, where he honed his mixology skills, winning him a few awards.

His love for craft cocktails and tequila led him to help open MEX 1 Coastal Cantina and develop the cocktail program, and the brand and also become a tequila expert along the way, hosting seminars about everything tequila. As the company grew, so did Morgan's knowledge base, eventually working its way to marketing and beverage director, where they have won countless awards from the best margarita and best Mexican to throw show-stopping events like their annual snowboard rail jam and Cinco de Mayo bash. Morgan, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

[restrict paid=”true”]

01:47 – Morgan Hurley

I am, yeah.

01:48 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome, let's do it then. So to kick everything off, I wanted to hear a little bit more about how you got started. Could you take us through your story and we'll let you do all the awesome things you're working through now?

01:55 – Morgan Hurley:

Yeah, for sure. So I grew up here in Charleston, South Carolina. You know, grew up on Isle of Palms and really was born and bred into the food and bed industry. My dad was a restaurateur here in Charleston, 2 great parents who always supported me, and also grew up surfing. So food in the food and bed world and surfing have a huge tie because, you know, I can make some money, make some quick money, and then go travel for a little bit and surf, and then come back and, you know, make a little bit more money. So along that path, I eventually got into bartending and just really loved that, which led me to Folly Beach, the tiki bar out there that I worked at called Blue. It was a very high-volume, super-fun bar right on the beach.

I mean, I could throw ice cubes at the sand if I wanted to. And from there, it led me to the mixology side. So I really got into the mixology side of things. And this was 15 years ago. So this is really before mixology was kind of a thing where it was just really starting to come about. And it was fun because like, you know, I got to, this really kind of got the itch for marketing because you have to make a great product, you have to make a great cocktail. But then if you have a great name and a great story behind it, then that just takes it that much further. So when I got into the contest, I think that's really what separated me, was I spent a lot of time in the preparation thinking about what's the purpose of this cocktail. Why is the name this way? And really selling that aspect of it. So that was a really fun part about the mixology side.

03:21 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, I absolutely love that. And definitely, I love kind of like that synergies that you kind of touched on as well too, as far as like, you know, in the business world and in the marketing world that you mentioned as well and being able to kind of create a really phenomenal drink, but it's not just the beverage, it's so much more to that. So I love how that kind of has evolved and led you to what you're doing now. So I guess, could you tell me a little bit more about what you end up doing after that?

03:41 – Morgan Hurley

Yeah. So from there, like I said, my dad's a restaurateur and he got involved with his partner, Dave Lorenz, to open a concept called Max 1 Coastal Cantina. And their take was it was a Southern California sort of take on fish tacos and fresh margaritas and surf videos playing on all the TVs. And I was like, this is a dream come true. I get to sell tequila and have surfing on all the time. So got involved with them, came up with a beverage program, all the cocktails, helped with the brand in general, and really got to grow with the company. So I went from bar manager to general manager. And then we opened a second location and then a third location, you know, all along that way, I've looked to, I've always looked to grow.

So I'm always looking to look at that next step. And I'm an ever learner. I just love learning and marketing was kind of the one that I gravitated towards because it was always, it's always ever-changing. I mean, the thing that I was really good at in the beginning was promoting events. So I wanted to have the biggest Synchronomai party in Charleston or our snowboard rail jam that we do. So we're in Charleston, we're down here in the South, and in the winter time for our anniversary, bring in 20,000 pounds of snow, a big ramp, and bring in snowboarders and have them hit the ramps and all that sort of stuff. And it's super cool and it was a lot of fun I really got into the marketing side because you want people to show up.

So you've got to get you know the right graphics and you've got to get the right marketing behind it and all that sort of stuff. So it was really fun progress, you know, fast forward to COVID, which we're in right now. And a lot of those events, obviously, we can't do those right now. So it's really focused or forced me into, you know, doing more evergreen content, doing more conversational marketing outside of the event marketing that we were doing beforehand. So it's been a fun learning experience since through all of COVID and everything like that.

05:25 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, I can definitely imagine that. And I'm sure that a lot of people are listening to this as well too, and all the pivots and changes that you have to make. It's great to hear that it sounds like you've been able to maybe change the method in a way by which you've done things, but not change the kind of like the core of the quality service and the experience that just sounds like you provide to people, whether it be a conversation or obviously as you were doing before in a bit.

05:45 – Morgan Hurley

Yeah, I mean, best operations through and through is our best marketing through and through is just really good solid operation. So it starts with that. But then from there, it's, you know, once COVID hit, the very first thing we did was we went really heavy on social media, just to show people like, hey, we're here. We're, you know, we never closed. We did go and, you know, we really embrace the community. We gave back to a lot of the, you know, the nurses and the doctors by providing meals for them and those sorts of things. So we really just tried to dive into the community and dive into social media because we knew a lot of people were home and on social. So it was a fun time to experiment with new things. We did more live videos and made cocktails live for people who just, hey, if you're home, here's how you make up an Excellent margarita. So kind of got to have fun with it.

06:33 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, I absolutely love that. And I think that, again, it kind of sounds like, definitely correct me if I'm wrong, obviously the business that you have, you've been able to kind of communicate and have that conversational marketing that you referenced earlier and being able to show like if you want to and are sitting at home, this is how you make a margarita and have that kind of back and forth to continue to create that engaging opportunity.

06:52 – Morgan Hurley

Absolutely.

06:53 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. So I know you touched on a little bit of it as well too when I read your bio. Could you take us through a little bit more about Mex1 Coastal Cantina and what exactly you guys do to serve your clients?

07:03 – Morgan Hurley

Sure, so like I said, we're Southern California take on fish tacos, quesadillas, rice bowls, premium tequilas, we've got a lot of infused tequilas as well and we really shoot for that, come as you are, kind of laid back environment. We want you, we don't necessarily want you on your birthday and your anniversary. We want you once or twice a week. That's our kind of game, which really, craveable food. And it's truly a Baja take. So we, you know, our vision is, you know, when I used to go on surf trips and they surf all day long and you come back and there's nothing better than sitting down at the bar, having a couple of cold beers, eating some tacos with your buddies and just reminiscing on how that day went.

And it's really important for us is that the vibe. So when you walk into the restaurant, you know, we have surf videos playing, we don't have the news or sports or anything, or, you know, regular ESPN or anything like that on, you know, we want you to kind of forget about the day to day grind that we all go through. So it's important that that vibe be set, right? When you walk in the door to where you kind of feel like you're on vacation, when you step into the restaurant, you know, I think we've achieved that. I think that's why we had the following that we've had is because of.

08:14 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. I think that a lot of times when we get into marketing or as you mentioned, the operations and it being so important, it's being able to kind of serve the ideal client, the target client that you're trying to do and to be able to really tap into that experience as you talk to being out and going surfing, be able to just sit down and enjoy some really great food with some really great brews. That gives you that opportunity to have that experience and you all have been able to kind of replicate that on a regular basis.

08:35 – Morgan Hurley

Yeah. And I mean, everybody loves queso, let's be honest. I don't know anybody who doesn't like queso. You know, Margarita's the number one-selling cocktail in the country right now. So, you know, We got a couple of good things going for us there.

08:47 – Gresham Harkless

So yeah, absolutely. You have the deck stacked against you, so to speak. And that always helps out. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. And this could be for you personally or your business, not what's in the case. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

09:00 – Morgan Hurley

So for me personally, I would say it's my routine. I think that's huge for me. I have a really pretty strict morning routine on the weekdays. You know, I like to tell people if they're starting out look at how they set the routine first, are you a morning person or an evening person? Because if you're an evening person, then this doesn't pertain. But you know, for me, I'm a morning person. I'm usually up at 5 a.m. From 5 to 6:30 is when I really get deep work done. So, you know, no one's emailing me. No one's calling me, no text messages. The kids are still asleep. I can really get some deep work done on how you take, how do you eat an elephant one bite at a time? Well, that's where you do it right then and there.

So that's what's important for me. And then, you know, 06:30 kids are awake and, you know, help them get the breakfast and get them out the door and then usually around 8 15 or so I'll hit the home gym and get a really good workout in and you know that 2 fronts one it gets the blood flowing it gets me going and all that sort of stuff it also allows my subconscious mind to kind of unwind in the background and there's something that I have a problem I'm working through anything like that. That's typically where I get those, you know, aha moments type of things. And then the day starts. And then from there, it's, you know, I'm not there with my weekly routine yet, but, you know, I've got a pretty good start to my mornings. That kind of really sets my day off on the right foot.

10:18 – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely appreciate that. And I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app book or habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

10:30 – Morgan Hurley

And I got a few, but I would say my top one right now is Feedly. It is an app, it's F-E-E-D-L-Y. It's an RSS feed. So for your listeners that may not know, I didn't know what that was until a few years ago. But essentially what it is is that I follow a lot of marketing websites, blogs, Neil Patel, digital marketing, SEO, SEM, and all those sorts of things. And whenever they post a new blog or new article, Feedly will gather all of that and put it into a quote-unquote newsfeed for you.

It's incredibly important for marketing because the digital landscape is constantly changing. So if you are heavily invested in social and Facebook changes their algorithm, well then a huge chunk of your content plan could be completely changed. So it's great because you not only get to see when a new change happens, but you then get to hear from the experts who say, this is how you pivot to make it work for you. So it's just a great place to get ideas, all that sort of stuff. So I'm constantly referring to it and reading it as often as I can.

11:34 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. So I want to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client or if you have to do a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

11:46 – Morgan Hurley

So mine is rigorous preparation and reflecting on your experience. So going back to what you just mentioned, I love the quote by Abraham Lincoln, that's if I had 6 hours to cut down a tree, I would spend 4 hours sharpening the axe. And, you know, preparation is everything before an event or a campaign, prepare, you know, exhaust every single aspect that you can. And as soon as you think you're fully prepared, you've taken all the notes, you're ready to go, hand it to a colleague and have them look through it and shoot holes in it because you probably missed something. So I think that's incredibly important. And then once the event, the campaign, all that is over, it's extremely important to reflect on the experience.

Everybody says experience is everything. No, it's reflecting on experience. So what were the pros? What worked? What didn't work? What could you have done better? Taking those notes, especially for me for events, like when we do our big Synchronomio event, there's liable to be a ton of stuff that happens that are good and bad. So I'll grab the team, we go, we take a ton of notes, and then what I'll do is I'll write down those notes and go to Google, schedule, send an email to myself, pretty much, you know, 11 months later to where before the event comes up, I see all those notes that I have. So that would be my 2 right there, would be intense preparation and then reflecting on your experience on the back end.

13:02 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. And I know you started phenomenal things and phenomenal, obviously marketing and aspects of the business. So what does being a quote-unquote CEO mean to you?

13:17 – Morgan Hurley

So, The obvious one is leadership. You know, I know a lot of your guests have said that. I'm a huge proponent of that. So constantly learning about 21, you know, 21 of the laws of leadership from John Maxwell, that sort of stuff. But I would say For me, the most important role of a CEO or what it means to be a CEO is to be decisive and action-oriented. So there's the buck always stops with you, technically. You know, you can have your counterparts with you, all that sort of stuff. The buck stops with you.

So you have to make the decision. You've got to be decisive in your decision and make it. And you're going to get feedback from different parties. Some people are not going to be happy with it, but you've got to be able to make the decision, have them understand the why, and then move forward with it. If it comes down to it, it's not working, then be humble and pivot. But ultimately, I think that the biggest thing is that you've got to be decisive and you got to be action-oriented.

14:09 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely love that. And so many times, you know, people get in the realm of, you know, ready, aim, aim, aim, aim, and they never ever take action. And as we kind of talked about, you know, and the nugget is so important to pay attention and be prepared and to learn as much as possible, have, you know, a colleague or a person be able to look at those things as well too, but you have to take that action because that's the only way you can reflect and get that, you know, that feedback is by taking that action and seeing what has happened and go from there. But I think so many times we can get caught in the preparation and never actually, you know, going forward from there.

14:40 – Morgan Hurley

Progress over perfection. That was the biggest thing I've always heard is that there are a lot of people who get hung up on it has to be perfect before I roll it out. And that's always going to be a failure. It's like, sometimes it's just progress. Sometimes it's, hey, I'm just going to roll this out just a little bit and roll it into perfection. But you just have to be action-oriented. That's such an important part.

15:01 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. We forget about the progression from step to step to step. And when you kind of set that bar that it has to be perfect, you never, ever reach there because it doesn't really start from perfect, especially from day one. So if you understand that it's going to evolve, we're going to continue to improve and to get better, then that creates that action, that forward momentum towards getting you to where you want to be. Exactly. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, Morgan, truly appreciate that definition. And I appreciate your time even more. So what I wanted to do was pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know and of course how best they can get a hold of you and find out about all the awesome things you and the team are working on.

15:38 – Morgan Hurley

Yeah, cool. Thank you so much. If you ever make it down to Charleston, look me up, and happy to pour some tequila for you and chat about all the knowledge that I have behind that. Yeah, but it was fun being on the podcast today. If people wanna reach out to me, they can reach out to Mex 1 Coastal Cantina on Instagram or from our website my personal Instagram is MixPoreSurf, So M-I-X-P-O-U-R, like you're pouring and then surfing at the end, or LinkedIn, Morgan, early on LinkedIn. So happy to connect with anybody.

16:09 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Thank you so much again, Morgan. We will have the links and information, the show notes as well too, so that everybody can follow up with you and find out about all the awesome things and get a little bit of that tequila as well. So I appreciate you, my friend, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

16:19 – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

[/restrict]