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Operations

Charlie Eblen with Single Tree BBQ
Webinar/Podcast

Charlie Eblen with Single Tree BBQ

Welcome to the Corner Booth!

Join host Chris Tripoli and guests for a podcast for anyone who is starting a restaurant business, growing an independent restaurant business, or dreaming about starting an independent restaurant business.

Learn from successful restaurateurs who share their stories WHY they got into the business and HOW they created and built their winning concepts.

Corner Booth is a production of RestaurantOwner.com.

So grab your favorite beverage, have a seat, and listen in!





Charlie Eblen of Single Tree Barbecue shares a candid look at building a business from scratch after losing his corporate role in 2020. His background spans Army service, restaurant leadership training, and years shaping future managers, but starting over as a solo operator forced him to relearn everything he thought he knew. His story offers rare insight into the realities of moving from corporate structure to independent ownership, and why operator humility, financial hardship, and entrepreneurial learning curves shaped the foundation of his brand.

In this episode, Charlie discusses the challenges of opening during the pandemic, including long days with no events, struggling to sell food in freezing weather, and facing the reality that self-reliance skills and restaurant business operations differ from corporate checklists. He explains how the food truck years built his customer base, taught him consistency standards, and embedded him deeper in the community. That grassroots support ultimately made it possible to transition into a brick-and-mortar partnership and rebuild his menu for a larger kitchen with limited staffing.

Charlie also shares how disciplined growth, team development, menu engineering, and a strong commitment to community impact drive both his restaurant and his expanding media platform. From third-party delivery demand to launching a podcast and media company, he demonstrates how independent operators can expand their influence while staying grounded in service, storytelling, and purpose.

Key Takeaways

  • Ownership requires new skills – Moving from corporate roles to solo ownership revealed major gaps in entrepreneurial learning curves.

  • Quality must be deliberate – Charlie centers everything on repeatable consistency standards.

  • Community fuels momentum – His early growth came from deep community engagement.

  • Scaling requires redesign, not duplication – The shift from truck to restaurant demanded real team development.

  • Storytelling drives brand growth – His media work became a powerful brand building system.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What should operators expect when shifting from corporate restaurant roles to independent ownership?
Charlie’s experience shows that operational confidence doesn’t equal entrepreneurial readiness. Owners must learn financial realities, self-reliance skills, and decision-making under pressure without corporate support structures.
How can new operators maintain consistent product quality with limited staff?
Charlie focused on simple, repeatable methods built around aligned seasoning profiles, and he narrowed the menu to a manageable set of items to maintain strong consistency standards while training inexperienced team members.
What role does community play in early-stage restaurant growth?
For Single Tree, local events and face-to-face engagement built credibility, demand, and referrals. Charlie credits community engagement as the engine that sustained the business through both slow and successful periods.
What should operators consider when moving from a food truck to a brick-and-mortar location?
Charlie’s transition required menu adjustments, new labor strategies, and workflow redesign. He emphasizes team development and realistic expectations about space, staffing, and production requirements.
How can restaurant owners expand beyond food into media or storytelling?
Charlie’s media company grew from going live online, sharing his journey, and offering others a platform to tell their stories. His approach shows how consistent content can become a brand-building system that reinforces the restaurant’s mission.

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