Tilman J. Fertitta

“Most entrepreneurs come up with a product, or they come up with an idea and they think they can be successful with it. But if they don't know the financial side of their business and understand credit and working capital and what it takes money-wise, you can't be successful. The product is just a product.”

“Everybody wants to be led. Except for me. I want to lead.”

“Success to me is anybody who does something better than somebody else.”

“You can put the greatest seafood restaurant next to an average steak house in an urban area, and that steak house will do more business than the seafood place. If you go to the water, you can put an average seafood place next to the greatest steak house, and people are going to eat seafood.”

“I know all three facets of the business: the development side, the operations side, and I know how to borrow the money and how to put the deal together. If it was easy, everybody would do it.”

“What I don't like - and I'm concerned about - as a Houstonian is that the SEC is starting to own Houston... There's more talk about the SEC than there is the Big 12.”

“I like dealing with a peer so I can bully them. Because then, it's not bullying. It's just warfare.”

“Everybody notices if you're the last one in in the morning and the first one to go in the evening. Always remember that as an employee.”

“I always ask candidates two things: 'How many times have you been fired?' and, 'Do you watch your clock when it's time to go? Do you look at your phone? Do you look at your watch?'”

“There's a lot of administrator and ex-administrators and board of regents from Baylor that say that Art Briles was a scapegoat at Baylor. I've had calls from ex-chairmen of the board of regents there, current big booster there, lawyers that represent Baylor. I have not had one negative call about Art Briles.”

“You have to know your strengths and weaknesses. If you don't have a particular strength, you need to go out and replace that.”

“I have no issue with raising minimum wage, but then the customer can't say to us, 'Why are you raising your prices?'”

“If anything, I'd say my family was entrepreneurial - my grandfather and father. It was in our blood. But I didn't have this one mentor that was super successful.”

“When you have to stay late, you stay late, and when you don't have to stay late, you go home. But, you do whatever it takes to get the job done that day.”

“I ask people what they do in sales, how much money they made last year, what their cost of sales is, and they don't even know. If you don't know your numbers, you're going out of business. I don't care how good your product is.”

“I can't draw a stick person. I can't play a musical instrument. But I've always had a knack for making money.”

“We don't use consultants at Landry's. We're our consultants.”

“I'm not on a special diet, but I do try to stay away from a lot of fried foods and from a lot of carbs. Yes, I eat a little bit of all of it.”

“Don't ever let your business get ahead of the financial side of your business. Accounting, accounting, accounting. Know your numbers.”

“The biggest thing I want to see is that people have the drive to succeed. If they can 'take it or leave it,' I don't do business with them. I enjoy mentoring. I like people who want to learn.”