The Mother Plucker’s Ramblings

This is a common question we get from our loyal fans.  People always want to know why if Pluckers is so successful why aren’t we “smart” enough to open stores all over Texas?  Or why don’t you franchise 100’s of Pluckers across the United States?  Well, it’s a dilemna that we discuss every day in the Hen House (also known as Pluckers offices).  On the one hand, we have people calling us all the time asking to buy franchises or big money guys that want to help “blow up” Pluckers by infusing a lot of capital into our little concept.  On the other hand, there are a few things that are more important to us that opening up stores everywhere.  Here are some of the reasons Pluckers hasn’t yet achieved global domination: 

1.     We like our lives and careers – It’s funny how many people out there hate their jobs including a lot of our friends.  We are lucky enough to wake up every day and actually have fun at work. Who wouldn’t have fun running a Rock, Paper, Scissors contest or planning an annual Vegas trip for our Mother Pluckers (what we call our general managers)? 

2.     Ever read the story of the Tortoise and the Hare?  Well, we are big fans of the old adage “slow and steady wins the race”.  Luckily, we’ve always been successful enough to be able to learn from our mistakes over the years.  One of the main reasons we are still around today is that we didn’t try to open so many stores that each mistake would be magnified and even more difficult to fix.  Remember too, we are all 35 years or younger so we’ve still got time to open more Pluckers.  Come to think of it, we’ll be in Georgetown, Killeen and hopefully another store in SE Austin sooner than you think. 

3.    We actually care about our guests.  Now I know that everyone says the same thing from Burger King to Subway, guests are the #1 priority.  But we like to think that we spend extra time training our team to make sure that every experience you have with us is memorable.  Sure, we aren’t perfect, but if you ever have a problem at Pluckers, just ask for a manager and we promise you’ll be impressed by their dedication to making sure you leave happier than before you came.  Plus, we love planning the fun events at Pluckers that make sure we aren’t your typical wing place.

4.    We love our employees – as we get bigger, it’s getting harder and harder to know all of our employees.  Unfortunately, that is one of the inevitable challenges of growing a company.  However, we are always trying to make sure that Pluckers is not just a lucrative, but a fun place to work.  We plan quarterly parties for the staff like Pluckers Field Day, a legendary Christmas Party and employee auctions where we give away things like trips to Vegas and plasma tv’s.  We want to always keep that small company feel no matter how big we get and keeping our growth slow allows us to focus on the people that make your meals great and help us grow.

Hopefully that explains some of the reasoning why Pluckers isn’t in more places yet.  If you are one of the people who emails us all the time asking when we are getting to Houston or San Antonio we ask you to be patient.  In the meantime, why don’t you get to Austin, Dallas or Baton Rouge and come say hello.

I just got back from Sin City for my 35^th birthday and figured I needed to blog about why I love that town so much.  After more than 50 appearances there, I consider myself a salty veteran of the town.  Feel free to use this as your Frommer’s for Las Vegas if you have never been.

1.  There is no other town in America where a guy who makes $20,000 a year can have as much fun as a guy who makes $20 Million a year.   The guy who makes $20,000 a year has $1.99 All You can eat Prime Rib and Shrimp, $3.00 Blackjack downtown at The Nugget and $1.00 Natty Lights at O’Sheas.  To that guy, Vegas is the same utopia that it is for a movie star. 

2.  Every girl gains at least 2 points in Vegas - Guys will typically describe a woman on a 1-10 scale when describing her beauty.  In Vegas, every girl gains at least 2 points.  That means a 4 can become a 6, but even better, a 6 can become an 8.  I think over the past 10 years, the ladies have learned that Vegas is a great place to get in their little red dresses and always look their best.

3.  Nine Steakhouse in The Palms - I haven’t found a better steak anywhere in the country.  Sure it costs $50 for a New York Strip, but where else can you get a steak as good with an atmosphere as cool.  I was there last Saturday night and sitting within earshot of me were the Maloof Brothers (owners of The Palms), Kid Rock, UFC Champion Tito Ortiz with his emaciated girlfriend Jenna Jameson, Wayne Newton and Maria Lopez and his Dancing with the Stars partner Karina.

4.  What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas  - Besides “If you don’t like our wings, we’ll give you the bird”, I don’t think there has ever been a better marketing slogan than this one.  I mean, this can be interpreted into pretty much anything you want and allows for people to feel they can do whatever they want without recourse.  Cheat on your wife?  Stays in Vegas.  Lose two-months worth of salary?  Stays in Vegas.  Get naked and run down the strip tanked on Jagermeister?  You get the point.  

5.  Tao in the Venetian - for my money, no club has a better vibe than Tao.  Not only is the restaurant incredible (try the flash fried spicy tuna rolls), but the club is unparalleled in Vegas.  I’ve seen Paris, Lindsey Lohan and tons of pro athletes there, plus the DJ always is playing great music.

6.  Drinking is encouraged by everyone in the town.  There aren’t many places you can go where your hosts actually want you to become a blubbering mess.  In Vegas, they build $1 billion hotels like the Venetian based on this theory.

7.  McCarran Airport – Sure the cab lines can take an hour and a half to get to your hotel and you need to get there at least 2 hours early for departure, but can you go to any other airport where 50% of the people have a mischievous grin on their face that says “I am going to own Vegas after this trip” and 50% have a look that says “Please never bring me back to this town again”.  Oh yeah, slot machines in the airport…you can’t beat that.

8.  Sitting Down with the Stars – I am not much of a stargazer, but Vegas is the one place in the world that you can spend a few minutes sitting with someone in the pages of US Weekly.  I’ve sat down with Tommy Lee and Vince Neil of Motley Crue fame, David Faustino from Married with Children (when the show was still on the air) and we even saw Bill Simons this trip who has written the greatest articles ever on Vegas.  If you haven’t read any of them here’s a great one http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/vault1.  And if you are the hot shooter on a hot craps table it’s a great feeling when everyone else at the table is ignoring Dennis Rodman because you are the star of the casino.

9.  The Super Bowl and March Madness – I have been to the Super Bowl to watch my team, the Falcons in Miami and I have been to 4 Final Fours, but I promise you that watching these events in Vegas is better than being at the games themselves.  My college buddies have a long tradition of going to Vegas for the Super Bowl every year and in 1998 when I missed the trip to see the Falcons in Miami, I swore I would never miss the Vegas weekend again.  There is nothing like sitting in a room with thousands of other degenerate gamblers who bet on the coin flip, who will score the first touchdown or if NW Directional School State can cover the 32 against Duke.

10.  Spearmint Rhino – If you don’t get this reference and you are a man, I feel sorry for you.

 Have any other suggestions on topics?  Email me at dpaul@pluckers.net and I would love to hear them.

For those of you that were at any Pluckers last Thursday for the Cowboys and Packers, you know just how crazy the day was.  For those of you that couldn’t get it, we are sorry we couldn’t accommodate you.  Every one of our locations was at capacity by 4:30 on Thursday and we even had one guest who showed up at the Round Rock store at 10:00am to get the best seat in the house.We were voted best Sports Bar in Austin by Citysearch last year, but the Cowboys game may have been the best night ever to watch a game at Pluckers.   We want to thank all of our loyal guests that help make Pluckers special.  Don’t forget that the Cowboys play one more time on NFL Network against the Panthers, so make sure you get to Pluckers early that Saturday if you want a seat!

This Thursday, we get the best matchup in the NFL this year this side of New England and Indianapolis as the Cowboys face the Packers.  And for those of you that don’t have DirecTV, you won’t be able to see the game!  For the 90% of the country that really sucks, but it also means a chance for you to spend a Thursday evening out at Pluckers!  A quick word of advice…you better get to one of our stores early if you want a seat.  Last year, for the Falcons and Cowboys on the Saturday night NFL Network broadcast, all of the restaurants were full an hour before kickoff. 

As always, we’ll have our great Thursday specials like All You Can Eat Tenders and Tijuana Thursday featuring $4 Mex Marts and $2.00 Tecate’s.  But the real focus will be on one of our hi-def plasmas as most likely, home field in the NFC is decided.  I am really fired up for this game as I just got back from a vacation when I visited the frozen tundra at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.   If you haven’t had a chance to check out Green Bay, you are missing out.

Let me paint you a quick picture.  Take one part 80-year old blue hairs that have had season tickets at Lambeau since Bart Starr’s rookie year, mix it with dudes that still have deer blood smothered on their hunting camouflage and mix that with what has to be the highest concentration of drunken, homely women dancing and singing every word to Footloose (yes, that Footloose) and you have Green Bay, Wisconsin.   It’s an experience that you just can’t find anywhere else in the country.  For just $280, I was able to watch Brett Favre and the Pack shred the Vikings and follow that up with a meal at #4’s self-named Steakhouse.  A word to the wise, Brett Fav-ray should stick to the gridiron because his filet mignon tasted like one of Paul Hornung’s old leather helmets.

So get to Pluckers early and hang out all night to see who will have the leg up on the NFC.  My prediction?  Take the Cowboys and lay the 6.5 points.  Cowboys 27-Packers 17.

If there is one thing I have learned is different between The South and living in Texas, it’s that Texas is not the South.  Now people in Texas may think they are Southerners, but in reality, they are a whole other breed of person. You really can’t find someone like a Texan anywhere else in the country.  In many respects, that’s what makes Texas so great because so many people are proud of Texas tradition.  However, there is one argument we have with our native Texas friends that is really not a matter of opinion, but just in general our Texas friends are wrong.  That argument is that football played in the Big 12 and in the state of Texas is as good as the football played in the SEC.It is amusing to me that people even think this is worth arguing, but I’ll try and settle this debate once and for all.  Let’s look at few key statistics that would determine who the better conference is: 

Depth of Conference:  The Big 12 definitely has quality talent in the top 2 programs in Texas and Oklahoma, but what other school in the conference year in and year out has a shot at playing in a BCS Bowl?  Better yet, how many teams in the conference have a legitimate shot to even win the Big 12 without a fluke win?  Sure, Kansas is undefeated and Missouri is looking pretty good right now, but they would both be at least 7 point dogs to OU in the Big 12 Championship Game.  Since the decline of K-State and Nebraska, the Big 12 North has become the least relevant division in college football.  Hell, Texas beat Colorado by 67 points in the Big 12 title game two years ago.  Does anyone really think that Kansas is a legitimate football team anyways?  Who is the best team they have beaten?  Oklahoma State who lost to Troy by 24 points?The SEC has 6 teams almost every year that have a legitimate shot at winning the conference.  LSU, Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Florida and Tennessee are all teams almost every year that would have a shot at winning the national title if they played in the Big 12.  Unfortunately, they beat each other up every year and it makes it almost impossible for one of those teams to escape unscathed from their conference. 

Non-conference wins, National Championships and Bowl Games:  Well, the first head to head test would be the Cotton Bowl where the Big 12’s 2nd best team matches up against the SEC’s 3rd or 4th best team.  Guess what?  The SEC has won the last 4 Cotton Bowls.  How about National Championships?  Since 1979, the SEC has won 7 National Championships by 6 different teams.  The Big 12 has fared well with 6 titles but by only 4 different teams. What was the Big 12’s best non-conference win in 2006?  Texas over Iowa in the meaningless Alamo Bowl?  How about 2007?  Oklahoma over a bad Miami, FL team?  Now let’s look at the SEC…Florida destroyed Ohio State in the BCS Title Game, LSU destroys a top-10 Notre Dame team in the Sugar Bowl, Georgia beats Oklahoma State by 21 this year, LSU beats Virginia Tech by 34 this year and so on.  It isn’t even close.

NFL Talent:  Another great indicator of the level of football being played is how many players are drafted by the NFL.  In the 2007 NFL Draft, the SEC sent 11 players - in the first round!  The Big 12 had 4.  The SEC traditionally has 10-15 more draft picks than any other conference.  The Big 12 has had good talent, but nowhere near the level displayed in the SEC.

Atmosphere, Tailgating and Attendance:  The most important factor though as a fan comes with how much fun you have at a game.  I can count on one hand the number of home Texas games the crowd was really into since I went to school here in 1991.  If you want to talk about atmosphere, here is where the SEC blows away not only the Big 12, but everyone else in the country.  The SEC has 7 teams with football stadiums larger than 80,000 people.  In the Big 12, there are only 4 stadiums as large.  Now you might say that size isn’t all that matters, but spend a Saturday in Baton Rouge where people are tailgating at 8am for a 7pm kickoff or an evening in the Swamp where the Gators have been virtually unbeatable since the Evil Genius Steve Spurrier took over the program in the early 1990’s.  Or how about 150,000 people tailgating this year for the Georgia - Alabama game in Tuscaloosa.  Every SEC school save Vanderbilt and Mississippi State is an unbelievable place to tailgate and watch a game.  How many of you dream about going to watch a game at Baylor, Oklahoma State, Iowa State or Kansas? Hopefully, I have settled this argument once and for all, but if you are interested in seeing it for yourself, come on down with us to a game in The Deep South.  You will be a believer as well.