Marine Corps veteran Eric Johnson, co-founder and CMO of Flavor Hills, shares how military discipline helped build a fast-growing restaurant brand. He and Taryell Simmons discuss why documented systems are key to scaling, creating a dining experience with live jazz and art, his eight-lane marketing plan, and the value of an email list.
In this inspiring episode of Rise Urban Nation, host Taryell Simmons sits down with Eric Johnson, co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Flavor Hills. Eric shares how a team of Marine Corps veterans applied military discipline, standard operating procedures, and innovative hospitality to build a rapidly scaling restaurant franchise. Readers will discover practical frameworks for operational consistency, experiential branding, and sustainable business growth.
Eric reveals how calculating his effective military hourly wage inspired his initial transition into entrepreneurship.
The story of discovering an abandoned commercial location in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and partnering with Chef Morgan.
Why a lack of documented systems and SOPs represents the single greatest barrier for scaling emerging businesses.
How Flavor Hills transformed dining into a cultural hub by integrating live jazz, curated playlists, and live visual art.
Eric breaks down his eight-lane marketing architecture, highlighting the long-term asset value of a proprietary VIP email list.
Military Operational Principles: Applying Marine Corps mission-first execution, personal discipline, and rigorous standards to modern hospitality management.
Systematizing Business Operations: Creating comprehensive standard operating procedures so daily operations do not depend on any single individual.
Experiential Brand Identity: Elevating modern Southern comfort dining through immersive community events, live music, and regional art partnerships.
Multi-Lane Marketing Architecture: Driving guest acquisition and retention via direct-response advertising, PR, local business nexus deals, and email funnels.
Leadership and Team Culture: Fostering an uplifting organizational climate that invests in employee mentorship and professional development.
Eliminate single-point operational bottlenecks by documenting every business process before delegating.
Treat customer service as your premier competitive differentiator in crowded or commodity markets.
Cultivate owned audience channels such as VIP email lists to insulate your revenue from social media algorithm volatility.
Adopt a mindset of radical adaptability during economic downturns, viewing obstacles as valuable masterclasses.
Eric Johnson is a United States Naval Academy graduate, Marine Corps veteran, and the Chief Marketing Officer and co-founder of Flavor Hills and First Wave Hospitality Group. Leveraging a background in robotics and control systems engineering, he designs sophisticated operational and marketing frameworks that drive multi-location growth. Learn more about Flavor Hills and visit their North Carolina locations in Raleigh, Durham, and Jacksonville by exploring their brand online.
Taryell Simmons: Good evening, good morning, and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, wherever you are. This is another episode of Rise Urban Nation. Today, we want to talk about what it takes to grow a business in one of the toughest industries during one of the most volatile economic times. What if the blueprint for scaling your business came from the military? Discipline, structure, systems, execution. Today's guest did just that to open their restaurant. He helped build a movement, a Black-owned franchise expanding while others struggle to survive, powered by a team of Marine Corps veterans and built on principles most entrepreneurs overlook. Welcome to Rise Urban Nation. I'm your host, Taryell Simmons, and today we have sitting down with us, Eric, one of the co-founders of Flavor Hills. Eric, welcome to the show, brother.
Eric Johnson: Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. That was an amazing intro. I appreciate that.
Taryell Simmons: Before we came on, I was saying y'all need to bring one of these to San Diego. We have a military town and we love to eat. You and Andre need to get out here.
Eric Johnson: We definitely have to come check San Diego out and see what is up out there.
Taryell Simmons: Where is your boy Andre at right now?
Eric Johnson: They are at our Durham location doing working interviews with potential back-of-house staff.
Taryell Simmons: Tell me about the foundation. Before Flavor Hills, there was the Marine Corps. How did time in the military shape the way you think about leadership, discipline, and execution?
Eric Johnson: That is a great question. The military was critical to becoming the men we are today. One of the biggest lessons is that the average person always seeks comfort. Because they seek comfort, they never realize what they gain by consistently challenging themselves. In the military, every day I woke up, I did not get a choice whether or not I was going to do the hard thing. You have to make sure the mission is successful every day. There is no nine-to-five or going home until the mission is done, and everyone around you is pushing for that same standard. That standard you maintain for yourself is critical when building something from scratch. You have to know you have the capability to endure when things get tough.
Taryell Simmons: How did that translate to entrepreneurship, and when did entrepreneurship enter the picture?
Eric Johnson: Growing up, I did not know about entrepreneurship until adulthood. My partner, Truss, grew up in the Bronx, New York, and had opportunities to see that world early on. He and my partner Tellers started with real estate first, running a brokerage while in the Marine Corps. I started my first company as a financial coaching business, helping people learn about credit, pay off debt, and understand personal finance. I helped people pay off close to a million dollars in debt. That realization started when I evaluated the time I was putting into the military. As a military officer and Naval Academy graduate, I was working 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM every day. When I did the math, it came out to about nine dollars an hour. I realized there had to be a different way where income was effort-based rather than receiving the same pay whether you are the star player or sitting on the bench.
Taryell Simmons: Coming from the military with that discipline allows you to stay committed. What inspired the vision behind Flavor Hills?
Eric Johnson: It started when my partner Tellers drove past an abandoned restaurant in a prime location surrounded by hotels in Jacksonville, North Carolina. He sent a picture to our CEO, Truss. Tellers also had a family friend who connected us with Chef Morgan, an incredible private chef from DC. Tellers proposed the concept to Chef Morgan, and she was completely prepared with menu concepts and dishes ready to go. We conducted a tasting, the food was phenomenal, and we realized we had something. Even though we had no prior restaurant experience, Tellers took inspection plaques off the walls, made phone calls, and we built from there.
Taryell Simmons: That is phenomenal. Shout out to Chef Morgan from DC! Where are you from originally, Eric?
Eric Johnson: I am from Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Taryell Simmons: The restaurant industry has tight margins and fierce competition. What were the biggest challenges you faced when launching Flavor Hills?
Eric Johnson: The biggest challenge most businesses face, especially Black-owned businesses, is a lack of systems. Established competitors operate on systems refined over decades. Without systems, you do not have Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Without SOPs, you cannot hand processes over to staff and hold them accountable. In a restaurant with front-of-house, back-of-house, administration, and finance, putting expectations on paper establishes the left and right limits to drive action toward what matters.
Taryell Simmons: What is your role within the executive leadership team?
Eric Johnson: Truss is our CEO overseeing investment and long-term strategy. Tellers is our COO managing daily restaurant operations. Chef Morgan is our Culinary Director maintaining quality control and recipe development. I serve as Chief Marketing Officer.
Taryell Simmons: What challenges exist with brand recognition, and what has Flavor Hills done uniquely?
Eric Johnson: My background is in robotics and control systems engineering, so I had to learn marketing from scratch. Building a brand is establishing your identity. We focused on brilliance in the basics: delivering great food and cocktails on time, paired with exceptional hospitality. We noticed people often complain about restaurant service, so we made top-tier service our competitive edge. Beyond dining, we curated an environment with live jazz, live painting, and curated playlists. All the featured artwork in our locations is by Christopher Evans of Good Trip. We created a space where young professionals, families, and couples can connect, build community, and enjoy an unforgettable experience.
Taryell Simmons: How do you scale a restaurant into a franchise?
Eric Johnson: Scaling requires brilliance in the basics and removing individual bottlenecks. If only one person knows how a process works, that person becomes the single point of failure. Every system, SOP, and timing standard we use was written down manually so anyone can be trained to execute it. In hospitality, scaling depends on human capital. You need servers, line cooks, hosts, and bartenders, and you must provide a structure that sets them up for success.
Taryell Simmons: What role does team culture play in making those systems work?
Eric Johnson: Culture is essential. In the back of house, execution is a logistical symphony where food must leave the kitchen hot and on time. If the culture is negative, people only do the bare minimum. When culture is positive and built on mutual respect, staff go above and beyond. We make sure our team members feel supported, mentored, and developed so they leave better than when they arrived.
Taryell Simmons: What lessons stand out for entrepreneurs striving to scale?
Eric Johnson: First, surround yourself with the right people. As your mindset evolves, you need people around you who share your vision. Second, embrace adaptability. Things that fail to adapt fail to exist. A great book on this is The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday, which highlights how leaders turn adversity into advantage. Third, build a multi-channel marketing department. We built an eight-lane marketing strategy covering paid ads, content creation, influencer partnerships, local business partnerships through our Nexus program, PR, and our VIP email list. An email list of thousands of engaged guests gives you direct access to make compelling offers rather than relying purely on social media algorithms.
Taryell Simmons: Before we close, tell everyone about your upcoming Juneteenth celebrations and where they can find Flavor Hills.
Eric Johnson: For Juneteenth weekend, we are hosting full celebrations across our Raleigh and Durham locations featuring live jazz bands on Friday night, live DJs on Saturday night and Sunday brunch, live painting sessions, and exclusive food specials curated by Chef Morgan. Come out and celebrate with us!
Taryell Simmons: Go check out Flavor Hills in North Carolina, family. Until next time, unite, uplift, and ignite. Peace.
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