Elevate: Nathan Poor

Timothy Webb: Thank you all for joining us today here on Elevator. Broadcasting from the Razorback Camper Sales Studio. This National Park College podcast highlights a different nighthawk with each episode. We'll talk about their journey, challenges, key moments of success, their moments of elevation, leveling up and overcoming. I'm Timothy Webb, your host, and I'd like to welcome to the program Nathan Poor. Thanks so much for joining me today, Nathan. Nathan Poor: Thank you, Timothy. Thanks for having me here. Timothy Webb: Oh yeah. So Nathan, tell us a little bit about yourself. Nathan Poor: Well, I'm 38 years old and I'm all but married. I have a 14-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old stepson. Timothy Webb: Oh, all but married. So you are on the verge of getting married? Nathan Poor: We're pretty close there. Timothy Webb: Oh, well, congratulations. Nathan Poor: Thank you. Timothy Webb: So Nathan, what is your position here at National Park? Nathan Poor: I am the director of dining services. Timothy Webb: Oh, okay. Director of dining services, is that like a hospitality type of degree? Nathan Poor: Yeah, so it's in the hospitality field. So I run the food service, so anything food related is in my job scope. Timothy Webb: Yeah, so you're an important person. You feed the students and the staff and faculty. Nathan Poor: I often tell people I'm the most liked person on campus. Timothy Webb: I know that's right. So hospitality, how come that field of study, Nathan? Nathan Poor: Well, if I'm being honest, in high school I was hanging out at one of my best friends' house a lot in the summer, and his parents got tired of us, so they told us that we needed to go get jobs and that Colton's was hiring down the street. And we both went and applied there, and I just really enjoyed it. Timothy Webb: Well, that's good. You found it early on then. Nathan Poor: Yeah. Timothy Webb: So Nathan, how long have you been at National Park College? Nathan Poor: In July, it'll be four years. Timothy Webb: Wow. Already four years. Dang. Nathan Poor: Time has flown by for sure. Timothy Webb: So you're the director of food service here at National Park College. What all does that position entail? Nathan Poor: To keep it simple, anything food related, so I plan the menus out. I do ordering and inventory. We take care of all the catering that comes in. You could throw in HR and accounting to something that I do as well. Timothy Webb: Yeah, because you have to manage the staff? Nathan Poor: Managing the staff and the finances. Timothy Webb: Nathan, that sounds like a lot. What are some of the challenges that you face in all those tasks? Nathan Poor: So when we first started this, we had four walls and some kitchen equipment. It was definitely a struggle. So we didn't have a model restaurant or secret recipe book to go off of. It was definitely trial and error, just to figure out what worked and find our groove as far as handling all the business that came in. And in many ways, I say food service is kind of like sports. You're not always going to have your best day, but it's all about putting your best foot forward and doing the best you can on that day. Timothy Webb: Right. And probably being consistent too. Nathan Poor: Yeah, absolutely. Timothy Webb: Something I talk to my son about all the time is being consistent in the sports he plays, and that's a big part of it. Nathan Poor: Yeah, we talk about it daily. It's just one of my big things is the person ordering at 10:30 in the morning will get the same food as the person ordering at 4 o'clock or at 6:30 at night. It's that same food that you would expect throughout the whole day. Timothy Webb: The same quality of food. So Nathan, being the director of the food service, are there any common myths you'd like to clear up for the audience? Nathan Poor: Well, the first one is that chefs just don't go around yelling at people. Timothy Webb: What? But Gordon Ramsey. Nathan Poor: It's not really a TV show in there, so we don't get to do that on a daily basis. Another is that food is poured out of a bag. That's not a reality. A lot of our stuff we make in-house and start from scratch, start from raw products. Timothy Webb: So what are some of the biggest obstacles you've had to overcome to get to where you are today? Nathan Poor: I think personally, when you look at all of my life, I wasn't a great student. I didn't really have an interest in education early on. So a good work ethic always had to be a constant for me, and I think finding a good job to where it suited my abilities and that I was happy with and took a lot of pride in. Timothy Webb: That's one of the hardest obstacles I think we all face, is finding that job where our talents fit and there's no deal breakers. There's nothing like, oh, I don't ever get off to see my kids' ball games, or I don't get any time off. Or if I do take a time off, I don't get paid. There's just all these deal breakers out there in the workforce, isn't there? Nathan Poor: Absolutely. Timothy Webb: So when you found that spot you fit, the director of food service company, can you tell us how it felt? Nathan Poor: I felt lucky to be honest. When I came to this campus, at first, I was just taken back because this could be mine, and I took a lot of pride in that. I can't tell you how nervous I was just in the waiting process to hear back if this was a good fit for the college and it was a good fit for me. Timothy Webb: No, I can understand that. That's a big responsibility that you're holding on your shoulder. Nathan Poor: Absolutely. Timothy Webb: So what is it about your position that rewards you? Nathan Poor: I think feeding people in general is very rewarding. If I look back on my life, my mom loved to cook and she enjoyed me getting in the kitchen. She always pushed me to... She knew that I liked it, so she always pushed me to take that career path. Timothy Webb: Yeah, mama's know, don't they? Nathan Poor: Oh yeah. I think another thing is just the team that I work with, they support me so much and do so much that I couldn't even begin to tell you about. I have a great team behind me. Timothy Webb: That helps a lot. A great team can make you, or a bad team can break you. Nathan Poor: Yep, absolutely. Timothy Webb: So is there any lessons that your position has taught you that you'd like to share with our audience? Nathan Poor: When I first started the restaurant business, it was a lot of corporate chain restaurants, so I was cooking to a recipe, and I think working here has really taught me just the ins and outs of really creating a recipe on your own. And I've learned a lot from Mamie Smith, our executive chef here, and just the people, every different person that works for us, they have different recipes that they've cooked throughout their life and we've just kind of picked from all of those and created what we have today. Timothy Webb: That's cool. So you got all these different libraries of recipes walking around you and y'all just sort of pick, format and find the ones that work the best. Nathan Poor: Yeah, absolutely. We're always encouraging people to make us something. Hey, what do you have growing up in life? What did you like to cook? Well cook it for us. Timothy Webb: Yeah, absolutely. Let's see if it worked. Nathan Poor: Yeah, absolutely. Timothy Webb: So Nathan, what achievements are you most proud of? Nathan Poor: At my old job, I was a GM of On the Border, and I think in that part of my life I was really molding myself and I won some awards there and I just kind of took the steps to grow my career. I'm really proud of that. I'm also really proud of... My daughter just recently won... She got [inaudible 00:07:15] tournament team at St. Louis at a volleyball tournament. So that's not my achievement, but that's something I'm really proud of. Timothy Webb: Yeah, no, our kids' achievements are partially ours. I'm sorry, Nathan. I got to claim all my son's tennis awards a little bit. Nathan Poor: I understand. Ryland may not agree with me, but I know volleyball. Timothy Webb: Yeah, there you go. So Nathan, where did you grow up and what was it like? Nathan Poor: I grew up in Rogers, Arkansas. So in northwest Arkansas. I'm really blessed. I had a great group of friends that I grew up with. I talk to them all the time, still to this day. Great family up there. And I believe that's probably where I'll retire at some point. Timothy Webb: So Nathan, can you tell us about an influential person in your life and how they impacted you? Nathan Poor: I have a few. Steve Phillips, he was my old boss at On the Border. He was just relentless on daily standards and daily habits. So that taught me a lot about being the same day in day out, not giving up on a standard or a practice that you're supposed to be doing. Tiffany Reed, also a colleague at On the Border and now she's a colleague now at Chartwells. She's actually who brought me on here or referred me to this job. She is just a special person as far as... She's always trying to find the next step to be better. She's got a fire in her that she's always pushing herself and always digging, how can we get better here or there. Just always finding something to be better at. And then my a shameless boss plug here. Jason King. He is really good at reading people and he always knows on how I answer the phone, how I'm feeling. Timothy Webb: Oh wow. Nathan Poor: If I answer in a certain way, he goes, not a good week huh? Or vice versa. Timothy Webb: Yeah, that is a heck of a talent. So Nathan, any favorite childhood memories you'd like to share? Nathan Poor: One of my favorite times was during high school. I was obsessed with golf. My dad would drop me off at 7:00 AM and he would get off work at five, and then we would play nine holes. So typically we would get home around 7:30, 8 o'clock. So obviously that's 12, 13 hours on the golf course, which that's the life I wanted in those days. Another would be me and my best friend had racing four wheelers. We used to do a bunch of dumb stuff on those things. Timothy Webb: Yeah, so you used to spend 13 hours a day on a golf course as a teenager? Nathan Poor: Yeah, so in the summers that's what we did. He would drop us off and we would just spend all day out there. Timothy Webb: Wow. You must be really good at golf now? Nathan Poor: I tried at one point. Anymore, it's just fun. I just like to go out and have a good time. Timothy Webb: So that was your sport as a teenager, you wanted to become a golfer? Nathan Poor: Yep, absolutely. Timothy Webb: Yeah, I can relate. I wanted to be an NBA basketball player. Nathan Poor: All sports are tough. Timothy Webb: They are. And all athletes end up with heartache. Sorry to tell y'all that. Nathan Poor: Absolutely. I tried at one point. Actually later in life, after high school I gave up golf and later in life I picked it back up and tried to do something with it. But the guys are good. They're just good at golf and there's a different level that the pros are on. Timothy Webb: It's a very tough game, isn't it? Nathan Poor: Yeah. Timothy Webb: It's a very tough game. Those clubs are not very big. So if you could give your younger self any piece of advice, Nathan, what would it be? Nathan Poor: Honestly, probably listen to my parents a little more. Hopefully my kids will listen to this. Timothy Webb: Yeah, hopefully my son's listening to that. Nathan Poor: All right. Timothy Webb: What things did your parents tell you that you wish you would've listened to? Nathan Poor: A lot of practices in school, education. Like I said before, I didn't care about that when I was younger, so just driving that a little more. Timothy Webb: Get your education young people, get your education. Nathan Poor: Absolutely. Can't preach it enough. Timothy Webb: So what is it that brought you to NPC? Nathan Poor: Obviously my job brought me here being a third party food service. So it was a given I was coming here, but I do want to talk about what keeps me here. Obviously the campus is beautiful, coming to work every day, driving in, it just doesn't get any better than that. The students, the faculty and staff here have always been very welcoming and supportive of us. And personally, I just get to come to work and take a sense of ownership. And that's really important that you come to work and you take pride in what you're doing and you have that sense of ownership. Timothy Webb: Yeah, that makes your job a lot better when you're owning it. So other than National Park and food and cooking, and shall I even say golf, what are some of your other hobbies? Nathan Poor: Kids sports. So Ryland, my daughter's in volleyball and softball, keeps us busy. My stepson's in baseball and football. So that's what we do on the weekends. Timothy Webb: Wow. Four sports y'all are trying to manage through, huh? Nathan Poor: Yep. Timothy Webb: Darn it. Here I got two and I think I'm full. Nathan Poor: Right. It stays pretty busy. And other than golf, it's something I picked up in the last year. I do woodworking. Yeah, so that's been something I've spent a little time in the garage trying to get the hold of. Timothy Webb: What sort of things do you make with wood? Nathan Poor: So I've made picnic tables, kind of outdoor furniture. I've made some plant boxes and just kind of some smaller things. I want to eventually get into working with some nicer wood. I'm just kind of practicing with cheaper pine right now. Timothy Webb: Yeah, we're going to have to talk about guitar manufacturer, okay, Nathan? Nathan Poor: I've actually gone down to YouTube channels and I've looked at some guitar making videos and it doesn't look easy. Timothy Webb: No. Nathan Poor: I'll tell you that. Timothy Webb: You can do it. You can do it, Nathan. I'll test it for you. Nathan Poor: There you go. Timothy Webb: So what is it about woodworking that drew you to it? Nathan Poor: Okay, so this is kind of a funny story. I get home Friday night and nobody else is home. So my girlfriend, she's not going to be home for a couple of hours. And we had just bought a house in May, this was probably November-ish, somewhere in that area. I didn't like our laundry room, it's in the garage. I was bored, nobody else home. I started taking down the walls and took all the walls out and took the studs out. Well, I took those studs and made a garage table with it. And so that's kind of what started it. Timothy Webb: So girlfriends and wives, be careful when you leave your husband at home alone. Nathan Poor: The look on her face when she pulled in the driveway, she was just looking around like, what are you doing? At that time, it had been a few hours. So I had a big pile of Sheetrock laying there, and I'm sure she was like, oh gosh, what has he done? Timothy Webb: What have I walked into? Nathan Poor: Right. Timothy Webb: So Nathan, if you could speak to anyone from the past, present, or future, who would it be and why? Nathan Poor: Tiger Woods. Timothy Webb: Tiger Woods. What would you ask him? Nathan Poor: I would ask him a lot of things. A, how he did it. He was just a lead at his sport and obviously a role model for me growing up. I started golf when I was 13, which was '97. It was a fun time for me. It electrified the sport and changed the game forever. Timothy Webb: You probably know since you're a Tiger Woods fan, but he was on like Johnny Carson as like a five-year-old. Showing off his field. Nathan Poor: Crazy stuff. Timothy Webb: His dad really groomed him to be that at an early age. Nathan Poor: And I think when you look at young people today, you'll see that in every state now. And it started with him at that age, and now it's just, it's exploded to where that's everywhere. And that goes with all sports. Timothy Webb: So Nathan, what are your future plans? Nathan Poor: So obviously I want to continue what I'm doing and serving the students here, giving out great menus and doing different things with food. Also want to learn Spanish. It's a personal goal for the next year. Timothy Webb: I like that. When you learn Spanish, teach it to me. This is the one subject I struggle with most. Nathan Poor: We can learn together. Timothy Webb: So any advice or mottos or quotes that you live by that help guide you, that you want to share with our audience? Nathan Poor: So I've always said this and for a long time that it's never too late to have a fun childhood. If you know me, you know I'm always laughing and having a good time. So that's something I really live by. I try not to take life too serious. Just have a good time with the people you're around. Timothy Webb: Yeah, without a doubt. You can't get that day back, can you? Nathan Poor: Nope. Timothy Webb: Might as well have a good day. Nathan Poor: Sure can. Timothy Webb: Nathan Poor, I want to thank you so much for joining me today on Elevate. I really appreciate it. Nathan Poor: Timothy, thanks for having me. Timothy Webb: Now we're going to go eat some of that good food. Nathan Poor: There we go. Timothy Webb: And thanks to all of you for listening to Elevate today from the Razorback Camper Sales Studio. New episodes are released each Thursday. Special thanks to National Park College and a signal record for making this podcast possible. Until next time, this is Timothy Webb reminding you that every day is a chance to elevate.