For 13 years, Sean Feeney traded high-yield bonds for a living. He now operates 2 of the most sought-after restaurants in NYC. Each night, Lilia and Misi have 2,500-5,000 people on their waitlists. One of his first decisions proved the most important. Rather than pay his rent like everyone else - fixed per square foot - he found a landlord that let him pay a percentage of sales. 8% to be precise. "That was the number everyone said. Don’t pay more than 8% of sales on rent.” Sean took it literally and it proved crucial. He turned a common transaction into an uncommon partnership. In year one, he thought Lilia might do $3.5 million in sales. They doubled that and he ended up paying a lot of rent. Sounds bad. But it proved Lilia and its landlord were aligned. If one does well, so will the other. The landlord was quick to fix issues, make the building look nice, and keep the sidewalk clean. And come COVID, when Lilia had no sales, Sean owed no rent. It's one short story in a long series of how Sean and his co-founder Missy are challenging the prevailing wisdom in the restaurant world. You can hear all his wisdom in today's episode.