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Welcome to the Surrender News/Blog.  Get the latest news, trends, tips and information to help you succeed and thrive in the workplace. For older blogs click the Archives or a Category.

  • Don’t Sell Your Restaurants – Retire in Place Instead
    A lot of restaurant owners have that tired old American dream: Work your whole life, then sell your business and retire for good. When my clients figure out the high cost of selling now, many see that dream as a nightmare. You have another option. Rather than selling your company, keep it – and let … Continued
  • How To Sustain Mature Brand Success as Taught by Starbucks
    I’m fascinated by Starbucks and their journey. Mature brand, created a segment, once a hero to all, lost its way, now back on good footing. Two years ago, CEO Brian Niccol took over and announced his “back to being Starbucks” program. I wrote to you about it here. It hasn’t been quick or easy, though. … Continued
  • How To Avoid the Deceiving “Superhero Trap”
    How do you relate to your multi-unit team and managers and everyone else? How much do they depend on you? If the answer is “a lot,” know that creating such dependency isn’t a formula for building a great career. Success won’t come because you do the work of everyone else in your organization. So raise … Continued
  • To Live Your Best Life, Master Two Breakthrough Habits
    My younger clients – those successful multi-unit independent operators in their 30s, 40s, and 50s – very excitedly commit to building their net worth by developing their concepts, brands, people, and operational capabilities. But my clients in their 60s and 70s? They’ve been there, done that. Now, they want to take advantage of their success … Continued
  • The Most Important Thing to Do on Labor Day
    So here we are, Labor Day.  The psychic end to the summer, even our triple digit temperatures here in Texas seem to be over.  The beginning of the home stretch for the year and time to focus on the chance to have a great 4th quarter over the holidays. It’s Labor Day – the holiday … Continued
  • Swipe Right to Unlock Your Business’s True Potential
    Finally finding “the one” – the person your company has missed for its entire life – makes an incredible difference. This missing piece allows you to overcome the barriers between reliable and exceptional success.   It’s like a business version of a romance novel, but very real. But who is “the one”? Well, that all … Continued
  • How to Let People You Hired Share the Load
    My daughter just started high school. The most important message her new school is communicating to parents? “Stop solving your kid’s problems.” The school is requesting that, when our children come to us with a problem about school – whether their grades, schedule, or whatever occupies teenage minds – parents support students to figure out … Continued
  • Do You Watch Your Restaurant’s Most Important Number?
    Pop quiz: What did you learn last week from your guest count tracker, the one that compares each day in each unit with their counterpart last year? When restaurant owners start to think about guest count first – and they see it either holding, eroding, or slowly increasing – it inspires and demands action. It … Continued
  • Restaurateurs When You Want Change, Should You Think Big or Small?
    It may seem like “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma” (thank you, Winston Churchill, for the quote), but one of the great advantages you have as an owner of a small (or even medium-sized) business remains making big moves quickly. And in times like these, big moves are what you need if … Continued
  • Re-Investing in the Restaurant “Goldilocks Zone,” Where It’s Just Right
    Do you think your level of re-investment is too high, too low, or just right? Independent restaurant owners who understand the critical value of re-investing know that their real margins come from smart investments that help them keep up with guest expectations as well as their own mastery of profit. These owners typically operate at … Continued
  • How to Build Guest Count by Creating Outstanding Experiences
    Operators succeed in this challenging market by understanding the difference between a meal and an experience. Not by being like the operators who offer bundles and discounts. That’s a one-way ticket to nowhere. When you begin to understand that you no longer just sell meals, that’s when you start the process of increasing guest count.  … Continued
  • Useful Lessons Learned in the School of Restaurant Life
    I returned from the recent Texas Restaurant Show reflecting on the fact that people I have known for decades, as well as people I have just met, have at least one thing in common: They don’t walk around with PTSD after enduring an industry wide life-threatening crisis followed by the longest period of headwinds I … Continued