“What is our company culture?” If you stopped five members of your organization today, would you get five different answers? Maybe something similar but, well, imprecise? Or, confused silence? What if you asked them to tell you what they did today to uphold that ethos? At the most successful businesses, you will get the same answer, … Continued
Management is not about doing things, it’s about growing people and leadership. If you call yourself a manager and you find yourself in the doing mode, stop. Julie Dickson, the managing director of Black Sombrero in Lismore, New South Wales, Australia recently wrote me. That’s right . . . she operates a “Taqueria and Tequilaria” in … Continued
The best companies make strengths out of their weaknesses. If you want to get the most from your business, you really don’t have any choice. Yesterday I was on the phone to a frankly excellent customer service department of a consumer electronics company. The phone was answered quickly, the person who answered was smart, funny, and … Continued
If you want to increase profits and asset value, pay your people more. We all spend a lot of time thinking about employee retention, attracting great candidates, and providing good benefits. It’s vital to have a stable workforce that understands our culture and our systems, and that takes care of customers in the way we want … Continued
Right about now, most business owners are reviewing their financials for 2014 and taking stock of success for last year and opportunities for 2015. But assumptions about what happened last year may be flat out wrong. What really happened? What are the facts behind the numbers that will dictate management activity to truly increase results and the … Continued
Rockwall High School won this year’s Texas ProStart Restaurant Management competition. Here are five reasons why: They used humor and enthusiasm to portray their ideas. They were through, detailed, committed, thoughtful and comprehensive. They solved all aspects of a problem, not just one part. They established a clear protocol for problem solving. They were creative, … Continued
Our server forgot to fire our third course. Which would normally lead to eye rolling, dissatisfaction, exasperation or worse. But the first two courses had been so . . . good, each plate so so well-conceived and unique to Dallas, and we had ordered so much food that we were satiated and almost grateful, ready to … Continued
It is human nature to want to influence government in whatever direction you think would be best for you and the people you care about. What I have noticed is that whatever the government throws at business, sometimes beneficial, sometimes not, companies react and respond with intelligence and creativity to make the best of it. … Continued
The most important position in any restaurant company is the General Manager. Properly educated and deployed, the GM can become a point of strength that allows restaurant companies to reduce the corporate overhead historically associated with supervising GMs — as well as improve results. How? When GMs are educated on developing systems, processes, and procedures, … Continued
Fundamentals may look like the boring stuff of business, but in fact they are the foundation for unique and special concepts that capture imaginations of diners and build wealth for their owners. Some companies do well because they are great at the fundamentals of business. Others prosper through the magic of branding and concepts, or … Continued