General Managers are the most important people in your successful multi-unit independent restaurant company. They control what happens within the four walls — including both the guest experience and the strength of your bottom line. Finding great general managers in the current labor market can be agonizingly difficult. As an industry we responded to this … Continued
A lot! Sometimes it feels like it is easier to raise money, sign a lease, build, and open a restaurant than to find someone to run it. There is a definite shortage of talented restaurant managers — and especially general managers. If you are a successful owner of an independent multi-unit restaurant company, you have … Continued
My research shows you need more than great food, service, and atmosphere — the holy trinity of the restaurant business — to guarantee success for the units in the independent restaurant company you own. My best clients build their successful multi-unit independent restaurant companies around the branding and experience business, not around the restaurant business. … Continued
I was recently interviewed by Howard Riell for a cover story for Restaurant Startup and Growth Magazine titled, “Help Needed — How to Compete for and Retain Employees in Today’s Job Market.” If you want to know what I think about that topic, Howard really nailed it. To summarize: owners of multi-unit independent restaurant companies … Continued
Listen to your guests. Last week I wrote about guests’ changing thinking on delivery and how it was out in front of many restaurateurs’ thinking. Guests accept a tradeoff — convenience vs. quality. They have realized delivered food is never as good as it is in a restaurant, but they value the convenience of delivery even … Continued
What’s changed? The guest has made a decision for convenience over quality — like they have in many other aspects of their life. It has taken many restaurateurs too long to realize and accept that the guest does not share the depth of their concerns about “how food travels.” As much as a heresy as … Continued
Show as much interest in the quality of their lives as they do results produced by their business. “How are you doing?” is a question we all get asked so many times we develop a rote answer. For many, that answer is, “I’m Busy” — a false badge of honor that says to some, “I’m … Continued
My brother from Seattle, visiting me in Dallas, once asked me, “Does anyone in Dallas ever open a restaurant that is not a prototype for expansion?” He was being a little critical, a little incredulous, and also, I think, just really wanted to eat at a restaurant where someone had poured their heart into the … Continued
You can when you set up your company to run without depending upon you. This is Spring Break week here in Texas (we go early in the year) — time to think about getting away. What’s the secret of restaurateurs who can get away for a week, two weeks, a month or more? In recent … Continued
The success of your independent restaurant company is a byproduct of your experiences and beliefs. And that’s good news, because your P&L shows above-average industry profits, your mystery shoppers give you high scores, and streams of guests come into your dining rooms every day. You may view that success as a kind of validation of … Continued