Chains beat independents on a cycle of refreshing their concepts, décor packages, signage, logos, menu design, and offerings. Unfortunately, independents who ought to go big tend to go small. The consequences? Results that are obviously insufficient. Don’t let the chains beat you. Investing in upgrades activates your guests, enticing them to visit your dining room … Continued
For a large part of their days, restaurant owners try to figure out ways to give hourlies and managers more flexible lives. That’s just part of the world now: offering flexible scheduling for hourlies and groundbreaking benefit packages for managers. When you do this quality people want to work with you, and feel happy to … Continued
I have new clients in the startup phase complaining that not all their new managers are getting the job done. I also have longtime clients worried their best people may leave for that hot new brand. The best strategy for both these clients is the same: Keep the good people you already have. There is … Continued
It wasn’t long ago that my car dealer was sending me letters every week, asking me to sell them back my car for a crazy premium. I should have done it – because the price of used cars just fell off a cliff. Car dealers have cars in their showrooms again. Their factories are … Continued
When you found out that KFC had formed a partnership with the online Western Governors University to offer employees 100% paid tuition to earn a college degree, you probably rolled your eyes as an independent restaurant operator. Or maybe the shock was so big, you simply choked. But KFC is simply following the lead of … Continued
Have you driven by any of those restaurants with expensive dark and empty dining rooms, waiting a little longer to open – because their management team has not been fully populated? Finding great restaurant managers has always been a challenge. These days, though, many owners I talk to feel like that challenge is becoming more … Continued
Sought-after young restaurant brands can brag that they don’t even have to advertise. When I hear that claim I smile – because I know, one day, they will start advertising. They inevitably cool off. Someone else will own the hot new brand that everyone loves to be Insta-ing about. The most recent examples of this? Shake … Continued
Walt Disney did not say, “If you can dream it, you can do it” – no matter how many Web posts and truckloads of World Market, hardware store and Etsy-sold canvas wall art attribute that to him. The saying, “If we can dream it, we can do it” appeared at the entrance of Epcot Center’s … Continued
I’ve gone back and chosen five especially popular or meaningful posts from 2022 – a year of adjustment to new challenges and, on the whole, a successful year for the restaurants I work with. My clients and my readers told me that these messages turned out to be the ones that most helped them and … Continued
Often (unfortunately), when they’re asked to solve problems, too many management teams don’t have the information or education they need to solve them. If your managers remain P&L illiterate, don’t defend their P&L in a meeting of their peers and then go right back to their stores to make the next one better, you’ve failed … Continued