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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.

  • Avoid Pitfalls of Restaurant Expansion by Planning in Advance
    It could be easy to be stuck in your tracks right now. You look at a flat market, threats of tariffs that can upend the economy, and a stock market that bounces around daily like a basketball players’ “shooters bounce” that goes up and down three times before it makes it through the hoop. Yet … Continued
  • How Multi-Unit Restaurant Supervisors Create Better Results
    You can’t afford to have multi-unit supervisors just run the machine. That’s always true, but especially in volatile and uncertain times like these. Instead of running the machine, your multi-unit supervisors must be building a better one.  Two Different Outcomes For people who work in your company, do the alarms in their phones wake them … Continued
  • How to Take Action and Power to Boost Guest Count
    The most important number for your restaurants – the one to look at every shift, day, week, and accounting period – isn’t on your P&L. That number? Guest count. I have clients who show up with positive comp guest counts. Those brands offer great experiences to guests who are willing to pay for unique and memorable … Continued
  • How to Discover the Missing Pieces to Increase Your Restaurant’s Success
    In this flat economy when you have to do all of the work yourself because the market is not going to do it for you, two questions hold the key to unlocking increased sales and profit: These days, you must have every possible element working in your favor. Making things right can add 5% to … Continued
  • Increase Restaurant Revenue By Learning from Southwest Airlines’ Really Big Mistakes
    Restaurant owners – don’t be like Southwest Airlines! Southwest has decided to start charging fees on top of fares, thinking they’ll make more money that way. They used to be the only airline out of the big four not to charge for checked bags; now they’ll start charging for checking bags on May 28th – … Continued
  • How to Make Productive Restaurant Partnerships Work
    Early in my career, as an operator with partners, I experienced the joys of an imploding partnership: enriching lawyers and exchanging money, territories, and grief.  My CPA told me, “A partnership is a like a marriage: easy to get into, hard to get out of.” Many of my clients love doing their own thing without … Continued
  • How Restaurant Owners Make Work Not Take Over Their Lives 
    Which of these two statements do you think applies to most restaurant owners? After decades of working with successful owners of multi-unit independent restaurant companies, I guarantee the big issue is number 2: the work ethic (or paranoia) that leads to working too many hours.   The Spring Break Example In Texas this week, we … Continued
  • Now is the Time To Re-Focus On Your Restaurant Menu
    Your guests demand more than ever and their tastes change. The good news? All the data shows they’ll still hand you their credit or debit card  when you give them something they perceive as valuable. So, as part of your guest focus, never stop working on menu improvement.  Does Your Menu Hold You Back? After a … Continued
  • Restaurateurs Use Your Spectacular Victories to Unlock Even More Success
    Let’s take a vacation from focusing on issues (aka “opportunities”) you might have at your restaurants and ask you, “What’s your latest victory?” Does anything come to mind quickly? Hopefully – after a day spent dealing with the competition, immigration, workforce issues, egg prices, renewing your insurance, and retaining and motivating your work force – … 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 Restaurateurs Get Unstuck and Dominate in Today’s Market
    It turns out that the barriers holding your results back aren’t unique to you. Sure, you are special, but not that special.  And today’s flattish restaurant market does not do the work for you. You have to do it yourself. Even though I write consistently about the four most important things to focus on in your restaurants now—guest … Continued
  • What Successful Restaurateurs Learn From Chains To Beat Them
    Chain restaurants have several competitive advantages over independent restaurants – on technology, marketing, and employee benefits. In comparison, your resources in those areas are less than tiny. Yet survey after survey finds that most of the dining public intentionally visit independent restaurants because they would rather support local businesses. And it doesn’t hurt that a … Continued