I’m often asked whether people seek my help more when the market is up (to support rapid growth) or down (because everyone’s trying feverishly to correct deficiencies).
The answer? Neither. In this flat-as-a-pancake market, I’ve never been busier.
Today, no one can afford to sit on their hands on a bus of survivors. Taking specific action is the key to sustaining and flourishing.
All You Have to Do Is Win
Some restaurants win in today’s flat market. Figure out how to be one of them.
A good place to start? Eat meals in your market’s busy, vibrant independent restaurants that are doing really well.
Every restaurant meal comes with an interesting lesson learned. Dining in someone else’s packed restaurant inspires you to do better.
You might even visit pace-setting and pace-beating chains like Chili’s or Texas Roadhouse.
On a road trip over Thanksgiving, I stopped at a Chili’s. The value meal – the “3 for Me” – which starts at $10.99, is credited for driving staggering success. Surprisingly, I found it buried so deeply in the menu that you have to go through just about everything else in order to find it.
A very intentional placement.
How to Do This
Now, chastened, I want you to pull your senior management team together and question everything that holds your guest count down:
- What have you not been willing to do that will make a difference?
- What have you not been willing to admit and face that will make a difference?
- How does your guest experience truly stand up to the competition?
- What action will you take with management, operations, employee education, and level of expectations and accountability?
My clients:
- Acknowledge their service level does not rise to what guests expect or demand so they hire learning-and-development coordinators who work in restaurants, not in an office.
- Review whether marketing amplifies the strongest aspects of their restaurants – the ones that guests want to use – and pivot marketing appropriately.
- Accept that where senior managers or general managers are not leading people and units to their full potential, they must make necessary (though stressful) personnel changes and close those gaps.
As you finalize your 2026 plan, if you feel like a victim who does not have control over the business or future due to economic conditions and low consumer confidence levels, follow these steps to get out of your own way, snap out of it, and have a great 2026.
