Nothing happens in a restaurant dining room until someone creates a recipe, orders the food, preps and cooks the food, and an expediter puts the order together. The best successful multi-unit independent restaurant companies create enthusiasm and loyalty with their back-of-house personnel by constantly telling them – through shift meetings, staff meetings, or just one-on-one … Continued
The professionals at the top of your successful multi-unit independent restaurant company are critical to your success, but they are not irreplaceable. In some cases, replacing them will actually propel you forward. Experience in the restaurant industry is very important, but there’s also a lot to be said about the role of fresh ideas in propelling … Continued
Too many successful multi-unit restaurant companies budget like people who go to the grocery store and take a list of what they ate last week without any thought for what they might enjoy in the future. The result? They get good things, but not great things — nothing new, interesting, or life changing. Many companies like … Continued
I was recently talking with the CEO of a 30-unit organization, who asked me, “Are you the guy who brings in the technology and the software that will give me more data? My data is good, but it can always get better — and there are several issues in operations I want to target.” When … Continued
If you are an owner of an independent restaurant company, there is a good chance you have walked through your dining room wondering to yourself, “Why doesn’t anyone see what I see?” Sound familiar? I recently talked to two such operators who asked me that question incredulously. One of them wondered when the people around … Continued
Those of us with a pile of wisdom and experience from being in the restaurant industry for decades remember when a restaurant operations manual was the size of a phone book. Those of us with that track record of career-long success also remember what a phone book looked like. Today’s workforce? Not so much. So … Continued
Quick, recite the language you use to recruit and retain talent. Is it compelling? What does it say about your organization? What is special about working there? What makes working with your organization a winning strategy from the talent’s perspective? It probably isn’t rate of pay; nobody wins on rate of pay — the competition … Continued
If you know me well, you know I am a positive and optimistic person. But even I have to admit that, in this economy, finding unit-level management is brutal. It is easier for me to find a VP of Operations, CFO, or COO for the owners of successful independent multi-unit restaurant companies who make up … Continued
Over the years, I have worked with so many successful independent multi-unit restaurant owners. A lot of them share this common characteristic — they just don’t fit the mold. You know, the conventional American business leader: the great manager who runs an organized, rational, structured, efficient company. On the extreme is the story about the … Continued
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