The most representative moment of my year took place at the Texas Restaurant Show.As I was giving one of my talks, a hand went up in the standing-room-only crowd. The speaker looked around 30 – not that young, but maybe new to the industry. He … Continued

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 … Continued

Have you set up your company properly to track financial success related to your management development efforts, value of the guest experience, and branding and cost management initiatives?  Do you share accurate information freely, presented in a format and cycle common to the industry?  Do the … Continued

Turns out that guiding a restaurant company today is different and more complicated than at any time I can remember. Today, simply following industry-wide practices won’t move a company to the next level; instead, your approach is connected to the level of success you currently … Continued

Navigating this challenging market – as well as kicking off the holiday season – might make it seem like planning a holiday break is the last thing you ought to be thinking about. But that break turns out to be one of the most important … Continued

Those of us with decades of industry experience have become accustomed to up markets with a few down markets layered in. But none of us is accustomed to a flat market lasting this long.  A flat market taunts you – begging you (or even forcing … Continued

Maybe you already have multiple units and you’re building more in another part of town or embarking into multi-city. Or maybe, in addition to multi-city, you’re adding a second concept. Either way, if you want to sleep better – plan, organize and import knowledge from the … Continued

So, let’s imagine you’re on the leadership team at Cracker Barrel (I know: Right now, even the idea is giving you a headache). You had a great plan: That did not go well. The resulting firestorm of public opinion – or manufactured outrage driven by … Continued

No one ever came to me and said, “I’m excited about starting a restaurant company – I’ve always wanted to be average.” Still, I see a lot of average companies out there. In stark contrast to those truly activated operators who always become better, lead … Continued

How do you relate to your multi-unit team and managers and everyone else? How much do they depend on you? If the answer is “a lot,” know that creating such dependency isn’t a formula for building a great career. Success won’t come because you do … Continued

As a teenager, I had the opportunity to work security for the Rolling Stones. It was a side hustle I had taken on for one reason. I wanted to see the band. They played for six nights; I bailed after 2.  I had seen plenty. … Continued

News flash: Consumers do not feel super-excited about spending money with you right now. That’s not so much because of the current economy, but because of their concern about the future economy.  One set of numbers I never thought I’d look at would be the University … Continued

In a flat market, people can lose focus on profit erosion. We have all been taught that volume covers a multitude of sins. Today people learn that flat revenue can also disguise a multitude of sins. It becomes the excuse for everything. Can you honestly … Continued

We’re seeing another mid-year downgrade on industry forecasts for the year.  That this is happening for the second year in a row is unprecedented. We’ve never had to go enthusiastically into two straight years and then look in the mirror as an industry mid-year and … 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 … Continued

Break old habits. Start new ones. That first day back from vacation offers you an incredible opportunity to do both – to adopt new behaviors and see breakthrough ideas and initiatives you definitely want to take advantage of. If you tend to rush into a … Continued

At the recent Texas Restaurant Show – the biggest event of the year for the Texas Restaurant Association – I saw a lot of positive, confident, talented, and resilient restaurateurs from our state and the surrounding states.  That’s a change from other times when the industry was … Continued

At the end of last month, while you worked your five-day week, I meditated in near-complete silence for five days with 90 other people. Voluntarily. So far, 2025 has been a very busy, successful, productive (and frankly, sometimes overwhelming) year. I needed a reset to … Continued

At Texas Restaurant Show this weekend at the George R. Brown convention center in Houston – on Sunday, July 20, I’ve been asked to speak on two different topics.  First, “Increasing Your Restaurants Performance”, presented by restaurantowner.com where I will talk about the most powerful basic strategies … Continued

The “10,000-hour rule” has been debunked. Thankfully – I mean, who has that much time? But there’s another “rule” that still rings true: If you publish almost 1,200 episodes of your podcast and people continue to listen, that nails your credibility. I’m talking about Eric Cacciatore … Continued

In the past couple of weeks, I have had two different successful operators with exciting brands contact me because their growth plans only existed in their head. Neither one could figure out where to begin to take action.  So we figured it out together. Focus … Continued

What are the fastest and best ways to increase your restaurant’s performance these days? How do you grow your company in a flat market?  What’s your plan for continuing to grow your net worth and making your successful restaurant company even more successful? We can figure out the … Continued

It’s June…already! People don’t have to wake up early to take the kids to school, they struggle to keep them doing anything other than looking at a screen, and your Q2 has just a few weeks to go.  2025 has thrown some challenges the industry’s … Continued

Before, I never thought of myself as a group person. Sure, you could have even called me a loner. So I never expected that the groups I belong to would be some of the most significant contributors to my success. Now I know better.  Join … Continued

It can feel lonely at the top – especially because being there forces you to take a long, hard look at yourself every day. Every entrepreneurial independent restaurant company reflects its owner. Whatever the owner does well and values, the company does well and values. Whatever … Continued

It’s easy to joke about millennial and Gen Z workers who “quietly vacation” by slacking off in July and August (sometimes even simulating keyboard activity to give the appearance of effort) without their managers knowing. And who can blame them? In summer, life feels more … Continued

Be honest with yourself: Are your restaurants continually getting better, or are they ever so slowly deteriorating? Do you have evidence for your answer? What are your guests saying? What do the numbers say? Recently, a longtime client has brought me back after a 7 … Continued

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 … Continued

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 … Continued

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 … Continued

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.” … Continued

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. … Continued

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 … Continued

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 … Continued

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 … Continued