When I was growing up, my family ate in a lot of restaurants. A lot. And to me, those restaurants were organized and efficient businesses where everyone knew what to do and things ran smoothly.  Like where my father, an officer in a Fortune 500 … Continued

What is it that kills great plans? Organizations with a lack of accountability. Restaurateurs often start off with big and exciting ideas, fantastic talent, and a great grasp of what they need to grow their business. Ideas, plans, and programs become the wish/vision/dream boards of … Continued

Since the Great Recession, we’ve seen over 10 years of economic expansion. That means there are a lot of successful operators out there who have never known anything but good financial times. But they’re like the doctors who graduate from medical school without a business … Continued

“Why isn’t my restaurant making 20 percent?” I hear this plaintive cry from many frustrated restaurateurs who have heard about that number and – since they’ve heard about it – think they must be entitled to it. Some of my clients’ own restaurants make over … Continued

You’re out over your skis – going too fast and getting ahead of yourself. You own a successful independent multi-unit restaurant group and your ability to sign leases is outpacing your organization’s ability to perform. Future projections? Dazzling. But you have zero track record at … Continued

Welcome to the 2020s!   If you want to make outstanding business decisions, you need to know what’s coming next. So, what will we be dealing with over the next 10 years? I have a few predictions.  1. Rent and Food Delivery Expenses Will Go … Continued

I’ve gone back and chosen five especially popular or meaningful posts from this year – the ones my clients, owners of successful multi-unit independent restaurant companies, said benefited them the most.   So, as 2019 turns into 2020, take a moment to see how they … Continued

My clients’ DNA must be filled with a longing for growth. At best, this growth adheres to a plan. At worst, owners act like hungry, unruly, science-fiction monsters who can never be satisfied, and grow haphazardly because of it. All of the best restaurateurs I … Continued

Restaurateurs often contact me, thrilled they have one or two promising-looking units. In their mind they have made a fantastic leap toward having a national group of franchisees that provides them incredible mailbox money with lots of zeros they no longer have to work for. … Continued

Compared to where restaurateurs from my generation were when they were in their 30s and 40s, today’s restaurateurs at that age are crushing it! When I work with them, I convince them to move with higher velocity and take advantage of all their ideas, experiences, … Continued

If the only way you prove your restaurant’s continued success and competitive advantage comes through using data, that’s perilous.    That’s because the most important things in our industry are hard to measure: Culture Morale Guest happiness Service Sure, we have spent a lot of … Continued

The thing about procrastinators, commitment-phobes, and last-minute people? They don’t know what they are missing. Many of my clients – successful owners of independent restaurant companies – take more than their time in making decisions. Some of them simply hate to make decisions, because making … Continued

Your grill cook – the person who prepares that steak exactly to temperature – has a better sense of balance on the grill than you do on accountability in your restaurant. To the visionaries who start their organizations and become the successful multi-unit independent restaurateurs … Continued

Always run your restaurants like you are planning to sell them. When someone sells their house, they prepare it to appeal to buyers. They touch up chipping paint, clean stains off the hardwood floors, and plant the nicest flowers in the front yard. That cracked … Continued

“Believe me: I’m extremely aware that I compete with everyone in my segment—and most of the people in the other segments, too!” I often hear those words from people like you: successful owners of multi-unit independent restaurant companies. They live their lives as if everyone competes with … Continued

If you worked a 30-hour week, what would you do with the extra 10 or 20 hours you just gave yourself?  “Oh, I have a big list – can’t wait to be there. And I’m thinking about calling Matthew so I can be there sooner.”  … Continued

When was the last time you gave yourself a raise? The one you earned for increased performance. I meet a lot of well-known restaurateurs who proudly and confidently identify their businesses as “great.” They’re so great that, at first, they don’t even know why they … Continued

It’s Labor Day – the holiday dedicated to the American worker. Many people don’t think about the meaning of the day (if they ever knew it in the first place). And that’s what happens to a lot of our holidays. They morph into days of … Continued

People think that what got them started will continue to be a foundation of their future scaled success. Those people are wrong. When you add something you did not have at the beginning – when everything was new and exciting – you create phenomenal success … Continued

Are you overly dissatisfied – feeling things could be better, but not quite sure how to make them better? Or are you overly satisfied – so happy with the great life you have built for yourself that you don’t pay enough attention to making your restaurants even … Continued

When you reach a certain level of success, it’s OK to run that victory lap and settle in to being an owner, not an operator. One multi-unit owner I know has done this so well they consider their job “playing restaurateur.”  Be more like them. … Continued

For successful restaurateurs, there was a grueling period at the beginning when they really did have to work all the time. The most debilitating mistake people make? They don’t even notice when that time ends, so they keep running that schedule out of habit. Life … Continued

If you are anybody in our business in and around Texas, your usual mid-July habit is to head to Texas Restaurant Marketplace. That is where you’ll see new products and hear a wide range of speakers (including me) present new ideas about how to operate … Continued

Sitting in the dining room of one of my clients, we tried to figure out what this super-successful business leader had in common with some of my other clients. Then it hit me – he had never worked in a company he didn’t own! I’ve … Continued

In the past I have proven why culture provides 100% of your profits. That’s a lot. I constantly work with my clients – successful owners of independent restaurant companies – to define their culture in a permanent way. This lets them direct the behavior of … Continued

Proof of concept. Knowing your restaurant brand has legs – that its single-unit economics can be repeated and repeated and repeated – is like that can’t-fail feeling Hillary Clinton felt the night before the election.   In the end, proof of concept doesn’t prove that … 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

Many restaurateurs sleepwalk through writing their budget every year – forecasting menu price growth, inflation, or market growth as a revenue target. The best ones choose to wake up, and do a lot better than that. Revenue can always go up – faster than you … Continued

You already know about the missing pieces in your organization. You experience nagging discomfort like a pebble in your running shoe or worse, a self-critical voice that hounds you about addressing them. This will impact you especially if you have a lot of pride in … Continued

Most of my clients guide teams in their multi-unit organizations through their next stage of growth, management development, concept development, branding, or culture. However, a few still are hands-on operators of their own restaurants. When that changes – when we improve everything by hiring the … Continued

If you are in the restaurant business, you have to pay attention to the problems (and solutions) at Subway. You can learn two gigantic things from this amazing business story. First, for those of you on the top, pay attention: When there’s innovation in your … Continued

The smartest restaurateurs know that they are not in the restaurant business—they are in the branding business. According to the Forbes 2018 World’s Most Valuable Brands list, the top five brands are Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon. However, these brands all experience a red-faced love/hate … Continued

What do your experienced eyes see when you walk through your dining rooms? The staff fastidiously on task? Dreaded empty tables when you’re on a wait? Your trusted long-time expeditor making sure food does not sit in the window too long? Craving data and KPIs, … Continued

Most of my clients are in a conscious evolution phase – having realized a portion of their growth potential when I start with them. But some – high volume single units ready to start growing – are anticipating that exciting and initially mysterious time. One … Continued

Google the term “work life balance.”  You will get two billion results. That’s fast—and a reminder of why we need work/life balance. Forty years ago, when the term “work/life balance” began to pop up in our conversations, people lived in a telex, mainframe, and WATS line world. … Continued