The Five Best Things I Told You This Year…and Why

2023 gave us steep interest rate increases, a shortage of experienced workers, and breaking the record type summer heat. 
 
But there’s one more thing 2023 provided: clarity on where to focus so we can build and grow successful independent companies like the ones that you own and I work with.
 
I’ve selected five especially popular or meaningful posts from 2023 that contain important lessons for 2024.
 
The people who read this newsletter or my blog, the clients I work with, and members of my Restaurant Owner Success Club have told me these messages resonated and made a difference in their companies and spurred them into action.
 

1. How to Take Action and Power to Boost Restaurant Guest Count
   I talked about guest count in 2023 as much as I talked about PPA in 2013: until people couldn’t stand it anymore. Your healthy future involves more happy diners, more often—posting, reviewing, and telling their friends.
    
2. How to Increase Restaurant Guest Count Now by Leveraging Current Conditions
   The title here may seem like the one above it, but this post actually deals with improving your retention rate. Experienced educated employees provide superior guest experiences. The byproduct? Increased guest count.  
    
3. When Your Growth Plan Is Way Ahead of Your Restaurant’s Operating Capability
   Every growth plan deck looks good on a laptop screen. This post directs you toward where to focus in the physical world, where people create tangible results. 
    
4. Top Restaurateurs Know to Step Outside of Their Comfort Zones
   Many restaurateurs I meet know a lot about their own company and nothing about any other company. Which holds them back. When we change that, they evolve to a new level of success.
    
5. How Top Restaurant Owners Enjoy Freedom They Have Earned
   If you know me well, you know we won’t be making it to the end of this page without reminding you about the fact that you have earned a flexible life. Your business, yourself, and your family benefit when you take advantage of that.  

 
People I talk to feel cautiously optimistic about next year.
 
Maybe that just comes from their optimistic nature, or maybe that’s based on actual evidence.

My wish for you? Take these five concepts and prepare for breakthroughs in your organization (and your life) in 2024.
 
At year end, I want you to know that I appreciate the effort you make to follow and share my work along with the opportunity you give me to help you and other restaurateurs experience true happiness and fantastic success.
 
If you recall another impactful post I created in 2023, click reply and tell me.  
 
Happy New Year!