Three Things Successful Restaurateurs Focus on at Election Time

In this month’s QSR Magazine, I’m quoted in Kevin Hardy’s article — “For Restaurants, What’s Changed Under Trump?” — in which industry experts discuss what has changed for them during the Trump administration and how the upcoming midterm elections might affect them.

With an election coming up, this piece is very timely. If you have been watching a lot of cable news, or spending much time on social media, you certainly realize this.

In the article, Kevin talked to me about specific industry initiatives and changes that were both expected to happen, did happen, and haven’t happened.

The Most Important Thing I Said in the Article

“People that tend to panic think the sky is falling.  But what I have noticed over the years is the sky never falls.” That’s the quote in the article that I would most like you to remember.

Why doesn’t the sky ever “fall” for my clients: successful owners of growing independent restaurant companies? It’s because these people are masters of their own density.

The most successful people do not allow themselves to fall into the victim trap, where they become helpless and stuck.

My clients have a great deal of control over their lives, and they realize it. It’s when people forget they have control that they lose their power and their sky falls.

I am thinking of one very successful restaurateur I sat across from not long ago, who lamented that a legislative change had hurt his business. “I am a victim,” he told me.  I felt for him, because I don’t want anyone to feel harmed, stuck and powerless.

Three Things to Focus on to Maintain Your Power

One thing I have seen proven, over the three-plus decades I have spent in our industry, is that we improve, survive, and prosper despite whatever the world throws at us. This is what you must focus on:

1. Change is constant in our industry — what the guest wants, what our competition does, how demographics shift, and what the government does are all just aspects of that change.
2. You must have strategy and tactics to address the current business environment.
3. You must have the right people around you to implement that strategy and tactics.

When you do, you are victim proofed and prepared to make any situation better, build sales, profit, units, net worth, harmony, and personal freedom. That is what I wish for you.