When it comes to following restaurant systems every day, restaurant owners are notorious for falling down on the job. They are just too busy in other areas and they lose sight of the daily routine things that are required to keep systems working properly. Besides, the job of a restaurant owner isn’t to be buried in the day to day; it’s to be strategic and to think bigger than daily tasks. If it’s not the restaurant owner, then who should it be? Restaurant owners must appoint someone who gets stuff done, who loves the restaurant and wants to support the owner. I call this person an implementer. In fact, to be part of my restaurant coaching program, you must have an implementer. In the program your implementer learns with you but implements and does the work.
In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I introduce you to Brandon Anderson, the implementer for Original Black’s Barbecue in New Braunfels, Texas, a high volume, 93-year-old, family-owned-and-operated barbecue business. With 12-plus years of restaurant experience working his way up from line employee, shift lead, and assistant manager to general manager, Anderson has experienced a lot in his restaurant life. He’s worked for several corporate restaurants until ultimately landing at the Original Black’s Barbecue. The ownership team knew Anderson was the exact right person to be the implementer, and they were right. Listen to this episode to learn more about the impact of systems, the job of an implementer, and Anderson’s implementation journey, the challenges faced and lessons learned, and also what a great implementer looks like.
Here are the key takeaways from our discussion:
An implementer is so important: Anderson explains the crucial role of an implementer in achieving restaurant prosperity. Anderson is an effective implementer who talks about being open to learn and taking action to drive positive changes.
The challenges of high-volume operations: Anderson talks about the challenges faced in managing a high-volume, 93-year-old family-owned barbecue business with four locations and plans for a fifth. The daily operations are a “regular restaurant on steroids,” which poses unique challenges in product management, purchasing, staffing and cleanliness.
Life before implementing changes: Anderson shares insights into his role and daily responsibilities before being brought into the program by one of the owners. The discussion touches on the transformation brought about by the restaurant coaching program and the decision-making process involved in becoming an implementer for positive change.
Anderson’s journey comes with challenges, but he is very clear about the importance of implementing a specific formula for success for restaurants who want to prosper, which he learned as an implementer in the restaurant coaching program with David Scott Peters.
Click the podcast player above to listen in, or you can watch the video on YouTube, click here to download the latest episode.