The Ultimate Guide to Restaurant Manager Productivity

Hey there, restaurant pro. It’s David Scott Peters and welcome to episode 75 of the Restaurant Prosper Ready Formula. I’ve been coaching restaurant owners since 2003 and the Restaurant Prosper Ready Formula is based on what the most successful restaurant owners I’ve worked with do on a daily basis to achieve their success. The basic premise of the formula centers around achieving prosperity, freedom of your restaurant, and the financial freedom you deserve. To achieve prosperity, you have to follow a very specific formula made-up of leadership, systems, training, accountability, and taking action.
Today, I want to talk about how to unlock your restaurant’s profit potential and give you the ultimate guide to managerial productivity and laser-focused success. Let’s get started!
At the time of me sitting down to record this podcast, I’ve basically just returned from my two-day event called Restaurant Transformation Seminar in Las Vegas, Nevada. With just shy of 80 restaurant owners and their managers in the room, I’m still riding emotional high. I’m just… dare I say, motivational high, because as much as I’m sharing data with them and inspiring them to do more, it inspires me to remember my why, I do what I do. And that’s sharing with you how you can achieve restaurant prosperity.
The one key component to any restaurant owner’s success in implementing the systems I taught them and ultimately living the benefits of restaurant prosperity, which is freedom of your restaurant, the financial freedom you deserve, and that is all dependent on their implementer’s success.
Who’s an implementer? Well, if you’ve been following me for any length of time, you’ve probably heard me talk about the implementer because this person is critical to your success. And I, in the seminar, shared with my, again, almost 80 attendees how the implementer was critical, even to a point where you couldn’t join my program if you didn’t have an implementer. And if you didn’t think I really meant it, I gave examples of members who had to come into the program six months later because they needed to have an implementer.
Now your implementer is your right-hand person when it comes to implementing systems in your restaurant. Your implementer is someone who buys into your business, who buys into your dream, who buys into you. They’re excited to learn and they’re able to start and finish projects. So these people are linear, right? They don’t dash around with 35 half started, half finished projects. They can start and finish a project. They could train others and with your help, hold others accountable to these new systems. They’re also often people pleasers. They want to make you proud.
Now just days earlier on a group coaching call, before the seminar, I had one of my most successful members bring up the challenge that she was having. She said basically now it’s been years, years of implementing systems and we’ve seen the success and enjoyed those success from time to changing my role to making more money and having a full management team in place. She said I’m finding my implementer is getting pulled in too many directions, is easily getting distracted and is, well, working way too much, which means the things I’ve asked to get done, they’re just not getting done.
My member continued, she said, I’m trying to point my implementer in the right direction. Instead of feeling overwhelmed, she said, I sit down with her and I say, let’s look at what you’ve got to get done. Let’s set your goals and put deadlines on it. This is very much the things that I teach. So here was this restaurant owner actually putting it into practice. And she said, when I looked at the list after they put it together, it was actually not a lot. It wasn’t too bad. In fact, It seemed manageable. So she said, I’m trying to figure out how to reel my implementer in without having to make this implementer feel so overwhelmed.
And here’s the advice I gave this owner and everyone on that group coaching call. And I thought it was so important, I wanted to share it with you. There’s going to be a three-step process to this. We’ll focus on continued communication, setting up boundaries, and working up, not down. Let’s dive right in.
Step one is continued communication by ensuring, well, you’re having weekly manager meetings with your implementer. You got to review last week’s numbers, last week’s goals. Say where we hit, where we missed, why did we miss it? And then you’ve got to say, what do you want to get done this week going forward? That way you set up your implementer for success. Basically what you covered in that manager meeting is already mapped out on what your expectations are in the upcoming week.
You’re basically going to end up each week creating a new list of things to get done. Now there’s a truth to this and that is I don’t know that you ever get your to-do list 100% done. So we’ll talk about how we can put that list together the right way. And that’s this.
That list needs to be set up in highest priority to least priority order. This makes it so much easier for you to express what absolutely has got to get done this week. No excuses allowed on these certain items. Again, number one versus a number 10 is going to be very different on your list.
Now one quick side note. You also have to deliver the message that when you the owner come in during the week, like the whirling dervish, you know, kind of like a Tasmanian devil, if you remember the cartoon for old people like me, just kind of making crazy everywhere going, adding the list. Hey, I want that done. Hey, how come that’s not done? Can we add this, do this? I want that done. And all of a sudden, your implementer can feel extremely overwhelmed because again, they’re people pleasers. They don’t necessarily want to tell you no.
So your implementer has to have permission to show you the current to-do list and let you know that they might not have time to get everything done if you add more to the list. So here’s the new task he wants done. You want it done. Where does it fall on the list that if you can’t get it all done, what can be missed?
Now this gives you, the owner, the opportunity to go, oh, I didn’t realize that was overwhelming you. I can give this to somebody else. Or again, be on the same page with your implementer that we can take their foot off their neck that everything isn’t going to get done, that you have changed your priorities and that’s okay.
Now step 2 is remember your implementer must be able to set some boundaries. And this is probably one of the toughest things to do is to set boundaries that while we want an open office policy, open door policy that, hey, whatever it is, come see me. I’m your manager. Well, there’s a point where setting boundaries is extremely important though.
When you have double coverage, and when I say double coverage on the restaurant floor, that means you’ve got an opening manager and a closing manager that are overlapping for an hour or two hours. This is when your implementer can really be locked in the office and work on these systems, input data and get things done.
The challenge can be that all of your team members know that your implementers sit in that damn office. And so when they need help with something, They don’t actually look for the manager on duty. They go straight to the office because they know they will find a person who can help them sitting right there.
Now it’s too easy for your implementer to get up and take care of things. Right? Because they’re people pleasers. They want to take care of their team. They’re also restaurant people, which means hospitality, take care of our people, take care of our customers. Like get up, go do the work. The problem is it pulls you from every direction. And the next thing you look at yourself, say, I just spent 10 hours today. I didn’t get anything done on my to-do list because I kept getting interrupted. How do I stop getting interrupted? Because it’s chewing up all the time. So the next thing you know, again, your implementer hasn’t gotten **** done.
So your implementer must be able to establish boundaries. When there’s an MOD, manager on duty, There’s got to be something on the door they can put that says do not disturb. Do not disturb this implementer unless of course there’s an emergency situation because there is a manager on the floor. It’s not like we’re saying, hey, you can’t have help. It’s just the person who’s supposed to help you is out there. You’re not allowed to come back here unless it’s an emergency and interrupt because I’ve got other things that have got to be done. So there is coverage already.
And when the implementer is, well, interrupted, They must, and I mean must, send the team member back to the floor to find the manager on duty. They’ve got to find a polite way to go, oh, I can appreciate that you’ve got to get that done. Have you tried to find manager on duty? Did you look for the manager on duty? You need to find the manager on duty. I’m not in a position to be able to help you right now. I’ve got to get this work done. You’ve got to be able to say those things.
Step 3, is to teach your implementer and managers for that matter, that they need to work up, not down. You may have heard me, if you’ve been following me for any length of time, you know that I talk about this working up versus down.
See, most restaurant implementers and their managers started in a line position. I know I did. I started as a dishwasher, for crying out loud, moved my way all the way through. This means when the restaurant’s busy or in times that that manager or implementer is feeling stressed, they’re going to revert back to where they came from and do their jobs, the jobs of our team members instead of their own job.
For example, if an implementer started in the restaurant business as a server, now they’ve promoted up to manager, well, when it’s busy, what do they do? They revert back to taking care of the guests by running food, busing tables, even taking orders and dropping checks. They fall back into the position of server, which means they’re working down, not up.
Your implementer is doing your line employees’ jobs, not their own. They’re not working on the numbers. They’re not implementing systems. They’re not training people. They’re not holding people accountable. They’re not staying true to your core values. They’re doing a line employee’s job, which means they’re very expensive. Right? If you think about it, $15 an hour versus a 40, 50, 60, 70, $80,000 a year person doing the job you hired someone else at minimum wage to do. That’s working down, not up, right? I’m working down doing people’s jobs below me instead of working up.
Now, this is okay when your restaurant is actually in the weeds, right? You are. You’re on a two-hour wait. What’s your manager supposed to do? They’re supposed to do the work because it’s all hands on deck. Otherwise, your implementer and managers need to learn the lesson that there’s a time to do, a time to help, and a time to direct.
There is a time to do, there’s a time to help, and a time to direct is what I mean. Well, again, remember we’re in the weeds. We’re on a two-hour wait. But when table 22 needs to be bused, That implementer’s got to go and or manager has got to go bust that table. We need that table right now. All hands on deck. You’ve got an opportunity. You see it. Get it done.
Now, if we’re almost in the weeds, we’re busy. We’re nice and busy. Everybody’s focused on the guests. Nobody has time to play grab *** at the time clock or do anything but take care of the guests. Pre-bust tables, drop food, take orders. You get the picture. Everybody’s just focused, focused, focused, well-oiled machine. there’s a time that maybe I as a manager need to help. I see that table 22 needs to be bused. I grab a bus there’s, hey man, let’s get over there, let’s do this together. Start them off, take a little bit to the kitchen, but on the way go, you got it from here? Great.
So this is time to help. It’s not I need to do the people’s job, but I need to, hey, get them focused on getting it done. They certainly could use an extra hand, no problem. But I’m still walking the circle. I’m doing my managerial things. I’m just assisting where I see needed.
Now there is also a time to direct. And that’s that Monday evening. We’re slow. And the first thing that, again, somebody who has been promoted into management, become an implementer from being a server, a bartender, a cook, you name it. What am I going to do on a slow Monday? Let’s lead by example. Do as I do, not as I say. So the next thing is I go bus table 22 and I look around and my servers aren’t doing anything.
Instead, when it’s slower, I need to be able to go, hey server, table 22 is yours. That has been sitting dirty too long. Let’s go, why don’t you go clean that please? So there’s a time to do, there’s a time to help and a time to direct.
And it’s teaching our implementer, it’s teaching our managers. to recognize the time that they’ve got to choose which one it is. Because all too often they work these long weeks, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 hours, don’t get anything done on the to-do list because they’ve been working their *** off doing what? Working down. Doing everyone else’s job instead of working on what they’re supposed to be working on. And the easiest path to that is understanding when there’s a time to do, a time to help, and a time to direct.
I also want to share with you additional advice other members on that group coaching call shared with the group. One of my members also talked about how there was a dark side to implementers getting overwhelmed. He asked the question, how do you know when your implementer is tired or unwilling?
This owner talked about how we give people, especially those people we trust, those key people, the benefit of the doubt when it comes to getting things done. He went on to say that you can look at the same situation through two different lenses. basically those rose-colored glasses, giving the benefit of the doubt is one of them. The other way is, well, the person just isn’t right for that position anymore.
And what he was trying to say is what we talk about all the time. Sometimes we promote people and they do a great job for us as we need them. But as the company starts to elevate, needing more from that position, sometimes people reach what’s called, I think it’s from the 1990s, a management principle called the Peter Principle. You rise, you promote to your highest level of incompetency. You keep getting promoted until you can’t do the job.
And sometimes we promote people and they did a great job for us, great job for us, great job for us. And as we keep moving up the ladder of progress, they stall. Now, sometimes that’s on purpose. Sometimes it’s because they’re not capable. Sometimes it’s because they don’t want to change. They don’t want to do anymore. And that’s the hard part is how do you know that the person that you’ve trusted has been your implementer, getting **** done, like just rocking and rolling, isn’t filling that overwhelmed point versus they don’t want to do it anymore. And again, that’s the hard part, determining which lens to look through.
Another member talked about advice that they received on a past group coaching call from another member. That’s what I love about the group coaching calls is it’s not just me, it’s restaurant owners, a group of restaurant owners or implementers sharing solutions to challenges that everybody faces. And that member basically taught them, when you make that to-do list, that task list, if you will, for your implementer, put the number of minutes that it’s going to take to get it done right next to that task.
The member went on to say that when you’re starting to feel overwhelmed and you can help your implementer learn this, by using this method, by knowing how long estimate each one of these tasks may take, you can start checking off the easy ones first, right? Start with a 5 minute test, check, get it done. Take a breath, move on, do something else. Do a 10 minute test, check it off, get it done, move on, do something else. The next thing you know, the list is getting completed and your implementer is not feeling so overwhelmed.
Many of my members have started using apps like Asana or Monday. These are basically project management apps, communication apps. I introduced them with my groups. We started using monday.com and my team likes Asana better. You choose which one works for you. There’s free versions and there’s paid versions. You’ll probably find with the free version for either one.
These apps basically promote communication and help you delegate tasks. One member said it’s changed his life. Heck, there are times when his implementer finds that, well, when he’s got a little extra time, he looks at the owner’s to-do list and grabs items off of that list, can communicate immediately that he’s taken it and it’s getting done. On top of that, this member can also take a look at all the managers’ to-do lists and say, hey man, I’m starting to overwhelm my people and make a change before it becomes a problem.
Now going back to the original challenge, The original challenge we started with, and that is the last piece was the implementer was working too much, right? How do I avoid my implementer going through burnout by working too many hours? Now I can tell you this is not unusual. Your implementer is a people pleaser. They want to get things done for you, right? So what do you do? You sit there and say, hey, I love you. keep volunteering for things.
Well, I had a member talk about this. She had one of her key managers was just on fire, would volunteer for things over and over and over again. Like, I’m going to get this done. This is awesome. Oh, we’ve got this other thing that needs to be done. Oh, raises her hand, says, I’m in. And it was great.
The problem is this manager was taking work home with them, was working too much. And the member said to me, recall a coaching call, a one-on-one coaching call we had, where she started talking about how they lost this implementer because she burned herself out, that her husband ultimately was not pleased with what was going on.
Well, we talked about it earlier and said, okay, you brought this person up before and we talked about it and did you sit this person down and say, don’t take work home? Yep, we sat this person down and said, don’t take work home. It’s really important that you don’t. But she did anyway. She’s put a ton of hours.
Did you tell her that her mental health and her having a life was important to you? She said, yeah, we told her that.
And she recalled that there was one profound thing that I said, and that was this. Did you write her up? She said, no.
See, ultimately what happened? because they didn’t say, hey, it is that important to us to make sure you are not putting in more than 50, 55 hours in a week on a routine basis, that you’re not taking work home, that you’re not overwhelming the hell out of yourself by saying words, but not really enforcing those words with actions. We let her continue to do it is what she basically said.
And ultimately her husband was ******. that she was overworking herself, burning herself out, ultimately quit.
So it’s important that you put the groundwork down to make sure your implementer doesn’t get overwhelmed.
And by following all the things we talked about, by ensuring that, well, we know that there’s got to be boundaries. We know working up versus working down. We understand that your implementer has got to make sure they take the time for themselves to get their work done, whether it’s creating those lists and putting priority in order and putting how much time it takes for that constant communication. All of it matters. All of it puts you in a position to be successful. Because why? Your success is 100% dependent on who? Your implementer.
Now I hope that you understand why I felt like when I was on the group coaching call and we had the members sharing all this and we were talking about it, why I said on that call, this is good stuff. This is probably going to become a podcast.
And that’s what I did here today is by folding in the two things that happened in the same week, that group coaching call saying, hey, your implementer can actually overwhelm themselves if we let them. And days later in the two day seminar saying, hey, you’ve got to have an implementer to be successful because I can’t get you the restaurant owner to do these things. I need you to learn them, guide your people, help them hold other people accountable. and I’ve seen it over and over and over again be successful, that by marrying these two thoughts in the same darn week in two different situations can set you on a path to not only understand the importance of that implementer, but once you find them, including your managers, that they don’t get overwhelmed and you spend all this time developing them and they ultimately leave you for the wrong reasons.
So make sure you continue to communicate. Make sure you teach them to work up, not down. Make sure that your implementers, well, they’ve set those boundaries because your implementers are critical to your success.
Hey, that was an awesome episode. I want to thank you for taking the time to take action on building a better, more prosperous restaurant. Before you go, I want to give you these three thoughts.
One, by combining leadership and taking action with systems and training being checked by accountability, you are on your way to creating prosperity for you and your restaurant.
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For more restaurant resources or to get in contact with me, connect with me at DavidScottPeters.com. Be passionate about what you’re doing. Be persistent. But more importantly, become better and help everyone around you become better. And your restaurant is going to kick some ***.