What I Learned Eavesdropping at an Airport Bar

If you don't believe me that your employees will tell anybody anything, I'm going to tell you right now they will. Recently, on a trip, I had a delay in the Austin airport on my way home, so I sat at the bar in a little burger restaurant. It turns out, it was a great place to eavesdrop on a conversation about the manager’s challenges with his leadership and software. In this video, I talk about what I heard him say and how it can help you in your restaurant.

At this little burger restaurant, there was a chef manager behind the bar taking inventory. Next to me at the bar was a guy who struck up a conversation with the manager, asking what inventory system he was using. They talked and figured out that the guy at the bar knew that software and then the manager says, “Yeah, well, we don't really use it all the way. It's no good, and I can't really blame the software. My boss is a retail guy, and he's a dictator…” He carried on, going through this whole explanation about how he manages other restaurants and doesn’t understand the importance of recipe costing cards.

In the middle of these two guys talking, I'm keeping my mouth shut. I don't want to let them know that I'm a restaurant guy, so I let it play out and watch this manager taking inventory behind the bar while service is going on.

Then I can’t help it, and I lean over and say to the guy sitting next to me, “Well, we know this is completely wrong. You can't take inventory while service is on.” From there we start bantering. He ends up being a chef consultant, and he's also opening up an art gallery. We have a little bit of a conversation and a couple things pop into my head as we do.

The first is that it’s amazing how employees in restaurants will tell you exactly how they feel. Here was this manager, complaining about how his supervisor was an idiot and couldn’t even get him login information for software when he started working there. It was really catty and backstabbing.

The second thing that popped into my head was there's no perfect software out there. They all have their challenges, but the benefits of having software far outweigh the stumbling blocks that come with learning the software and training others on it. For example, inventory software, when used properly tells you your actual product usage vs your ideal. Tracking and monitoring this leads to huge food cost savings.  

I know it was an airport, but airports have restaurants, employees, managers in these restaurants and they're no different than yours. It's just a little microcosm of business and the people who are in them. The manager’s frustration is as big in the airport restaurant as it is in any other restaurant.

If you've been feeling for any length of time that you need software for recipe costing cards and inventory, you do. It's a must, and you must make sure you set up the software completely and that takes time. It is not a magic pill. There's no perfect software.

You also must become an employer of choice because your employees are telling your customers how they feel about you. Your customers, your employees’ family and friends, your vendors, they know if you’re an employer of choice because your employees will share everything.

As a restaurant leader, go kick some butt, lead your team, make yourself an employer of choice and put the right systems in place with the right software. Use it completely, and you'll change your world.

Be sure to visit my YouTube channel for more helpful restaurant management video tips.