The restaurant business can eat you alive. For example, Ohio State University did a study many years ago that showed 59 percent of all restaurants fail in the first three years of business. The National Restaurant Association once reported that the average restaurant makes a nickel to 8 cents on...
Every couple of months I like to invite a restaurant owner who has benefited from my restaurant coaching program onto podcast. It’s a great chance for the restaurant owner to reflect on all the work they’ve done and the results of their work. It’s also a chance for me to take a...
A restaurant owner who builds a team of reliable and accountable restaurant managers is primed for success. When you have a team of people to lead, it gives you as the restaurant the freedom to work on the bigger, more strategic business moves. So, how do you keep this team of restaurant managers...
Over the past 20 years of coaching restaurant owners, one thing has not changed: the challenge of finding the right kitchen manager or chef for your restaurant. It’s pretty easy to convince yourself you found the right person to later find out they’re a disaster of a choice....
Hiring a restaurant manager is a challenge, but there’s no greater challenge than finding the right kitchen manager. A lot of restaurant owners look to chefs as an ideal manager in the kitchen. After all, they are people destined to help create an experience in a restaurant that results in...
Is it better to hire a chef as a restaurant manager in the kitchen? The short answer is that there's only one difference between a chef as a manager in the kitchen and a manager with general kitchen knowledge. Regardless of which type of restaurant manager you hire for the kitchen, here...
After coaching restaurant owners since 2003, I can tell you with 100% certainty that what almost every restaurant owner wants to know is how to control food cost. It doesn't matter if they’re brand new to the restaurant business, or they’re a seasoned veteran, food cost challenges...
I have been coaching independent restaurant owners since 2003 and I can tell you with 100% certainty that what almost every restaurant owner wants to know is how you can control your food cost. It doesn’t matter if you're brand new to the restaurant business or you’re a seasoned...
Here's your restaurant owner reality check. If your food cost is higher than you think it should be, I’m willing to bet you're not managing your kitchen correctly. It means you don't have the right systems in place to control your food cost and if you have recipe costing cards, you don't...
How can you make your restaurant stand out in the sea of competing restaurants – other independents and the overbearing chain restaurants? The restaurant business is hard, and all the competition can make it downright scary. If I were to count the number of restaurants, just restaurants...
When I first started developing operational systems in restaurants, I relied heavily on spreadsheets. Excel was revolutionary, and I pushed that program to the max. Spreadsheets were the best way to organize the systems, track numbers, track inventory and do all kinds of operational tasks in the...
Running a restaurant by the numbers can be a challenge if you don't know what numbers you need to know in the first place. Off the top of your head though, I bet you can name three without even thinking: food cost, labor cost and your profit loss. While there are many more numbers to know, I want...
