Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] So about a year and a half ago, I was introduced to a guy that for the sake of the story, we'll call Mike. Mike is not his real name, but Mike is a restaurant owner. He's a friend of a friend. And we have this mutual friend. And I think he thought since we're both in the industry, we would get along. And so he introduced us. And so, I don't know. I've seen him a handful of times over the last year, year and a half. And Mike owns this successful restaurant, right? At least on the outside it looks successful. They're busy every weekend. It's got a pretty good reputation in the area. Food is solid, the dining room is nice. But see, Mike has a problem. Mike can't find good employees. At least that's what he tells me every single time I see him. He says, chip, nobody wants to work anymore. I mean, these kids don't care. I. I can't find anybody who knows what they're doing. In fact, every time I hire somebody, they. They just quit.
[00:00:49] That sounds familiar, right? I've heard some version of this conversation hundreds of times over the past few years. I'm sure you've heard it. I'm sure you've probably even been guilty it. But see, whenever I hear it, I asked the same questions. Mike, tell me about your hiring process.
[00:01:05] And he does. He tells me, he says, we post ads online. Somebody applies, we bring them in for an interview, and if they seem decent, we hire them. I say, okay, sounds easy enough. Tell me about your training program. And he goes, usually three or four shifts. They follow another server around, you know, for the server. Same thing with the cooks. Maybe they do five or six shifts, right? They learn the pos or they learn the. The walk in and the, you know, the dry storage. Well, whatever. And then we put them on the floor.
[00:01:30] I say, okay, great. What happens after that? And then he looks at me and he says, what do you mean?
[00:01:35] I clarify. So I mean, how do you continue developing them? What does their training look like over the Next, let's say 30 or 60 or 90 days?
[00:01:44] And Mike just gave me silence. First time I asked him, right as, as it happens so often when I ask people, how do you help them become better at their jobs? I clarify the question again. More silence.
[00:01:57] Mike, how do you prepare them for their next position, right? If they're going to grow, how do you. How do you help them grow? How do you give them a reason to stay and see? Mike is still client quiet, but eventually he says, well, see, Chip, we don't we don't really have time for any of that. Certainly not a system for that.
[00:02:13] But see, that right there, that's the problem. Because there is time, and there has to be a system.
[00:02:19] See, Mike doesn't have a hiring problem. He doesn't even have a training problem.
[00:02:23] He doesn't even necessarily have an employee problem. I think Mike actually has a leadership problem.
[00:02:30] Now, before all you guys get defensive, I want you to hear me out, because I'm not suggesting that every employee is wonderful. I'm not suggesting that there aren't difficult people in the world, and I'm certainly not suggesting that the labor market hasn't changed. It has.
[00:02:46] But here's what I am suggesting. If you constantly struggle to find good employees, if the people you hire don't perform at the level you need them to perform, and if your best employees keep leaving, at some point you have to stop blaming the employees.
[00:03:01] I think you have to start looking at the system, because the one thing all those employees have in common is that they work for you.
[00:03:09] And so if you don't like the results you're getting, then maybe it's time to change the way you're doing things.
[00:03:15] So today we're going to talk about one of the most important subjects in our industry. We're going to talk about people. How to attract them, how to interview them, how to hire them, how to train them, and ultimately how to develop them. In the end, I want to show you a way to build the kind of restaurant where great people actually want to work, where you are just great at attracting those people. I'm going to pull heavily from my newest book, which is in print now. It's not out yet, will be out soon. It's called the Restaurant Profit Playbook. And I want to share the lessons I learned during my years opening and managing restaurants in New York City. I'm going to share some stories. I'm definitely going to give you some frameworks, and most importantly, I'll give you specific things you can start doing in your restaurant tomorrow. Because I believe that your people can become the single greatest competitive advantage your restaurant has.
[00:04:05] And listen, that doesn't happen by accident. It happens by design. All of that on today's episode of Restaurant Strategy.
[00:04:12] There's an old saying that goes something like this. You'll only find three kinds of people in the world. Those who see, those who will never see, and those who can see when shown. This is Restaurant Strategy, a podcast with answers for anyone who's looking.
[00:04:43] Hey, everyone, thanks for tuning in. My name Is Chip Close. I am your host here of the Restaurant strategy podcast. We are almost up to episode 600 if you haven't done so already. I've been asking my email list to send me your burning questions. I'm going to share the questions I get most often, but I also want to pull some questions from you so you can email me chip@chip close.com c h I p k l o s e.com Send me your burning questions. Episode 600 is just going to be one big Q and A session. I did this in past big marquee episodes. Going to be a lot of fun. So please, please do that.
[00:05:20] What's the food cost for your third best selling entree? You don't know. But with Margin Edge you could know instantly. Margin Edge is a complete restaurant management software that we recommend to every single P3 member anyone looking to improve their profitability. With Margin Edge you just get the snap pictures of your invoices and you get real time data for every area of your business. You get to see plate costs in real time. You get a daily P and L. You know, I love that your inventory count sheets are automatically updated. What happens is that Margin Edge saves you a ton of time and it lets you make better informed decisions. I got a client, Gather brewing. They were P3 member for a better part of a year. They started using Margin Edge last year and within one month, I'm telling you, 30 days, their food costs went from 38 to 28%. Massive savings that those 10 points dropped straight to the bottom line. Trust me, there's a reason I recommend Margin Edge to so many my clients, so many listeners, so many P3 mastermind members. It's because it works. I know it works. If you've been listening for a while, you know, I talk about it. If you're interested in learning more or you want to see how Gather brewing went from 38 to 28%. They put together an incredible video. Video. Head over to Margin Edge.com/Chip again. Margin Edge.com/Chip. As always, you'll find that link in the show notes.
[00:06:38] Okay, so these episodes, right, we did a big episode like this on profitability, we did another big one on marketing and here we're doing one on people. A big pillar episode. It's going to be like an hour long. I mean, we'll see if I can keep it to an hour. There's a lot I want to talk about then. The whole idea is that this is an episode you can share with your team that you can come Back to again and again and again. Because there is a ton of information in here, right? We're talking about labor, we're talking about our people. And I think most of the people problems we have are systems problems. Therefore, they are leadership problems. So as we dive in, we're gonna, we're gonna get really deep, really quick. Let's start with something that I think might surprise you.
[00:07:22] I don't think most restaurant owners understand just how much they influence the quality of their employees.
[00:07:30] They think of the labor market, I think, as something that just happens to them. Right? Good employees are either available or they're not. People wanna work or they don't. Applicants have experience or they're green and the owner is simply sitting there waiting to see who walks through the door.
[00:07:46] But that's not how I want you to think about this. I want you to think about building a team the same way you think about building a menu.
[00:07:54] Imagine you open a restaurant without recipes. No portion standards, no plating, no presentation, no costing, no inventory systems. You just, what, hire some cooks and tell them to make great food. And some nights, depending on who's working, the food is incredible. Other nights when you got other people working, it's gonna obviously be terr.
[00:08:14] Sometimes the portions are enormous, sometimes they're tiny. The food cost is all over the place. And then when a guest complains, you blame the cook because, well, whose fault is that really?
[00:08:25] Honestly, when it comes down to it, you didn't create the standards, you didn't establish the systems, you didn't provide the training. You didn't define success. You just hoped. In that instance, which I trust nobody does, but in that instrument instance, you just hope that everybody would figure it out. And see, that's exactly what a lot of restaurant owners do when it comes to their employees.
[00:08:47] They hire somebody, they throw them into the operation, they give them a few shifts to try and figure things out, and then what? They get frustrated when the person can't perform.
[00:08:57] I want you to think about how absurd that is. We wouldn't accept that approach when it comes to recipes. We wouldn't accept it when it comes to inventory or cash handling. So why do we accept it when it comes to people responsible for actually delivering the entire guest experience?
[00:09:14] So here's the first shift I want you to make. Stop treating employee performance as a personality trait. Start treating it as an outcome that you can actually influence.
[00:09:25] Now, obviously, people bring different abilities, attitudes, and yes, levels of experience to the job. You certainly can't train somebody to care if they fundamentally refuse to Care.
[00:09:38] You can't force somebody to be curious. And you can't build a successful restaurant around people who consistently refuse to meet reasonable expectations.
[00:09:46] But you can dramatically improve the odds of success by creating better systems. By that, I mean a better recruiting system. If curiosity is something that. That matters in your restaurant, then make sure that in your interview you're seeking out people who are curious.
[00:10:05] Right. You come up with a better recruiting system, therefore, a better interview process that leads to, I hope, a better onboarding experience and a better training program, a better management structure and, yeah, better path for development.
[00:10:19] I want you to imagine two restaurants. Both are hiring servers. Both offer similar compensation. They both operate in the exact same neighborhood.
[00:10:28] The first restaurant posts an advertisement that says, experienced servers wanted. Must have two years of experience, must be available nights and weekends. The second restaurant communicates a compelling opportunity. It talks about the team, the culture, the money employees can make, the skills they'll learn, the opportunities for advancement. Maybe it shows photographs of the restaurant. It introduces the leadership team. It explains what makes that restaurant different than the other restaurants.
[00:10:58] Which one do you think is more likely to attract somebody who's ambitious, curious, and looking for a great place to work?
[00:11:05] Okay, so now imagine those two restaurants hire equally talented people.
[00:11:10] At the first restaurant, the new employee gets three shifts following another server. At the second, the employee receives a structured training program, clear expectations, daily feedback through meetings and ongoing education.
[00:11:24] Which of those two employees is more likely to become excellent at their job?
[00:11:29] I think it's easy to think. It's easy to answer that question. But imagine six months later, at the first restaurant, nobody has talked to the employee about their future.
[00:11:38] At the second, the manager has helped them develop new skills, given them additional responsibilities, and shown them a path toward promotion.
[00:11:47] Really, which employee is more likely to stay?
[00:11:51] I mean, it's obvious, right? You see where I'm going with this? We spend so much time talking about finding great employees, but maybe we should spend more time talking about building great employees.
[00:12:02] I said this a million years ago on, like, episode 50 something. I was like, here's the secret nobody wants to talk about. You don't find great people. You don't find great employees. You make them.
[00:12:13] Because when you build a system that consistently develops talent, you become less dependent on finding the perfect person.
[00:12:21] And I promise that changes everything.
[00:12:25] I want you to think. Actually, I want you to think about recruiting more closely related to marketing, right? This is something you just have to understand when you post a job advertisement, right? Job listing on whatever website you like, you are marketing your restaurant. Just like you're marketing your restaurant to potential diners. You are marketing your restaurant to potential employees.
[00:12:49] You are selling an opportunity. And the people you're trying to reach are evaluating you just as carefully as a diner would. And I hope that they're evaluating you just as carefully as you're going to evaluate them.
[00:13:01] I mean, think about that, right? We spent thousands of dollars trying to convince customers that our restaurant's special. We hire photographers, we build websites, we create social media campaigns. We tell our story about food and chefs and ingredients and our hospitality and our history.
[00:13:18] Right? We tell it in all different ways, through all different channels.
[00:13:21] But what then? It's time to recruit employees, and we just post the most boring ad imaginable.
[00:13:29] Server wanted, two years experience required. Must be a team player. Must work well under pressure. Competitive compensation.
[00:13:38] What does any of that mean? Means absolutely nothing. You know why? Because every restaurant says the exact same thing. I mean it. Do you know how many restaurants just copy and paste something from a similar restaurant? In the Restaurant Profit Playbook, the book that's coming out in January? I tell a restaurant about an HR manager that I worked with who admitted to me that she hadn't written an original job listing in years.
[00:14:02] Meaning whenever she hired somebody, she'd find a similar listing from another restaurant or maybe a similar listing that she had used before, and she just copied it, made a few adjustments, and then posted it.
[00:14:16] And here's the thing. She wasn't unusual. I know a lot of people who do this. In fact, I've seen it happen over and over and over again. Restaurants just copying each other's job listings. The same requirements, same responsibilities, the same meaningless language.
[00:14:31] And then we all stand around the water cooler wondering why we keep attracting the same mediocre candidates. Well, maybe it's because nobody has given the candidates a reason to choose them over any of the others. So here's my first recommendation. Treat every job listing like a marketing campaign.
[00:14:50] Start with the audience. Meaning who are you trying to attract? Are you looking for a college student who wants to make good money while finishing school? Are you looking for an experienced bartender who's passionate about cocktails? Are you looking for a cook who is ready to become a chef? Are you looking for a manager who's ready to take the next step in their career?
[00:15:07] All of those are different people. They have different motivations. And they should probably, probably be seeing different messages.
[00:15:15] Because a college student might care deeply about flexible scheduling. A career cook might care about learning new techniques, new recipes. An experienced manager might care about autonomy, compensation, and more opportunities for growth.
[00:15:29] So why would you use the same generic language to recruit all of them?
[00:15:34] In fact, you wouldn't, and you shouldn't. Now, once you know who you're actually trying to attract. And I want you to think about what makes your restaurant a compelling place to work.
[00:15:44] Please don't tell me you have a great culture. Everybody says that. And what does that actually mean? Do you offer consistent schedules? Do you invest in training? Do you promote from within? Do you offer pto? Do you have a transparent compensation structure? Do you have a strong team that supports one another? Do your managers actually know how to manage? Do employees have opportunities to learn new skills?
[00:16:08] What makes working for you different from working for the restaurant down the street?
[00:16:13] And see if you can't answer that question. It's a problem because you're not simply competing for customers. I want you to understand you are competing for talent and talented people. Certainly the best of the best. They have options, right? They're like free markets. A lot of teams are lobbying for them.
[00:16:30] So here's an exercise I want you to do. I want you to write down the 10 best reasons somebody should want to work at your restaurant.
[00:16:37] 10. Not three, not five. 10. And I want them to be specific, right? I call this the top 10 list. I call this in the book, the upside down job listing. Instead of talking about the qualification, qualifications, the responsibilities, all of that, start with, hey, here are the top 10 reasons why I think you're gonna love it here.
[00:16:54] So maybe your restaurant's closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, so employees are guaranteed two consecutive days off every week. Maybe your servers participate in monthly wine education. Maybe your cooks get to work directly with the chef on menu development.
[00:17:08] Maybe you have a formal path from host to server to supervisor to manager. Maybe you have an employee recognition program. Maybe your team has unusually low turnover because people genuinely enjoy working there.
[00:17:20] Whatever it is, whatever those 10 things are, write them down.
[00:17:23] And guess what? If you struggle to come up with 10 reasons, I think that's pretty useful information.
[00:17:29] I think it means you have some work to do. Because before you can convince somebody that your restaurant is a great place to work, you need to make sure it is a great place to work.
[00:17:39] So now let's talk about the ad itself, right? The job listing. I really do want you to lead with the opportunity. Again, in the book, we call this the upside down job listing, not the requirements. But imagine a job listing that starts like this.
[00:17:53] Want to make great money, learn about food and wine, and work with a team that takes hospitality seriously.
[00:17:59] See, that's already more interesting than experienced servers wanted.
[00:18:04] See, then after that, you explain what makes this opportunity special. You talk about the restaurant, you talk about the training, you talk about the compensation, you talk about the people. And then, yes, obviously in the end, eventually you have to explain the requirements. But there are requirements I don't think should. Shouldn't be the first thing that somebody sees.
[00:18:24] So your goal at this stage is just to get the right person excited enough to apply.
[00:18:29] That's it. You're not trying to train them through the ad, right? You're not trying to explain every responsibility they'll have. You're trying to just start a conversation. Oh, and one more thing.
[00:18:42] Use pictures, Use video. Show the restaurant. Show off the team.
[00:18:47] Celebrate the environment.
[00:18:48] If your restaurant really is as special as you say it is, why wouldn't you want to show people what they're signing up for?
[00:18:55] Guess what? You already have the tools, right? You already have a phone, you have social media. You have cameras. Use them.
[00:19:02] And if there's no way to embed pictures or videos or whatever right there on the page, then include a link and say, you know, click here to check out more about the opportunity in our culture. They click there and it takes them to, like, photos of the food, the restaurant, the people.
[00:19:16] All of that. Get them excited, right? Here's something else I want you to. I want to encourage you to do.
[00:19:22] Ask your best employees why they enjoy working for you. I mean it. Don't guess, actually. Ask them, what do you like most about working here? And then ask them, what surprised you when you first joined the team? What would you tell somebody who's thinking about applying? Their answers actually might be more compelling than anything you could write yourself. And if they're comfortable participating, I don't know, feature them in your recruiting. Take their picture and put their quote under there. Or have them record a testimonial. Just like you record testimonials from your real guests, record testimonials from some of the people who've been there for 5, 10, 20 years.
[00:19:58] Remember, your candidates don't just want to hear the owner say that the restaurant is a great place to work. I think they might benefit from hearing other people say that it's a great place to work. It provides credibility and social proof. And I think it's just as important in recruiting as it is in attracting customers. Now, I want to take this one step further, because a great job listing doesn't do you much good if your hiring process is terrible.
[00:20:22] And that's where we're going next.
[00:20:25] Stop making hiring so complicated. I want to spend a minute talking about interviews, because I think a lot of restaurants have turned the interview process into something unnecessarily complicated. See, let's say somebody applies for a server position. You send them an email, they respond. Three days later, you schedule an interview for next Tuesday. They come in, you ask them the same 10 questions you've asked everybody else, right? Tell me about yourself. What do you think of your strengths? If you had to say, what are your weaknesses? Where do you see yourself in in five years? After 20 minutes, you tell them you'll be in touch, and then you get busy, you forget to call, they accept another job offer, and now you're back to square one.
[00:21:04] Meanwhile, the restaurant down the street found the same candidate, called them immediately invited them in, and made an offer before you even remembered that you had forgotten.
[00:21:14] Guess who got the employee?
[00:21:16] Here's what I believe. For hourly positions, the traditional interview process is often less useful than we think.
[00:21:23] Now, I'm not suggesting that you should just hire people without evaluating. Quite the opposite. I'm suggesting that you should evaluate them in a way that actually tells you whether they can do the job. Because the ability to answer interview questions isn't necessarily the same as the ability to deliver great hospitality, right? Some people are excellent interviewers, but terrible employees. Other people are nervous in interviews, but they're extraordinary when they actually get onto the floor.
[00:21:50] So I want you to rethink the process.
[00:21:52] When a promising application comes in, you got to move quickly. Pick up the phone, call the person, introduce yourself, tell them a bit about the restaurant, ask a couple of basic questions, see if they really are interested in the position. Does the schedule work? Are there compensation expectations aligned with what you're offering? Do they meet any essential qualifications? And if that brief conversation goes well, just invite them in to come see the restaurant. Now, in the book, I talk about something I call an observation trail, right? And I love this approach. Restaurants in Europe have been doing this forever. They call it a stage.
[00:22:24] Instead of bringing somebody in for a formal interview, right. Sitting across a desk from you, instead, invite them to spend some time observing the restaurant in action.
[00:22:33] Let them actually see what service looks like. Let them meet the team, let them experience the energy, and let them understand what the job actually involves.
[00:22:42] Now, if they're simply observing, that's one thing. If they're performing productive work, then obviously they need to be compensated appropriately and you need to follow the employment rules that apply in your jurisdiction. But the principle remains, let the people see who you are, see what you do, see the restaurant in action.
[00:23:01] Don't just have them, you know, don't just have them, you know, listen to the version that you describe in an interview.
[00:23:09] Because this is a two way evaluation. You're trying to determine whether they're a good fit for the role. And absolutely, they are trying to determine whether your restaurant is a good fit for them. Here's something I think a lot of owners forget, right? That the candidate is interviewing you too. They're watching how your managers treat employees. They're watching how people communicate. They're watching whether the restaurant feels organized or chaotic, whether the team seems happy. And through it all, they're deciding whether this is a place they want to be a part of.
[00:23:37] So if you're serious about recruiting great people, make sure you're showing them a restaurant that's actually worth joining.
[00:23:44] Now, after that observation, I want you to have a conversation, not an interrogation, not just a conversation.
[00:23:51] Just ask them, hey, what did you notice? What excited you about being here? What questions do you have for me? Are there any concerns you have after being here for a couple of hours? What did you think about the way that the team worked together?
[00:24:02] And then ask yourself a few questions. Did this person seem genuinely interested? Were they curious? Did they engage with the people they met? Did they demonstrate the basic capabilities that you think the role requires?
[00:24:15] Can I imagine them succeeding here with the right training?
[00:24:19] All of that will lead you to an answer. And I want you to pay particular attention to that last question, right? Can I imagine them succeeding here with the, the right training?
[00:24:30] Because you don't necessarily need somebody who already knows everything.
[00:24:33] You need somebody who has the potential to learn, the capacity to do what you need them to do.
[00:24:40] And of course, that now brings us to an important distinction. Hiring hourly employees, which I've just described, is not the same as hiring managers. And I want to spend some time on that because we do that very differently.
[00:24:52] See, when you're hiring a server, a cook, a host, or a bartender, let's say you're hiring somebody to execute a particular role.
[00:25:00] When you're hiring a manager, you're hiring somebody who really will be responsible for the performance of everyone in the restaurant. And see, that's an entirely different level of responsibility.
[00:25:10] A manager is going to influence your culture, your profitability, your guest experience, your employee retention, your standards really.
[00:25:18] And ultimately, I think they're going to be the key to your ability to, to step away from the business.
[00:25:24] So you can't rush that decision again. In fact, in the Book the Restaurant Profit Playbook. I explain that I typically use four conversations, right? Or four interviews when hiring managers. The first is an hour long, broad, wide ranging interview. The second then is a deeper, more direct conversation. The third gives the candidate an opportunity to experience the restaurant in action.
[00:25:46] And the fourth then will introduce them to the key stakeholders.
[00:25:50] I want to walk you through why I do it this way. So first, the initial conversation. Like I said, It's 60 minutes. I generally want to spend about an hour, at least, with a management candidate. And I don't want it to feel like I'm reading questions from a clipboard. I want to get to know the person, right? Because this is somebody that is going to be an extension of me. So I want to know what excites them, what are they curious about? What kind of restaurant do they want to work in? What do they think makes a great leader? What are they hoping to accomplish in the next few years?
[00:26:19] I also want to understand how they think. Not just what they've done, but the how they think.
[00:26:25] For example, I might ask them about something that's going on in the restaurant industry, right? So maybe a new concept that's just opening or a trend that we're seeing or changing guest behavior, something that's relevant to the kind of restaurant that I'm hiring for. And I'm not looking for a quote, unquote right answer. What I'm looking for is engagement. I'm looking for somebody who pays attention to the world around them, right? You guys know I spent a big part of my career working in fine dining in New York City. And in that environment. I wanted managers who were interested in the industry in the restaurants throughout the city.
[00:26:58] I needed people who knew what was opening. I wanted people who were curious about chefs who was rising, who was falling, who was opening new places. I wanted people who cared about hospitality, who were excited about the industry we were in.
[00:27:10] That doesn't mean you should use the exact same questions in every restaurant. If you're running a casual neighborhood spot, the skills you need may be very different.
[00:27:19] Maybe you need somebody who's exceptional at being at developing hourly employees. Maybe you need somebody who's strong with numbers. Maybe you need somebody who understands high volume operations. Maybe you need somebody who's particularly good at building relationships with guests. The point is to define what matters before you even start interviewing and then design the conversation around those priorities.
[00:27:41] Now, here's something else I like to do. I spend more time talking about the present and the future than I ever will reviewing somebody's Resume? Yes. I want you to understand their experience, but I'm much more interested in where they're going. So instead of asking, tell me about your time at Restaurant xyz, I might ask, tell me, what did that restaurant do exceptionally well? Or what's something you learned there that you still use today?
[00:28:08] Or what's something you've always wanted to learn but haven't had the opportunity to explore in past jobs? See, the answers to those questions tell me a lot. They tell me whether somebody is curious, whether they recognize excellence, whether they can learn from past experiences and bring the most important pieces on.
[00:28:26] Mostly, it tells me whether they're interested in continuing to grow and see. All of that will then determine if there's going to be a second conversation. And if I like the candidate, obviously I'm going to bring them back.
[00:28:38] That second interview is going to be much more focused. This is going to be much more direct. It's where we start digging into the details, right? How do they think about labor? How do they think about food cost? How do they approach employee accountability and productivity? What do they do when somebody is underperforming? How do they typically handle guest complaints? How do they train new employees? And here's one of my favorite questions. Tell me about somebody you helped develop into a better employee. Tell me about somebody you take pride in. Not somebody they hired, but somebody they personally developed. So I want to know, what did that person struggle with, and what did this individual do to help them get through that? Right. What changed over the course of the development? What was the result?
[00:29:21] Because, see, I want managers who can make other people better. I don't just want somebody who's good at running a shift, somebody who's good at identifying talent. I want somebody who's good at developing talent and building a team.
[00:29:33] And see, right there, that's a huge difference.
[00:29:36] Now, the third interview is really an observation. So I want the candidate to see the restaurant. Sometimes that means coming in during service. Sometimes it just means coming in and having a meal. Sometimes it means spending time with the management team. But really, I want them to understand what they're getting into.
[00:29:52] And if I'm honest, I want to hear what they notice. Do they see opportunities? Do they understand the challenges we're facing? Do they ask thoughtful questions?
[00:30:02] Are they excited by the possibility of contributing? And then finally, if all of that goes well, and, you know, we might get 50 resumes and only bring in eight to the first interview, and that might only be four to the second interview, and maybe just three of those might Come back to observe, and then maybe we narrow it down to two for that fourth interview to meet the key stakeholders. Right. Key stakeholders are your partners, other managers, department heads, people who they will work closely with. And I want those conversations to be purposeful, not just a series of introductions. Oh, hey, nice to meet you. But I want the stakeholders to evaluate specific areas, meaning maybe the chef is going to explore how the candidate approaches communication with the kitchen. Maybe your partner. Right. One of the other owners explores financial accountability.
[00:30:52] Maybe another manager explores teamwork and conflict resolution. And after all those conversations, I want the hiring team to compare notes.
[00:31:00] What did we learn? What concerns do we still have? What evidence supports our opinions or our decision?
[00:31:07] And here's something I feel very strongly about.
[00:31:11] We do not make the offer on the spot. I want you to take time to think. I want you to have time to huddle up, talk to the people involved, make sure you are aligned.
[00:31:21] Because a bad management hire can create enormous problems. Right. This idea, hire slow, fire, fast. You've taken all this time to do two, three, a fourth interview over the course of weeks. Don't just rush the offer. They've been in it this long. They understand it's a process.
[00:31:37] So taking an extra couple hours or, you know, a day to make the right decision is almost always better than making a rushed offer that you might regret later.
[00:31:48] Now, when you do decide to make the offer to a manager, I want you to pick up the phone and talk to the person. I want you to tell them you're excited. I want them to hear your excitement. I want you to explain a little bit more about the opportunity, and then tell them you're going to follow up with a written offer that clearly outlines compensation responsibilities and expectations.
[00:32:07] In this, professionalism matters. And it starts way before their first day on the job.
[00:32:15] Now, one of the biggest hiring mistakes I see people make, again, is looking for experience instead of potential.
[00:32:23] It's an assumption that I want to challenge. Right. And this one, it's going to feel a little controversial to some of you out there, but I think restaurant owners place too much emphasis on experience.
[00:32:32] Not always. I mean, there are positions where experience is absolutely essential. Right. If you're hiring an executive chef to run a complex kitchen, then, yeah, you probably want somebody who has demonstrated the ability to do that job. If you're hiring a GM to over oversee a, you know, $12 million restaurant. Yeah. Then you want evidence that they can handle the responsibility and the volume for so many of the positions in our restaurant. Right. The hourly positions. I think owners Become unnecessarily fixated on experience.
[00:33:00] Well, they must have three years of serving experience. They must have five years of bartending experience. Must have worked in a similar concept. My question always is why?
[00:33:09] What exactly does that experience prove to you?
[00:33:12] Maybe it proves that the person has spent time doing the job. It doesn't necessarily prove that they're good at the job, and it doesn't. Doesn't prove that they're going to be good at this job.
[00:33:24] I would rather hire somebody with limited experience who's curious, capable, coachable, reliable, and genuinely excited in hospitality, as opposed to somebody with 10 years of experience who thinks they already know everything.
[00:33:39] Because I can teach somebody the menu. I can teach them the pos. I can tell them how to describe a bottle of wine, how to set a table, how to clear a table, the proper sequence of service. But it's so much harder to teach somebody who has no interest in learning.
[00:33:54] Now, that doesn't mean we should hire based on vague impressions or, you know, or based on gut. I don't want you telling me that you hired somebody because they had a great smile or because you felt a connection.
[00:34:06] Those things are not enough.
[00:34:08] But I want you to identify the actual behaviors and capabilities that will predict success in this role.
[00:34:15] For a server, that might mean listening carefully, communicating clearly, handling multiple tasks, and responding appropriately when something goes wrong. For a cook, it probably means organization and attention to detail, food safety, knowledge, and the ability to follow directions. Right. Follow a recipe consistently.
[00:34:33] For a host, it might mean composure, communication, warmth, hospitality. And so you can evaluate those things through structured questions in realistic scenarios. For example, just ask a server candidate. All right, imagine you're taking an order at one table. Another table is trying to get your attention, and food is arriving for a third table. Walk me through what you do in that instance.
[00:34:55] That's not a trick question. I want to hear how they prioritize, how they think about that moment, how they get attention with their fellow servers, how they communicate.
[00:35:03] I want to hear how they think about the guest experience and how the decision they make next will influence those three tables. Or maybe you ask a cook. All right, so let's say you arrive for your shift and discover that the previous team didn't finish the prep list. What do you do?
[00:35:19] Again, I'm trying to understand their judgment, their sense of organization, communication, and problem solving. And I want you to ask the same core questions of every candidate for the same role. See, that allows you to compare apples to apples, right, against the actual requirements of the position, rather than just Simply deciding who you liked most, who had the best vibe. Here's another thing. Don't automatically reject somebody just because they're changing jobs or they've changed jobs a lot. I talk about this a bunch in the book. See, people leave jobs for all different kinds of reasons. Maybe the compensation was unsustainable. Maybe the schedule just didn't work. Maybe the management turned over and it was terrible. Maybe they wanted to learn something new and they were stagnant. Maybe their personal circumstances changed.
[00:36:03] So instead of looking at a resume and immediately labeling somebody a job hopper, try to ask thoughtful questions. What were they looking for that they didn't find? What did they learn, and what do they still want to learn? What would make their next opportunity better than last opportunity? And most importantly, I want you to figure out if your restaurant can provide the kind of opportunity that they say they're looking for. Because here's the thing. Your employees don't exist to serve your business for the rest of their lives.
[00:36:30] They have goals, they have families, they have interests, and they have responsibilities.
[00:36:34] And their professional lives must support the lives that they want to build, Right? That's something I deeply believe. In 2016, I was managing restaurants in New York City. I was earning, I don't know, 70 grand a year. I was working 60, 65 hours a week. I had a young son at home. And. And I started asking myself some difficult questions. Was this the life I wanted? Was this sustainable? Was this what success looked like for me?
[00:36:59] And what kind of future in life was I building for my family?
[00:37:03] That's when I decided to start my business. Right. I loved restaurants, loved hospitality. I was falling more in love with the industry. But I also wanted a life outside of work. And that desire eventually helped push me toward building my own business.
[00:37:17] So when I talk about developing employees and giving them opportunities, I'm not speaking in abstraction, right? I understand what it feels like to love the work, but struggle with the lifestyle. In fact, the job I was at gave me more opportunities than any job beforehand. And those opportunities eventually led to me consulting and then running my own agency and now running my coaching program.
[00:37:40] I understand why a talented employee might decide to leave an otherwise good job.
[00:37:45] Which means, as owners and managers, we have to ask ourselves an important question.
[00:37:49] Are we actually creating jobs that people want to keep?
[00:37:53] Not jobs they tolerate, not jobs they can do, not jobs they survive, but jobs that actually help people build lives that they want.
[00:38:02] Because that's how you begin attracting people who are interested in staying. And see, once you hire those people, your Next responsibility is to make sure they succeed.
[00:38:11] Success then is predicated on training, right? This is where training comes in and why it's so important.
[00:38:18] I want to spend a significant amount of time through the rest of this episode talking about that because I think training is one of the biggest missed opportunities in our industry.
[00:38:27] In the book, I talk about how, you know, we really suck at training, right? That's something I say. I say, hey, listen, I'm going to offend a lot of people, but most people have terrible training programs. Most restaurants really have proper training programs at all. They have a training schedule. But those are not the same thing. See, a training schedule tells you when somebody is supposed to show up. A training program tells you what they're supposed to learn when they're there. It tells you how they're going to learn it, who's responsible for teaching it, and how you're going to determine whether they've, you know, taken in all the information, whether they're ready.
[00:39:05] See, a training schedule and training program, big difference.
[00:39:08] So now let's imagine you just hired a new server. You're excited, they're excited. They seem like a great addition to the team. You tell them to come on in and come in on Tuesday. Tuesday arrives, they meet the manager. The manager introduces them to another server. Hey, Sarah, this is Alex. Alex is training today. Can you show them around?
[00:39:25] Sarah sort of looks confused. She didn't know she was training anybody tonight. She's already got a busy section, and now she's supposed to teach somebody how to do a do the job while simultaneously trying to take care of guests.
[00:39:38] So Alex follows Sarah around for a few hours. Salah. Sarah shows Alex where the POS is, maybe explains a few menu items when they, when they have the time. She introduces them to the bar, introduces Alex to the bartender, and by the end of the shift, everybody agrees that, yeah, I mean, things went pretty well.
[00:39:54] The next day, Alex follows somebody else. And that person does everything differently.
[00:39:59] Different greeting, different approach to taking orders, different way of handling the pos, different way of even explaining the menu, different side work standards. And now Alex is really confused. Who's right? What am I supposed to do? He's thinking to himself, which version of the job am I being trained to perform?
[00:40:18] Then after three or four shifts, the manager says, okay, man, you, you seem ready. You're gonna go, we're gonna give you a section tomorrow.
[00:40:25] And just like that, Alex is on the floor.
[00:40:27] And now if Alex happens to be a naturally gifted server, maybe everything works out.
[00:40:33] But what if they're not. What if they need more guidance? What if they misunderstood something important? What if they didn't know how to handle an allergy? What if they didn't know what to do when a guest complains? What if they don't understand the menu well enough to make good recommendations?
[00:40:47] Well, now those weaknesses are going to show up in the guest experience and eventually somebody's going to complain and the manager is going to say, well, I don't understand. We trained Alex.
[00:40:56] No, no you didn't. You put Alex next to somebody who was working. And that's not necessarily training. That's observation. And observation can be part of training, but it isn't a substitute for a system.
[00:41:10] Now, I want to tell you about my own introduction to restaurant training because it had a profound impact on the way that I think about this subject. So when I moved to New York City in the fall of 2002 and one of my first jobs was at Bluefin, upscale seafood restaurant right in the heart of Times Square. Bluefin was part of Be Our Guest restaurants. It was a group founded by Steve Hanson, and this was a serious operation. 400 seats spread across two different levels. More than 75 servers on payroll. Restaurant was in the ground floor of the W Hotel, again, right in the heart of Times Square.
[00:41:42] We served three meals a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner, 365 days a year. Because we were in the hotel, restaurants started serving guests early in the morning. And that bar didn't close till like 2 in the morning. It was an enormous operation. And when I started working there, I was pretty green, right? Certainly wasn't some polished fine dining professional. But see, the company had a system. And that system was designed to take care of people like me and get us ready to perform at a high level.
[00:42:10] See, my first week of training was intense. And when I say intense, I mean it. They gave me a schedule and they told me when I needed to be there. I had observation shifts, kitchen trails, wine tastings, a tremendous amount of information to study because we had apps, entrees, raw bar, sushi, desserts, sides, wine, spirits, cocktails. They gave me a training manual with all this detailed information about the menu. So I had food, cocktails, wine, beer, ingredients, allergens, substitutions, everything. And guess what? I was expected to learn it all. Not eventually, not someday, immediately. In fact, every night I had a quiz. And at the start of the shift, I'd sit down with a manager to review my answers from the night before. They'd ask questions, I'd ask questions. They'd identify areas Where I needed more work, things I didn't get right, and then I'd go home and study. At the end of those six training shifts, I had to take a final test, and I needed to score at least 85% to get on the schedule.
[00:43:06] Now, keep in mind what kind of restaurant this was. I'll remind you, we had an enormous menu. Sushi, raw bar, apps, entrees, desserts, extensive back bar, a wine list with over a thousand different bottles, to say the least. It was overwhelming. In fact, one of the guys who trained me described the experience as being shot out of a cannon. And that is what it felt like. I hated parts of it. I was exhausted every night. I was overwhelmed, and I wondered whether I was even going to make it.
[00:43:32] But here's the thing. By the end of that week, I was dramatically more capable than I had been when I started.
[00:43:38] Not because I was special, not because I was naturally gifted, but because the company had created a system that accelerated my development.
[00:43:46] And I want you to think about what that actually means. See, Bluefin wasn't relying exclusively on finding experienced servers. They understood with 75 on the schedule, they needed people to work breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They couldn't find find that many great servers, so they knew they had to build them.
[00:44:04] See, they were taking relatively inexperienced people like me and giving them the knowledge, skills, and confidence to perform.
[00:44:12] Now, I don't think every restaurant needs to replicate this exact system. In fact, I wouldn't recommend copying it blindly. The training was demanding, the hours were difficult, and there were things about the way restaurants operated 20 years ago that I wouldn't want to reproduce today.
[00:44:26] But the underlying principle is incredibly valuable, that training should be deliberate. It should be organized and have clear objectives, and it should give employees a genuine opportunity to succeed. And see, that's what I learned at Bluefin, and that's the foundation for the framework that I want to share with you now.
[00:44:44] See, really, when we talk about restaurant training, I think it comes in three tiers. So in the book, again the Restaurant Profit Playbook, I introduce this three tiered approach to employee development.
[00:44:55] And I want you to think of these as three different questions, really. Three different time horizons with three very different objectives. The first question says, what does this person need to know in order to take a station by the end of the week? That's what I call tier one.
[00:45:10] The second question is, how can I make this new employee as good as my best employee by the end of 90 days? That's tier two. And then the third question is, what would I need to do to keep this person for the next decade. That's tier three. Now, I love this framework because it forces us to think beyond the first few shifts. See, most restaurant owners focus exclusively on Tier 1, meaning how quickly can I get this person on the schedule? How quickly can they start working independently? How quickly can I stop paying somebody to train them?
[00:45:44] And I understand that impulse. You're short staffed, you're busy, you need people on the floor. But you see, here's the problem.
[00:45:51] If your entire training program ends after the first week, then I think you're leaving an enormous amount of potential on the table.
[00:45:59] See, that first week is about basic competence. It's about getting somebody ready. But the next 90 days are about excellence. And the years that follow are about growth.
[00:46:11] So let's break these all down right again. This first tier is about getting them ready, preparing somebody to perform their job independently.
[00:46:19] And I want you to start by defining what that actually means.
[00:46:22] Let's use a server as an example. What does a server actually need to know before they're ready to take a station? Well, I mean, they got to know the menu, they have to understand allergens and how to handle any sort of allergy related questions safely. They got to know the POs, they have to know the table numbers and seat numbers, and they have to know steps of service, and they got to know side work, and they have to be able to communicate with the kitchen, and they have to understand how to deal with a guest complaint, and they need to know when to ask for help, and they need to understand the standards of your restaurant and you lay them all out like that. I think you have to admit that's a lot, which is sort of my point.
[00:46:59] A lot of restaurant owners underestimate just how much information a new employee needs to absorb in just a few days.
[00:47:07] They think the job is simple because they've been doing it for years.
[00:47:10] But it's not simple. The person who has never done it before is just walking in off the street, right?
[00:47:17] When you're brand new, you don't know where anything is. You don't know anybody's name, you don't know the menu, the pos. You really don't know steps of service. And you're expected to remember everything while guests are asking you questions and tickets are flying out of the kitchen. It's overwhelming. So the first thing I want you to do is just create a basic training checklist. Not a vague checklist that says learn menu, but a specific checklist. For example, can the employee accurately Describe every entree?
[00:47:44] Can they identify the major allergens? And explain the restaurant's procedure for handling allergy requests? Can they enter and modify orders correctly? Can they explain the steps of service? Can they complete opening and closing side work? Can they handle a basic guest complaint? Can they demonstrate the standard table setup? And here's the important part. Don't simply check the box. Because somebody attended a training shift, check the box after they've demonstrated the skill.
[00:48:11] Attendance is not competence. Watching somebody do something, doing something is not the same as being able to do it yourself. So build your training around demonstration.
[00:48:22] You show them, you explain it, let them practice, give them feedback, then ask them to demonstrate it independently. And I want you to assign responsibility.
[00:48:32] Who is training this person? Who is the one evaluating them? Who determines when they're ready, who signs off on the checklist? And because if everybody is responsible, nobody is responsible. Here's another thing. Your trainers need to be trained.
[00:48:47] Not. You know, just because somebody is a great server doesn't automatically mean they're going to be a great teacher. In fact, some of your best employees might be terrible trainers. They might be impatient, they may struggle to explain what they're doing. They may have developed shortcuts that actually don't align with your standards. So don't automatically assign the newest employee to whoever happens to be working that day.
[00:49:08] Choose your trainers deliberately and teach them how you want them to teach. Give them the training materials, explain the objectives and ultimately hold them accountable for the outcome. I would also recommend building short daily check ins into the training process mentioned this a second ago. I can't stress it enough. At the end of each shift or in the beginning of the next one, the trainer and trainee should sit down for five or 10 minutes or the manager, even better. Right, what did we cover today? What went well? What was difficult? What needs more practice? What are we focusing on tomorrow? Simple. But it's actually incredibly valuable because now the employee isn't left wondering whether they're doing a good job. They're getting feedback in real time, they see progress, they're developing confidence. And see, now here's where I want to challenge you don't automatically decide that every employee must be ready in exactly four shifts. See, different roles require different training. Different people need different training because they learn at different speeds. So set clear standards, establish a reasonable training timeline and obviously give people the support they need to meet those standards. Because the objective isn't to finish training as quickly as possible.
[00:50:15] The actual ultimate objective is to prepare somebody to succeed.
[00:50:20] And see once they are ready to work independently. Well, that's when Tier 2 begins. This is where we make them. Excellent. Remember the question, how can I make this new employee as good as my best employee by the end of 90 days?
[00:50:33] Now, I want you to think about how different that question is from the one we just asked. We're no longer asking whether somebody can do the job.
[00:50:41] We're asking how good they can become.
[00:50:44] And this is where most restaurants completely drop the ball. See, they finish onboarding, they put the employee on the schedule, and then they stop training. The employee might work for six months, a year, three years, and nobody ever gives them a structured opportunity to improve.
[00:50:59] They simply repeat the same job over and over and over again. And I want you to understand that experience does not automatically create expertise.
[00:51:08] Doing something for a decade doesn't necessarily make you good at it. I've worked with enough people that have proven that to be true. You can spend 10 years repeating bad habits. You can spend 10 years doing the absolute bare minimum. You can spend 10 years getting just good enough to avoid getting fired.
[00:51:26] If you want actual excellence, you need to be deliberate about developing staff.
[00:51:32] Now, let me take you back to Bluefin, because after that brutal first week of training, I thought I was done right. I'd survived. I earned my place on the schedule. Goodbye and good luck. And then I discovered that the real training was actually just beginning. CBR guest had created a 12 week continuing education program. Three classes a week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 36 classes over 90 days. And every new server and bartender had to complete the program.
[00:51:57] Now, remember, we were already working demanding schedules. Early mornings, late nights, doubles, triples. And on top of that, we had these classes. At the time, I promise you, it felt like an enormous burden. But looking back, it was one of the most valuable experiences of my career.
[00:52:14] See, on Mondays, we'd study food. But one week we might focus on appetizers. Next week on raw bar. Then on seafood desserts. We'd sit with one of sous chefs. We'd taste dishes. We got to ask questions because we didn't know.
[00:52:27] I learned about ingredients I'd never heard about before. I started understanding preparation methods on Wednesdays. We'd then study spirits. So the bar manager would come in. We'd learn about all different vodkas. We'd learn about the expressions of gin and differences between different agave spirits. We'd see different production methods and taste them and smell them. We'd learn about different styles and how those spirits get put into cocktails.
[00:52:50] And ultimately, ultimately, we'd learn how to communicate those differences to guests.
[00:52:55] Then on Fridays, we'd study wine. And this is where something really, really interesting happened to me. Because through that, I became fascinated by wine. I suddenly wanted to understand the different grapes, the regions, the producers, the way they, the wine interacted with food. I started developing a curiosity that extended far beyond what I needed to know just to get through the shift. And see that curiosity helped turn me into a much better server just in a matter of a few weeks.
[00:53:21] Because I wasn't just memorizing information anymore. I was developing genuine expertise. And see, when you have expertise, everything changes. You become confident, you become more comfortable making recommendations, you start anticipating questions, and you become more valuable to the guest. Ultimately, because of that, you become more valuable to the restaurant. And see, that's what this company, BR Guest Restaurants, understood. They weren't simply teaching us facts, they were building professionals. Over the course of 12 weeks. Now, do you need to run 36 classes over 90 days to succeed? I'm guessing probably not. But I want you to borrow the principle. Create a continuing education program, something that extends beyond the first week. Something that actually helps employees become genuinely excellent at their jobs.
[00:54:10] And I want you to make it practical. Right? So let's imagine you're running some casual restaurant. Maybe you don't have a thousand bottle wine list. Maybe your menu is burgers, sandwiches, salads and a ham full of cocktails. Fine, you still have plenty to teach.
[00:54:24] Maybe it's just a class every Friday from 3 to 4. So one week you focus on improving menu knowledge. Another week, beverage recommendations, then guest complaints, then upselling, then communication and teamwork, and then speed and efficiency. And then hospitality. And then understanding the numbers, the financial side of the business.
[00:54:42] And see, I want you to involve your best employees. Let them teach. Let them share their knowledge that they let them demonstrate what excellence looks like. Because teaching is also actually a form of development.
[00:54:53] When somebody has to explain a skill to another person, they often become better at that skill themselves.
[00:55:01] This episode is sponsored by Right Work, a labor optimization platform built specifically for restaurants. If you own and operate multiple locations, the challenge isn't just making schedules. It's making sure every store is staffing to real demand that every store is staying on budget and following the same operating standards without adding more work. For managers, rightwork helps turn sales patterns and service models into smarter staffing plans. Then it gives the managers the tools to schedule accurately and efficiently. Restaurant strategy listeners can get free onboarding, a free labor model build out, and three months free of write work usage to claim the offer. Visit, write Work, Chip. Again, write work, Chip. And yes, that link is in the show notes.
[00:55:54] And here's another thing. Don't limit continuing education just to the front of the house. The kitchen team needs development, too, right? Imagine a cook who starts on pantry. They're good. They know the station. They can execute consistently. But what happens next? Do they spend three years on Coldline making salads? Do you teach them saute, grill, butchery, ordering inventory, food cost, menu development?
[00:56:18] Because if you ultimately want that cook to become a sous chef someday, well, then you need to start developing those skills long before that position actually becomes available.
[00:56:27] The same is actually true of every department. A host can learn reservations management. A busser can learn food running. Food runner can learn serving. A server can learn bartending. A bartender can learn beverage inventory, a shift supervisor, and. And on and on and on. And when you build that development into the operation, something powerful happens. See, employees start seeing themselves as part of this place. It's a home. And they see a future here. They stop thinking exclusively about this shift and the next shift. They start thinking about the next opportunity, the next promotion, which, yep, you guessed it. This is exactly where tier three comes in. So I'll remind you of this third question. What would I need to do to keep this person for the next decade?
[00:57:11] 9. I know what some of you are thinking, chip, come on. 10 years. I can't even keep somebody for 10 months. And I get it. I understand.
[00:57:18] But that's exactly why I want you to think about the question, because it forces you to think differently. You're no longer just thinking about filling a position or, you know, scheduling a shift. You're thinking about building a relationship. You're thinking about somebody and their career, their development, their ambitions, their future.
[00:57:36] And you're asking, literally, how can my restaurant become a part of their future?
[00:57:42] Let me tell you another story from my time at Be Our Guest. After my first year at Bluefin, I was invited to go to Scottsdale, Arizona. I trained a whole bunch of new servers there. I came back, I opened another restaurant in the city, and eventually.
[00:57:53] Eventually I went to work at Blue Water Grill. Blue Water Grill's down Union Square. I worked there for years, and at a certain point, beverage manager came up to me, and she said, hey, quick question. Would you ever want to be a sommelier? And I was like, a sommelier?
[00:58:09] I don't know. I mean, I know a lot about wine. She said, yeah, you know a lot about wine. You. You like.
[00:58:14] You like wine. You got a passion for it, for sure. Here's what we're learning. We're doing this in some of the other.
[00:58:20] In some of the other restaurants.
[00:58:22] We are having people fill in on like Sunday and Monday night. And so she said, I have to take Sundays and Mondays off. But we realized through the other restaurants that having somebody in a suit selling wine is better than having nobody selling wine. So do you want to put on a suit and work this shift? It would give you flat shift pay and you could sell wine and do what you do best and you'll taste more and learn more and all of that.
[00:58:45] I thought about it and said yes. And I did that for a while and it was awesome. What happened is it was like 50, 50, 50% of the people who did it ended up moving on to a career in running beverage programs. And then the other 50% were like me. They went, oh, this is really great. I learned a lot. But I learned this is not for me.
[00:59:06] And that was fine. After about six months, they said, no problem, not a big deal. And they gave that opportunity to somebody else. And I just went back to what I was doing.
[00:59:15] My point being is they let me try on the suit before I had to wear the suit, before I was running this full time, 60 hours a week. They said, hey, do you want to spend like, you know, 10, 15 hours a week doing it? And I said, yes. And I tried it on. It wasn't for me, but for every person like me, there was somebody else who loved it.
[00:59:33] Now that's that three tier framework, right? What do I have to do to get this person ready in a week to take a section? What do I have to do to make this person as good as my best person within 90 days? And how do I. What would I need to do in order to keep this person here for a decade? But I want to introduce you to another framework from the restaurant profit playbook, something I call the leapfrog playbook. I gotta tell you, this one tends to get a strong reaction. People think I'm crazy. Some owners love it, but. But others find it a little uncomfortable. But I think it's one of the most useful approaches to building a strong restaurant team. Here's the premise. Ready?
[01:00:09] We are always looking for great employees, right? Always.
[01:00:13] Not. Not just when you're. You need people, right? Not just when the schedule's looking a little thin, not when you're stuck, not when you're desperate.
[01:00:21] Right. But even when everybody seems happy. Because here's what happens in most restaurants, an employee quits and the owner panics. They post an ad, they start Interviewing. They're short staffed. Everybody's working extra shifts. The managers are exhausted, the owners even covering, you know, shifts, doing it here and there, and suddenly they are desperate to hire somebody.
[01:00:40] So they end up hiring anybody. See, when you're desperate, your standards tend to slip.
[01:00:46] You start making excuses. Well, I mean, this person doesn't have much experience, but we'll make it work. Well, this candidate was sort of, you know, was sort of curtain their interview, but, you know, we really need somebody. Yeah, I know there were some red flags, but man, we really got to fill the position.
[01:00:59] And before you know it, you've hired somebody you probably wouldn't have hired under normal circumstances. You do that a couple of times and it changes the culture.
[01:01:08] See, now why? Because you waited, right? Why did that happen?
[01:01:12] You waited until you needed somebody and that's when you started looking.
[01:01:17] Now what I want you to do is flip that approach.
[01:01:20] I want you to recruit continuously. In the book, I describe a system we used during my years opening and managing restaurants all throughout New York City.
[01:01:29] We would make time for interviews every week. Every week we would interview for every single position in the restaurant, even when we weren't actively trying to fill a vacancy. And now that might sound excessive, but think about the advantage it creates. You are always meeting people. You're always learning who's available. You're always building relationships with potential employees. And when somebody leaves, you're not starting from zero. See, you've already got people you can call. You've already had conversations. You've identified promising candidates. You have a bench. You've got a Rolodex of people. And then that bench gives you options, gives you flexibility. Now, I call it the leapfrog playbook because the objective is to continuously improve the quality of your team.
[01:02:10] Every time you hire somebody, you should be asking whether that person raises the standard of the entire team. Are they bringing valuable skills, a great attitude? Are they a different experience or better experience? Are they bringing curiosity? Right?
[01:02:24] Are they bringing things that will ultimately make the team stronger? And I want to be clear about something. This isn't an excuse to treat employees as disposable. It isn't about constantly threatening people with replacement. It isn't about creating an atmosphere where everybody is terrified of losing their jobs all the time.
[01:02:42] That environment, I think we know, is destructive. And it's not the kind of restaurant that I want you to build.
[01:02:48] But the goal is to create a team where standards are clear, development is continuous and strong, performance is constantly recognized. If somebody is struggling, I want you to Coach them, train them, explain the expectations and give them a reasonable opportunity to improve.
[01:03:04] But don't allow persistent poor performance to become the standard simply because you're afraid of being short staffed.
[01:03:12] And don't wait until you're desperate to start recruiting. And see, here's how I'd implement this. This is how we would do it. You first, identify the positions that are hardest to fill. So maybe that's line cooks, or maybe it's experienced bartenders, maybe it's your managers. Those are the positions where I want you to be especially proactive.
[01:03:29] Second, again, I said it a second ago, I'll reiterate it. Set aside time every week to interview people. So, yep, you got to review applications every week. You got to make phone calls, you got to sit down with candidates. You follow up with people who previously expressed interest. It doesn't mean conducting a formal interview every single week, but part of the recruiting process every single week. So the principle here is consistency.
[01:03:53] Third, then I want you to build a candidate pipeline. You got to keep track of people who impressed you. What role were they interested in? What experience did they have? What did you like about them?
[01:04:02] When might they be available?
[01:04:04] And did they give you permission to contact them about future opportunities?
[01:04:08] You keep that information organized and handle it appropriately. Then, when an opening does appear, you have somewhere to start.
[01:04:15] Now, here's another thing. Your existing employees can be actually one of your best recruiting resources. Great employees often know other great employees. So just ask them, hey, who have you worked with that would love to work, you'd love to work with? Again, who do you know that's exceptional at this job? Who? Who do you know that would make our team strong?
[01:04:34] And if you offer an employee referral bonus, make the terms clear and reward people fairly. But don't stop there. Keep those job listings current. Keep the recruiting materials updated. Keep telling the story of why your restaurant is a great place to work. Because the best time to recruit your next great employee is before you actually need your next great employee.
[01:04:54] And here's another benefit to this approach. It changes your mindset and ultimately changes the culture of your restaurant.
[01:05:01] Right?
[01:05:02] Just like when you start being more deliberate about marketing or financial management or training or becoming a better leader, this is something that starts getting built into the culture and consistency takes over. And ultimately this is going to lead to the long term health of your business.
[01:05:19] Which brings us to the next piece of the puzzle. Because recruiting and training great employees won't do much good if your managers don't know how to lead them right? I Want to spend the last chunk of time on this episode talking about leadership? Because so far, man, if you're still with me, I love it. We've covered a lot of ground. Recruiting, interviewing, hiring, onboarding, training, development.
[01:05:42] But none of those systems will work if the people responsible for executing those systems aren't effective leaders.
[01:05:50] This is where I see another enormous opportunity in the restaurant industry.
[01:05:54] We promote people into management positions because they're good at their jobs, right? Meaning our best server becomes the floor manager. Our best cook becomes sous chef. Our best bartender becomes bar manager. And sometimes that works beautifully and sometimes it doesn't. Because being excellent at a job and being excellent at managing other people are two very different skill sets. I mean, think about a great server. They know the menu, they know the guests. They can handle a busy section, they make great money, they're organized, they're efficient, and everybody loves them. Them. So what do you do? You promote them. But now they're responsible for scheduling and training and coaching on the floor and disciplining people and handling guest complaints. And they're responsible for profitability and managing the financial performance and about a dozen other responsibilities that they've never had before.
[01:06:42] And what training do we give them for all that?
[01:06:45] Usually nothing.
[01:06:47] We assume that because they were a great server, they'll naturally become a great manager.
[01:06:52] And that isn't necessarily true. Certainly, there's plenty of evidence to the contrary. See, they may have no idea how to actually give feedback. They may struggle with difficult conversations. They may avoid holding people accountable. They may become frustrated when employees don't perform the way that they would have performed. And before long, they're overwhelmed. So here's what I want you to understand.
[01:07:12] Managers need training, too. And not just training on how to update the pos, not just training on how to do the schedule, not just training on the. The closing checklist. They need leadership training. They need to learn how to communicate. Communicate clear expectations, how to delegate, how to coach, how to give feedback, how to hold people accountable, how to develop talent, how to recognize talent. Ultimately, how to build a team that can perform without being babysat.
[01:07:40] Because that really is what leadership is all about. It's not simply getting people to do what you want them to do. It's helping people become capable of doing what needs to be done.
[01:07:49] And I want to introduce a distinction that I think is incredibly important. The difference between pushing and pulling. See, a lot of restaurant managers lead by pushing. They're constantly telling people what to do. Go clean that table. Go run that food. Go get back to your Station, finish the side work. Why isn't this done? Why do I have to tell you everything? And sometimes, of course, direct instruction is necessary. Restaurants move quickly. Service can be chaotic. There are moments when somebody just needs to make a decision and communicate it clearly. But if your entire management style consists of telling people what to do, you're creating dependency.
[01:08:23] I did an episode about this just a couple of weeks ago.
[01:08:26] See, when you do that, your employees learn to just wait for your instructions. They learn that the manager will ultimately just tell them what matters and how to do it. They learn that if nobody says anything, they can probably get away with doing nothing. And, see, then the manager can complains. Well, nobody's taking initiative. Well, why would they? You've trained them to wait for you to tell them what to do.
[01:08:48] Now imagine a different approach. I call this moving from push to pull. Leadership.
[01:08:53] Instead of constantly pushing people towards tasks, you create an environment where they understand the objective.
[01:09:01] They all know the standards. They understand why the work matters, and they have the skills to execute. And they're encouraged to take ownership.
[01:09:08] They're empowered.
[01:09:09] See, that's what I mean. Now you're pulling. You're creating the conditions that inspire people to act.
[01:09:15] You're helping them understand what success looks like. You're giving them the tools to achieve what you need them to achieve. Let me give you an example. Imagine a manager sees a dirty table in the dining room. The pushing approach is simple. Hey, Alex, please go clean table 12. Problem solved.
[01:09:31] least temporarily.
[01:09:33] But. But what happens tomorrow? The manager sees another dirty table, and again they tell somebody to clean it. And again and again and again. And imagine. Now imagine if the manager takes an entirely different approach. They sit down with the team before service and explain the standard. Our goal is to make sure every guest walks into a dining room that feels clean, organized, and welcoming. That means empty tables need to be reset immediately, and everybody has a role in making that happen.
[01:10:00] Then they explain the process. Who's responsible, what should happen, how quickly, what happens when somebody needs help, and why does that matter?
[01:10:08] Now, the employees understand the expectation during service. The manager can simply enforce it.
[01:10:13] They recognize that people who take initiative, they coach the people who miss the standard. See, over time, that's what leads to empowerment. The team is taking ownership, and there's a real difference between push and pull.
[01:10:26] See, the first approach solves the immediate problem, but the second builds a system that actually prevents the problem from occurring in the first place.
[01:10:36] And that's ultimately what I want you to get your managers to do. Stop solving every problem personally and start building teams that can solve the problems. Because if every decision requires the manager, then the restaurant will never fully become independent of that manager.
[01:10:52] And if every decision requires the owner, the restaurant will never fully become independent of the owner, which is, in my opinion, the ultimate objective. It's the only way you can grow, build a restaurant that can operate without you, an operation that performs because of the systems and people that you've developed, not because you're personally standing there making sure everything gets done.
[01:11:14] Now, next framework I want to give you is again from the book. It's one of the simplest ideas in the book and it's one of the most important.
[01:11:22] When you're communicating expectations, your employees need to understand four things and that's it. What needs to be done? When does it need to be done? How does it need to be done? And why does it matter that it happens in the way described? That's it. Four questions. But I want you to think about how often restaurant managers fail to answer all four.
[01:11:41] Again, I want to use a simple example. A manager tells a new employee to restock the service station.
[01:11:47] That's the what.
[01:11:48] But when does it need to be done before service? During the shift at closing? And how should it be done? Are there par levels? Where do things go? What products need to be rotated? How do we know that the station is ready? And why does it matter?
[01:12:03] Because when the restaurant gets busy, the team needs to have everything available. Because running out of supplies creates delays. Because those delays affect service. Because service affects the guest experience and the guest experience affects whether people come back. And you see what happens when you explain the why suddenly restocking a service station isn't simply a chore. It's part of delivering the experience that the restaurant promises.
[01:12:26] Now, I know that might sound a little woo woo, a little fuzzy and philosophical, but it's actually incredibly practical. Because when employees understand why something matters, how it connects to the larger goals, well, I think they're better equipped to make decisions than when you're standing right next to them.
[01:12:43] Ultimately, they can recognize the objective, they can identify problems, and they can act.
[01:12:48] This is particularly important when they're building standard operating procedures. Right. And I do want you to have SOPs for everything that matters. Opening, closing, cleaning, food prep, inventory, cash handling, guest complaints, training, whatever, whatever happens over and over. Right. Cody Sanchez is the podcast host of the Big Deal podcast. And she says the three by three rule, something takes three or more steps to complete, and it happens three or more times a month. It needs an sop. I Think it's a pretty, pretty good criteria for when we document something. And again, don't simply write down a list of tasks. Explain the objective, explain the standard, explain the process, and ultimately explain why it matters. And then just train the people on it, right?
[01:13:33] Remember, standard operating procedure is only useful if people actually use it. It. So you can have the most beautiful operations manual in the world. Color coded, professionally designed, hundreds of pages. But if it sits in a binder collecting dust in the office, it isn't really helping, right? The value comes from execution. So make your sops accessible, make them easy to understand, use photographs when you can, use short videos if you need to, checklists, whatever tools will help your team learn and perform, and then make sure your managers reinforce those standards. Because documentation doesn't replace leadership, it supports leadership, right? That's ultimately where I want to challenge you. If you're constantly frustrated that employees don't do things correctly, ask yourself whether you're been actually explained the expectations.
[01:14:23] Have you laid them out? Have you shown them? Have you given them an opportunity to practice? Have you checked their understanding of the expectations?
[01:14:30] Have you explained why it matters? Or have you simply assumed they should know? Because assumptions are dangerous, especially in restaurants. Which brings us ultimately to accountability.
[01:14:42] I want to talk about that word, right? It gets thrown around a lot in our industry, but accountability is something that every owner should want, right? Well, nobody's accountable. My managers don't hold people accountable. My employees need to take more responsibility. And I understand the frustration. I'm not making jokes, folks, but I think we need to be careful about what we mean when we say accountability, right? Because accountability is not the same thing as punishment. It's not yelling at somebody when they make a mistake. It's not embarrassing somebody in front of the team. And it's not creating an atmosphere where everybody is afraid of getting in trouble.
[01:15:15] Accountability means that expectations are clear, performance is measured, and people are responsible for the commitments they make.
[01:15:23] That's it. Now, now that requires something from the employee, but it also, it also requires something from the manager. The manager needs to establish the standard, provide the necessary training, give the employee the tools to succeed, monitor performance and provide feedback. If you haven't done those things, it's difficult to hold somebody else accountable properly.
[01:15:44] Again, let me give you an example. Imagine a server who's consistently forgetting to offer dessert, right? Or they purposely skip it. Manager gets frustrated, why aren't you selling desserts? And the server shrugs and says, I don't know.
[01:15:57] Now, the manager could get angry. They could threaten to write at the server up, they could complain that nobody cares about sales.
[01:16:03] But what if they approach the problem differently?
[01:16:06] What if they started by asking a few questions? Walk me through how you're closing at your tables. At what point do you actually introduce dessert? Which desserts do you feel most comfortable recommending? Have you actually tried everything on the dessert menu?
[01:16:19] Now, suddenly, the manager discovers that the server actually doesn't know the dessert menu very well. They've never tasted two of the desserts. They're uncomfortable making recommendations because they're not really sure how to describe them. Well, that's not necessarily an accountability problem. That's just simply a training problem. So the manager just has to organize a tasting, right? And then they practice making a few recommendations. They explain how and when to introduce dessert, and then, yes, they set clear expectations.
[01:16:47] Over the next two weeks, I want you to make an appropriate dessert recommendation to every table.
[01:16:52] Now, there's the standard, there's the training, and there's an expectation.
[01:16:56] And there's an opportunity to measure improvement, which is ultimately what coaching is. Coaching is one of the most important responsibilities a manager has.
[01:17:05] Now, of course, sometimes coaching doesn't work. Sometimes employees understand the expectations and still refuse to meet them. Sometimes they repeatedly violate important standards. And when that happens, yeah, managers need to respond appropriately. But I want the response to be fair, needs to be consistent, document it when necessary and proportionate to the issue.
[01:17:26] Because the objective isn't to punish people. The objective is to build a high performing team.
[01:17:33] And you got to remember this, your best employees are watching. They see how you handle poor performance. They see whether standards are applied consistently. They see whether some people are allowed to get away with things and others aren't.
[01:17:46] And if you allow persistent poor performance to continue indefinitely, well, then your strongest employees are going to become frustrated because now they're carrying the burden. They're the ones picking up the slack, doing the extra work. And eventually they start asking themselves why they're working so hard.
[01:18:02] See, that's ultimately why accountability matters. Not because you need to prove who's in charge, but because a strong team deserves clear, consistent standards. And your managers need to protect those standards.
[01:18:16] Now, we got to bring this home. And I want to bring this all together because we've been talking about recruiting and we've already talked about interviewing and hiring and training and now leadership. But there's one more subject I want to address, because all of this leads to retention, actually keeping your best employees. And I want to start this conversation with something that might sound a little counterintuitive.
[01:18:39] Employee Retention doesn't begin when somebody threatens to quit.
[01:18:42] I think it actually begins before you even hire them. It begins with the promise you make right in the job ad, the job listing. Right? And it continues through the interview process and the onboarding and the training. And it continues through every interaction that employee has with your management team.
[01:18:58] Because people are constantly evaluating their relationship with their employee. Am I being treated fairly? Am I learning? Am I making enough money? Do I feel respected? Do I understand what's expected of me? Do I have opportunities to grow? Do I enjoy the people I work with? Can I build the kind of life I want while working here?
[01:19:17] And see, here's the thing.
[01:19:19] You don't need to wait for somebody to hand in their notice to find out how they feel. Guess what? You can just ask.
[01:19:25] Imagine sitting down with one of your best employees, somebody who's been with you for, let's say, a year. Somebody who consistently performs at a high level. And instead of talking about their next shift on the schedule, you ask them a different question.
[01:19:37] Hey, can tell me, what do you enjoy most about working here?
[01:19:40] And then you just listen. And then you ask another question. What's something we could do to make this place, you know, even better for you to work?
[01:19:48] And then another. What would you like to learn over the next six months? And finally, you know, if you can think of it, what might cause you to look for another job?
[01:19:56] Now, that last question might make you uncomfortable, but I think that's good, because I'd rather have an uncomfortable conversation with a great employee while they're still working for me, then find out what was wrong during their exit interview.
[01:20:09] I mean, think about it. We spend so much time trying to understand why customers stop coming back, right? We read reviews, we analyze guest feedback, and we look at retention.
[01:20:18] We try to understand what went wrong. But how often do we do the same thing with employees?
[01:20:23] How often do we ask what they value, what frustrates them, what they're hoping to accomplish? What would make their experience better? Let's see if we can spend time understanding the needs of our customers.
[01:20:34] Surely we can spend time understanding the needs of the people responsible for serving those customers.
[01:20:39] Now, again, we're bringing this home. I want to make a really key point, key point here at the end. Retention doesn't mean keeping everybody forever. People leave, they graduate, they move, they change careers, they pursue new opportunities, their priorities change. And sometimes the best thing you can do for an employee is support them as they move on to something new.
[01:21:00] And I don't want you to see that Necessarily as a failure. Right? The failure is creating an environment where great people feel they have to leave because they can't grow, or because they aren't respected, or because the management is terrible, or because the restaurant has made promises it never intends to keep.
[01:21:16] See, those are things you can control. And that's where I want you to focus.
[01:21:20] Create a workplace with clear expectations, Fair compensation, consistent communication, good training, opportunities for development, and managers who genuinely care about the people they're leading.
[01:21:31] You won't eliminate turnover, but you can create a restaurant where more people choose to stay. And when they do, the benefits compound. Your team becomes more experienced, your service becomes more consistent, your training becomes easier because experienced employees help develop new people into experienced employees.
[01:21:49] Your guests build relationships with familiar faces. Your managers spend less time replacing employees. And see, that's how people development becomes actually a profitability strategy. Not by squeezing more work out of fewer people, but by building a stronger, more capable, more stable team. So now let's put this all together in a 30 day people plan. Right? That's what we'll call it, the 30 day people plan. We've covered a tremendous amount of ground today, and I don't want you to finish this episode feeling inspired for 15 minutes or overwhelmed because there was so much information. But then you go back to the way of doing things because you don't even know where to start.
[01:22:25] I want you to actually leave this conversation by taking action.
[01:22:29] So let's put together a 30 day plan, something you can implement in your restaurant without trying to change everything overnight.
[01:22:36] During the first week, I just want you to focus on recruiting. Pull up those job listings and actually read them and ask yourself a simple question. If I were an exceptional employee looking for a new job, would this ad make me excited to apply?
[01:22:51] And if the answer is no, simply rewrite it again. I'll remind you. Identify the 10 best reasons why somebody would want to work at your restaurant. Make sure the compensation and expectations are clear. Show people what makes the opportunity special, and then establish a system for reviewing applications and contacting promising candidates quickly.
[01:23:12] During the second week, I want you to focus on interviewing and hiring. Just look at the way you currently evaluate candidates. Candidates, are you asking useful questions? Are you measuring the capabilities that actually matter? Are you giving candidates an opportunity to understand the restaurant? Are you moving quickly enough to avoid losing good people? And are you approaching management hiring with the seriousness that I think it deserves?
[01:23:34] Create a consistent process, one that helps you make thoughtful decisions without creating unnecessary obstacles. That's what we do. Week two, during the third Week, I want you to then focus on training. I want you to choose one position, just one. Maybe it's your servers or your cooks or your hosts, but build a proper tier one training program. What does somebody need to know before they're even ready to take a station? What skills must they demonstrate? Who will train them?
[01:24:02] How will you evaluate their progress? And who ultimately determines when they're ready? Write it down. Create the checklist, create the training materials, and make sure your trainers understand what's required.
[01:24:15] Then, during the fourth week, I want you to think about development again, choose one employee, just one.
[01:24:22] Not many, just one. Who has the potential to become significantly better at their job or would be ripe for promotion.
[01:24:29] Maybe it's even a newer employee, Maybe it's somebody who's been with you for years. But just sit down with them and ask them what they'd like to learn. Ask where they'd like to go. Ask what interests them.
[01:24:39] Then create a 90 day plan for their development.
[01:24:42] Give them specific skills to work on. Give them opportunities to practice those skills. Assign somebody to coach them, maybe it's even you. And then establish regular check ins.
[01:24:52] Now here's what I want you to understand. You don't need to rebuild your entire restaurant in 30 days. You don't need to create a 100 page training manual. You don't need to launch a corporate university. You just need to start one job listing, one hiring process, one training program, one employee development plan.
[01:25:11] Then you can build from there. Liz Gilbert, she's the author who wrote Eat, Pray Love. She always says something that her grandmother told her, which is that done is better than good.
[01:25:22] Perfect is the thing that keeps us from accomplishing anything and taking action.
[01:25:27] Just do that and then build from there. Because if you do this consistently, the results will begin to compound. And over time, you'll have something that most of your competitors don't. A gym. Genuine system for attracting, retaining and developing talent. Ultimately, I want you to build the team you wish you could hire, right? We don't find great talent, we make them.
[01:25:51] I'm going to finish with a story. It's a story of my own career again. When I moved to New York city, it was 2002. I was not some extraordinary restaurant professional. I was young, I was inexperienced, I was green. I had a lot to learn.
[01:26:04] But I found myself working for a company that took training seriously, right? I shared some of those stories. They challenged me, they pushed me, they exposed me to new ideas, they gave me opportunities and they helped me develop skills that would shape the rest of My career.
[01:26:17] Now, I'm not going to pretend that every moment was wonderful. There were difficult shifts, long hours, demanding managers, and I did not work for an easy guy. Plenty of days I wondered what I was doing with my life. But I learned. I grew, I was patient and. And ultimately I became capable of things I couldn't have imagined when I first walked through the doors of that restaurant. Eventually, I helped them open many other restaurants. And I would go on to manage teams, oversee operations. I went on to build a career around helping restaurant owners create better businesses. And a lot of that started because somebody invested in my development.
[01:26:51] Now, imagine what might happen if you approached every new employee with that same mindset.
[01:26:57] Imagine if you stopped asking, how quickly can I get this person on the schedule? And you started asking, how good could this person become?
[01:27:04] Imagine if you stopped looking at training as an expense and you started looking at it as an investment.
[01:27:11] Imagine if your manager spent less time putting out fires and more time developing people. Imagine if your employees understood exactly what was expected of them. Imagine if they had opportunities to learn, to grow, to take on responsibility, to actually build their careers.
[01:27:25] And imagine if your best employees genuinely wanted to stay.
[01:27:29] What would that do to your restaurant? What would that do to your guest experience? What would that do to your profitability? And what would that do to your life?
[01:27:37] Because here's the thing. The restaurant owner from the beginning of this episode, remember, Mike, wasn't. Was convinced that nobody wanted to work anymore. He was convinced that everybody was lazy, the labor market was broken, good employees were impossible to find. But he wasn't asking asking the right question.
[01:27:54] He was asking, where can I find better employees? And the question he should have been asking was, what kind of restaurant would great employees want to work for?
[01:28:03] Ultimately, that's the question I want you to take away from today's episode. Because you cannot control the entire labor market. You cannot control what every employee wants. You cannot guarantee that every person you hire will become a superstar. But you can control the kind of workplace you create.
[01:28:18] You get to control the standards, the training, the opportunities, and the way your managers lead. Ultimately, you can control how seriously you take the responsibility of developing the people who work for you.
[01:28:29] So stop waiting for the perfect employee to walk through the door. They're not. They don't exist. And instead, build a restaurant that attracts great people, that makes great people. Build a system that helps them become exceptional. Create a culture that gives them a reason to stay. Because the greatest restaurant teams simply aren't found.
[01:28:49] They are built. If you want to build a restaurant that runs without you. That's where the work begins.
[01:28:55] Again, as always, I want to thank you for taking the time out of your week to be here. My name is Chip Close. I am the founder and CEO of Restaurant Strategy. I'm the host here of this podcast. I appreciate you for listening, and I will see you next time.
[01:29:15] Sam.
[01:29:40] Sa.
