How to Destroy Your Restaurant in Just 12 Steps!

How to destroy your restaurant in just 12 steps think it's hard to build a successful restaurant? Well, it is. But you know what's easier? Crashing the entire brand. Allow me to share with you the fast path to bring it all down. Tumbling on top of you in just 12 easy steps. ATRC Nation Donald Burns, the restaurant coach and author of the your Restaurant sucks trilogy. Charlie Munger is one of my business idols, and he's someone who many of the most wealthy people in the world listen to, including Warren Buffett. That being said, he came out with a brilliant speech titled how to live a miserable life. And the speech uses a meta model called inversion thinking, where if you figure out what you don't want, then you just do the opposite. Now, I've used this model throughout my career whenever I kind of felt stuck and could not really see the solution. The framework of thinking is going to help you break through barriers holding you stuck in problem mode and switch you to problem solving mode. So let's jump right into it. Here are 12 steps to destroy your restaurant rather quickly. Number one, take restaurant advice from people who've never owned a restaurant. Everyone has an opinion about how you should run your restaurant or what you need to do to improve it. Your uncles, your friends, your guest, and even that restaurant consultant or coach who's never owned their own restaurant is going to come to you with advice on how you should run yours. You see, this is where I kind of draw a line and say, because I know there's a certain mindset that comes with being a restaurant owner that a fellow restaurant owner only understands, and you need someone who's truly been there and lived it to get the advice that's really going to improve your restaurant. Number two, you keep toxic people on your team. It's sad, but toxic cultures are the majority in the restaurant business. Years of psychological damage and drama has scared the restaurant industry into becoming pretty much a punchline to jokes. Toxic people on your team are a cancer. And what do you do when you got cancer? You cut it out to save the healthy cells. Eight players on your teams are waiting for you to be the leader they want and get rid of those toxic team members. I hate to tell you, sometimes those toxic team members might be family members. Number three, you don't have a set of core values that you live by and that you don't use to guide your restaurant by as well. Not understanding who you are and what you stand for is kind of one of the warning signs of a toxic culture. Sure, I know you let a few bad hires on the team, but not having crystal clear core values to steer the team has left your culture to the mercy of those in power. And sadly, it's not you. Number four Never cost out your menu. You want to crash your thing fast? This is number this is one of them. Knowing the cost of everything on your menu with all only open the door to making more money. But hey, money's not everything, right? If you've opened a restaurant to survive and lose sleep at night about the dwindling bank account, then don't cost out your menu. If you're going to run your restaurant like a hobby and not a business out to make a profit, then you don't need to know what the cost is of everything on your menu. Save yourself a lot of time and just keep watching that Netflix show that you're addicted to. Number five Design your menu using outdated design principles. Here's the deal. Graphic artists want your menu to look pretty and aligned Pretty is not necessarily effective at increasing sales. Certain fonts and symbols can increase sales, sometimes 15% without raising prices. If you want to stay stuck, just keep your menu in the past and ignore the data that would allow you to make more. Number six, Keep posting boring social media photos and stay away from posting videos. That static photo of your lasagna is impressive. All right. Okay, if I'm being totally honest, no, it's not. It's boring as hell. Why? Because every Italian concept in your market is posting the same boring photos of their food along with every other restaurant in your market. And I'm telling you, blending in is common in the restaurant industry. I mean, who really wants to stand out and draw attention to themselves, right? No, no, no, no. Only a smart restaurant owner would want to do that. Number seven, Let your team dictate their schedules. Let them clock in early. Let them ride the clock long after their shift has officially ended. And you've seen this before, they stroll in 40 minutes early for work to get ready for their shift. Then they clock in and then disappear for that 40 minutes. And then when they're supposed to be done with their shift, they kind of just lollygag around for another hour talking to everyone while slowly, slowly, slowly cleaning up their stations. Your payroll is so high and overtime is a normal thing, but who cares, right? You're a restaurant owner. You're rich. Just keep those payroll checks going. Number eight, if you want to crash your restaurant, do not have any kind of strategic plan. The best laid plans of Mice and Men is the plan that works only when you need it before you need it. Without a plan, you're just inviting chaos and drama into your restaurant. Hey, everyone loves a little drama. And of course, a course of inaction is surely to get your restaurant its own reality show called your restaurant sucks. So what's your game plan to grow your restaurant this year? What's your game plan to grow your team? How about your plan to improve yourself? It might work out if you kind of believe in hope as a strategy. Number nine, don't look at your P and L. But maybe just once a month. No one ever wants to sit down and look at their P L statement on a weekly basis just to be reminded how poorly your restaurant is performing. Heaven forbid you start seeing where the issues are hidden in your P and L and actually take steps to improve it. Number 10, don't bother monitoring critical KPIs or key performance indicators because you know, it just takes too much time. Key performance indicators, KPIs. They are essential in any business to track performance and make strategic decisions. And I know they might seem like a lot of work, but they can provide significant insight into your restaurant's performance. But why bother? You're probably too busy trying to put out daily fires, right? Ignoring KPIs will ensure that you continue operating in the dark, making it even easier to destroy your restaurant. Number 11, please don't change who you are. I mean, personal development, self improvement, who needs it, right? You're perfect just the way you are, right? Here's a cold, hard truth. Your restaurant is a direct reflection of you. If you continue to ignore the needs for personal growth, your business is sure to remain stagnant. Or worse, it's going to decline. And number 12, do not hire a coach to keep you accountable. I mean, seriously, why would you want someone to help you see your blind spots, hold you accountable, and push you forward towards your goals? It's not like that's something every other industry has, right? Oh, no, wait, they do. Most successful industries do have business coaches that help guide and direct CEOs. But you don't need to follow that example. Because if you don't want your restaurant to thrive, make sure to avoid hiring a coach at all costs. Now remember, these 12 surefire steps are guaranteed to destroy your business. But in all seriousness, if you want to really succeed, you want to avoid these pitfalls at all costs. Running a restaurant is challenging, but with the right mindset, knowledge and guidance, you can really create a thriving business that stands the test of time. Now make sure to hit that like and subscribe button. And in my next video, I'm going to show you a seven step plan to turn your restaurant dreams into reality.