Is Your Restaurant Acting Like Godzilla?

Have you ever felt like your restaurant is rampaging out of control just like Godzilla tearing through the city? Well, today we're gonna dive into the chaos, the confusion, and the destruction that can happen when your restaurant turns into a monster and wants to eat everything in its sight. Stick with me, and I'm gonna show you how to tame the beast. Get back in the driver's seat and turn your restaurant into a place of order, Order, efficiency, and profit. Are you ready to conquer your own Godzilla? Let's dive in. Hey there, fellow restaurant owners and leaders. Donald Burns, the restaurant coach, author of the your Restaurant sucks trilogy and creator of the Restaurant Coach Method. Culture is one of those business elements that's created either by design or by default. And it can be can be like a subtle song playing in the background, or it can be like a booming cinematic soundtrack that blasts throughout your entire brand. I mean, it's there right now. Have you ever really noticed it? Culture and your brand are kind of in a symbolic relationship. They cooperate and succeed or they fail with each other. Your culture is your brand, and your brand is your culture. When you started your restaurant, you brought an idea to life. And along with that idea came the dynamic every business and society needs to successfully have to survive. You need culture. Think of it kind of like that song we mentioned earlier. If your brand message is the lyrics, then your culture is the beat or the tempo. You can put incredible soulful words into a song, but if the music or beat doesn't provide the right background or tempo, your tune's not going to find an audience. Can you see how they need each other to be a hit? And can you also see why so many missed the mark? So let me ask you a question. Is your culture a monster? So maybe your focus was on building sales and you really didn't pay a lot of attention to how your culture was growing. That's the same as planting a tree and being more concerned about the fruit it bears than it taking root and having long term growth. Now, when you're in your restaurant, watching your team and guests, does something feel wrong? Is there something not quite right about your culture in your restaurant? Does it feel like your culture has grown into a little monster that's difficult to control? I'll tell you from personal experience, it's better to deal with that monster when it's small, before it grows into Godzilla and consumes your entire brand. The first thing you need to do is you need to avoid beating yourself up about it too badly. I mean, this happens to even the best brands when Your brand and your culture suffer from a disconnect. You just need to get back to the fundamentals of what creates a winning culture. Fair warning, when you try to change something, anything, even something seemingly small, like even the small shit, change is going to push back on you. And sometimes it pushes back rather harshly. Kind of like that famous line from the Dylan Thomas poem, change will rage, rage against the dying of the light. You see, change goes against the human drive for comfort, which is most people's natural set point. I mean, we seek it, we want it, we crave it. But being comfortable is the last thing you want for a restaurant, so you need to rage and rally against it. So let's get back to basics so you've strayed off the beaten path. And if you have again, don't worry too much. Even a plane flying from Los Angeles to New York makes course corrections all the time. It's time to make your own culture course corrections. Now, you should always be aware of what's happening in your restaurant and adjust as needed. If there are indeed needed changes, here's the thing I will warn you. Don't change for the sake of change, or you're going to end up driving your team crazy with your pursuit of the next new shiny thing. Here's where you want to pick your battles very, very carefully. When you find one that you truly believe will move your brand and your culture forward, act with precision and ruthless execution. Oh, and give it time to succeed. Nothing kills culture faster than giving up way too soon when things don't happen as fast as you'd like. Trust me, we've all been there. So get your culture back under control using these five culture fundamentals. Number one, what do you stand for? At the epicenter of all culture are core values. I mean, you can't escape them. If you really want to build a culture that attracts talent and guests to your restaurant brand. If your restaurant culture has grown into something which you're not happy about, you really need to return to square one and identify what your core values are. A solid understanding about what you stand for, who you are, and why you do what you do are essential to the roots of any culture tree. And really put some deep thought in understanding the values that drive you and your brand. Got to remember that your core values are a reflection of you. Connect with the words and phrases that resonate from deep within. An easy way to start is to simply write down words that spark an emotion inside of you. Happiness, Respect. Sustainability. Innovation. Leadership. Do any of those words trigger emotion? The important thing to do is find words that you truly believe in and that are a part of you. Don't go for words that just sound good on the surface or you think are going to make you look good. Core values have to have a true connection to who you are. Number two, you gotta get up and preach. Now, once you have your list of core values and your reasons why, you gotta get up on your soapbox and preach those things to your team every single day. You want to become obsessed with talking to your team about your core values and what drives you. You want to approach talking about your core values the same way like Joel Osteen does a sermon with disciplined conviction. See, your duty as an owner or leader is to talk every day to your team about what drives you, what, what inspires you, what makes your heart sing. I mean, that's the stuff that great cultures are made of. And again, this must be done every single day without fail. I mean, you don't build an incredible culture by speaking about your core values. You know, just occasionally or during the new hire orientation. Talking about your core values must become a daily habit. When your team sees what drives you, what you're passionate about, what you believe in, they. They're either going to get on the bus or they're going to want to get off the bus. Those who stay, they're going to be right beside you for the entire ride. Either way, you're going to win. Number three, Be the example, not the warning. Okay? Once you've made a habit of talking about your core values every single day to your team. Have I mentioned every single day to your team? Then you need to back up your words with actions. Hypocrisy is a culture killer. Words are merely words. It's through our action exhibited day in and day out, that we build credibility. Write this shit down. Credibility leads to trust, trust builds culture, and culture builds an outstanding brand. A lot of restaurant owners and managers talk a great game. However, watch them in action and you're gonna see there's a big disconnect between what they say and what they do. For example, if you selected the core value of integrity, and you better live up to what that word means. People love to see a hypocrite fail. That's why your deeds and words must be in total harmony. So what separates a manager from a leader? A leader leads a team through consistent action and takes personal accountability for those actions. A person is assigned a role of a manager. Anyone can be a manager. A leader steps up, actually lead. Remember this. Leadership is respected. Leadership is Trusted leadership is earned. Write that shit down. Leadership is earned every single day. Number four, choose words that build culture. So let me ask you a question. Do the words you use on a regular basis have an impact on your culture more than you probably think? Words are very, very powerful, particularly the right words. For example, do you use the word customer or guest? Are you still placing subconscious divisions between guest facing roles and the kitchen by referring to them as front of a house and back of the house? Or do you use the word team? Do you have a management team or do you have a leadership team? Great restaurant cultures are very, very clear on the nomenclature they use. They choose words that resonate with their brand and reinforce the culture. Think about words and phrases from your own life. Do you have a problem or do you have a challenge? Do you want to be great or are you aiming to be outstanding? See, the words you use amplify messages and experiences. So you need to be very, very careful about the words that you use with yourself and with your team. I can tell you with 100% certainty that everything that happens in your outer world starts with your inner world. Be mindful of the way you talk to yourself. If culture truly flows down rather than up, it starts with you. Therefore, how you see yourself is very important. Demanding more from yourself than your team, Being harder on yourself than others, expecting more from yourself. Those are traits that are common among the most successful leaders. Now, beating yourself up mentally and emotionally to the point where it kind of really impacts your confidence and self esteem. That's not. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to spend the next week being very, very conscious of the words you say to yourself and to others. Grab a notebook and then take some notes of this stuff. Because remember, awareness precedes choice. Choice precedes change. You must be aware of an issue before you can fix it. After a week of taking notes on some keywords, you say, find some empowering replacement words to start using in their place. A great one to start with is the word should. Now, you've used this before and I know you have. You know you should do this, you know you should do that. Whenever you find yourself using the word should, you got to immediately change that word to must. If you change, you know you should do into things you must do, you're going to see a radical, I mean a radical improvement in the quality of your life, your culture and your restaurant. And number five, you need to nurture your culture every single day. Remember, culture is a living thing. And just like any living Thing, it needs to be cared for and cultivated. So if your culture grew into a monster and got out of control, it's because you didn't nurture it correctly. And once you start getting your culture back under control and going on the right path, you, you really want to make sure that you dedicate more energy and effort into feeding it in the proper way. That means spending time with your team, observing, guiding, coaching, and leading by example. This also means that you may have to get rid of some of the bad apples that have really infected your culture with a lot of toxicity and negativity. I mean, remember, your culture is kind of also like a garden. If you want a meticulous, beautiful and thriving garden, you have to tend to it daily. Weeds grow without your help, so you must be villagent and keep them from over growing your garden. The same goes for your culture. You must be relentless in your pursuit to pull the weeds out. Get that negativity out of your culture as soon as it appears. Negativity. I'm telling you, once negativity has taken root, it's very, very difficult to eradicate it. And you definitely don't want to really bury deep down into your culture. I mean, once that negativity gets a hold, it's going to take every effort you have to grab it and rip it out because it's going to take a solid grip and hold of your culture tighter than anything you've ever heard of. You definitely don't want to burrow deep into your culture, get a hold of it while it's small and rip it out before its roots take hold of your culture. Nurture the elements that you want to grow. Trust, confidence, hospitality, growth, teamwork, creativity, learning, respect, gratitude, energy and community. These are the elements of culture that you need to tend to and you need to encourage every single day. And you have to do it without fail. You must become diligent in feeding your culture the positive traits that you wish to see. I mean, seriously, culture is a lot like the ocean. You don't want to turn your back on it for too long. I mean, it could become quite nasty in a very short amount of time if you don't watch it. If your culture has grown out of control or has gone in a direction that you don't like. It's not too late now. Let's be honest. Will it be easy to change? No. In fact, it's going to be a hard fought battle to change culture once it has grown out of control and become a little monster. However difficult it is, it is a battle you must take on and you must commit to to seeing through to the very end. I mean, this fight is worth it and it is necessary. If your culture has grown out of control, the only one you really have to blame is yourself. But like most things in life, you are your own problem. But you're also your own solution. So it's time to dig in, make a plan, and get to work. Think of culture like the soul of your restaurant. And what would you do to save your soul? Whatever it takes. Hey, make sure to hit that like and subscribe button for more tools and tips. And if you're serious about getting on the fast track, about making more profits and not having your restaurant run your life or have your culture turn into a monster, join my new community called TRC Vault. We have interactive chats with restaurants from all around the globe. We also have trainings. Plus there's a group of experts that you can ask questions to 24 7. And probably the most exciting thing is that there are challenges where you can actually create new habits and earn points to exchange for courses inside of my restaurant Coach University. Just head over to therestaurantcoachvault.com to join our beta group for free. In my next video, I'm going to share the real reason your restaurant sucks and how you can fix it.