Donald Burns outlines 'functionality' as the starting point for making money and identifies three core pillars: effective marketing (distinguishing true marketing from mere social posting), strategic planning with concrete time horizons (30 days, 60 days, quarter, five years), and maximizing KPIs (key performance indicators) which he calls leading indicators of performance.
Functionality is where you start making money. And there's three things I look at here. I look at your marketing. Effective marketing. A lot of restaurants post on social media, but they don't market. There's a difference between posting and marketing, and you got to know the difference. The next thing is strategic planning. You got to have a plan. You got to know where I'm going to be, where do I want to be in the next 30 days, 60 days, quarter year, five years, what's my plan? And then the last thing you want to maximize what we call KPIs, key performance indicators. We can look at your KPIs and I can tell you right now what's up, what's down. KPIs are huge. They are a leading indicator.
If your restaurant only works because you work 80 hours a week, it doesn't work.
