Donald Burns, trained in pararescue and special operations, argues restaurant owners should prepare for chaos, not average days. He explains how military training in fatigue and communication breakdowns translates to restaurants: clear authority, backup stations, and financial awareness create calm during crises. Confidence comes from systematic rehearsal, not personality.
Most restaurant owners prepare for like an average Tuesday. Pararescue, pararescue taught me to prepare for the day when everything goes sideways. Because you do not train for perfect conditions. You train for chaos. You train for when you're tired. You train when communication breaks down. You train when Plan A just totally disappears. You train until your response becomes automatic. That mindset, that mindset completely changed how I look at restaurants. Because your emergency right now is not the time to invent a new system. Friday night is not the time to figure out who has authority. A call-out is not the time to discover, wow, nobody knows the station backup. A food cost crisis is not the time to start learning your numbers. You prepare before the pressure arrives. I tell restaurant owners all the time that preparation buys you options and poor preparation steals them. The restaurant owner who thinks ahead appears calm when everyone else is panicking. Here's the thing, that calm, that calm is not personality. It's preparation. Pararescue taught me that confidence comes from knowing that you've rehearsed so many times, you've seen these hard situations before. Restaurants work exactly the same way. Stop preparing for the restaurant that you wish you had and prepare your team for the restaurant that you actually operate. That special operations training is the reason I coach differently.
If your restaurant only works because you work 80 hours a week, it doesn't work.
