Donald Burns (speaker) opens a YouTube video addressing the widespread problem of unsolicited opinions directed at restaurant owners — from family, guests, and even consultants who lack direct ownership experience — and argues that meaningful, actionable improvement comes from guidance by fellow restaurant owners who have lived the reality.
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, 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. 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.
If your restaurant only works because you work 80 hours a week, it doesn't work.
