A monologue-style video by Lisa (uploaded by Donald Burns) about the value of owner presence in restaurants. Lisa advocates for unannounced, anonymous visits—never placing oneself on the schedule and occasionally appearing incognito (hoodie/sunglasses) —as a way to monitor team culture, communication breakdowns, and to prevent staff taking advantage of absent ownership.
You know, a challenge that I've had even myself is just, like, when there is a communication between team members or even between two locations now, you have to nip it in the butt very fast. And I think. And so I think that if the owner is not involved and they don't have a physical presence or. And I think your team will also take advantage of that. Right. And so that's another disease that can exist in restaurants. So the reality is a lot of owners are not present. And I like to think my staff likes that I'm present. But, I mean, I don't know. We'd have to ask them. When I come to Chicago, I'll ask your staff. Yeah, I think I definitely. I keep them. The things that I've learned being an owner, I never put myself on the schedule. They should not know when I'm coming. I love that. I love that. That should be. Every owner should do that. You should never be on the schedule. You should just be like. You should pop in randomly. That's the best way to get your finger on the pulse of the culture. Yeah, I agree. And so, like, whether that means. And it's really funny, too, because, like, some of the. You'll hire team members, and they won't even at first know who I am if I wasn't sitting in the interview. And you know me, I'm, like, in a hoodie and sunglasses, and they think I'm so. I'm just like, all eyes. I'm almost like a secret shopper. Yet I'm the owner. You are. I know if I walked in your restaurant, I would like, that's this. So if you ever walk into Cafe Cremery in Chicago and you see a woman with a hoodie on, sunglasses, headphones on, on her laptop in the corner as Lisa, that's Lisa. I know. I adapted hoodie culture when, you know, I love that. I know a lot of people in Chicago like walking around and things, but the other thing is just that you get stopped a lot. Right. And so with that being said, I just, like, adapted a hoodie and sunglass culture just so, like, I can go incognito.
If your restaurant only works because you work 80 hours a week, it doesn't work.
