This is a YouTube video titled "The Starbucks Secret No One Talks About #H2OTrio #RestaurantLeadership #EmployeeFirst" containing a monologue by Donald Burns recorded in August 2025. Donald Burns discusses the influential role of Howard Behar and the H2O trio in Starbucks' growth strategy, emphasizing the importance of a hierarchy of guest relationships in restaurant leadership and employee focus.
There was an author, Howard Behar. He was actually part of the H2O, the Howard Howard Oren construct. Three guys who really built and designed and executed from the ground up the whole growth strategy of Starbucks, right? And Howard Schultz is the one who gets all the credit for it. But really the genius behind the curtain was Howard Behar and he's written some amazing, amazing books. And I read this book years ago and, and I remember when he had talked about that hierarchy of his guest is his employee and the employee's guest is the restaurant's guest. I really like that helped me just kind of hone my focus. I mean, I still love touching tables and chatting with the guests and the guests always love to say that they know the owner this and that and you always have to deal with the problems and respond to the reviews and positive and negative. But outside of that, it's just that hierarchy to me is, is very critical.
If your restaurant only works because you work 80 hours a week, it doesn't work.
