Donald Burns describes how a mentor's roadmap freed him from being "handcuffed" to his restaurant. He learned to train his team through six modules and teach hospitality as a skill, not instinct, which let him step back and actually enjoy the business again.
I am so blessed to be able to help restaurant owners because, again, it all goes back to that very first restaurant. I had that one businessman sat me down and just had that heart to heart, that hard. Talk about. I'm worried. Worried about you not being open in six months and then just saying, hey, listen, I'm willing to show you the roadmap if you're willing to do the work. And I said at that time, yes. I mean, I was desperate. I was like, yes. And I always tell people, it didn't just change my restaurant, it changed my life.
Yeah.
Gave me my life back. Because at that time, my restaurant was. I was handcuffed to my restaurant, you know, and I just couldn't. I didn't see any way to escape it. Just working harder and harder.
Yeah. And I actually feel that that's what, you know. Yes, you've changed our restaurant, but I believe you've changed our life because it's. Everything's so crystal clear now.
Thank you.
Our focus, our direction, you know, everything. We work hard anyway, so. So amazing. Work hard with a purpose.
Yeah. And just enjoy it. And then you're like me now. It's like I get. I get excited when I see my members, like, you, like, rising up and becoming better. And now you see it. When you see your team elevating better, just. It gives you that little. Oh, my God, they get it.
Oh, my God, they're actually getting it. They're absorbing it. Yeah, yeah. And. And, like, because of what you've taught us, and with, like, Ruth does the. You know, builds the website and the. For the training and that, and like, I. I just say, when we on board, you're gonna do this, this, this and this. These are your first six modules. And it's more hospitality from the head, not the heart. So it's the how to what?
Yeah, they have to understand the standards.
That sort of stuff, which. It brings in the standards, and then from there, we slowly work through hospitality from the heart, you know what I mean? So we. This is the. This is the way we do it now. This is the heart, and we just focus more on the heart, not the head, you know what I mean? Once they. Once they know what to do, it's all heart, you know what I mean?
If your restaurant only works because you work 80 hours a week, it doesn't work.
