Donald Burns argues restaurants that settle for being good are wasting their potential. He breaks down four tiers from bad to outstanding, then pushes back on the routine stuff everyone expects: clean kitchens, hot food, staff that actually work together. Aim higher.
Donald Burns with another restaurant coach minute. I'm gonna go on a little rant here. Let's talk about average. See, average restaurants take great pride in things that they're supposed to do. We have a clean restaurant. What do you want, a cookie? You're supposed to have a clean restaurant. How about this? We greet our guests with a smile. Duh. You're supposed to have a smile for every guest that honors you by spending their hard earned money in your restaurant. How about our hot food is served hot and our cold food is served cold? Really? You want a pat in the back for that? How about this one? We believe in teamwork around here. Good. Because running a full service restaurant by yourself is really, really hard. How about this one? I love this one. We value our staff. I truly hope you do, because if not, they're going to lead to work somewhere else. You see, there's basically four levels of restaurants. You have the bad, the good, the great, and the outstanding. Now, if I was to describe the bad, of course that would be at, like, floor level. The good would be kind of around waist level. Great would kind of be at the top of your head. And outstanding is just like 4 inches above your head. The problem is that most restaurants settle for good. Good is average. And average is a failing formula in today's market. Now, great is a worthy goal, but why stop there? You need to set your sights on outstanding. You want to stand out so far ahead of the competition that they chase you. That requires thinking about your business and your brand differently. And when you're ready to aim for outstanding, we should talk.
If your restaurant only works because you work 80 hours a week, it doesn't work.
