Why Working IN Your Restaurant Isn’t Working

You have heard it said to you by every consultant out there. You need to work on your restaurant and not in your restaurant. Yet here you are, still slugging it out every single day, doing battle on the front line. Let's fix that. Today I'm going to show you the five things you must do daily to stop working in your restaurant. Hey, Donald Burns, the restaurant coach and welcome back to the channel. While working on your business. Sounds great. It appears to you to be more like a mythical creature that you're never going to catch. So you do what you know. You keep rolling up your sleeves and working in your restaurant. Now, if your restaurant is running your life and you feel like you're working harder than ever, with really not much to show for it. Listen up. I have seen the promised land for myself when I own two restaurants. Now, before you say, hey, Coach, but you're an anomaly, my situation is totally different. Hold that thought. I have coached thousands of independent restaurants just like you to seek that elusive state of finally breaking free from your restaurant, running you. Now, it can be done if you're willing to listen. And if you are, you too can reach the promised land I speak of. Allow me to share a story with you that I call two restaurants, two mindsets. So when I opened my first restaurant, I was like the typical owner. I felt the need to do everything. If someone wasn't doing it, you know, as fast or as good as I could, I just kind of took over. Now, in hindsight, I was kind of an. And when I dug down to what really created this toxic behavior, it was easy to see. Now, not so much. Back then, I was insecure. I didn't trust my team. I was a control freak. I was very short sighted. And when people quit, I blamed them on not being, you know, a good fit. The truth was that no one wanted to work with a manic, control hungry chef who thought he knew it all. And while the food was getting rave reviews and the restaurant was slowly picking up more and more business, it just wasn't as fast as I wanted or needed. So the more I struggled, the more hours I put into work. Back then, my number one solution to fix the problem was just to put more work into it. Perhaps you've done that same thing before. Perhaps you're still doing it now. See, the issue we all have, but we don't want to admit is that the skills that get us to a certain level will not take us to the next level, to reach the next level of anything in life or in business. It really does Require you to kind of face a new challenge, or like I like to refer to it as a new devil. Hashtag, write this down for every new level. It will require you to face a new devil. Now, our standard way of deal with this is just going to crank up the work effort and push through it. And I found over the years that working harder while having its merits doesn't work 99% of the time. Working smarter is the answer. I was very fortunate to have a regular guest at my restaurant who is a super successful businessman named Peter. And the thing was, he really took a liking to me and my restaurant. And one night he sat down with me to have a talk about the future of my business. And I will tell you now, this talk forever changed my mindset and the trajectory of my business. The thing I remember back then is that night Peter had this real serious tone to his conversation. And he said something like, you know, Donald, I love your restaurant. The food and the service are amazing. Your team always is always on top of all the details. And then Peter paused and he said, but I don't think you're going to be open much longer if this is as big busy as it's going to get. And of course, what do you do when someone says something like that? You try to play it tough. And I said, you know, hey, we're just a little under the radar. Next month, I'm sure it's going to pick up. And side note, that was kind of like my default excuse at a time. Next month it's going to be a different story. Next month is going to be better. Next month it's going to. You're going to see it turns around. And then Peter replied, you know, the last thing you want to be as a restaurant is the best kept secret in town. And damn it, I mean, he was right. And then Peter did something I didn't expect. He said, I would like to offer you some time each week to mentor you on how to really build a business. And the only thing I ask is that you apply what we discuss. And he said, and don't take what I'm about to say next too personally. This is where I was like, okay. I was a little hesitant, but I said, all right. And then Peter said, as he leaned forward on the table as if telling me a secret, he said, donald, you're a brilliant chef and you really know how to run a restaurant, but you suck at running a business. And I just kind of sat there and I was like, damn, he was right again. Now, honestly, I did Take it a little personally. However, I sat back in my chair, let out a deep sigh, and the realization came over me that he was 100% right. I didn't know shit about building a brand or a business. I was letting my ego write the checks, and they were all starting to bounce. If my restaurant was going to thrive and not survive, then the number one thing that had to change around there was me. My attitude totally sucked. It was kind of like, you know, you're digging a hole for yourself and then you're pulling the dirt on top of you. At the same time, I really had to change. I had no option. And I made a commitment that evening that I was going to dedicate an hour each week to Peter as he mentored me. And over the course of the year, he guided me in building a brand and helping me stabilize my business. And then through the year that we worked together, he really helped me formulate many of the processes, including the 3P framework, which is still the foundation of all my coaching programs today. And I use these processes that he taught me still because they helped me turn my struggling restaurant around. But the biggest change that occurred during that time with Peter was my mindset. I find we all have BS storylines that we tell ourselves. And when I had my first restaurant, my story was, I have to do it all myself, because no one does it better than me. Sound familiar? I mean, I was so stupid and so blind to the truth. Hashtag, write this down. You can't build a restaurant or brand to a high level. You if you don't learn how to trust people. Now you might be saying, but coach, I do trust my team. Then why are you constantly doing the work that you pay them to do? I mean, seriously, this madness has to stop and you're the only one who can stop it now. When I opened my second restaurant, I had a major shift in my mindset. And I find the things that you say and the questions you ask yourself silently become like self fulfilling prophecies. Let me give you an example from my first restaurant. A lot of my mindset, a lot of my belief systems were, I have to do everything myself. No one cares as much as I do. It's hard to find good people to work. And then at my second restaurant, my mindset shifted and my attitude was more, I trust my team to do the right thing. People want to do their best. And my job is not to run the restaurant, it's to teach my team how to run the restaurant. That last one, it saved my life. I stopped trying to run the show and instead trained my team on how to run it with my expectations. Let's take a pause here real quick and talk about expectations. I'm 99.9% confident that you are not clarifying your expectations to your team. Now, you think you are and see, that's the hurdle you have to navigate. We all have an unconscious bias that we are communicating and leading the team 100%. And I will tell you right now, if that is true, then why don't you have the restaurant and the life that you want? They say the truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off. Hang in there because I'm about to set you free from your business running you. So let me ask you one key question. Who are you? I mean, really think about that question. Who are you really? Are you a natural leader or are you more like a friend to your team? Not knowing who you really are is putting the brakes on your restaurant's growth. And it's okay if you're not cut out to be the leader. Honestly, very few people are comfortable making the tough calls when business is slower than usual and making tough decisions that have to be made during those times. Leadership is not easy. And whoever's told you it was was selling you a bunch of BS and they should be charged with negligence. If leadership was easy, the world would mean, I mean, the world would be a much better place. I mean, but just look around. It's a chaotic drama filled world that occasionally calms down and we all get along well. Your restaurant's no different. And if you think that everyone who works with you must like each other and never disagree, then restaurant ownership is really not for you. This leads to the discussion that if you're not interested or have the traits to be a leader and what do you do? Be the owner. I know you're gonna say, wait, isn't the owner the leader? Not always. You see, I look at this way. There are owners and there are operators and there are very few successful owner operators. As an owner, you treat it like an investment and you hire other people to run it. As an operator, you're working the day to day operations. Now, I've worked with over 2500 independent restaurants and I honestly can tell you that out of all of them, I could honestly say that only 1% was a great owner operator. There's nothing wrong with being one or the other. The problems start when you try to take on a role that you're not really a natural at. We all have a set of behavioral traits that make us who we are. Some are kind of the take charge type of situation people. Some have the gift of talk and social interaction. Some people seek harmony among a team. And other people have a really wicked attention to detail and analytics. We all have unique gifts that we bring to the table. You just need to honor your strengths and hire other people that complement your deficiencies. Think of it kind of like a carpenter who only has a hammer to build a house with. Sadly, everything looks like a nail to them. So they just kind of go around and with that hammer and beat the crap out of everything. That will not build a house and it will not get you the restaurant that you want. You must start creating your escape plan. Now. You might be shocked to find out that when you train your team consistently, set clear expectations and standards, preach your core values until you actually see them, live them, and know them better than their own name, an amazing thing happened. They don't need you to work in your restaurant anymore. Now, for some owners, this can come as a blow to their egos because they feel they're not needed. And for a small percentage, it is the door to getting your life back. Do you remember having a life before you opened a restaurant? I mean, it's still out there. You just, you've just been so buried working in your business that you've let it kind of fade away to become a memory of, of the good old days. You know, Billy Joel once said in his hit song Keeping the faith, because the good old days weren't always good and tomorrow isn't as bad as it seems. Now, I have a client who runs a remarkably successful pizza concept in San Antonio, Texas. I mean, the man loves working in his restaurant and is there every single day. Then 2020 came along. He got Covid, and he decided he needed to take off some time to recover. And to his surprise, his restaurant had record sales that week even without him there. Now, he was a little in shock about how smooth his business ran without him. And I told him that, you know, training your team is a lot like teaching your child how to ride a bike. You start with the training wheels on and you are there for encouragement. And then you take the training wheels off and you are there to help pick them up when they fall down. And they will fall down. And then finally, you gotta stand back and you gotta let them ride. If you've done your real job as an owner, eventually you must stand back and let your team run the restaurant. Your real job as an owner is just to do five things. I call it the daily. Five, sermon number one, preach your mission, core values and vision. We call it the triad. Number two, you gotta set the standards. Three, you gotta communicate your expectations. Four, you gotta train your team until they can't get it wrong. And five, gotta feed the culture. If you commit to doing these five things daily, then you can finally escape from your restaurant running your life. Hey, make sure to hit that like and subscribe button for more tools and tips to break free from your restaurant running you. And in my next video, I'm going to expose the five myths about teamwork that are costing you big time.