Every great team experiences tension. The pace of service in a busy restaurant can lead to interactions that are curt — to say the least — but larger issues can arise as well. Are you noticing your restaurant team is arguing? Is your employee turnover rate going up? Are you sensing a...

Interview Series: Brian Duncan of Down To Earth Wine Concepts

Here is another interview from The CONQUER Online Restaurant Summit with my friend Brian Duncan. Brian always has a unique understanding and view of the world. The topic for this talk was how Restaurant Culture is in Crisis.

Donald...

All business problems are people problems.

I want to share with you some of the challenges that I faced back in the 90s when I opened my first restaurant….

Up to that point I had been in the industry for 15 years. It’s hard to believe that I’m coming up on 42 years in the...

The restaurant world will never be the same after what we have been through over the past few years.

Things have changed rapidly for restaurants around the globe and many look to the USA for trends and insight into which direction the industry is headed.

I can tell you from working with over 2200...

The Coronavirus Pandemic is unlike anything we have ever experienced. Times like these bring out the best in some people and the worst in others. It has forced some to close for good and for others to rethink their reason for staying in this industry. Some have added take-out and delivery. Others...

Mistakes. We have all made them.

Most likely you’ll make quite a few more while running a restaurant. The thing you want to avoid is these 19 fatal mistakes that 80% of restaurants make each year which contributes to the low survival rate that restaurants experience.

Of all the restaurants...

*The following is an excerpt from my new book: Your Restaurant Culture Sucks coming out in September 2021.

"You should close your restaurant."

I can’t believe the words just came out of my mouth. There was a very long silence on the other end of the Zoom call. Enough silence that you knew...

Creating new habits and rewiring your brain is not easy. If it was, everyone would be living their life to the potential and not have any backslides. Real, life is not like that!

It takes constant and steady pressure to change yourself. That is why the concept of Kaizen is SO IMPORTANT to our new...

I'VE BEEN WHERE YOU ARE...

Go sit in your restaurant for an hour with your eyes closed and just listen. What do you hear?

Does it sound like the smooth cadence of a well-oiled machine or more like a clunky old car engine that backfires every minute?

When I am coaching a client, I love to sit in the dining room and just...

If you’re like the majority of restaurants and bars in your market, you’ve been struggling to find staff.

Many operators are struggling to find any staff! Are they breathing? Can they form a coherent sentence? Yes? Hired!

The new hires stay for a few weeks but end up...