30 Core Values

This is a list (in no particular order) of our core beliefs for building great hospitality businesses. We predicate all of our operational philosophies and client outcomes on these beliefs.

1. The Guest Experience & the Employee Experience are the most important (only) products you offer. Both are social experiences to be celebrated not transactions to be aggregated.
2. Attracting “A” level talent is a function of great experiences. Recruiting is a function of poorly managed operations.
3. People are your only asset. Everything else is a commodity.
4. Profitability has a direct correlation to the value of the experience you offer through your ability to demand premium pricing.
5. Marketing is the only thing that makes you money. Everything else is a cost.
6. Marketing involves every aspect of the Guest Experience – from the website to the parking lot and from the restrooms to the final payment and beyond.
7. Everyone is involved in marketing your business – from the host/doorman/receptionist/cashier to the dishwasher/server/maid/cashier to the vendors you utilize.
8. Great operations are the foundation of great marketing. You cannot have or execute great marketing with badly managed businesses.
9. Great businesses do not focus on cost-cutting at the expense of building top-line sales. Nor do they use cost-cutting as a growth engine. You cannot shrink your way to greatness.
10. Great systems and processes are the foundation of greater profitability. They must be part of your businesses DNA.
11. You attract “A” level talent to execute great systems and processes. You do not build systems and processes for the talent.
12. Ongoing Training and Coaching are core investments for great businesses. They cannot be considered costs that must be cut in times of downturns. They are also your greatest differentiators.
13. Market share is irrelevant. Target markets are critical.
14. Discounting is antithetical to great businesses that offer a greater and differentiated guest experience. It kills your business.
15. The economy has nothing to do with your success or failure.
16. Great businesses embrace change as a core value.
17. Business strategy must be synthesized with core values. When it is not, businesses fail.
18. “Fun” and “Celebration”must be core values.
19. All Marketing must be “local” to be effective. Your target market is the community you serve and this must be the focus for your business.
20. Great businesses are profitable from “Day 1”. The idea that it takes X number of days/weeks/months/years to become profitable in the hospitality business is a lie.
21. The days of “slow” and “soft” anything are over (slow opens, soft rollouts, etc…). Never, ever, practice on a guest.
22. Mom & pop retired. Today’s operators need to understand and execute more complexity than they did just 5 years ago.
23. Good service is not the same thing as great hospitality. Service (technical inputs) is only the foundation for hospitality(emotional outputs).
24. Your business is a direct reflection of who you are , who you employ and the processes you utilize to create meaningfully differentiated experiences.
25. Behaviors that create emotional attachments drive loyalty, not points or low prices. Real, organic loyalty cannot be bought.
26. Developing guest loyalty is incumbent upon your ability to engage people at all touchpoints on an emotional level.
27. Retail marketing strategies (transactional thinking) do not work with hospitality businesses. The products of each are not related. However, hospitality strategies and processes should be utilized by retail businesses.
28. Innovation is the goal, not problem solving.
29. The Golden Rule never was. You can’t treat people how you want to be treated and expect success. You have to treat them how they want to be treated.
30. “Best Practices” and “Rules of Thumb” result in commodity businesses. Do the science but create your own art.