The Monday Morning Move

I’ve spent 45 years in restaurants, and the hardest problem to solve in this business isn’t food, labor, or rent. It’s getting the right move to happen this week. Not next quarter. Not next year. This week.

That’s what The Monday Morning Move is. A paid weekly section on From The Playbook. One move. One asset. One test. Every Monday. Before the week gets away from you.

Why This Exists

Operators get advice in volumes. Books, newsletters, podcasts, group chats — all of it arriving faster than anyone can act on, none of it organized around what to do next. The result isn’t a better business. It’s a better-informed operator who hasn’t changed anything.

The Monday Morning Move exists to fix that by cutting it. Not another list of things to think about. One move, every Monday, against one real asset in your operation, with a read at the end that tells you whether the move worked.

You’ve already read something similar to this section. Every article I’ve written carries a what-to-do-Monday-morning beat. The Monday Morning Move is not that. It expands the idea of taking action on the issue I’m talking about and digs deeper into the value of actually doing it — a valuable resource in its own right: every Monday, the move, the asset it runs against, the test, the read. The articles give you the argument or the thinking. The MMM gives you the most in-depth action to take against the issues holding you back. It’s the action I’d recommend to you if I were sitting in your dining room, talking to you about how to improve your business.

This isn’t what you see from everyone and his brother on the interwebs. These are the actions I use in my own client work — one move, one asset, one test, every Monday. For operators who already know the argument and want the move that follows it.

What A Monday Morning Move Is

Three parts, every edition:

The move. One thing to do. Not a list. Not a menu. One move.

The asset. The real thing in your operation the move runs against. Your schedule. Your menu. Your host stand. Your P&L. A real asset you already have.

The test. The read that tells you whether the move worked. Not a feeling — a number, a change, a yes or no.

A move without a test is an opinion. A test without a move is a report. The Monday Morning Move is the two together.

What One Looks Like

Branding work I did with a client. Their full-service business ran multiple locations with no powerful brand connection to anything they did — the cast dressed as they wanted, acted as they wanted, the signage was different at every location, and there was no brand voice aligning the work and the mission. The move: rebuild the brand from the inside out. First the understanding — we worked to create why a powerful brand voice adds tremendous value to the business, before anything changed on the ground. Then the individual elements, one at a time, until we knocked them all out. A brand is not the palette, the font, or the sign above the door — it’s the complete, intentional, owned experience delivered to every Guest every time, and theirs had to be rebuilt from what the operation actually is. The asset: the brand itself. The test: the Guests. In a rebrand, you have to take the Guest along for the ride — the Guest has to feel like they’ve given you permission. The read: what the Guest says the place is, against what the brand says it is. Marketing puts butts in seats. The brand brings them back. When the two match, the Guest comes back — and brings someone with them. The reward of the work showed up in increased Guest traffic, eventually more locations, and franchise inquiries and interest from investors.

Why Should You Subscribe

One move, one asset, one test — every Monday
The move comes from real client work, not recycled internet advice
The asset is something real in your restaurant — your lease, your menu, your cast, your Guests, your community, your vendors, your cost controls, your own development as an operator — not another download
The test tells you whether the move worked in yours
Every past edition in the full archive
Comments on every edition
The essays stay free — the MMM is the action that follows the argument

Every asset in the building is downstream of the operator. The restaurant is the operator made visible — it cannot outgrow him. When he declines, the place declines. That’s Static Decline from the other side, and it’s why this work ends on your own development as an operator. The restaurant gets better because you do.

What Every Edition Carries

Fixed shape. Every Monday:

The move.
The asset it runs against.
Why this move, this week.
The test — how you know it worked.
The read — what the result tells you about what to do next Monday.

Same shape, every time, so you always know what you’re getting and what to do with it.

The First Move

The first edition is already live. The move is the one that makes every other one possible: subscribe to the weekly newsletter. One move, one asset, one test — whether you open it Monday morning.

One move. One asset. One test. Every Monday.

Individual plans start at $12.99/month or $125/year. Founding Member Lifetime is $240. Group plans for teams are available at 25% off per seat.

Subscribe here: https://www.fromtheplaybook.com/subscribe

Digging Deeper

Positions on the record. From The Playbook — https://www.fromtheplaybook.com/ — The Monday Morning Move — https://www.fromtheplaybook.com/s/the-monday-morning-move — The Operator’s Playbook — https://jeffreysummers.com/the-operators-playbook-overview/

Terms used in this piece. Terms used in this piece: Guest, cast, Static Decline. Definitions in the Knowledge Base.