Most interview questions reveal what a candidate wants you to know. One question reveals what they would rather you did not. Tell me about the worst mistake you ever made — and what it cost your employer. That is it. One question. Four things it tells you immediately. The magnitude of the mistake reveals the […]
The costliest item in most restaurant operations does not appear on the P&L. It is not food waste, not labor variance, not rent. It is the empty chair. Not the chair that was empty because the restaurant was not full. The chair that was empty because the operation did not produce a Guest experience compelling […]
Someone told an operator I was working with that 75% of food and beverage businesses lose money or break even indefinitely — and that F&B is a loss leader by nature. I nearly lost my mind. This is not a market reality. It is a belief system. And it is a belief system that produces […]
Most operators think of fun as a cultural nicety — something that happens when the work goes well, a byproduct of a good shift rather than a design requirement for a productive operation. They have the sequence backwards. Fun creates enjoyment. The cast member who finds genuine enjoyment in the work is not performing enthusiasm. […]
There is a service recovery script making the rounds in hospitality training circles that sounds like empathy and produces the opposite of it. “I can see how angry this makes you.” When was the last time you were genuinely upset with a service failure and the person responsible for fixing it responded by narrating your […]
The impulse is understandable. You see something being done and you know you could do it better. More carefully. More consistently. With more attention to detail and more genuine care for the outcome. And you probably could. The market will not care. Better is a comparison. It requires the Guest to evaluate your version against […]