I have been in the restaurant business since April 4, 1982. I am in my forty-fifth year.
The Operating Record #
Roughly half of that time was spent running operations directly and the other half consulting with operators who run them. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 restaurant openings. Independents, franchise operations, multi-unit groups, and the full range of what happens to each of them between opening and whatever comes next.
That is the whole basis of my standing. Not a certification, not a methodology I licensed, not a career built adjacent to this industry advising it from outside. Time on the stage, in the kitchen, over the numbers, and in the room when the decisions were made.
What I Built From It #
For four decades I was taking notes, writing articles, drafting frameworks, naming patterns and building vocabulary. That accumulated into a published framework — hundreds of Dictionary terms and seven Book-and-Fieldbook pairs, organized around the five fundamentals of Perspective, Product, People, Performance and Profit.
All of it is open and free. That is a position, not a promotion, and the reasoning is published at Everything I’ve Written Is Free.
What I Actually Do Now #
I read operations and I teach operators to read their own. The engagements are listed with their prices in the open at The Operator’s WorkShop. I also speak and facilitate, which runs through Learning Events.
What I am not is a fixer who arrives with a system. Your operation does not have a systems problem. It is producing exactly what it is architecturally built to produce, and my job is to find the place where that architecture and your intention came apart.
Where I Am #
Fort Worth, Texas, and onsite anywhere. Reach me at Let’s Talk, or directly at jeffrey@jeffreysummers.com and +1-817-797-2929.
