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The Operator's Playbook
44 years of unfiltered lessons from the front lines of independent restaurant operations. No theory. No pontificating. Just the truth.
Take The Free Operator's Readiness Assessment Pre-Order the Book — $99.00The Operator's Playbook + The Operator's Fieldbook
The book gives you the framework. The Fieldbook puts it to work. Every concept, every fundamental, every operational pattern in the Playbook has a corresponding field exercise in the Fieldbook — designed to be completed on your floor, with your cast, in your operation. This isn't theory you read once and shelve. It's a working document you return to every shift cycle until the patterns are yours. At $99, it's the least expensive consultant you'll ever hire.
Coaching Bundle — $349.00The Operator's Playbook + The Operator's Fieldbook + A 30-Minute Coaching Call with Jeffrey
Everything in the $99 bundle — plus 30 minutes on the phone with Jeffrey to work through what you're seeing in your operation right now. Bring your numbers, your people problems, your biggest operational question. You'll leave with a clear next move. At $349, it's one conversation that pays for itself.
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The Problem
Twenty-four percent of restaurants go out of business in year one. Seventy-six percent are gone by year three. Those aren't abstract numbers. Those are real people who emptied retirement accounts, maxed out credit cards, and bet everything on a dream — only to watch it unravel.
The tragedy isn't that restaurants are hard. They are. The tragedy is that most of those failures were preventable.
They didn't fail because the food was bad. They didn't fail because the location was wrong or the economy tanked. They failed because the operator didn't know what they didn't know — and wouldn't ask for help until it was too late.
"I'm tired of talking head bullshit. They talk about the industry. I'm talking about your restaurant."— Jeffrey Summers
"In 44 years, I have never once seen a great restaurant fail because the food wasn't good enough."— From the Introduction
The Framework
Five Fundamentals. One Playbook.
In 44 years, I have yet to meet a single operator who was strong across all five. Not one. This book covers every one of them — because that's where the game is won or lost.
I
Perspective
The blind spots killing your business that you can no longer see.
II
People
Stop hiring bodies. Start building a team worth staying for.
III
Product
Service vs. Hospitality. Differentiation. The Guest experience.
IV
Performance
Leadership that works on the floor, not just in the office.
V
Profit
The money you're leaving on the table and how to stop.
44
Years in the restaurant industry
200+
Independent operators coached
34
Restaurants opened from scratch
"If you picked up this book looking for validation — for someone to tell you you're doing it right — put it down. There are plenty of books that will do that for you. This isn't one of them."— From the Preface
What This Book Is
This is 44 years of actually doing the job — opening restaurants, running them, watching them succeed and watching them fail, and logging every lesson along the way.
No other business touches people's lives the way a restaurant does. From first meal to last, nothing impacts a life quite like a restaurant does. That's why the operators who do this work deserve better thinking than they're getting.
This book is that thinking. Unfiltered. Peer to peer. No pontificating.
Every Guest. Every Experience. Every Day.
Pre-Order the Book — $99.00
The Operator's Playbook + The Operator's Fieldbook
The book gives you the framework. The Fieldbook puts it to work. Every concept, every fundamental, every operational pattern in the Playbook has a corresponding field exercise in the Fieldbook — designed to be completed on your floor, with your cast, in your operation. This isn't theory you read once and shelve. It's a working document you return to every shift cycle until the patterns are yours. At $99, it's the least expensive consultant you'll ever hire.
Coaching Bundle — $349.00The Operator's Playbook + The Operator's Fieldbook + A 30-Minute Coaching Call with Jeffrey
Everything in the $99 bundle — plus 30 minutes on the phone with Jeffrey to work through what you're seeing in your operation right now. Bring your numbers, your people problems, your biggest operational question. You'll leave with a clear next move. At $349, it's one conversation that pays for itself.