It’s Not You—It’s Your Hospitality

Learn how effective brand strategy turns provocative ideas into a loyal community. See why disruption wins customers. Most brands play it safe, but the most memorable ones are not afraid to polarize. This discussion breaks down the reality of using provocative branding to cut through the noise. It is not just about being loud for the sake of it; it is about building a foundation that resonates wit...

Why do great teams fall apart — even when they have talented people, strong systems, and a great product? It usually comes back to leadership. In this video, Preston breaks down the leadership principles behind building teams that actually last, why culture and accountability matter, and the difference between simply managing employees and creating an environment where people can succeed. Whether...

What separates good customer service from unforgettable hospitality? In this video, we break down how Chick-fil-A built one of the strongest hospitality cultures in the restaurant industry—and why that culture has become such a powerful competitive advantage. You’ll learn the difference between service and hospitality, why anticipating guest needs matters, and how creating a memorable customer exp...

What do Chick-fil-A and Hillstone understand about hospitality training that most restaurants miss? In this podcast, we break down how Chick-fil-A and Hillstone execute hospitality training to create consistent guest experiences, stronger restaurant teams, and service standards employees can actually deliver — even during the busiest shifts. Great hospitality isn’t created by telling your team to...

Here's 10 years of hospitality training, leadership lessons, and guest experience strategy in less than 15 minutes! If you work in a restaurant, bar, hotel, hospitality business, or lead a customer-facing team, this video breaks down what actually separates average service from unforgettable hospitality. Service is a transaction. Hospitality is a feeling. The restaurants and bars that win are...

Great restaurant owners don’t ask, “Why can’t we do this?” They ask, “How can we make it work?” In this podcast, Preston Lee breaks down one of the biggest mindset differences between restaurant owners who stay stuck and those who continuously improve, innovate, and grow. After working with restaurant owners and hospitality leaders across the industry, one pattern shows up again and again: the dif...

What does it really take to build a restaurant team capable of delivering Michelin-level hospitality? In this conversation, Michelin-star chef and restaurateur Josiah Citrin shares the lessons he’s learned from decades of building restaurants, developing teams, navigating major industry challenges, and balancing culinary passion with the realities of running a profitable business. Josiah explains...

Want to know how to increase restaurant sales in 2026—without relying on discounts, gimmicks, or simply trying to get more people through the door? In this episode, Founder & CEO of Thirty Percent, Preston Lee, sits down with Geno McWilliams, owner of Lucia’s Italian Kitchen in Effingham, Illinois, to break down the restaurant sales strategies, hospitality systems, and operational decisions th...

Your servers’ obsession with tips may be creating a toxic workplace and quietly damaging your restaurant’s culture, guest experience, and long-term success. In this podcast, Preston Lee, Founder and CEO of Thirty Percent, explores why a “money-first” mindset causes servers and bartenders to judge guests, resent coworkers, resist management, and lose sight of what hospitality is really about. Drawi...

Struggling to get your restaurant staff fully bought in? In this podcast, you’ll learn how to create restaurant staff buy-in through mindset shifts, stronger leadership, clear standards, accountability, and a deeper understanding of hospitality. Rather than simply telling employees what to do, Preston Lee, Founder & CEO of Thirty Percent, works through a real coaching conversation with Adolfo,...

We break down why great restaurants are built on more than food costs, labor costs, and checklists. True restaurant success starts with culture, leadership, team development, accountability, and guest experience. From reducing employee turnover to developing Gen Z team members, this conversation explores what separates managers from true leaders and why the best restaurant teams are created throug...

How do successful restaurant groups scale without losing quality, culture, or accountability? In this podcast, we break down how to create restaurant training systems that scale—especially when you’re growing from one location to multiple restaurants, managing more GMs, opening new concepts, and trying to maintain the guest experience that made you successful in the first place. You’ll hear a real...

What does it take to build a world-class restaurant team? Well...in this video, award-winning chef Philip Tessier shares why the future of hospitality isn't just about creating great food, it's about developing great people. Chef Tessier discusses leadership, ownership mentality, innovation, Michelin-star standards, training systems, guest experience, and why the best restaurant cultures...

Most restaurants don’t fail because of bad food, they fail because of bad leadership, weak training, and inconsistent hospitality. So in this exclusive interview, Restauranteur and Top Chef judge Janet Zuccarini sits down with Preston Lee to break down the secrets to leadership, hospitality, and training systems that helped her build one of the most respected restaurant groups. From opening her ve...

Restaurant culture is broken… and nobody wants to talk about it. In this server training I break down the detrimental mindset that is destroying hospitality and restaurant culture and instead show how to thrive in the industry. In this powerful training, we dive deep into what real hospitality actually means and why the best servers, bartenders, managers, and restaurant leaders don’t operate from...

In this podcast, I break down the 8 biggest restaurant leadership problems I’ve seen after working with over 350 restaurants worldwide and evaluating more than 1,000 restaurant operations, from small mom-and-pop shops to multi-million dollar hospitality groups.  And here’s the truth: the problems are always the same. The only difference is scale. If you’re a restaurant owner, operator, or manager,...

For this in depth restaurant management training...Preston sits down with rising restaurant leader Camille, to break down the real-world management training that transforms restaurant managers into true leaders. After leaving her photography business, Cammy started as a hostess in 2021 and quickly climbed the ranks into restaurant leadership. Now managing the floor at a busy Southern California Me...

If you think restaurant marketing is just posting pretty food photos… you’re already losing. In this in depth interview, I sit down with Coffee Dose founder Jeni Castro, one of the most disruptive and effective marketers in the coffee and hospitality space, to break down what actually drives sales, brand loyalty, and real growth. From building a cult-like following with “Anti-B*tch Serum”… to crea...

Restaurant Manager Training: Step-by-Step to Higher Profits Struggling with inconsistent staff performance, poor hospitality, or missed revenue opportunities? In this in-depth restaurant manager training, I sat down with a general manager and we broke down the real reasons his team isn’t executing and I showed him a step-by-step system to fix it. This isn’t theory. This is what actually works insi...

Are your hosts secretly hurting your restaurant’s growth? Most restaurant owners massively underestimate the power of the host role and it’s costing them sales, guest retention, and long-term success. In this podcast, Preston Lee talks why your host (or cashier in QSR) is actually one of the most important positions in your entire operation and how failing to properly define, hire, and train this...

Most restaurants don’t have a sales problem, they have a people development problem. When you break down inconsistent service, weak guest retention, bad reviews, and high turnover, it almost always comes back to the same root issue: underdeveloped training, weak leadership, and broken systems.  In this video, we break down a complete restaurant training and onboarding system designed to fix that a...

If you think your managers are a cost, you’re already losing money. After working with over 300 restaurants worldwide, I’ve seen the same mistake again and again: owners try to fix training, systems, or hospitality first… but nothing truly changes until leadership is fixed. Leadership is the foundation. If it’s weak, everything else breaks. In this video, I break down how an $80,000 manager can ei...

How do you turn $12 into a $100 million restaurant empire? In this video, I break down the incredible true story behind Carlo Distefano and the rise of the San Carlo Restaurant Group, one of the most successful luxury restaurant brands in the UK, with locations in London, Manchester, Dubai, and soon Miami.  If you’ve ever wondered how to start a restaurant, scale a restaurant business, or build a...

Running a restaurant has NEVER been harder.  Since 2020, the cost of operating a restaurant has increased by 35%… while margins were already razor thin. At the same time, competition is rising, staff expectations are changing, and consistency is harder than ever to maintain.  So how do the top 10% of restaurants still win?  In this video, I break down the real problem holding restaurants back and...

Most restaurants fail. The average independent restaurant lasts less than 5 years. Profit margins sit around 3-5%, staff turnover can exceed 75%, and the industry is notorious for destroying even the most passionate owners. So how did St. Elmo Steak House survive 123 years... and become one of the highest-grossing independent restaurants in America? Located in Indianapolis, this legendary steakhou...