The Restaurant Prosperity Formula

When it comes to managing your restaurant’s cost, you absolutely can’t ignore labor. It is the second biggest expense in a restaurant – after an empty seat in the restaurant. Labor cost management is an essential topic for achieving restaurant prosperity and financial freedom. The last few episodes of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula podcast have been a collection of some of my best and most popu...

Leadership is not just a buzzword; it’s the driving force behind every successful restaurant. By combining leadership with action, systems and training, you can create prosperity for yourself and your restaurant. In this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I’m sharing some of my best leadership insights from past podcast episodes to highlight the critical importance of leadership in the...

Today's special recap episode of my restaurant podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, is focused on systems and why they’re so important in restaurant management. You’ll learn what I mean by systems, why they are crucial and how you can use them specifically in the kitchen to safeguard your restaurant when you lack a culinary background. We'll also discuss how systems impact your restaurant a...

For this special episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I’m sharing some of the best tips from previous episodes, focusing on key areas such as food cost systems, leadership, and labor cost. This episode is dedicated to food cost. We’ll explore how high food costs are often self-inflicted, provide a quick walkthrough on calculating food cost, delve into the concept of ideal food...

Achieving prosperity in the restaurant business means gaining financial freedom and the freedom to enjoy your life beyond the restaurant. It’s not just a dream; it’s a reality you can attain by following a specific formula. In this episode of my restaurant podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I take you through a critical component of that formula: the power of a professional attitude. Inco...

You might have heard the saying, "People don't quit jobs; they quit managers." This is particularly true in our fast-paced, high-stress industry. A toxic manager can create a negative atmosphere and fail to lead by example, significantly affecting morale and productivity. In this episode of my restaurant podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I am breaking down undeniable impact toxic manager...

A lot of restaurant owners think the secret to making money is marketing, but so often it ends up costing way more money than it ever generates because there is a right way and many wrong ways to do it. Since I focus on teaching restaurant owners how to make money through operational systems, I like to bring in outside experts to talk about restaurant marketing. This episode of The Resta...

When it comes to being profitable in the restaurant business, it’s important to maximize your efficiencies. One way to do that is to upgrade how you track your food cost, making food costing software a critical component of running your restaurant. Food costing software isn't just an upgrade; it's a revolutionary shift in how you approach your operation from managing expenses to optimizing each di...

If there's one thing I've heard time and again from restaurant owners, it's, “I love your stuff, David. I've read your book, seen you speak, listen to your podcast and watch your YouTube videos, but I just don't know where to start.” If you want to take action and start to improve your restaurant and your life, and you’re asking the same question, you're in exactly the right place. For this episod...

Four years after the pandemic, I’m working with restaurant owners who are still suffering whiplash and struggling to find a path forward for their restaurants. I don’t have to tell you, but it was an intense time. Restaurant owners went from a complete shutdown of their restaurants and sending employees to the unemployment office to the frantic offer of money from the government and the incentives...

I recently had a coaching call with a restaurant owner whose business was struggling. He and his wife needed an outside perspective, and they turned to me to help them review their options. The call we had highlights the transformative power of resilience, strategic planning and the courage to embrace change. In this episode of my restaurant podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, learn more a...

As a restaurant owner, there are many things you have to do right to be successful. It really is a business of spinning many plates at once. One thing I’ve found in the most successful restaurant owners I know is how they approach their role as a leader and how their mindset makes all the difference. In this episode of my restaurant podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I’m sharing 10 critic...

A successful restaurant is one that delivers on the promise to it guests. That's hot food hot, cold food cold, a clean safe work environment for your guests and employees, WOW customer service and providing an incredible product. That's what restaurant owners are put on this earth to do, right? To create memories. We have the pleasure and the privilege to create memories in people's lives. In this...

I tell restaurant owners all the time that their POS system is the most important piece of equipment they will ever purchase for their restaurant. The POS system is much more than a glorified cash register; it’s data central. It holds the key data you can use to change your business, prevent theft and make meaningful changes to your operations. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosper...

There’s a little known and underutilized tool that can reduce a restaurant’s food cost by potentially 3% or more. All that is required is for a restaurant to gather some simple data and take a little action. How would you like to reduce your food cost by simply gathering data? Does this sound too good to be true? I promise you, it’s not. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity For...

When it comes to following restaurant systems every day, restaurant owners are notorious for falling down on the job. They are just too busy in other areas and they lose sight of the daily routine things that are required to keep systems working properly. Besides, the job of a restaurant owner isn’t to be buried in the day to day; it’s to be strategic and to think bigger than daily tasks. If it’s...

Jesi Cline is a restaurant owner who started her business as a bakery specializing in cupcakes and custom wedding cakes. While she found success, she was working endless hours to keep up with orders and had no time to be strategic with her business. When COVID hit, she needed to pivot and rebranded as Rosé Café, a fast casual breakfast, lunch and dessert cafe. And recently, she expanded her restau...

What might be second nature to a seasoned chef, a manager or owner with decades of experience can be a revelation to someone just embarking on their restaurant journey. It's essential to remember that our industry, with its vast array of roles and responsibilities, doesn't have a universal baseline of “common sense.” In the restaurant industry, “common sense” is a relative term. For some veterans,...

As a restaurant owner and the leader of your business, it is common to feel as if it’s the universe’s job to throw roadblocks in your way to discourage you and impede your progress. I’m here to encourage you and point you toward practical, actionable solutions that will help you overcome these obstacles. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I explore three distinct seg...

Restaurant Owner Success Depends on This Person --- Before a restaurant owner can join my coaching program, they must have a right-hand person who can help them. I call this person an implementer. This person will learn with you, as the owner, but implement and do the work. This a requirement because as the restaurant owner, your attention can often be required in many other areas of the restauran...

My favorite podcast episodes are those with restaurant owners who have transformed their restaurants and their lives. The transformation these restaurant owners made is going to blow you away. Joshua Powell and Joseph Vericella are owners of Clay’s Cafe in Hebron, Ohio. Clay opened its doors in 1934 and it has been a local staple for generations. Powell is a real estate agent turned investor, turn...

Our guest today is Josh Kopel, a restaurateur, entrepreneur and coach. This is Josh’s second time on the podcast, and he’s back to talk to us about restaurant marketing and what it really means for your business. Throughout his 20-year career, he’s managed venues ranging from casual dining concepts to Hollywood nightclubs, bars and ultra-lounges. He also opened his own Michelin-rated fine dining c...

Today I want to talk about a silent morale and profit-killer in your restaurant that is often overlooked. That killer is decision-making waste. Decision-making waste in your restaurant is a silent profit killer that can slowly erode margins without restaurant owners even noticing. For example, there are decisions that take too long to be made that are like a leaky faucet. That little drip, drip, d...

In the restaurant industry it’s important to focus on numbers and performance because those numbers tell you the health of your business. As a coach, I teach restaurant owners how to use budgets and set goals and then measure them. When hiring managers, it’s important to find those who are high performers so they can help you meet those goals. But being a good manager and finding good managers isn...

If you have been following me for any length of time you have heard me say the following statement: The two most important systems any restaurant should have in place are budgets and recipe costing cards. Why are these two systems so important? They move you from a reactive form of management to a proactive form of management, which is essential to controlling costs and planning for restaurant pro...