The Restaurant Prosperity Formula

When I first started developing operational systems in restaurants, I relied heavily on spreadsheets. Excel was revolutionary, and I pushed that program to the max. Spreadsheets were the best way to organize the systems, track numbers, track inventory and do all kinds of operational tasks in the restaurant. But they were dangerous because you could end up with duplicate copies, lost data, corrupt...

If you’re interested in learning how to own a restaurant with a great atmosphere for guests and employees, I want to introduce you to Gina Sidebottom, my guest for this episode. Gina's family has owned Maria's Mexican restaurant, which was started by her mother, Maria, in 1992. They love serving their community not only great food, but great service. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant P...

I talk about the importance of restaurant budgets all the time. One of the best parts of my job as a restaurant coach is completing a budget with a member. It fills my heart with joy to see the hope they feel with a real-life plan to achieve their restaurant goals. Completing the budget process is the MOST important thing I do with each of my members in my Restaurant Transformation Intensive group...

Owning a restaurant is one of the most challenging businesses to run. It is not an overstatement when I tell you I talk with restaurant owners on an almost daily basis, whether that be on discovery calls, one-on-one direct access coaching calls, group coaching calls, or late night and weekend “oh crap” calls. I make myself available to the restaurant owners I coach. My world is all about helping i...

When I talk about coaching, I’m talking about having tools and support to transform your restaurant and your life. Avery Ward, who is the CEO of Little Italy Pizza in Groveport, Ohio, is a shining example of a restaurant owner who knew there had to be a better way of doing things in his restaurant, so he signed up to be part of my restaurant coaching group. When he joined the group, he was burning...

I grew up in the restaurant industry and some old-school processes were ingrained in me that I have had to unlearn. One of those is tipping. When I was a restaurant employee, I never believed in tip pooling, other than behind the bar. Nowadays, tip pooling with the entire restaurant, other than managers, of course, is becoming more and more popular, for good reason. It allows restaurants to recrui...

Challenges in the restaurant business are a given, but sometimes there are so many in a month, a week or even a day, that you find yourself feeling fed-up and burned out. Losing your passion for your restaurant is the worst thing that can happen to it and everyone involved. If you feel like you are starting to lose or have already lost your passion for the business, that motivated and able to push...

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 1 million times: the two most important systems any restaurant should have are budgets and recipe costing cards. Let’s talk budgets. I am probably on at least one to two budget calls a week with members asking where their numbers should be. Some calls are a simple numbers review because we have already created their budget and now they are measuring for success....

These days running a restaurant comes with a lot of technology. Starting with the most important, there is the POS system followed by website and social media management. After that, take your pick! Tech is available for reservations, online ordering, third-party delivery, scheduling, waitlists, loyalty program, food and beverage management, food safety, payroll, accounting, team communication, it...

As a small business owner, one of the most difficult things to do is let someone in management go. Especially in an independent restaurant, these people can be like family to you and have put a lot of themselves into your business. But as you grow and adjust your expectations, some people just can’t grow in the job. Other times, they are just not a good culture fit. No matter the reason, concludin...

There is one question I am asked routinely by restaurant owners: Which POS system should I use in my restaurant? It’s an important question because your restaurant POS system is more than an expensive cash register. It’s full of data and reports you can use in your daily restaurant management activities. The problem is there are so many options on the market that it tends to get very overwhelming....

Are you allowing excuses to stall your restaurant’s growth? While excuses get in the way of a lot of our personal growth, they bleed into your business growth as well. If you’re always looking for a reason something can’t be done, you’re not going to find a solution. The first step is to recognize this could be the root of your frustration and stagnation. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaur...

As a restaurant coach I talk to a lot of restaurant owners each week and, unfortunately, a lot of them are only looking to me to validate all the people and circumstances in their lives that they think are making things harder for them. They have what is commonly referred to as a fixed mindset, always putting themselves in their own story as a victim. That fixed mindset is the root of their challe...

Let’s talk about the recession. Are you asking, “What recession?” The talking heads and our government officials are all saying we are in a state of high inflation, and we could go into recession soon. How bad a recession or how long or short lived, no one knows. While I am not an economist and am not qualified to make this statement, I am going to tell you we are in a recession. I’ve been through...

While I’m the first to tell you that the restaurant business is one of the hardest businesses out there, that doesn’t mean you have to suffer for it. Your quality of life matters, and you deserve to experience all that life has to offer inside and outside of your restaurant. So how do you find the balance? A few weeks ago, on my weekly group coaching call with the members of my coaching group, I p...

The restaurant owners I work with every week are looking for transformation. They might be tired of working so many hours in the restaurant or frustrated by not being able to move the needle on things. Or they are missing out on life and want a better balance. Whatever their reason, the best part of my job is when a restaurant owner does the work and transforms their restaurant and life using the...

Inflation is hitting home for restaurant owners as the cost of food and other essential products have been on the rise for months. Across the industry, restaurant owners have been raising prices on the menu just to keep up with this record increase in costs. In fact, since the beginning of 2022, your food costs have risen at such a fast pace that if you haven’t made changes to your menu by now, yo...

A common question I get from restaurant owners is, “Why is my actual food cost so high and why is it so much more than my ideal food cost?” The second part of that question is what to do if your actual food cost is running much higher than your ideal food cost. These are age-old questions in the restaurant industry and a puzzle to be worked out so every week you have a higher chance of making mone...

I’m out of my comfort zone and talking about increasing restaurant sales by $250,000 a year without marketing. While increasing sales is usually thought to be a good thing, for a lot of restaurant owners, higher sales are usually a race to outpace bad operational practices. But if you know your breakeven point and can get your expenses to line up just right, you can take real advantage of every ex...

I don't need to tell you that running a restaurant has always been full of challenges. You’re living it. Right now you’re dealing with costs increasing at a record pace and a real labor shortage. You already know you can't keep doing what you've always been doing. Something must change. In this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula podcast, I’m asking you one question: are you really willin...

Restaurant owners often turn to marketing as the solution to their biggest challenges, not realizing that a lot of times their marketing is creating more challenges. Since my expertise is on restaurant operations and coaching restaurant owners how to become the leaders their restaurants need, I like to talk to other restaurant marketing experts to pick their brains and find new ideas. That brings...

Fear is an extremely powerful thing. It is the kryptonite to any entrepreneur, ultimately stopping you dead in your tracks. In the last two years, many restaurant owners have succumbed to fear because persisting through the unknown was too overwhelming. In this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula podcast, I talk about the seven sources of fear, the impact it can have on a business and how...

In my almost 20 years of being a restaurant coach, I have learned what a restaurant owner's most important challenges are, how to fix them and how to help them change their businesses so they’re living their best lives. How do I do it? Restaurant owners – you – have all the power. I simply teach you what needs to be done and then coach you along the way. In this episode of The Restaurant Pros...

As a restaurant owner, your success hinges on you having a management team in place that knows what their job is, how to do it, how well it should be done and, most importantly, by when. This requires you to lead your management team, cultivate, coach and correct your management team, and hold them accountable. In this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I’m going to teach you what it ta...

As a restaurant owner you experience the highs and lows of the business on a routine basis, while wearing all the hats of the business. Think about it… when hasn’t there been some sort of crisis in our industry where you’ve had to find solutions for all the different areas of your business? What if I told you your biggest challenge is really where you spend your mental energy and time. And how you...