Scale Your Concept
How to Develop your Vision, Values & Mission Statement
Can you imagine being fired your first week on a job because you were trying to be proactive? That’s what almost happened to me during my first week working at Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers in 2001. This story illustrates the value vision, values, and mission statements can provide for your team & business! This story…
Read MoreHow to: Assessing Restaurant Talent
Company-wide performance is highly dependent on restaurant-level shift leaders and the managers above them running high-quality shifts that ensure operations meet or exceed: operational standards, commitments to the team and customers. Restaurant groups are only as strong as the weakest shift run in the business, which makes assessing restaurant talent, especially at the management level, crucial. …
Read MoreShould I Franchise My Restaurant? 3 Mistakes to Avoid.
“Should I franchise my restaurant?” is both an exciting and daunting question. Hopefully, if you are asking yourself this question, it is because you have an exciting business concept that you want to quickly grow. It doesn’t have to be daunting, though. In this post, we demystify franchising and offer lessons-learned to accelerate growth and…
Read MoreStop the Frenzy: How to Prioritize Projects in 3 Steps
Is your team working hard in many different directions without much traction? If so, it might be time to pause, inventory initiatives and prioritize projects. When everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. We learned this lesson the hard way growing Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers. Many years ago, when I worked at Cane’s, we…
Read MoreA North Star Metric: Focusing Your Business Growth
The “Great Conjunction of 2020” is set to brighten the darkest day of the year on December, 21, 2020, as two giant planets (Jupiter and Saturn) draw closer together. The last time the two planets were so close was in 1623. These two gas giant planets will appear close while they are actually hundreds of…
Read MoreAbundance, not Scarcity, is the Greatest Fuel for Growth
As we look back at 2020, it is easy to see scarcity as a defining feature of personal and business transformations. Lockdowns and re-lockdowns have led to business slowdowns and employee layoffs. Sales are down and unemployment is up. Surviving restaurants are competing for fewer customer visits and leveraging digital platforms once considered more foe…
Read MoreHow to Drive Results by Setting Restaurant Goals
Are you wondering why you should even set goals for your management team? Shouldn’t managers show up and do their best every day? Setting goals shows restaurant managers where they need to focus their time which helps them prioritize work each and every shift. In fact, research supports that setting strong goals boosts performance. Restaurant…
Read More4 Principles for Scaling Restaurant Operations
Having a crystal-clear vision, setting a #1 priority, thinking through your solutions and leveraging the talented team around you will be game changing in any effort to scale operations.
Read MoreCoronavirus & Restaurants: What if Restaurants Shut Down Again
While restauranteurs all hope that the worst of the coronavirus’ impact on business is in the past, the future path is full of zigs, zags and danger. Successful operators will continue to plan for the worst and hope for the best.
Read MoreCoronavirus & Restaurants: A Letter of Gratitude
Dear Clients & Industry Friends, Thank you for your hard work and persistence. I know you are working long hours, making tough decisions, and nourishing crew, customers and community. Your perseverance has not gone unnoticed by me and others. While others may see you as a restauranteur, I see you as a storyteller, BOH therapist and good…
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