A View From The Top

Leave your concrete bunker: 3 things every restaurant should do NOW

Matt Harding, SVP of Culinary and Menu Innovation at Piada Italian Street Food, offers three lessons to help restaurant leaders make it through these challenging times.

Matt Harding, SVP of Culinary and Menu Innovation at Piada Italian Street Food,

September 23, 2020

By Matt Harding, SVP of Culinary and Menu Innovation, Piada Italian Street Food

I have had the fortune of working with some brilliant people over the course of my career in the restaurant industry. I once worked with a man — one of my greatest mentors — who used to say, "We all can't wait here in the concrete bunker hoping for good news." In today's world, that sentiment feels more relevant than ever. I want to offer up three valuable lessons that have helped me get through these most challenging of times.

1. Trust, but verify
Don't wait for the "good" information to trickle in. It's probably not coming. Remember that classic game of telephone we all played as kids? The story would start on one end and exchange person to person, ultimately changed by time, narrator, circumstance and investment in the outcome. This is not to say, 'Never trust,' but the best leaders go out of their way to challenge their beliefs, which may include getting down in the trenches.

Piada is offering stuffed pasta as its latest LTO provided..

Are all the shifts running smoothly? Well, there's one way to find out. Work those shifts that are not desirable, and you will find out a lot more on a Sunday night than you will on a Tuesday at noon. Scrutinize the processes that are in play. Determine whether the problem is actually within the operation, or is it with the written materials, the training process, or the communicated expectations? Rigorously challenge your systems (and your own preconceived notions) to see if they are the best that they can be.

2. Be the conductor, not part of the band.
You may be asked to help and assist in shifts, but you should never run the operation. It is impossible to fully paint a circle if you are standing in it. You are there to teach, train and mentor. Think of the hourly Team Members, Supervisors, Managers and Chefs — if they were effectively running their business, you likely wouldn't need to jump in to provide direction. "Stepping back" is the most powerful tool in your management toolbox.

Multi-unit operators have the luxury of having several restaurants as a laboratory for observing excellence in action. In your mind, leverage the best of the best and "Frankenstein" together the perfect restaurant. Then, teach your stores those best practices, using the SOPs and recipes. Make things as clear, succinct and process-driven as possible.

3. Do not emotionally bunker yourself off from your teams
We all know 2020 has been one for the books, and it has put a tremendous amount of stress on teams and their leaders. We can look at a P&L and judge their fiscal success, but how do we measure the mental state of our teams? Are the team members happy? Are they engaged? When we ask how they are doing, are we asking follow up questions? We may not have the answers, but sharing experiences is a powerful tool to build relationships. Empathy is an invaluable leadership tool.

When you are in restaurants, your mission should be to connect with our team members. Reconnect from a previous conversation, ask how the issue you discussed previously is progressing. People don't just need direction, they need connection!

As you look at your best-performing restaurants, you will probably notice a few things.

First, the GM, or another manager on the team, is probably an extrovert, and acts as the glue that holds everyone together,
Second, the management team has a vested interest in the health and well-being of their team members.
Third, they focus on genuine hospitality, recipe adherence, operational and executional excellence.
Fourth, the team is focused on results, not excuses.

Sincere, genuine, actual, real, meaningful connection has never been more important. It is one of the most basic needs for people, and the teams that do it best will not only have a competitive advantage but happier and more fulfilled, longer-tenured team members as a result.

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