Episode 98 – The Key to Restaurant Success

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The Black Swan Public House

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Episode 97 – How To Scale Your Restaurant Without Sacrificing Your Life with Chef James Avery

August 2, 2022PodcastChef James Avery, Donald Burns, Embrace the Suck, James Beard, Leadership, masterminds, Outstanding Mindset, podcast, profits, restaurant business, Restaurant Coach, restaurant masterminds, Restaurant Success Summit, restaurants, The Restaurant Coach, Your Restaurant Culture Sucks, Your Restaurant Still Sucks, Your Restaurant Suckstherestaurantcoachpodcast

Welcome to The Restaurant Coach Podcast. It is the cure for the common restaurant. I wanted to share the new that the third book in the Your Restaurant Sucks Trilogy called Your Restaurant Culture Sucks is going to be available on Amazon around mid August and the audio book version should be available on Audible at the end of August. This book has been a real challenge as I have COVID a couple of times and with the move to Arizona it’s been a whirlwind of a year! If you haven’t picked up a copy of my other books (Your Restaurant Sucks and Your Restaurant Still Sucks), this is the perfect time to grab your copies and get caught up on the series. Each book will show you another piece of the puzzle to getting the restaurant and life you want. Okay, enough self promotion. You have most likely heard that you have to work more ON your business and less IN your business. But how? Especially when you’re so busy running the restaurant, right? What if there was a better way? That way is to get better at time management. My guest today knows what it’s like to live on the merry-go-round of go, go, go until he realized that it was taking him away from the one thing that truly mattered to him…his family. Chef James Avery is the chef owner of two restaurants in Asbury Park, NJ The Bonny Reed and The Black Swan Public House. Let’s jump into the conversation where Chef Avery shares how he manages his time…

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The Bonny Reed

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Episode 96 – The Fair Wage War with Lisa and Patrick Balcom

July 28, 2022PodcastDonald Burns, Embrace the Suck, Leadership, marketing, masterminds, Outstanding Mindset, podcast, profits, restaurant business, Restaurant Coach, restaurant masterminds, Restaurant Success Summit, restaurants, The Restaurant Coach, Your Restaurant Culture Sucks, Your Restaurant Still Sucks, Your Restaurant Suckstherestaurantcoachpodcast

Welcome to The Restaurant Coach Podcast. It is the cure for the common restaurant. Let me ask you a question…do you feel that tension in the air?

Maybe it’s just me or are we about to see a big economy shift? Some call it a recession some call it a downturn. Whatever you call it, I just want to remind you that it’s going to be okay. Now is the time you will want to get your plan together and tighten up a few things like your menu, marketing, and team.

I invite you to join me every Friday LIVE inside my private Facebook group called The Restaurant Coach Nation where I hold a weekly training to give you the tools you need to make more while working less IN your restaurant. Just follow the link in the show notes to join. It’s FREE to become a member and this is my way of helping 1 million independent restaurants break free from being average.

Speaking of average…did you know that the average restaurant has a turnover rate of around 73%. That’s not good when you consider that Cornell University states that the average cost of turnover is around $5,864.00 per employee! Turnover can bleed a restaurant out quietly and they rarely see it happening. So what are restaurants doing to fight back? Some are getting innovative and doing what’s know as a fare wage fee! This is a service fee added to the check that allows the restaurant to pay higher than normal wages. Some guests like the idea and of course some are against it. Today’s guests are very familiar with this debate so I invited them on the show to discuss and explain why this might be a good idea for some restaurants. Lisa and Patrick Balcom are the Chef/Owners of a restaurant in Colorado called Farow. Let’s jump into the conversation…

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Episode 95 – How To Pick Better Team Players

July 8, 2022PodcastDonald Burns, Embrace the Suck, Leadership, marketing, masterminds, Outstanding Mindset, podcast, profits, restaurant business, Restaurant Coach, restaurant masterminds, Restaurant Success Summit, restaurants, The Restaurant Coach, Your Restaurant Culture Sucks, Your Restaurant Still Sucks, Your Restaurant Suckstherestaurantcoachpodcast

Welcome to The Restaurant Coach Podcast. It is the cure for the common restaurant! Is it just me or does the world feel like we’re on some giant roller coaster? The economy is up and down. Gas prices up and now coming back down a little. Supply chain is a wreck and the quest to find great people can be as elusive as capturing Bigfoot! How about a way to ensure you hired people that were more team players? Honestly this would reduce turnover, reduce the drama in your restaurant and eventually improve your guest satisfaction and that could increase your profitability. If it sounds too good to be true it’s not. How you allow to be on your team is more important than you think and it’s time you start taking hiring seriously! Today I am going to share with you a training session I did with the members of my private Facebook group called The Restaurant Coach Nation. Every Friday (travel and holidays permitting) I go LIVE Inside to give TRC Nation members Training that can get them closer to having the restaurant and life they desire. If your not a member yet, then when would NOW be a good time to join. Just follow the link in the show notes to join us. Now, if you are not a member currently it will ask your three questions to make sure you are in the restaurant industry and then your in. Let’s jump into the LIVE session inside Facebook…

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Episode 94 – How To Catch Food Cost Thieves

June 21, 2022PodcastBo Bryant, Bruce Irving, Donald Burns, Embrace the Suck, James Beard, Leadership, marketing, masterminds, Outstanding Mindset, podcast, profits, restaurant business, Restaurant Coach, restaurant masterminds, Restaurant Success Summit, restaurants, The Restaurant Coach, Your Restaurant Culture Sucks, Your Restaurant Still Sucks, Your Restaurant Suckstherestaurantcoachpodcast

Welcome to The Restaurant Coach Podcast it is the cure for the common restaurant. Inflation is a bitch and it’s going to get worse. In today’s episode, I am going to take you inside my elite conference that I hold every year in Scottsdale, Arizona. It’s called The Restaurant Success Summit and it is a three day mega marathon of workshops from myself and other leading industry experts all curated to get you tools that you can use immediately inside your restaurant to get results! I have restaurant owners from over 12 countries attend this annual event. The next one will be October 24th to 26th and this year I am looking at being in experts to talk about Bitcoin, NFT’s, ghost kitchens, new labor models, delivery, social media, and how to stop surviving and start thriving. Keep an eye out for the your opportunity to grab one of the 60 seats available in the next month! This episode is from The Restaurant Success Summit 2021 and the thing is these workshop is really relevant to what the economy is experiencing right now step inside and have a seat as I talk to my group on How to Catch Food Cost Thieves.

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Episode 93 – The 11 Traits of Outstanding Restaurants

April 19, 2022PodcastDonald Burns, Embrace the Suck, Leadership, marketing, masterminds, Outstanding Mindset, podcast, profits, restaurant business, Restaurant Coach, restaurant masterminds, Restaurant Success Summit, The Restaurant Coach, Your Restaurant Culture Sucks, Your Restaurant Still Sucks, Your Restaurant Suckstherestaurantcoachpodcast

Welcome to another episode of The Restaurant Coach Podcast. It is the cure for the common restaurant. These are rough times for restaurants and those that are going to thrive and just survive will need to change things. One thing is we need to rethink about how we treat our team and our who we allow to be on that team! I have coaching clients right now that have learned the hard lesson of what happens when you allow toxic people to poison your culture.

Think of a toxic person like cancer. What is the mission of cancer? To infect health cells and eventually kill the host. That’s the same purpose of toxic people inside your restaurant. They want to destroy you culture from the inside. They will infect the positive team members with drama, gossip, and start rumors to undermine your mission, core values, and vision. They only care about themselves. If you found out you had cancer, what would you do to treat it? You would attack it aggressively and without mercy. You’d even cut it out of needed. That’s the same thing you must do toxic people in your restaurant. You must remove them before they cause damage. I had a client that allowed a negative energy vampire to stay way to long. By the time they took action to remove the person from the team the toxic person had already infected other (once positive) people on their team and when they let him go…they lost half of their team in one day. Don’t wait to remove toxic people. There is no upside to having them infect the good people on your team.

On today’s podcast I wanted to invite you to a session I did this year at the largest conference in Europe for HORECA which stands for Hotel, Restaurant, and Cafes. Hospitality Innovation Planet (known as HIP) is held each year in Madrid, Spain and I have be honored to have spoken there 6 times now. In this session I was asked to talk about the 11 traits that the most successful restaurants in the US share..so without further a due have a seat in the audience at Expo HIP…

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Episode 92 – Embracing Culture and Diversity with Chef Omar Anani

April 12, 2022PodcastDonald Burns, Embrace the Suck, James Beard, Leadership, marketing, masterminds, Outstanding Mindset, podcast, profits, restaurant business, Restaurant Coach, restaurant masterminds, Restaurant Success Summit, restaurants, The Restaurant Coach, Your Restaurant Culture Sucks, Your Restaurant Still Sucks, Your Restaurant Suckstherestaurantcoachpodcast

Welcome to The Restaurant Coach Podcast. It is the cure for the common restaurant. Are you feeling the pressure to find and keep staff? You’re not alone. 80% of restaurants struggle with staffing. So, what do the other 20% do? They create a culture that amplifies the team experience over the guest experience. Now, before you say that is crazy talk…hear me out. Right now in your market there are other restaurants in operation. You all buy from the same vendors or suppliers. You all hire from the same labor pool. So why do 20% thrive and the other 80% struggle? It comes down to culture. I believe in culture SO much that my third book (Your Restaurant Culture Sucks) is focused on the exact steps you must take to create a culture that will allow you to fix the staffing issue so it doesn’t become an issue for you again. Okay, so since we’re talking about culture and change my guest today is the perfect example of both. Omar Anani is a James Beard Finalist for Best Chef in The Great Lakes 2022. He is also a member of my elite private coaching program called The Restaurant Accelerator. Yes, even celebrity chefs need a coach. I just got back from a 4 day site visit where I go to work side-by-side with him and his team at his restaurant called Saffron De Twah in Detroit. We sat down early in the morning to talk about where restaurants are now and some real great ideas to change your culture. Let’s jump into the conversation…

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Episode 91 – Restaurant Disruption with Jen Kern

February 28, 2022PodcastDonald Burns, Embrace the Suck, Leadership, marketing, masterminds, Outstanding Mindset, podcast, restaurant business, Restaurant Coach, restaurant masterminds, Restaurant Owner Bootcamp, Restaurant Success Summit, restaurants, The Restaurant Coach, Your Restaurant Culture Sucks, Your Restaurant Still Sucks, Your Restaurant Suckstherestaurantcoachpodcast

Welcome to another episode of The Restaurant Coach Podcast. It is the cure for the common restaurant. Seriously, who wants to be common? Common is average and being average…well, it sucks. I don’t know about you, but doesn’t it seem like this year is already a roller coaster of crazy? Supply chain shortages. Inflation creeping up. Gas prices skyrocketing. It’s enough to make a grown person cry or start day drinking…which you really need to stop because that is just a whole other level of issue that requires some therapy! I feel that the word for this year is disruption. Everything we know is going to get shaken up throughout this year and you’ll need to get your adaptive superpowers ready to take advantage of opportunities when they pop up. My guest today is very familiar with the digital disruption going on in the restaurant industry! Jen Kern is a digital strategist for Qu which helps large restaurant group streamline their digital tools to be more effective. She’s also a high-energy powerhouse that loves restaurants and seriously wants you to get to the next level in your business. Let’s jump into the conversation…

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Episode 90 – Digital Restaurant Strategies with Carl Orsbourn & Meredith Sandland

January 31, 2022PodcastCarl Orsbourn, Delivery The Digital Restaurant, Donald Burns, Embrace the Suck, Leadership, marketing, masterminds, Merdedith Sandland, Outstanding Mindset, podcast, restaurant business, Restaurant Coach, restaurant masterminds, Restaurant Success Summit, restaurants, Your Restaurant Culture Sucks, Your Restaurant Still Sucks, Your Restaurant Suckstherestaurantcoachpodcast

Welcome to The Restaurant Coach Podcast it is the cure for the common restaurant. The digital frontier is here my friends and if your restaurant is not actively looking on creating a strategy that incorporates digital delivery into you revenue steams you are going to be in big trouble this year. Digital isn’t just about making it easier for your guests to buy, it’s about making it customizable and flexible to work with their lifestyle and their schedules. The pandemic took traditional dining and shook the shit out of it like a giant snow globe. And if you think things are going to go back to normal or like they were before 2020 you are fooling yourself. The law of the universe is that you must adapt or you become extinct! My guests today have a book out that I am recommending every restaurant owner and operator read because the information inside might just allow you to stay ahead of where the market is going. Carl Orsbourn and Meredith Sandland are the authors of Delivering The Digital Restaurant: Your Roadmap to The Future of Food. It’s also available on Audible for those that prefer to listen to books. Let’s jump into the interview and get ready to get your digital dining on….

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Episode 89 – Marketing Predictions for 2022 with Bruce Irving

January 24, 2022PodcastBruce Irving, Donald Burns, Embrace the Suck, marketing, masterminds, Outstanding Mindset, podcast, restaurant business, Restaurant Coach, restaurant masterminds, Restaurant Success Summit, restaurants, Smart Pizza Marketing, The Restaurant Coach, Your Restaurant Culture Sucks, Your Restaurant Still Sucks, Your Restaurant Suckstherestaurantcoachpodcast

Welcome to another episode of The Restaurant Coach Podcast. It is the cure for the common restaurant. This year is already starting off with a wave of new challenges…new COVID variants, increase supply chain shortages, and the struggle to attract talent. Now along with challenges also comes opportunities if you are bold enough to take advantage of them. On this episode I talk to Bruce Irving from Smart Pizza Marketing. Bruce is a genius when it comes to marketing local business and he especially thrives at helping pizzerias dominate their market with a solid marketing plan. In this interview, Bruce shares his outline for starting a restaurant marketing plan from scratch. Plus, we also discuss some really hot topics right now like TikTok, NFT’s and Cryptocurrency! Let’s jump into the conversation…

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