tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54977725181677663972024-09-22T16:46:14.294-04:00Bits and pieces of wisdom gleaned from years flipping burgers, slapping pizzas, making deliveries, taking orders, and making change. Updates Wednesday each week!Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730771899895442208noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5497772518167766397.post-9127394128479325562010-11-23T12:50:00.001-05:002010-11-23T12:50:19.390-05:00

So, with the advent of yet another job change, and the latest attempt at earning a college degree, I've found I need to temporary shut down the blog.  Sorry folks :-(  I do have every intention to begin again, once I manage to carve out some more time in my schedule.  Stay tuned for updates!

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730771899895442208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5497772518167766397.post-41241441966495148752010-09-29T03:00:00.000-04:002010-09-29T03:00:06.690-04:00

When something is broken, fix it. That's the whole point of this week's post. It can be hard. Budgets are demanding sometimes, quality repairmen can be hard to find. But the fact is, few things will destroy your employees' motivation faster than dealing with broken stuff. If they see you don't care enough about the business to keep it in good repair, why should they? Or worse, if they think

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730771899895442208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5497772518167766397.post-55698562862710009342010-09-22T03:00:00.002-04:002010-09-22T03:00:09.454-04:00

Being the manager (or owner) typically comes down to one thing: Hire and Fire Authority. It boils down even further to control over who works in the restaurant. You're coaching the team, and you get to decide who plays and who doesn't. A lot, I'd say a vast majority even, of managers I've worked with will Hire but not Fire. I've come to feel that's a mistake, a very painful mistake. That does

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730771899895442208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5497772518167766397.post-77991547021688395282010-09-15T03:00:00.000-04:002010-09-12T12:58:14.983-04:00

Keeping perspective is really the key in the QSR world. When you start taking things personally (they never are) and treat each challenge like the end of the world (they're not) you're going to get stressed out and make bad decisions. These bad decisions will more often than not make life more difficult for your subordinates...and that's really the cardinal sin. You have to keep your cool so

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730771899895442208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5497772518167766397.post-75754901440546705242010-09-08T03:00:00.000-04:002010-09-08T03:00:03.809-04:00

You've made the hire. You've set the expectation, trained the employee, ensured they have the tools to do the job. You've provided the feedback on how they're doing. And yet...they won't do it. You're pretty sure this isn't an ability thing. They trained well, completed the task while you were closely supervising them. But now that you've left the grill in the capable hands while you work

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730771899895442208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5497772518167766397.post-45907163144352187332010-09-01T03:00:00.000-04:002010-09-01T03:00:06.401-04:00

It's just after the end of the rush. You're trying to get the store put back together, get people off the clock, do cash drops, till changes. Time is flying by, things are chaotic, decisions are being made in split seconds based on routine and a dash of information. To say time is a precious commodity is to call China a well-populated nation. Jimmy comes up to you, reminding you about the

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730771899895442208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5497772518167766397.post-44260248087670504812010-08-25T03:00:00.001-04:002010-08-25T03:00:04.931-04:00

Your people are there to help you run the business. They aren't there to run it FOR you. You may have the most competent assistant manager in the company. Does that mean its ok to leave them understaffed in order to free up labor dollars for you? I don't think so. Your best closer never fails to set you up in the morning. He puts every other closer to shame with his skillful stainless steel

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730771899895442208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5497772518167766397.post-85474908643373494532010-08-18T10:00:00.000-04:002010-08-18T10:02:43.781-04:00

If you run a QSR restaurant you are always hiring. You're always taking applications, you're always interviewing, you're always wracking your brain to find enough hours to train and keep a new hire. Why? Because if you ever start thinking, “Hey, I'm fully staffed!” then you'll be caught flatfooted when your best register guy decides to start skimming from the till. Or you won't have a backup

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730771899895442208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5497772518167766397.post-38099217241928980062010-08-11T11:00:00.000-04:002010-08-11T11:00:00.967-04:00

Consistency is one of the quickest ways to make or break your restaurant. A lack of consistency—whether in policy, direction, or quality—will make your customers not know what to expect, your employees insecure, and your P&L number fly all over the spectrum from week to week. Being consistent, however, is how you generate a loyal following of customers, employees who are confident in their

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730771899895442208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5497772518167766397.post-28108060683416703602010-08-04T06:00:00.000-04:002010-08-18T10:01:56.138-04:00

The schedule is what is going to make or break your experience in the QSR world. That's it. End of story. Period. If you write a good schedule you'll be happy, productive, and profitable. If you write a bad schedule you'll be pissed off, unable to accomplish anything, and either out of business or changing careers. The weekly schedule is how you manage your primary set of tools—your

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730771899895442208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5497772518167766397.post-35056894521102726742010-07-28T06:00:00.000-04:002010-07-28T06:00:08.654-04:00

You can't get where you're going unless you KNOW where you're going. This is a key element in leadership—most of the books of the subject call it “vision.” Having the picture in your mind of what success means. Visualizing the landmark that lets you know you've arrived. Knowing what that is (and being able to communicate it to your team) will be the difference between greatness and mediocrity.

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730771899895442208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5497772518167766397.post-76686445880830020872010-07-23T13:19:00.000-04:002010-07-23T13:19:29.041-04:00

Starting next week, on Wednesday the 28th, I'm going to start blogging about the QSR industry.  The how's, the why's, the little tricks of the trade I've picked up by caring a little too much about a 99 cent industry.  I'm pretty excited about this new project, so...check it out :-) Updates will be happening each week on Wednesday, so watch this space or subscribe to the feed!

Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16730771899895442208noreply@blogger.com0