When it comes to managing your restaurant’s cost, you absolutely can’t ignore labor. It is the second biggest expense in a restaurant – after an empty seat in the restaurant. Labor cost management is an essential topic for achieving restaurant prosperity and financial freedom. The last few episodes of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula podcast have been a collection of some of my best and most popular tips on three very popular categories for restaurant owners: food cost (Episode 101), systems (Episode 102) and leadership (Episode 103). In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I’m serving up a collection of some of my best and most effective labor cost lessons and tips. You’ll learn how to calculate labor cost, how to manage them and how to avoid common pitfalls.🖥️ Get My Latest Training Video: https://dsp.coach/training-opt-in 👍 Book a Call ­– https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  Visit my website for more information about my restaurant coaching program: www.davidscottpeters.com

Leadership is not just a buzzword; it’s the driving force behind every successful restaurant. By combining leadership with action, systems and training, you can create prosperity for yourself and your restaurant. In this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I’m sharing some of my best leadership insights from past podcast episodes to highlight the critical importance of leadership in the restaurant industry. I explore why leaders matter, the role of a growth mindset in developing leadership skills, and specific behaviors and attitudes that hinder effective leadership. Additionally, I’ll share four action steps to increase your management team's responsibilities, allowing you to lead your restaurant instead of merely running it.🖥️ Get My Latest Training Video: https://dsp.coach/training-opt-in 👍 Book a Call ­– https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  Visit my website for more information about my restaurant coaching program: www.davidscottpeters.com

Today's special recap episode of my restaurant podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, is focused on systems and why they’re so important in restaurant management. You’ll learn what I mean by systems, why they are crucial and how you can use them specifically in the kitchen to safeguard your restaurant when you lack a culinary background. We'll also discuss how systems impact your restaurant and ultimately your life. And last but not least, I share a portion of an interview with restaurant employee Brandon Anderson, who helped his owner implement systems that significantly benefited the restaurant, the owner, and Brandon himself. Whether you're new to my podcast or a longtime listener, this is an episode you won't want to miss.🖥️ Get My Latest Training Video: https://dsp.coach/training-opt-in 👍 Book a Call ­– https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  Visit my website for more information about my restaurant coaching program: www.davidscottpeters.com

For this special episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I’m sharing some of the best tips from previous episodes, focusing on key areas such as food cost systems, leadership, and labor cost. This episode is dedicated to food cost. We’ll explore how high food costs are often self-inflicted, provide a quick walkthrough on calculating food cost, delve into the concept of ideal food cost, and finish with some menu engineering basics. Whether you're a new listener or a long-time follower, this episode is packed with valuable insights. Let’s get started!🖥️ Get My Latest Training Video: https://dsp.coach/training-opt-in 👍 Book a Call ­– https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  Visit my website for more information about my restaurant coaching program: www.davidscottpeters.com

Achieving prosperity in the restaurant business means gaining financial freedom and the freedom to enjoy your life beyond the restaurant. It’s not just a dream; it’s a reality you can attain by following a specific formula. In this episode of my restaurant podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I take you through a critical component of that formula: the power of a professional attitude. Incorporating the principles I review in this episode can transform your restaurant. Not only will you see improvements in customer satisfaction and sales, but you'll also create a thriving work environment for your team.🖥️ Get My Latest Training Video: https://dsp.coach/training-opt-in 👍 Book a Call ­– https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  Visit my website for more information about my restaurant coaching program: www.davidscottpeters.com

You might have heard the saying, "People don't quit jobs; they quit managers." This is particularly true in our fast-paced, high-stress industry. A toxic manager can create a negative atmosphere and fail to lead by example, significantly affecting morale and productivity. In this episode of my restaurant podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I am breaking down undeniable impact toxic managers have on your restaurant. I also outline how you can create and maintain a positive work environment, specifically by creating a positive culture in your restaurant. I will also cover how to build up your team’s confidence in that culture so they help you keep toxic managers out of your restaurant.🖥️ Get My Latest Training Video: https://dsp.coach/training-opt-in 👍 Book a Call ­– https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  Visit my website for more information about my restaurant coaching program: www.davidscottpeters.com

A lot of restaurant owners think the secret to making money is marketing, but so often it ends up costing way more money than it ever generates because there is a right way and many wrong ways to do it. Since I focus on teaching restaurant owners how to make money through operational systems, I like to bring in outside experts to talk about restaurant marketing. This episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula podcast is a discussion with Eric Shellenberger. He is an author and owner of Bar Marketing Basics, a marketing firm that focuses on bringing in new customers into your restaurant or bar. Shellenberger is a repeat guest here. He has been on a quest to help restaurant and bar owners stop buying into the myth that other restaurant marketing companies are selling and start bringing in real traffic through your doors. I've brought him back not be just because his first episode was so popular but because he released a new book entitled "If I Could Give It Zero Stars, I Would." During our discussion he shares with you the importance of understanding how AI has changed what a restaurant needs to do to stay ahead of their competition and increase your sales. Find Eric Shellenberger's book: If I Could Give It Zero Stars, I Would🖥️ Get My Latest Training Video: https://dsp.coach/training-opt-in 👍 Book a Call ­– https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  Visit my website for more information about my restaurant coaching program: www.davidscottpeters.com

When it comes to being profitable in the restaurant business, it’s important to maximize your efficiencies. One way to do that is to upgrade how you track your food cost, making food costing software a critical component of running your restaurant. Food costing software isn't just an upgrade; it's a revolutionary shift in how you approach your operation from managing expenses to optimizing each dish that comes out of your kitchen. In this episode of my restaurant podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I’m teaching you how to use food costing software to boost your restaurant's efficiency and profitability. Listen to learn five key benefits and the impact each one has on your restaurant.🖥️ Get My Latest Training Video: https://dsp.coach/training-opt-in 👍 Book a Call ­– https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  Visit my website for more information about my restaurant coaching program: www.davidscottpeters.com

If there's one thing I've heard time and again from restaurant owners, it's, “I love your stuff, David. I've read your book, seen you speak, listen to your podcast and watch your YouTube videos, but I just don't know where to start.” If you want to take action and start to improve your restaurant and your life, and you’re asking the same question, you're in exactly the right place. For this episode of my restaurant podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I’m tackling that very question, laying out a clear and actionable road map to not just start but to thrive. To make it easy to follow and understand, I've broken it up into seven segments: back to basics, the power of checklist and cash controls, vision and goals, the backbone of daily operations, crafting your financial blueprint, maximizing margins and managing labor efficiently.🖥️ Get My Latest Training Video: https://dsp.coach/training-opt-in 👍 Book a Call ­– https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  Visit my website for more information about my restaurant coaching program: www.davidscottpeters.com

Four years after the pandemic, I’m working with restaurant owners who are still suffering whiplash and struggling to find a path forward for their restaurants. I don’t have to tell you, but it was an intense time. Restaurant owners went from a complete shutdown of their restaurants and sending employees to the unemployment office to the frantic offer of money from the government and the incentives offered to employees to work through the unknown challenges. These days restaurant owners are working through the long-term consequences of taking that money and how to run their restaurants in this new landscape. The bottom line is things changed after pandemic. Costs are up, staff have different expectations and restaurant owners don’t want to be prisoners to their restaurants. In this episode of my restaurant podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I am talking about how it's time for every restaurant owner to embark on change or possibly get swallowed up by the shifting sands of industry change and financial stresses you’re facing as a restaurant operator today.🖥️ Get My Latest Training Video: https://dsp.coach/training-opt-in 👍 Book a Call ­– https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  Visit my website for more information about my restaurant coaching program: www.davidscottpeters.com

I recently had a coaching call with a restaurant owner whose business was struggling. He and his wife needed an outside perspective, and they turned to me to help them review their options. The call we had highlights the transformative power of resilience, strategic planning and the courage to embrace change. In this episode of my restaurant podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, learn more about what exactly was challenging their establishment, the discoveries we made and the next steps I recommended they take. The situation the restaurant owners are in isn’t uncommon but the resources they tapped are what make this situation stand apart. I’m confident they got the best counsel and insight from me and their fellow members, and I hope listeners can benefit as well.🖥️ Get My Latest Training Video: https://dsp.coach/training-opt-in 👍 Book a Call ­– https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  Visit my website for more information about my restaurant coaching program: www.davidscottpeters.com

As a restaurant owner, there are many things you have to do right to be successful. It really is a business of spinning many plates at once. One thing I’ve found in the most successful restaurant owners I know is how they approach their role as a leader and how their mindset makes all the difference. In this episode of my restaurant podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I’m sharing 10 critical mindset questions that serve as reflections into how your leadership is shaping your team's environment. Reflecting on these questions and engaging with the answers can be a game-changer for restaurant owners. The goal is to create a culture where challenges are met with courage, feedback fuels growth, and every team member feels valued and empowered.

A successful restaurant is one that delivers on the promise to it guests. That's hot food hot, cold food cold, a clean safe work environment for your guests and employees, WOW customer service and providing an incredible product. That's what restaurant owners are put on this earth to do, right? To create memories. We have the pleasure and the privilege to create memories in people's lives. In this episode of my restaurant podcast, the Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I focus on Restaurant 101, exploring the alchemy of perfect meal temperatures, the sanctuary of our dining havens, the ballet of exemplary service, the craftsmanship behind an unforgettable product and the finesse of the now indispensable to-go experience. Join me to uncover the blueprint of systems, training and the art of hospitality that transform a simple meal into an incredible memory. You’ll learn how diligently applying systems, committing to continuous training, maintaining unwavering consistency and delivering soulful hospitality, you can create experiences that linger long after the last bite.🖥️ Get My Latest Training Video: https://dsp.coach/training-opt-in 👍 Book a Call ­– https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  Visit my website for more information about my restaurant coaching program: www.davidscottpeters.com

I tell restaurant owners all the time that their POS system is the most important piece of equipment they will ever purchase for their restaurant. The POS system is much more than a glorified cash register; it’s data central. It holds the key data you can use to change your business, prevent theft and make meaningful changes to your operations. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I review some of the most powerful and little-known reports your POS system has to offer. This includes four underutilized, yet essential, reports that are critical to harnessing the power of your POS system. With only the reports you have at your fingertips in your POS system, you will have the building blocks of informed decision-making so you can lead with confidence, and ensure efficiency, profitability and success in your restaurant. 🖥️ Get My Latest Training Video: https://dsp.coach/training-opt-in 👍 Book a Call ­– https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  Visit my website for more information about my restaurant coaching program: www.davidscottpeters.com

There’s a little known and underutilized tool that can reduce a restaurant’s food cost by potentially 3% or more. All that is required is for a restaurant to gather some simple data and take a little action. How would you like to reduce your food cost by simply gathering data? Does this sound too good to be true? I promise you, it’s not. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I explain what kind of information you need to gather, where to get the information, what to do with it and what you can expect when you use it the way I explain. By the end of this lesson, you will be in a position to take action and put yourself down this path.🖥️ Get My Latest Training Video: https://dsp.coach/training-opt-in 👍 Book a Call ­– https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  Visit my website for more information about my restaurant coaching program: www.davidscottpeters.com

When it comes to following restaurant systems every day, restaurant owners are notorious for falling down on the job. They are just too busy in other areas and they lose sight of the daily routine things that are required to keep systems working properly. Besides, the job of a restaurant owner isn’t to be buried in the day to day; it’s to be strategic and to think bigger than daily tasks. If it’s not the restaurant owner, then who should it be? Restaurant owners must appoint someone who gets stuff done, who loves the restaurant and wants to support the owner. I call this person an implementer. In fact, to be part of my restaurant coaching program, you must have an implementer. In the program your implementer learns with you but implements and does the work. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I introduce you to Brandon Anderson, the implementer for the Original Black's Barbecue in New Braunfels, Texas, a high volume, 93-year-old, family-owned-and-operated barbecue business. With 12-plus years of restaurant experience working his way up from line employee, shift lead, and assistant manager to general manager, Anderson has experienced a lot in his restaurant life. He’s worked for several corporate restaurants until ultimately landing at Original Black’s Barbecue. The ownership team knew Anderson was the exact right person to be the implementer, and they were right. Listen to this episode to learn more about the impact of systems, the job of an implementer, and Anderson’s implementation journey, the challenges faced and lessons learned, and also what a great implementer looks like.🖥️ Get My Latest Training Video: https://dsp.coach/training-opt-in 👍 Book a Call ­– https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  Visit my website for more information about my restaurant coaching program: www.davidscottpeters.com

Jesi Cline is a restaurant owner who started her business as a bakery specializing in cupcakes and custom wedding cakes. While she found success, she was working endless hours to keep up with orders and had no time to be strategic with her business. When COVID hit, she needed to pivot and rebranded as Rosé Café, a fast casual breakfast, lunch and dessert cafe. And recently, she expanded her restaurant and doubled her square footage. With six years in business and eight years as a wife and mother, her life has been nothing short of busy. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, Cline shares her journey from being burnt out on the food industry to being a happy, motivated restaurant owner who can see only a bright future ahead of her.🖥️ Get My Latest Training Video: https://dsp.coach/training-opt-in 👍 Book a Call ­– https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  Visit my website for more information about my restaurant coaching program: www.davidscottpeters.com 

What might be second nature to a seasoned chef, a manager or owner with decades of experience can be a revelation to someone just embarking on their restaurant journey. It's essential to remember that our industry, with its vast array of roles and responsibilities, doesn't have a universal baseline of “common sense.” In the restaurant industry, “common sense” is a relative term. For some veterans, certain practices and insights might seem obvious, but for others, these are the essential skills and knowledge that lay the groundwork for their future success. Each piece of advice, no matter how simple it may seem, can be a building block for someone's career. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I talk about why this diversity of experience and knowledge in our industry makes what seems like “common sense” to one person a critical learning point for another. And let’s make sure we address that you should never let someone make you feel bad about learning, no matter where you are in your restaurant journey. 🖥️ Get My Latest Training Video: https://dsp.coach/training-opt-in 👍 Book a Call ­– https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  Visit my website for more information about my restaurant coaching program: www.davidscottpeters.com

As a restaurant owner and the leader of your business, it is common to feel as if it’s the universe’s job to throw roadblocks in your way to discourage you and impede your progress. I’m here to encourage you and point you toward practical, actionable solutions that will help you overcome these obstacles. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I explore three distinct segments to help you unlock the full potential of your restaurant. I cover internal challenges, operational hurdles, and external and personal challenges. Whether you're a seasoned restaurateur or just starting out, I want to equip you with the tools and insights needed to steer your restaurant towards greater success and prosperity.🖥️ Get My Latest Training Video: https://dsp.coach/training-opt-in 👍 Book a Call ­– https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  Visit my website for more information about my restaurant coaching program: www.davidscottpeters.com 

Restaurant Owner Success Depends on This Person --- Before a restaurant owner can join my coaching program, they must have a right-hand person who can help them. I call this person an implementer. This person will learn with you, as the owner, but implement and do the work. This a requirement because as the restaurant owner, your attention can often be required in many other areas of the restaurant. Your implementer is there day in and day out, following the systems and keeping the systems moving forward. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I introduce you to Ciarra Adams. She has been in her family's restaurant for the past eight years. Her parents purchased Super Smokers BBQ restaurant with a 20-year history of award-winning barbeque in the St. Louis area. Her parents joined my group coaching program to put them on the path to freedom from their restaurant and the financial freedom they deserve. Adams was the implementer, and she made sure the systems were followed and moved forward, even when her parents got distracted with other issues and challenges. While her parents and Adams have graduated from the coaching program, she is still the steady hand for her parents. She shares about her experience and provides tips for other restaurant owners and implementers alike.🖥️ Get My Latest Training Video: https://dsp.coach/training-opt-in 👍 Book a Call ­– https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  Visit my website for more information about my restaurant coaching program: www.davidscottpeters.com 

My favorite podcast episodes are those with restaurant owners who have transformed their restaurants and their lives. The transformation these restaurant owners made is going to blow you away. Joshua Powell and Joseph Vericella are owners of Clay’s Cafe in Hebron, Ohio. Clay opened its doors in 1934 and it has been a local staple for generations. Powell is a real estate agent turned investor, turned restaurant owner, who never thought he would own the restaurant he worked at as a kid. His partner, Vericella, has a long and successful career in hospitality. If you asked them both, they would probably tell you they are foodies at heart. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, Powell and Vericella share with us the challenges they faced taking over a restaurant that has long-standing traditions and long-term employees, and the change they made that gave them their lives back and exploded their profitability. Through this episode you’ll see the growth in their confidence and assertiveness as restaurant owners, which allowed them to make necessary changes in their business, such as dealing with toxic employees and identifying red flags in their operations. 🖥️ Get My Latest Training Video: https://dsp.coach/training-opt-in  👍 Book a Call ­– https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  Visit my website for more information about my restaurant coaching program: www.davidscottpeters.com

Our guest today is Josh Kopel, a restaurateur, entrepreneur and coach. This is Josh’s second time on the podcast, and he’s back to talk to us about restaurant marketing and what it really means for your business. Throughout his 20-year career, he’s managed venues ranging from casual dining concepts to Hollywood nightclubs, bars and ultra-lounges. He also opened his own Michelin-rated fine dining concept. Josh is a real restaurant pro. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, Josh and I discuss a few restaurant marketing myths, he debunks them, and he provides an incredible amount of information for you to consider for your own restaurant marketing activity.Get Time with Josh: www.PlanWithJosh.comFind Josh’s podcast Full Comp: https://restaurants.yelp.com/restaurant-resources/full-comp-podcast/👍 Book a Call ­– https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  Visit my website for more information about my restaurant coaching program: www.davidscottpeters.com

Today I want to talk about a silent morale and profit-killer in your restaurant that is often overlooked. That killer is decision-making waste. Decision-making waste in your restaurant is a silent profit killer that can slowly erode margins without restaurant owners even noticing. For example, there are decisions that take too long to be made that are like a leaky faucet. That little drip, drip, drip may not seem like a big deal but can waste thousands of gallons of water over time right in front of you. Addressing decision-making waste is not just about cutting costs but also about creating a more efficient, effective and prosperous business. It's about achieving the freedom and financial stability that every restaurant owner dreams of. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I will not only help you identify decision-making waste challenges but also how you can easily overcome them, ultimately moving your restaurant toward restaurant prosperity.👍 Book a Call ­– https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  Visit my website for more information about my restaurant coaching program: www.davidscottpeters.com

In the restaurant industry it’s important to focus on numbers and performance because those numbers tell you the health of your business. As a coach, I teach restaurant owners how to use budgets and set goals and then measure them. When hiring managers, it’s important to find those who are high performers so they can help you meet those goals. But being a good manager and finding good managers isn’t all about performance. It’s also about establishing trust. Trust plays a critical role in your manager's success. In this episode of my restaurant podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I am going to explain this concept of performance and trust, based on renowned author, motivational speaker and organizational consultant Simon Sinek’s TED Talk. Sinek has one of the most watched TED Talks on YouTube and wrote the book, “Leaders Eat Last.” He has inspired leaders and organizations around the world to focus on purpose leadership and create positive organizational culture. Sinek basically says a medium or even low performer who has high trust among their colleagues is more valuable than a high performer with low trust among their colleagues. WHAT? Yes. I talk you through the theory, how Sinek got there while working with Navy Seals and how this applies to your restaurant. If you want to learn more about managing with trust to apply to your own leadership and what to look for in managers for your restaurant, I encourage you to listen to this podcast episode.👍 Book a Call ­– https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  Visit my website for more information about my restaurant coaching program: www.davidscottpeters.com

If you have been following me for any length of time you have heard me say the following statement: The two most important systems any restaurant should have in place are budgets and recipe costing cards. Why are these two systems so important? They move you from a reactive form of management to a proactive form of management, which is essential to controlling costs and planning for restaurant profits. In this episode of my podcast for restaurant owners, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I teach you the four things you must be doing when it comes to ensuring your recipe costing cards are accurate. This is important to listen to even if you have recipe costing cards because many restaurant owners who say they have accurate, up-to-date recipe costing cards still have incorrect cards. Bad numbers give you bad results, so listen in to learn how to review your recipe costing cards and update them so they really are accurate and up to date. 👍 Book a Call ­– https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  Visit my website for more information about my restaurant coaching program: www.davidscottpeters.com

Hiring in any business is a challenge, but the restaurant and hospitality industries are especially hard. There isn’t an entrepreneur who hasn’t been duped by a smooth-talking go-getter, a server who says they have experience, or that manager with chain experience who you think is going to take your restaurant to the next level. It happens to the best of us! How can you limit those hires? Tune into this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, and learn nine things to avoid in restaurant hiring from Matt Plapp, restaurant marketer extraordinaire. Plapp is a serial entrepreneur. Among his businesses he is the owner of America’s Best Restaurants, a restaurant marketing firm with clients nationwide. Listen in as Plapp and I talk about how he learned the hard way the nine lessons to avoid making a hiring mistake. He has some great examples of how he’s had to learn these lessons. This is a must listen for any entrepreneur, but especially restaurant owners.Find Matt Plapp and America’s Best Restaurants at - https://americasbestrestaurants.com/👍 Book a Call ­– https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  Visit my website for more information about my restaurant coaching program: www.davidscottpeters.com

I’m putting a flag in the ground: your restaurant is not a food business. It’s a hospitality business. If you tell people you are in the food business, then you’re telling them you provide the same thing as a gas station, which also sells food. Restaurants have the privilege to create memories in their customers’ lives. Your job is to create memories for your guests and keep them coming back time and time again. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I answer the question, “What is great hospitality?” and walk you through some of the ways other restaurants I’ve worked with have defined hospitality for their operations. Then I cover what people really remember as their best restaurant experiences and how you can help become part of those stories. And finally, I talk about how to organize the experience for your guests and how to build up to or exceed WOW customer service. 👍 Book a Call - https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  Visit my website for more information about my restaurant coaching program: www.davidscottpeters.com

Your prosperity is my goal. Prosperity is at the core of what I coach restaurant owners, like you, to achieve. Prosperity is freedom from your restaurant when you want it, confidence in your business, confidence in your restaurant’s numbers, the ability to have a life outside the restaurant and, finally, financial freedom. In this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I am going to focus on the importance of being a good leader and how your leadership will get you to prosperity. Listen in to learn why leadership is so important and what you can do when you’re not a natural leader. You will also learn how to identify what kind of leader you are and what behaviors you need to avoid. If you want to achieve prosperity, you must take on the responsibility of learning to lead and become the leader your restaurant needs.👍 Book a Call - https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  

In the demanding restaurant industry, it's easy to find yourself consumed by the day-to-day operations of your restaurant. There is so much to do every day from the small tasks like opening the restaurant and pulling the cash drawers to big tasks like hiring employees and calculating dollars per labor hour worked. It can be hard to prioritize your personal life and remember there is a world outside your restaurant. Think about it. How many life events have you missed because you had to be at the restaurant? How many graduations, birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, kid’s sporting events, dates and movie nights have you missed because you had to be in the restaurant? Do you know what that short list represents? Irreplaceable moments in your life! Yes, your restaurant needs your attention, but so does your personal life. In the episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I’m going to talk about why you must create time for your personal happiness and three things that have to happen to make this your reality. 👍 Book a Call - https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  

If you’re ready to use systems to improve your restaurant’s operations, service and profits, there is one person you must identify now – your implementer. This is your right-hand person when it comes to implementing systems in your restaurant. Your implementer is someone who buys into your business, into your dream and you. They're excited to learn, and they are organized and able start and finish projects. Your implementer reports to you but might also have another role in the restaurant and report to a manager. They train others on the systems and, with your help, hold others accountable to them. How do you select them? They tend to be people pleasers and want to make you proud. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I explain the purpose and usefulness of an implementer in greater detail, plus I give you the three-step process for supporting your implementer and helping them be successful. This is important because your implementer’s success if your success, which gets you that much closer to restaurant prosperity. 👍 Book a Call - https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  

Since the pandemic many restaurants are telling me tales of some of the most difficult customers I've ever heard. The frustration and impatience directed toward restaurant staff seems to be at a whole new level. But the truth is difficult customers have been around forever. The problem today is difficult restaurant customers can do a lot of damage if your team isn’t prepared to handle them because of their access to the internet and social media. Today’s “Karens” may be rattling the service industry, but how you handle them is the same. In my experience, difficult restaurant customers fall into one of five categories. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I share the five types of difficult restaurant customers, how to identify them in your restaurant, and three skills to develop to best handle the different complaints and problems they present. 👍 Book a Call - https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  

One of the goals I have for restaurant owners is to get them to a place in their business where they work on bigger strategic projects, such as restaurant marketing, and to do it in a strategic and thoughtful way. Since in my work with restaurant owners, I focus on systems for operations, I like to leave restaurant marketing to the experts. One such expert is on this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, Erik Shellenberger. He is an author and owner of Bar Marketing Basics, a marketing firm that focuses on bringing new customers into your restaurant or bar, using the many sources and tools your customers turn to when they’re picking a restaurant, such as Google. Shellenberger is on a quest to help restaurant and bar owners stop buying into the myths that other restaurant marketing companies are selling so they can start bringing real traffic through your doors. Tune in to hear a great conversation between me and Shellenberger and to get ideas you can use immediately for marketing in your restaurant. Take advantage of Erik’s offer: www.barmarketingbasics.com/scan-your-restaurant-or-bar/👍 Book a Call - https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  

The restaurant business is full of daily distractions that make it easy to avoid working strategically. Sometimes it feels like it takes more work to be strategic than it does to just get the work done. And what does working strategically even mean? In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I talk about what it really means to work strategically on your restaurant business and what you can do to ensure you are. Your role as a restaurant owner is to work on budgets, marketing, developing your managers, leading your team and holding them accountable. Creating time in your schedule to take on these responsibilities without getting lost in the day-to-day details of running a restaurant takes strategic planning and thinking. Tune into this podcast episode to hear me articulate a step-by-step process to ensure you're working strategically on your business. 👍 Book a Call - https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  

Just about every week during my group coaching calls with restaurant owners someone asks for tips on finding and hiring great employees. Restaurant owners share their successes with things like how to write job descriptions to attract employees who want to work in a great culture, suggestions for where to place those job descriptions, how much to pay their employees in their different roles and what to look for in prospective employees. Recently one of the restaurant owners in the group shared how he went about interviewing a huge number of people to work in his restaurant when he opened a new, bigger location. What he suggested was definitely not what anyone expected. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, Avery Ward, CEO of Little Italy Pizza in Groveport, Ohio, joins me to explain how he used a group interview model to hire an additional 20 employees after previously hiring around 25 new people for the new restaurant. In a time when everyone is asking how and where to find quality employees, Ward managed to get 40 people to show up for two group interviews and hired about 20 of them. Listen in to learn how this style of interviewing works and how you can apply it to your restaurant hiring process. Bonus content includes important insights about moving a restaurant into a new location and what you can learn from Ward so you don’t repeat the same mistakes. 👍 Book a Call - https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  

I am sure you’ve been told you need to calculate your food cost. Heck, you’ve probably heard from several experts that your food cost target is a 34% food cost, or that you’re supposed to mark up each of your food items on your menu 3 times. Well, neither of these methods are correct. Flush them from your mind because they are total BS. In this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I will explain why those approaches are wrong and why it’s important to know your food cost. I’ll also explain what you should be doing to calculate your food cost, including the three food cost calculations you must know to control your food cost: budgeted food cost, actual food cost and ideal food cost. You’ll learn how comparing all three of these numbers will allow you, for the first time in your restaurant life, to gain valuable insights into your menu that will allow you to virtually unlock your profit potential. Listen now to unlock your restaurant’s profits with the three food cost calculations. 👍 Book a Call - https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  

I love what I do! I get to help restaurant owners change their lives. I get to help most of them make more money than they've ever made before in their restaurant. To date I've worked with literally thousands of restaurant pros, so I've seen a lot, including a lot of restaurant owners who don't pay themselves. There are a lot of reasons these owners don’t take a regular paycheck, but what so many restaurant owners don’t understand is there is a major downside to not paying yourself from your own business. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I'm talking directly to restaurant owners about the importance of paying yourself. I’ll cover the top reasons restaurant owners give me for not taking a paycheck and the logic – or mistaken logic – behind each one. Plus, I’ll talk about the impact not paying yourself regularly can have on your business and your mental health. Lastly, I explain what you can do to get yourself out of this situation and the benefits to putting in the work to make the change. Making it a priority to pay yourself is one of the keys to running a successful restaurant that also provides the freedom you deserve and stop living in entrepreneurial poverty.👍 Book a Call - https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  

Labor costs are a real challenge for restaurants that want to make money. Restaurant owners have to battle with a lot of variables to control their labor cost and create success from things that are out of their control. For example, there is rising minimum wage – going as high as $22/hour in some places, labor laws that require a set number of hours for staff, a fear of working people so hard they leave and don’t forget the cost of providing the best service possible. So what is a restaurant owner to do? How can you give good service, keep your team happy and make money? In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I'm answering those questions. Plus I cover how to stay on budget in labor from week to week, how to help your managers successfully manage labor cost and how you, as the restaurant owner, can teach and lead your team to run the right ideal labor cost. 👍 Book a Call - https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  

These past three years have led many restaurant owners and managers toward restaurant burnout. As a restaurant owner, it’s easy to have a feeling of despair that has been almost impossible to shake. Between group coaching calls, one-on-one coaching calls and discovery calls, I talk with a lot of restaurant owners just like you. I can tell you that I hear you and feel your pain. While challenges in the restaurant business are a given, sometimes there are so many that you find yourself feeling jaded. Challenges ranging from staffing and cost controls to marketing and legal issues can overwhelm your love of your restaurant and make it so you don’t even enjoy it anymore. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I'm sharing with you how to tell the difference between work related stress and burnout, how to avoid burnout, and, finally, how to keep or reignite your passion for your restaurant to keep burnout at bay. Losing your passion for your restaurant is the worst thing that can happen to it and everyone involved. Instead, follow this advice to get off the path of burnout. 👍 Book a Call - https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  

Every couple of months I like to invite a restaurant owner who has benefited from my restaurant coaching program onto podcast. It’s a great chance for the restaurant owner to reflect on all the work they’ve done and the results of their work. It’s also a chance for me to take a minute to remind myself in the hustle and bustle of every day that what I teach works. That reinforces my motivation and my why for doing the work I do every day. Today’s guest is Jon Dempster. Jon opened his first restaurant, The Shanty, in the rural seaside community of Cape Charles, Virginia. He also has a second restaurant called Dead Rise Italian Kitchen. Prior to opening the restaurant, he spent 15 years traveling the country working his way up in the hospitality business from the dish pit in coastal New England towns to general manager of an independent Italian restaurant in Los Angeles. He also made an awesome noodle stop in Seattle along the way. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, Jon shares his passion for the industry and how he maintains his drive to continue learning and growing daily. Jon has a special focus on creating the best culture for his restaurant team and community. Listen to our conversation to hear Jon tell how he went from a restaurant owner already using systems to someone who now understands the why of those systems and how using the why helped him explode his profitability. 👍 Book a Call - https://dsp.coach/podcast-ryan-callSponsor – Margin Edge: http://www.marginedge.com/dsp  

Hiring a restaurant manager is a challenge, but there’s no greater challenge than finding the right kitchen manager. A lot of restaurant owners look to chefs as an ideal manager in the kitchen. After all, they are people destined to help create an experience in a restaurant that results in pleasure and lasting memories. But often a chef is unprepared to lead the restaurant because the higher the position a person has in a kitchen, the less they will cook. In a well-run restaurant, the title of chef is less about creativity and more about management. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, you will learn the pitfalls to avoid when you’re looking to hire a restaurant manager in the kitchen and the traits to look for in a new hire. I’ll also teach you the kitchen manager’s true role in the restaurant and what to expect from them. And finally, you’ll learn what to do if you find a person who fits your restaurant’s culture but has some learning to do to be effective in your restaurant. 👍 Book a Call - https://dsp.coach/call-with-ryanSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

It doesn’t matter if you're brand new to the restaurant business or you’re a seasoned veteran, food cost challenges will plague you. From regular price increases on a variety of products to natural disasters that drive prices up on commodities like chicken and oranges. Here’s the deal, though. You can count on the prices you’re paying for food to fluctuate and to increase dramatically without much warning. That’s a given and it’s out of your control. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I am talking about what you can control. Most restaurants operate 7-9% above their ideal food cost and, in most cases, it’s due to a lack of systems and a lack of leadership. Listen in for the full explanation along with the kitchen systems you can use to lower your restaurant food cost and lead your restaurant success. 👍 Book a Call - https://dsp.coach/call-with-ryanSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

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 files, etc. So when technology came into the restaurant picture, I quickly adapted my methods and systems into technology – I even developed a restaurant management software! Now we have AI – the machines are doing some incredible work for restaurant owners and making sorting restaurant data so much more efficient. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I want to introduce you to Branden McRill, the co-founder of 5-Out, a forecasting tool for restaurants. 5-Out predicts what you’re going to sell and when you’re going to sell it to optimize labor and purchasing. Using machine learning, AI and predictive analysis, in just five minutes, 5-Out integrates a wide range of systems you already use, such as point of sale, labor scheduling, purchasing and inventory, weather, social media, ordering, news and events. Branden gets it. He understands the importance of having the right and timely numbers to run your restaurant the right way. Tune in to hear our discussion about running restaurants, pick up some useful tips and learn about the potential of synergizing your restaurant data for maximized decision making.  Learn the 3 principles the most successful restaurant owners follow and how you can learn to follow them, too: https://dsp.coach/principlesx3Learn more about 5-Out: https://www.5out.io/Sponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

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 Prosperity Formula, Gina talks about her journey with systems and profitability and how she gained free time, but more importantly, how she can help you make your team members feel appreciated. We talk about what she does on a daily basis to make that happen and what you can do to make your employees want to work for you and stay longer. The beautiful part about it, it won't cost you a dime. Learn the 3 principles the most successful restaurant owners follow and how you can learn to follow them, too: https://dsp.coach/principlesx3Sponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

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 coaching program. I’ve spent a lot of time teaching restaurant owners how to develop their budget. What I don’t spend a lot of time on is the common challenges restaurant owners face when it comes to their budget variance reports, when things don’t go according to the budget. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I walk through a couple things you need to know about how I set up a restaurant budget, and the two most common challenges restaurant owners face on their budget variance report, both related to accrual accounting. Learn the 3 principles the most successful restaurant owners follow and how you can learn to follow them, too: https://dsp.coach/principlesx3Sponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

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 independent restaurant owners, and a sprinkling of franchisees, not only survive but thrive in this industry. For as long as I can remember, my dream has been to put my knowledge and experience to work while revolutionizing the way independent restaurants operate. I’ve been doing this work since 2003, and I can tell you exactly what will work and what won’t work in restaurant business operations. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I am talking about some of the most common issues and advice I share with restaurant owners, broken down into five categories. Those categories are sales, success, boundaries, accountability and strategic planning.  Learn the 3 principles the most successful restaurant owners follow and how you can learn to follow them, too: https://dsp.coach/principlesx3Sponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

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 the candle at both ends, working his pizza oven every Thursday to Sunday, open to close. Now he's never on the schedule, works from home, walks into the restaurant only when he has a manager meeting or when he wants to. He has a fully capable restaurant management team that is helping him explode his sales, service and profitability. His fiancé is growing their catering division for added revenue, and they're expanding the brand to a new location just a few blocks down to support all this growth. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, Ward takes us on his journey from how he started working in the family business, to some of the things he wishes he’d done differently to now and what it's like to run the restaurant when you become the leader the restaurant needs. You won’t believe it after listening to our discussion, but when he started working with me, he wasn’t convinced it would work. He talks about that journey from skeptic to believer and what he had to do to get to this point. If you’re sure there has to be a better way of running your restaurant, listen to Ward’s story.Learn the 3 principles the most successful restaurant owners follow and how you can learn to follow them, too: https://dsp.coach/principlesx3Sponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

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 recruit better employees and keep better employees for longer in both front of house and back of house. In my restaurant coaching group, we’ve discussed this a lot and a member brought a service to our attention that I now want to share with you. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I am talking with Kirk Grogan, the COO of TipHaus, the fastest growing end to end tip platform for the service industry. TipHaus is the industry leader in automated tip calculations and payment distribution for restaurants. Grogan brings over a decade of restaurant experience starting as a host, working his way up as a server and bartender, and eventually managing high-end contemporary dining locations in Seattle. He, like you, is a real restaurant pro! Listen in on our conversation as he shares more about TipHaus and how they save restaurants an average of 20 hours and $1,000 per month.Learn the 3 principles the most successful restaurant owners follow and how you can learn to follow them, too: https://dsp.coach/principlesx3Sponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp 

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 through the challenges that would stop any normal person, it’s time to rediscover your spark! In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I’m going to show you how, so you are running a restaurant that gives you the life you wanted, full of freedom to do what you like when you want to and makes you the money you deserve. When you follow the steps I teach, you’ll find that everyone around you will feed off your new-found energy, and your business will catch fire – in a good way!Learn the 3 principles the most successful restaurant owners follow and how you can learn to follow them, too: https://dsp.coach/principlesx3Sponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

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. Many other calls are to create a new member's budget. Once the budget template has been verified, it’s time to get down to business to create each member's plan for success. The most common questions I get when we work together revolve around where should my numbers be? In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I’m going to walk you through the various options for your budgeted numbers because there is no one answer that is right for everyone. There is no average that every restaurant owner should aim for. Once I explain how I teach a restaurant owner where their restaurant budget numbers should be, I’ll talk about the target profit margin and why knowing your numbers is so important to your restaurant’s success.Learn the 3 principles the most successful restaurant owners follow and how you can learn to follow them, too: https://dsp.coach/principlesx3Sponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

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’s honestly endless. Whatever tech you us, it is referred to as a tech stack. Times have changed since my family had its restaurant in the early 1980s when all you had to do was focus on delivering a great guest experience! In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I break down what I love about restaurant software and all the ways it can support you in the goals you have for your restaurant and your life. I offer my recommendation for how to make the most of technology and the pitfalls of relying on it too much. Lastly, I touch on overcoming the fear of the unknown, which is a major factor in using technology but also something that can hold you back.Learn the 3 principles the most successful restaurant owners follow and how you can learn to follow them, too: https://dsp.coach/principlesx3Sponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

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, concluding that it’s time for that manager to go sucks. Nobody likes to fire people, especially when you really care about them personally. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I want to teach you how to know when it’s time to fire a manager, why I would rather run short staffed than have the wrong people on my team, and what to do put yourself in a position where when a manager leaves voluntarily or through disciplinary action, you’re not worried about it. This episode is full of examples of how restaurant owners I coach have dealt with this issue and what happened once they followed through.Learn the 3 principles the most successful restaurant owners follow and how you can learn to follow them, too: https://dsp.coach/principlesx3Sponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

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. Before I recommend which POS system you should get, in this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I talk about what a good POS should do for you, what to look for in a POS system company and what to consider when it comes to cost. Once you apply these considerations to your search, it will narrow the options down and keep you from being overwhelmed. Finally, I offer my favorites and let you know the favorites among the members of my restaurant coaching group.Learn the 3 principles the most successful restaurant owners follow and how you can learn to follow them, too: https://dsp.coach/principlesx3Sponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

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 Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I will explain the common excuses I hear restaurant owners make and the damage they’re doing to their business. I will also give you some examples of restaurant owners who came to me, full of excuses, and walk you down the path they took to get out of their own way. I share what happened to me when I let excuses get in the way of my personal pursuits and what to look for in your own life to determine if you’re letting excuses rule you. And, of course, I’ll cover what you can do about it.Learn the 3 principles the most successful restaurant owners follow and how you can learn to follow them, too: https://dsp.coach/principlesx3Sponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

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 challenges rather than outside circumstances. The flip side of that is the work I do with restaurant owners who have a growth mindset. These operators understand that bad things happen, but they also know they have the power to learn and grow from the challenges they face. People who have a growth mindset try to focus on what they can control in their lives instead of all the stuff that is out of their control. In my work as a coach for restaurant operators, I’ve found that resilience and gratitude are key traits of a gaining a growth mindset and for being successful. That’s why in this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I share with you how resilience and gratitude can be practiced daily to bring you a growth mindset. I cover examples of the differences between a fixed and a growth mindset, ways to build up your resilience and to practice gratitude as well as the importance of having a support system that encourages you to grow. When you can make resilience and gratitude a part of your daily life you become unstoppable. Add 13% to your bottom line and take 2 days off/week from your restaurant: https://dsp.coach/restaurant-freedomSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

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 enough of these cycles to feel confident in that statement. In this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I am going to define the terms and indicators of a recession, and how the lessons of the past should be informing our future, including how we handle what comes next. Listen to this episode to learn what the tried and true systems and preventative measures are for managing what comes next. Plus I’m going to share with you what the members of my coaching program are doing to gear up for what has the potential to be another knockout punch to our industry that still hasn’t stabilized. They’re putting plans in place so they can thrive instead of feeling sorry for themselves, and I hope you’ll find inspiration from all of it.Add 13% to your bottom line and take 2 days off/week from your restaurant: https://dsp.coach/restaurant-freedomSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

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 posed three questions I wanted them to answer about their quality of life. You see, quality of life is the number one benefit we work toward in this program. It fits perfectly with restaurant prosperity, which is freedom from your restaurant and the financial freedom you deserve. In this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula podcast, I share the three questions I asked my coaching group members to help them dial in their intentions, and then I give you their answers. If you think you are working too many hours in your restaurant and missing too much of your life, this episode will comfort and inspire you. You’ll be surprised by the varying degrees of what they consider a measurement of good quality of life, but you’ll easily see how yours fits in with them all.Learn how to add 13% to your bottom line and take 2 days off/week from your restaurant: https://dsp.coach/restaurant-freedomBook a Discovery Call: https://dsp.coach/discovery-call-dspSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

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 systems I teach. In this episode of “The Restaurant Prosperity Formula” podcast, I want to introduce you to a restaurant owner who has done the work and transformed his restaurant, the lives of his employees and the lives of his family in his family business. I’m talking to Matt Jacobs, owner of Ben Franklin's Taproom and Grille in Newcastle, Penn. Matt, his dad and brothers opened a convenience store about six years ago with a small amount of food, but because of some changes to laws in their state, it resulted in a lot of competition that was created almost overnight. They decided to transition to a full-service. Neither Matt or his dad and brothers had restaurant experience, so after muddling through for a few years, Matt started on a path to make real change in his business, to take control. During our discussion he shares the incredible changes he made, how he got his life back and how every restaurant owner looking for this kind of transformation can do the same things.Learn more about Ben Franklin’s Taproom and Grille: https://www.benfranklins422.com/Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: http://www.davidscottpeters.com  Book a Discovery Call: https://dsp.coach/discovery-call-dspSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

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, you've probably lost 1-3 percentage to food cost. While I have no problem raising prices, especially on your top one, two or three items in each section, it’s getting dangerously close to a point where your guest looks at what they pay for a meal and it doesn't equal the value of what's on the plate. At some point in time, you won’t be able to just keep raising your prices. What's a restaurant owner to do? It’s time to use menu engineering and in this episode of “The Restaurant Prosperity Formula,” I’m teaching you how to do it in your restaurant. You’ll have answers to what data and systems you need to get started, the changes that will have the biggest impact, how to decide what to increase prices on and what you need to do personally to make it work. Menu engineering or re-engineering your menu is one of the biggest strategic planning things you'll ever do as a restaurant owner. With the right information, you can get ahead of rising food costs and inflation, and shift to the proactive management style you need to be successful.Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: http://www.davidscottpeters.com  Book a Discovery Call: https://dsp.coach/discovery-call-dspSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

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 money. In this episode of “The Restaurant Prosperity Formula,” I teach you how to calculate your ideal and actual food costs and what systems and data you need to calculate them properly. I also talk about why these two numbers are so important to making money and the kinds of things you can do to get the numbers to line up more closely. Plus I offer you a series of kitchen systems you can put in place to control your food cost and run a tighter operation.Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: http://www.davidscottpeters.com  Book a Discovery Call: https://dsp.coach/discovery-call-dspSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

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 extra dollar that comes in your restaurant. How? That is exactly what I’m going to cover in this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula. I am going to explain the concept of the breakeven point and how it is the measuring stick to determine when your higher sales are benefiting your bottom line. I am also going to show you how you can make as much as $.25 to $.40 on every dollar and still have freedom from your restaurant. If you have goals for growth, even as much as $250,000 in one year, this episode will serve as a plan for reaching those goals. The only thing stopping you is your willingness to do the work necessary to reach those goals. Start by getting your pencil and paper ready to take notes and do some match while you listen to this episode.Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: http://www.davidscottpeters.com  Book a Discovery Call: https://dsp.coach/discovery-call-dspSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

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 willing to make those changes? The idea of change is one thing. To actually take action to make changes, especially when they're difficult, is a whole other level. I'm on calls every single day with restaurant owners just like you, whether it's on a discovery call or a group coaching call, or one on one call. One thing I can tell you for sure is that if you didn't react to the rising costs in first quarter 2022, odds are you lost 2 to 3 percentage points from your bottom line in food cost alone. Forget about labor. If this is something you would like to prevent going forward, and if you are willing to make changes, I invite you to listen to this podcast episode.Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: http://www.davidscottpeters.com  Book a Discovery Call: https://dsp.coach/discovery-call-dspSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

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 me to my guest for this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula podcast, Josh Kopel. Josh is a restaurateur and tech pioneer. Throughout his 20-year career, he’s managed venues ranging from casual dining concepts to Hollywood nightclubs, bars and ultra-lounges. He also opened his own Michelin-rated fine dining concept. Josh is a real restaurant pro. Listen in on our conversation where Josh teaches you how to use the three levers that move your restaurant forward and revolve around a profitable revenue model, your ability to gain attention and turning on customer frequency when you need it most.Schedule Time with Josh: http://www.planwithjosh.comWatch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: http://www.davidscottpeters.com Book a Discovery Call: https://dsp.coach/discovery-call-dspSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

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 to get yourself out of a fear-based mindset. When it comes to persisting through fear to run a successful restaurant business, I also talk about the two common threads related to fear that I find when I talk to restaurant owners and how to use these things to your advantage.Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: http://www.davidscottpeters.com  Book a Discovery Call: https://dsp.coach/discovery-call-dspSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

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 Prosperity Formula, I’m going to describe who would benefit the most from having a coach, share some benefits I’ve personally seen from investing in coaching, cover the specifics of what a restaurant coach does and what to look for in the coach. I always say, I would love to be your coach, but I’m not for everybody. But what I’m covering in this episode will help you ask yourself some tough questions about what you want for your restaurant and your life and if a coach is something you could use to get there.  Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: http://www.davidscottpeters.com  Book a Discovery Call: https://dsp.coach/discovery-call-dspSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

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 takes to create a culture in your restaurant where your managers feel appreciated, a part of the team and clear on what is expected of them. If you’re a restaurant owner who feels like a prisoner to your business, who is frustrated with high turnover or nothing getting done right, this is a great episode for you. You’ll learn what you can realistically expect from your managers when you set them up for success and the actionable items you can execute on in your restaurant to start down the path of having a strong management team. If you want your restaurant and your life to look different, you need a strong management team to make that happen, but first you have to assemble one that will make you successful.Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: http://www.davidscottpeters.com  Book a Discovery Call: https://dsp.coach/discovery-call-dspSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

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 lead your business going forward is critical. After all, your restaurant is a direct reflection on how you choose to lead your business and your personal outlook for the future. In this episode of Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I want to have a real heart to heart with you about how important it is that you focus your time, energy and mindset on what you can control vs what you cannot. Once I cover these two areas, I’ll offer you three steps to take control so you can lead your business with less stress, more self-control and better outcomes.Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: http://www.davidscottpeters.com  Book a Discovery Call: https://dsp.coach/discovery-call-dspSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp 

Sometimes it feels like it’s getting harder and harder to make money in the restaurant industry as an independent restaurant. Well, that's because it is. You’re dealing with rising food and beverage costs, increased labor costs, a labor shortage, costs forced on you by third-party delivery services and so much more. That’s the reality of the restaurant industry. But with the right approach, you can run a successful, popular restaurant that also makes you money. The secret is to take a proactive approach. In this episode of Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I’m going to explain what that means, how you do it, the numbers you need to know and target, and the different paths you can take to get there. I even provide examples of how some of the restaurant owners I work with each week have taken on these big challenges and the proactive decisions they’ve made to overcome them. Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: http://www.davidscottpeters.com  Book a Discovery Call: https://dsp.coach/discovery-call-dspSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

While the last couple of years have made it difficult to focus on developing a great employee training system in your restaurant, I want to spend this episode diving into why training is so important to the success of your business. To do that, I’ve invited Joe Erickson to be my guest for this this episode of Restaurant Prosperity Formula. Joe is the chief operations officer and a partner at RestaurantOwner.com. He has owned and/or managed several restaurant/catering operations and now focuses on developing easy-to-implement, yet highly effective systems and processes to help members of restaurantowner.com improve their restaurants' efficiency, product utilization and most importantly, deliver a more consistent guest experience. Listen in on our conversation where Joe goes into detail about how important training is, what makes training effective, and how you can easily start training your managers and team members on the topics and systems you want them to know as soon as today. Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: http://www.davidscottpeters.com  Check out RO.com’s Learning System: http://www.restaurantowner.com/learningBook a Discovery Call: https://dsp.coach/discovery-call-dspSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp 

All too often restaurant owners operate their businesses on an island. While there is a whole world out there of innovation, best practices and support, restaurant owners often find themselves feeling alone, isolated and the only one who suffers from the constant challenges. That’s the life of a typical restaurant owner. However, when restaurant owners learn how to build and trust a management team, it can be life changing because you are no longer alone, you no longer have to worry about all the tasks that need to be done on a daily basis. This frees you up to focus on your business as the leader, think strategically, interpret your numbers and proactively run your business. In this episode of Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I cover what you need to do to build a strong management team that frees you from the daily grind of running your restaurant so you can lead it. Let’s see if you can gain some support and feel less like you’re on an island.Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: http://www.davidscottpeters.com  Book a Discovery Call: https://dsp.coach/discovery-call-dspSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

The U.S. and most of the world are experiencing a major labor shortage, making restaurant owners operate in fear mode, constantly worrying about restaurant staffing. In this episode of Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I’m talking with Ryan James, owner of Mother’s Cantina in Ocean City, Maryland, which includes two full-service TexMex restaurant locations, a commissary kitchen, a Shopify store and a presence on Amazon selling tortillas. He has extensive experience finding staffing solutions for his Ocean City, Maryland restaurants because he has a special challenge being in a resort town. Ocean City’s winter population is about 8,000 people but, in the summer, it explodes to about 400,000. You can only imagine how hard it is to staff for those wild fluctuations in business. Listen in on our conversation where Ryan shares the ins and outs of recruiting and utilizing J-1 workers to make it through the summer months and how you can use this solution to staff your restaurant almost year-round.Some of the companies Ryan suggests looking into:·     InterExchange·     United Work and Travel·     J1 Ireland·     Worldwide Cultural Exchange (WWCE)Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: http://www.davidscottpeters.com  Book a Discovery Call: https://dsp.coach/discovery-call-dspSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

The restaurant industry is known for being stressful and people who work in it tend to thrive in the fast-paced, adrenaline-fueled environment. It’s also known for being an industry where people turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms such as self-medication with alcohol, drugs, etc. It’s only grown worse since 2020 with the increased pressure on the industry to continue to serve in a global pandemic while most people were hunkered down in their homes. In this episode of Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I’m talking with Azizi Marshall, founder and CEO of the Center for Creative Arts Therapy. Azizi developed a two-hour workplace mental health training that I highly recommend for restaurant owners. During our conversation, we cover some very important topics, such as how to support employees’ mental health, the importance of creating a supportive work environment and how it all ties into retention, plus tips for managing your own mental health that go beyond the popular “self-care” activities. While mental health as a topic tends to have a negative stigma, there is no denying that the restaurant industry could benefit from adopting healthier practices. As Azizi says, take care of yourself so you can take care of others.Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: http://www.davidscottpeters.com  Book a Discovery Call: https://dsp.coach/discovery-call-dspSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dspArtful Well’s Employer Training for Mental Health: https://www.artfulwell.com/  

Restaurant technology can benefit your business in so many ways. Efficiency, accuracy, flow, consistency are all benefits of restaurant technology. But what kinds of technology tools are worth the investment? In this episode of Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I’m talking with Jeremy Julian, host and producer of “The Restaurant Technology Guys” podcast and blog, and the COO of Custom Business Solutions, Inc., a family owned and operated restaurant technology company. We talk about how software and restaurant technology is either an investment or an expense depending on how you use it, knowing what problem you’re trying to solve before you seek out the technology to solve it, what to look for in a technology advisor and the importance of tech support. Jeremy also offers predictions of the problems restaurants will be facing in the future and how technology will step up to solve it. Jeremy is a resource, and I encourage you to listen to this episode to get a new perspective on how technology can benefit your restaurant and what to think about when you’re considering technology.Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: http://www.davidscottpeters.com  Book a Discovery Call: https://dsp.coach/discovery-call-dspSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dspThe Restaurant Technology Guys podcast: https://restauranttechnologyguys.com/category/podcast/

I don’t need to tell you about the labor crisis in the restaurant and hospitality industry. You’re living it day in and day out, running short-staffed or running with less-than-ideal employees. In fact, Restaurant Business reported in an article entitled “Restaurant Workers are Quitting at Historically High Rates” that nearly 7% of the nation’s restaurant and hotel workers quit their jobs in August of 2021. They went on to say no other industry came close to that level of voluntary departures. In this episode of Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I’m talking about some of the reasons people are leaving the industry and how you can deal with that in your restaurant. It’s the fourth quarter and it’s time to re-recruit your employees, find out what makes them happy and come up with ways to keep them satisfied. I offer ideas for how to approach your employees, things you can do to meet their needs, cover how you can afford it and other resources to help you during this ongoing crisis. Your restaurant’s success and your future freedom depend on them!Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: http://www.davidscottpeters.com  Book a Discovery Call: https://dsp.coach/discovery-call-dspSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

Get ready to be inspired! In this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, my guest is someone you’ve heard from before. I interviewed her in November 2020. Her story was pretty inspiring then, but almost a year later it’s even more so. Emmy Barnick, owner of The Captain’s Cabin in Washburn, ND, made incredible changes to her business in the height of the pandemic. In this “where are they now” interview, Emmy describes her timeline from thinking about closing her restaurant to making a bottom-line improvement of $288,000 in the last 12 months. Be prepared to drop all the excuses of why you’re not able to start down your system's journey after hearing this conversation. Emmy is a great example of the potential every restaurant owner has in their restaurant. You just have to start somewhere. Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: http://www.davidscottpeters.com  Book a Discovery Call: https://dsp.coach/discovery-call-dspSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp 

When building a new restaurant what should you look for in a builder? What are builders doing to prepare restaurants for the future? What can a builder of mostly chain and franchise restaurants teach the independent operator? For this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, my guest is Anthony Amunategui, founder of CDO Group, an industry leader in providing a full range of outsourced construction development and project management services. Anthony and CDO Group bring an incredible amount of experience and expertise when it comes to restaurant development. Listen in as Anthony and I talk about the future of the restaurant industry, technology and restaurant development insights.CDO Group: https://cdogroup.com/Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: http://www.davidscottpeters.com  Sponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

In the hospitality industry, customer service is everything. When done right, your guests have an experience that creates memories, which are only enhanced by your service. For this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I talk with Jill Raff, a highly experienced customer experience strategist and author. Jill has a long list of restaurant experience that started in her family’s McDonald’s restaurant, store #150 in Ocala, Fla. She graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, and worked in Harrods of London’s pastry kitchen as well as the 1-star Michelin Guido Ristorante, in Piemonte, Italy. You could say that Jill has done it all from “McDonald’s to Michelin.” Listen in as Jill and I talk about how to offer an outstanding customer experience following her inside out framework. Jill Raff’s free offer: www.jillraff.com/helpwithyelpWatch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: http://www.davidscottpeters.com  Sponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

Restaurant owners ask me about marketing all the time. Like I always tell them, I’m not a marketing guy, I’m a systems guy. For this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I brought the restaurant marketing guy on the podcast to talk all things restaurant marketing. My guest, Matt Plapp, runs a restaurant marketing business to help restaurants acquire customers and build relationships with those customers through marketing that has an ROI! He is also a speaker and author as well as a coach for other marketers and restaurant owners. I’ve spent a lot of time with Matt, and I think you’ll get a lot out of this conversation. Together we take a deep dive into his new book, Restaurant Marketing That Works, and how you can implement his system for attracting customers while maximizing your marketing dollars following his ABR system.Find Matt's Book on Amazon: https://dsp.coach/Matt-Platt-BookWatch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: http://www.davidscottpeters.com  Sponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

Restaurant Pricing Strategies to Save Your 2021 -- Welcome to week 4 million of living in a pandemic while owning a restaurant. This week, I’m talking about a major issue for restaurants right now: the shortage of food and the resulting increase in prices. What you’re paying for products right now is going through the roof, one of the largest increases in food distribution pricing in decades. The struggle to find employees continues as well. Your food distributors are a good example of this – sales managers are making deliveries! To deal with this right now, I've been coaching my members to attack their menus. Your menu is the key to the labor shortage and your product prices. Tune into this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula to hear stories about restaurant owners I work with week to week and the changes they’re making. I tell you about how they're reducing their menu sizes, how they're attacking the menu and getting creative, how they're figuring out how to reduce prep and simplify their operations, how they can make changes on the fly during a shift to save the kitchen, do less with fewer employees, and continue to keep customers happy and loyal.Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: http://www.davidscottpeters.com Sponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

Why Restaurant Owners Must Lead with AccountabilityA big issue for restaurant owners is feeling like a hostage in their own business. They’re so afraid of losing their managers, they hold back on adding more to their plates and then don’t question them when things aren’t done right. That leaves the restaurant owner in a lurch – doing all the work and cleaning up after everyone else. While this hostage situation isn’t unusual in the restaurant industry, it is heightened right now with the shortage of staff and the increase in sales. Most owners are already working as many hours as they can in the restaurant and if a manager quits, they have no one to pick up those 40+ hours. So how do you fix this situation? How do you negotiate your way out of the situation? That is exactly what I cover in this episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula. I outline the four things you must do to build a team of reliable managers that allow you to focus on the right jobs for an owner AND give you confidence to leave the restaurant for scheduled time off.Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: http://www.davidscottpeters.com  Sponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

Every restaurant owner I work with, since starting my coaching services in 2003, struggles with one thing. It is the one thing that dictates whether they are successful or not. That one thing is self-accountability. For this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I explain what I mean by accountability and why it’s so important. Tune in to learn how I help restaurant owners create their own formula for success, which is based on my trademarked Restaurant Prosperity Formula. I also share four things you need to hold yourself accountable, as well as how a being a member of a coaching group of your peers can help you stay accountable. If you’re looking for the answer to how to run a successful restaurant that does not depend on you running it every day, then this is a great episode for you.Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: https://dsp.coach/3-key-principlesSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

I just spoke at the first industry trade show since the pandemic. It was the Nightclub and Bar Show in Las Vegas, Nevada at the end of June 2021. I loved being back on the road and being on stage with a live audience. So on this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I talk about the lessons we’ve learned since March 2020, how they’ll shape restaurants for the future and what I see as the outlook for the restaurant and hospitality industry. For example, we learned a smaller restaurant with a smaller menu is better and nimbler. As for the future, you’re going to see a lot of the restaurants that closed down reopened by any Tom, Dick or Harry, and the competition will come back. So, to help you, the rest of the podcast is my recommendation of a short action plan. There is no getting back to normal. We are in a new normal and restaurant owners who adapt and make the best of it will be the strongest in the future. Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: https://dsp.coach/3-key-principlesSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

In episode 23 of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I address the major challenge the hospitality industry is experiencing here in the United States as the states open back up and restaurants are experiencing huge sales increases. That challenge is the shortage of restaurant employees. Restaurants are extremely short-staffed, which means restaurant owners are spending all their time working in the business and can’t be strategic, and restaurant managers and existing employees are overworked, and it’s all affecting the guest experience. While this is a temporary situation, there is no perfect predictor for when it will end or how it will be different going forward. That’s why in this episode I talk about why I believe our industry is affected so much right now and what you can do moving forward to become an employer of choice in the future no matter what the outside factors are that are working against you.  Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: https://dsp.coach/3-key-principlesSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

In this episode, Anne Gannon, CPA of The Largo Group, and I offer our insight and experience on what the most successful restaurant owners we work with know about their restaurant’s numbers. This episode is important because most restaurant owners choose the restaurant industry because they’re passionate about hospitality and making memories for people. They don’t go into business because they love calculating food and labor costs. Once they’re in it, one of the most common things owners wish they could change is to know and understand their numbers better. Listen in to learn what the most successful restaurant owners have in common and what they know about their accounting, where you can start to get a better understanding of the numbers that matter, why cash flow is so important and how to generate it.Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: https://dsp.coach/3-key-principlesSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

In episode 21 of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I'm talking about the challenges restaurant owners are facing today from employee burnout and labor shortage to the need for stronger management and leadership. My guest for this episode, Darren Denington, has 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry and has an extensive background as a food and beverage director, executive chef, general manager, restaurant owner, staff trainer, restaurant coach and consultant. He holds the most prestigious certification available for hospitality professional being a certified food and beverage executive. He is the founder of Service with Style Hospitality Group, a hospitality firm offering secret shopping, restaurant coaching and training services. Listen to this episode for a candid and open conversation about what restaurant owners need to do to overcome the issues that they face daily. Now, the bad news is there's no magic pill. The good news is you'll learn exactly what you need to do.Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: https://dsp.coach/3-key-principlesSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

In episode 20 of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I'm talking about the number one issue that is a burden in our industry right now. You might think I’m talking about a shortage of employees, but I’m really talking about burnout. I know your struggle because I see it every day with my members in my 24-week Restaurant Transformation Intensive program. They are all experiencing incredibly high sales and nobody to work. They are working their butts off in their restaurants all day every day. It’s getting to them, but I know something about them that assures me they’ll end up great. If you're in a position of burnout, where you can't find any hope, where you start to think there's no hope for your restaurant, then I am here to give you a wakeup call. Listen to this episode to learn what you can do to fight off the negative effects of restaurant burnout and what you need to do to leave it in your rearview mirror.Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: https://dsp.coach/3-key-principlesSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

In this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula podcast, host David Scott Peters talks about the dangers of being a business owner who enables a work environment where no one is accountable, and the restaurant owner thinks they must be the best at everything. The problem with this is if you’re so good at doing everyone’s job and taking it over, your team learns they don’t have to be good or do the work. When you take over everything and don’t give your employees and managers room to do their jobs, they start to resent you and let you do all the work. If this sounds familiar, or if you’ve worked with this person, know this is a classic problem in the restaurant industry. In the case of restaurant owners, you start to resent that you’re doing all the work – even though you brought it on yourself. I call these restaurant owners enablers. This enabling behavior provides your employees with excuses for why they don’t have to do their jobs. They never get written up and suffer the consequences from not doing their jobs because you will just do it for them. Listen to this episode to find out if you are an enabler, or if you work with an enabler, and how to break the enabling cycle.Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: https://dsp.coach/3-key-principlesSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

In this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula podcast, host David Scott Peters talks about the secret to being a successful restaurant owner. The answer? Find someone who gets stuff done. As an owner, you can’t do it all yourself. It’s just impossible. Plus, it’s not your job to do everything in the restaurant. Your job is to lead and take on more strategic activities such as marketing and development of growth paths. To do this successfully, you must identify or hire someone on your team who can be relied upon to get you up and running with systems and get things done. Many times owners choose someone they think will be a great implementer, but they turn out to be the opposite. What’s the opposite of an implementer? A saboteur. They stop all progress dead in its tracks, and they have all the excuses for doing it. How do you know if you have an implementer or a saboteur? Listen to this episode to learn about the four types of saboteurs.Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: https://dsp.coach/3-key-principlesSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

In this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula podcast, host David Scott Peters talks about owners of independent restaurants and their tendency to overwork themselves while also freeing their management team of accountability. David teaches you how to put yourself in a place of leadership and three lessons you must teach your managers and supervisors to empower them to do their job so you don’t have to. Managers play a critical role in the most successful restaurateurs’ businesses. To further set the path to success, David teaches five critical steps to successful delegation and why holding restaurant’s managers accountable is so important.Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: https://dsp.coach/3-key-principlesSponsor – Repeat Returns: http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

In this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula podcast, host David Scott Peters talks about the massive increase in restaurant sales that is coming for every restaurant along with the quickest path to prepare for it. As vaccine shots go into more arms and restrictions are lifted in more cities and states, everyone who has been abiding by the stay-home recommendations is going to flooding businesses like restaurants. They want to eat in restaurants, not just order take out from restaurants. They want drinks on the patio, not the take-home version of the cocktails you serve. They’re coming. Are you ready? Do you have the staff you need? Do you have the systems in place to maximize every dollar that comes into the restaurant? David provides nine things to do right now to prepare for success. For today’s discussion, David also talks about the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset and why it matters.Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: https://dsp.coach/3-key-principles

Restaurant Training 10 Steps to a Great Service Training Plan for Independents In this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula podcast, host David Scott Peters welcomes back Darren Denington, CFBE, founder of Service with Style. Darren has more than 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry and has an extensive background as a food and beverage director, executive chef, general manager, restaurant owner, staff trainer, restaurant coach and consultant. He holds the most prestigious certification available for a hospitality professional being a certified food and beverage executive. Darren is the founder of Service With Style Hospitality Group, a hospitality firm offering secret shopping, restaurant coaching and team training services. For today’s discussion, we focus on Darren’s 10 steps to building a great service training plan for your restaurant.Get Your Discount with Service with Style: servicewithstyle.com/dspWatch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: dsp.coach/3-key-principles Sponsor: Repeat Returns, repeatreturns.com/dsp

Restaurateur Couple Shares How They Went from Hobbyists to EntrepreneursIn this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula podcast, host David Scott Peters talks with Brianna and Jonathan Cowan, owners of The Wooden Paddle in Lemont, Illinois. I first met them at the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Show over a decade ago, and they made a decision to get on an airplane a week later to attend one of my four day workshops in Las Vegas. At that time, their business really needed to grow. Fast forward to March 2020 when we reconnected at Catersource, days before COVID-19 business restrictions shut down their dining room and catering events. Listen in on our conversation as they share with us their incredible journey of taking their passion for hospitality and turning it into a thriving business. Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: https://dsp.coach/3-key-principlesSponsor: The Catering Coach, http://www.thecateringcoach.com/dsp

In this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula podcast, host David Scott Peters talks with Brian Mueller, owner of Blue Coast Burrito in Cookeville, Tenn. Brian was a general manager of a Blue Coast Burrito location and had an opportunity to purchase the location he managed. During this conversation, Brian and David talk about the transition from being a general manager to an owner and the strategies Brian used to shift his focus from one to the other. Specifically, he talks about the importance of being able to teach and trust others to do the daily tasks so he could focus on the responsibilities of being an owner. He shares the results of working with David, including the systems that have made the biggest impact on his business. One of Brian’s goals was to have time off, which he wasn’t sure would be possible amid the pandemic. Tune in to learn what you can do in your restaurant business to achieve impressive results like Brian. Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: https://dsp.coach/3-key-principles Sponsor: The Catering Coach, http://www.thecateringcoach.com/dsp

In this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula podcast, host David Scott Peters talks about the power of looking forward and making plans for 2021. When it comes to running a restaurant, 2020 did some serious damage to the industry and to many independent restaurants. And while the crisis is not over, there are some positive signs that 2021 can be a year of recovery and stability. It’s possible restaurants can get things back on track and make money, just like they were at the start of 2020. David tells you how you're going to do it, which starts with you getting out of your own way.Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: https://dsp.coach/3-key-principles Sponsor: The Catering Coach, http://www.thecateringcoach.com/dsp

In this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula podcast, host David Scott Peters talks with restaurant owner Karen Fagnilli, owner of The Lake House Inn Resort in Ohio on Lake Erie. Listen in to hear how Karen, her family and her team took the COVID-19 pandemic and used it an opportunity to improve their restaurant’s revenues and margins. She shares with David how the systems she learned from him impacted her perspective, then her operations, improved her working relationship with her family and led her to hire a general manager to run the whole thing, something she never thought she’d spend the money to do. While Karen’s inn and restaurant are seasonal, she shares that her fall business was the best they ever experienced. Her story is inspiring, but it’s also full of lessons any independent restaurant can use to start improving their own restaurants.Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: https://dsp.coach/crack-the-codeSponsor: Repeat Returns, http://www.repeatreturns.com/dsp

In this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula podcast, host David Scott Peters talks about the reappearance of COVID19 pandemic restrictions for restaurants and how to measure the impact of them on your restaurant business. Listen in to learn why restaurant owners with drastically reduced sales, pivot fatigue and increased stress can still have hope and how to protect themselves until the vaccines have been widely distributed. This podcast shares relatable experiences with a big dose of hope. Plus you learn the two single most important things to do right now to position your business for success once the smoke has cleared. Watch for 3 Principles of Restaurant Success: https://dsp.coach/crack-the-code Sponsor: Catering Coach, http://cateringcoach.com/dsp

How to Run a Restaurant In this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula podcast, host David Scott Peters talks to Steve Eller, restaurant owner of Cosmic Cowboy in Idaho. David and Steve talk through Steve’s experience adopting and working with David’s restaurant systems. Steve’s story is interesting in that he was already using a lot of the systems that David teaches, but his prime cost was too high, and he was looking for the answer to why and how to finally get past the plateau. Steve was a CFO before he opened his restaurants, and he was a budgeting professional, and he talks about the things he learned in budgeting for restaurants after working with David. Steve is an independent restaurant owner who is using systems during COVID to get a deeper understanding of the numbers behind his restaurant’s operation, get answers to how to improve the numbers and be set up to benefit at a maximum level once the pandemic is over. Plus, using his past experience in commercial real estate, he’s planning to use his understanding of these systems to help him evaluate future restaurant opportunities. Listen to this podcast to hear an independent restaurant owner’s journey on the search for what he didn’t know.Free Restaurant Evaluation: https://dsp.coach/free-evalSponsor: Catering Coach, http://thecateringcoach.com/dsp

Restaurant Food Cost Solutions for Independent RestaurantsIn this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula podcast, host David Scott Peters talks to Emmy Barnick, restaurant owner of The Captain’s Cabin in South Dakota. David and Emmy talk through her restaurant’s financial journey starting in January 2020 when she was using her personal savings to make payroll through to the fall of 2020 when she had three days off and cash in the bank. Emmy, who didn’t have restaurant experience prior to buying her restaurant, talks about the steps she took to get her restaurant in line, the impact of COVID-19 on her restaurant, the systems she learned working David that helped her and her team take action, and the personal journey she went through in nine months. Listen to this podcast to hear an independent restaurant owner’s journey from chaos to stability and pick up some inspiration along the way.Free Restaurant Evaluation: https://dsp.coach/free-evalSponsor: Repeat Returns, http://repeatreturns.com/dsp

Restaurant Technology Tips for Independent OperatorsIn this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula podcast, host David Scott Peters discusses restaurant technology, the pitfalls restaurant owners fall into when using restaurant software and how to get the most out of it. There are so many reasons restaurant owners sign up for a variety of different restaurant software and restaurant technology options. They deal with pressure from their managers, social media, the pandemic that forced them to opt into the third-party delivery apps, consultants promising miracles with software and sales people who swear the software will be a magic pill. But the truth tends to be that a lot of restaurant technology is going unused, wasting not only monthly fees and subscription costs but the loss of potential savings that is possible to reap from these tools. Listen to this podcast to learn when it’s right to invest in restaurant technology solutions, the ideal problems to seek technology to solve and the benefits of putting restaurant systems in place prior to investing in a restaurant software solution. Free Restaurant Evaluation: https://dsp.coach/free-evalSponsor: The Catering Coach, www.thecateringcoach.com/dsp

In this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula podcast, host David Scott Peters discusses the fears and challenges facing independent restaurant owners today amidst the pandemic. If you’re feeling hopeless, angry, frustrated, scared or any variety of these emotions, this episode provides answers for how to manage these emotions with solutions for running your restaurant. As an independent restaurant owner, you have been hit the hardest by the pandemic. Your business is uncertain but the solutions are the more than certain. They are steady and proven. Tune in to hear David’s breakdown of how to approach any and all challenges you’re facing in your restaurant so you can start kicking a** and run the restaurant you’ve always dreamed of owning. For more resources or to ask David a question, connect with him at [email protected].  Free Restaurant Evaluation: https://dsp.coach/free-evalSponsor: The Catering Coach, www.thecateringcoach.com/dsp

In this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula podcast, host David Scott Peters interviews Anne Gannon, CPA. After working in a big-five accounting firm in Boston, Anne was motivated to create a more efficient system for monthly accounting and tax services, so she opened her company, The Largo Group. She charges her clients a monthly fee and works one on one with them throughout the year to keep their monthly accounting up to date while keeping their accounting costs lower. In this episode, David and Anne talk about what numbers to know and pay attention to, especially during the pandemic, cash flow budgets and their benefits, why you have to take care of yourself as the owner and what to look for in an accounting firm as a restaurant owner. Listen to this episode for some great perspective on why, no matter how hard it might seem right now, it could be well worth it to keep your business afloat. Free Consultation with Anne: www.thelargogroup.com/dsp Free Restaurant Evaluation: https://dsp.coach/free-evalSponsor: Repeat Returns, www.repeatreturns.com/dsp

In this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula podcast, host David Scott Peters reveals where one of his favorite words comes from: clopen. You’ll also learn what “clopen” means. More importantly David teaches listeners the foundation to all successful restaurant systems, why they are so important and how they lead to restaurant owners being able to have freedom from their restaurants and financial freedom in their personal lives. Tune in to walk through how to create a truly effective restaurant checklist and the benefits to using restaurant checklists to hold restaurant managers accountable. Free Restaurant Evaluation: https://dsp.coach/free-evalSponsor: Repeat Returns, www.repeatreturns.com/dsp

In this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula podcast, host David Scott Peters interviews Sandy Korem. Sandy is the CEO and founder of The Festive Kitchen, a one-of-a-kind catering company based in Dallas. No other catering company in America has established such a diverse and profitable take-home catering division. In her second company, The Catering Coach, Sandy uses her 25 years of catering experience to teach independent restaurant owners and caterers how to maximize their catering profits. Her teaching focuses on increasing sales and profits with little or no investment and how to maximize earning potential by adding multiple revenue streams to their existing business. During our discussion, Sandy talked about why systems are critical to making profits. She shared some of the key systems any restaurant or existing caterer needs to have in place. The biggest takeaway from our conversation was how in the midst of COVID-19 and the loss of almost 100 percent of her booked catering events, her sales are even with last year. She shared her secret on how she did this using multiple revenue streams in her business. On top of that, she shares how none of her catering coach members are out of business because they followed her lead. Learn More About The Catering Coach: http://www.thecateringcoach.com/dspFree Restaurant Evaluation: https://dsp.coach/free-evalSponsor: Repeat Returns, www.repeatreturns.com/dsp

In this episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula podcast, host David Scott Peters interviews Darren Denington, CFBE, founder of Service with Style. Darren founded Service with Style in 1998 to focus on helping companies across the country understand their guests through secret shopping. In this episode, David and Darren discuss the importance of systems for independent restaurants, why systems are the key to becoming a stronger restaurant owner, the importance of restaurant staff that is plugged into your culture, and how secret shopping helps restaurants improve service and maintain incredible standards for service. Listen in while David and Darren tell stories you will definitely relate to and share information you can use in your restaurant today. Learn More About Service with Style: www.servicewithstyle.com/dspFree Restaurant Evaluation: https://dsp.coach/free-eval Sponsor: Repeat Returns, www.repeatreturns.com/dsp

In this first episode of The Restaurant Prosperity Formula podcast, host David Scott Peters breaks down the path to restaurant prosperity and the restaurant solutions to use to get there. David also teaches listeners the three skill sets to develop to make money, have some freedom from the restaurant and have the restaurant business you deserve… Peters is a restaurant expert who teaches restaurant operators how to cut costs and increase profits with his trademark Restaurant Prosperity Formula. He’s taught thousands of restaurants how to use operational systems and create a hospitality-based company culture to skyrocket their profits. He travels the world teaching his formula to restaurant owners, food distributors and a variety of hospitality groups. In his past businesses, he used his formula to rescue a multi-unit restaurant sports bar chain from bankruptcy and helped the owners sell it for a profit. He built a restaurant management software from the ground up based on his formula and sold it to a group of investors that included satisfied software users.Free Restaurant Evaluation: https://dsp.coach/free-evalSponsor: Repeat Returns, www.repeatreturns.com/dsp