Restaurant Management and Accountability

Far too many restaurant managers feel they are facing a great brick wall that stands between them and any success they may ever hope to achieve. Where the path to success once seemed clear, the great wall of failure now seems to grow taller and wider, its shadow falling across any dreams and desires for the future.

Sales have declined, costs have spiraled out of control, and profits have diminished or disappeared altogether. The possibility of a raise, bonus or promotion has been replaced with the possibility of unemployment. Despair and disillusionment settle in.

To some, this may sound a bit melodramatic, but many managers do find themselves in negative situations without ever fully understanding how they got there.

Yes, companies actually do exist out there that go above and beyond in efforts to develop miserable work environments. Negative employee relations, discrimination and motivation by fear seem to be standard operating procedures. Companies like this can, and do, build huge walls for their people.

But even in the best of environments there are managers who, without realizing it, have brought about their own negative circumstances. One brick at a time they have built the very walls that keep them from reaching success, and all too often, these walls are the hardest to tear down.

Managers who have built their own walls often build them with bricks such as:

• “The last manager ran the business so far into the ground that I don’t think it will ever recover.”
• “We’re in a bad location.”
• “I can’t get good help.”
• “There is no opportunity for advancement.”
• “I work hard everyday and no one appreciates it.”
• “My boss doesn’t understand.”
• “I’m not paid to do that.”
• “No one ever told me.”
• “Nobody motivated me.”

And the list goes on and on . . .

In truth, we have all dumped one or more of these bricks on the wall at some point. But managers who are not focused on producing profitable results consistently rely on them in an effort to justify a lack of performance.

The danger is this:

If a manager begins using excuses instead of practicing personal accountability, he begins to develop a negative mental attitude. Over time, he becomes more and more focused on finding reasons for failure as opposed to reasons for success. Eventually, he loses control of his operation.

Why? Because every minute of every day, we move toward that which we are focused on.

All too often we hear managers say things along the lines of “My store would be successful, if it weren’t for . . . ” These managers can give you a long list of reasons for their operation’s poor performance, but offer very little in the way of solutions. To them, there is always some other reason “out there” that holds them back.

What they fail to understand, or chose to ignore, is that they are the ones who are responsible for producing results. Even worse, there are some of them who do realize this, but are uniquely skilled in playing “the blame game” in order to draw attention away from the fact that they aren’t effective leaders.

Stop for a moment and honestly consider your current situation.

When your food cost runs out of standard, is it your employees fault or is it your own?

When your sales drop, is it because your prices are too high, or have you been neglecting your service program?

When your employee turnover skyrockets, is it because you can’t find good help or is it because you haven’t been following through with your team building responsibilities?

As manager, do you play the part of the “victim” when P&L time rolls around, or do you stand up and hold yourself accountable?

The restaurant industry is filled with managers who make excuses for their performance.

But the successful managers are the ones who won’t tolerate that behavior in themselves.

Why?

Because they have a strong sense of responsibility, not just to their company, but to themselves!

Because they have an overwhelming sense of pride, not just in themselves, but in the results they produce!

Because they have a deep desire to bring about success, not just for the company they work for, but for themselves!

Accepting personal accountability doesn’t mean that you will always be successful, but it does provide you with the tools necessary for future success. It enables you to evaluate you own performance and actions and say, “Hey, I messed up, but I’ve learned something from it, and I won’t make the same mistakes again.”

To bring it all to the bottom line:

Excuses may sound good, but they never make you a profit!

(c) Troy Brackett

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