What if the reason your restaurant runs on you is that you keep showing up?
Mike Mudrey bought a crêperie in East Lansing with no restaurant experience and a corporate job he had no intention of leaving. Nine years and four locations later he still has both, and one of his restaurants sits over an hour from where he lives. Never being able to work the floor is what forced him to build systems instead of habits.
In this conversation, we get into why every question you answer twice should become a system, how prepaid and pre-selected bookings drove his no-shows and food waste close to zero, and why the money was never in the crêpe.
If your operation stops working the week you take off, this one is for you.
To learn more about The 601 Group and their portfolio, visit 601-group.com.
The Playbook Takeaways
- Absence is what forces systems. Never being able to work the floor, with one restaurant more than an hour from home, is what made Mudrey build systems instead of habits.
- Any question you answer twice should become a system. That single rule is how four locations run without the owner leaving his corporate job.
- Prepaid and pre-selected bookings drove no-shows and food waste close to zero, which is where the margin came from rather than the product itself.
Want the systems behind ideas like these? Josh teaches them in a free 5-day restaurant marketing masterclass at Restaurant Business School.
Keep going: how restaurant consulting builds operating systems · restaurant technology worth buying · restaurant profitability fundamentals
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Free 5-Day Restaurant Marketing Masterclass – This is a live training where you’ll learn the exact campaigns Josh has built and tested in real restaurants to attract new guests, increase visit frequency, and generate sales on demand. Save your spot at restaurantbusinessschool.com
About the Author: Josh Kopel is a Michelin-awarded restaurateur and the creator of the Restaurant Scaling System. He hosts the Full Comp podcast and coaches independent operators on profitability, marketing and growth. More about Josh · The podcast · Learn with Josh
