What if the conventional wisdom about putting customers first is the very reason your restaurant keeps losing good people?
Harry Posner and Natalie Dial walked away from careers in medicine to open Tomat, a Michelin-recognized, seasonally driven restaurant in Westchester, Los Angeles. Neither came from the industry. Both came with the analytical frameworks most operators spend years trying to build.
In this conversation, we get into why they deliberately ranked employees above customers before opening day, how diversifying revenue across breakfast, lunch, dinner, events, and a rooftop gave them financial staying power when the calendar went quiet, and why the “wrong” location turned out to be one of the smartest market plays in recent LA dining.
If you think the customer is always right, this episode will change your mind.
To learn more about Tomat, visit tomat.la.
The Playbook Takeaways
- Rank staff above guests. Posner and Dial deliberately put employees ahead of customers before opening day — protecting your people is what keeps good talent, which in turn serves guests better.
- Diversify revenue across dayparts. Spreading income across breakfast, lunch, dinner, events, and a rooftop gave them financial staying power when the calendar went quiet.
- The “wrong” location can be the smart play. Their unconventional Westchester, Los Angeles location turned out to be one of the smartest market plays in recent LA dining.
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About the Author: Josh Kopel is a Michelin-awarded restaurateur, restaurant consultant, and host of the Full Comp podcast — the voice of the restaurant industry. He has helped hundreds of restaurant owners build profitable, scalable businesses. Explore free restaurant resources →
