We’re all shut down. The hamster wheel has stopped. And some of us, myself included, are wondering if we have the energy and, more importantly, the desire, to hop back on.
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Today we discuss the case for change with a man that did just that. Matthew Jennings walked away from his award winning restaurants and all of the perks that come with being a celebrity chef to follow his bliss.
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SHOW NOTES
- Change to the flow of service
- What happens to Front-of-House service?
- When doing delivery, does presentation matter?
- Restaurants won’t be restaurants anymore
- Reservation systems could be a benefit
- More information is taken from the guest
- Additional information is an opportunity for more engagement and connection with customers
- Pivoting
- Cornell Business suggests ⅓ bodega style, ⅓ takeout, ⅓ dine-in
- Chefs Matthew interviewed pivoted in different ways
- 1 pivoted to groceraunt model
- 1 pivoted to meal kits and family meals
- 1 pivoted to mercantile – soap, non-perishable products
- Starting in consulting
- Started as a side hustle whilst running own restaurant
- Worked with Dunkin Donuts
- Started Full Heart Hospitality
- Teamed up with Jason Rose
- Areas of consulting
- Creative
- Design concepts
- Design products
- Creating menus
- Marketing
- Operational
- Strategy
- Implementation
- Why Matthew left the restaurant biz at the top of his game
- Growing wasn’t fulfilling
- Running a restaurant took a toll on health and family life
- Doctor gave him a wake-up call
- Recovering from being overworked
- Moving
- Creating a new community
- Working from home
- Belief that life can be about abundance, joy, and progress can all happen at the same time
- Changes that can be made in the industry
- What do guests want
- Comfort food
- Number of people in a restaurant
- How to treat our teams
- What systems to keep
- The hard part is not having answers regarding the future of the virus
- Information changes every day
- How do you make decisions when things are constantly changing?
- 30/60/90 strategy for planning
- 30-day strategy aiming for small wins
- Reflect and measure the results at the end of the 30days
- Create a roadmap for 60 days then 90 days
- Cut down overwhelm by breaking it down
- We must remain flexible as things change
- Not completely reinventing the business model just in case things change quickly again
- Post-pandemic predictions
- How are guests going to feel in a restaurant?
- Restaurateurs responsibility to keep guests and staff safe