How to Conquer My 3 Stages of Restaurant Business Growth

Discover the three critical stages every restaurant entrepreneur must navigate to achieve sustainable business growth and long-term success. In this episode, Matthew Mabel breaks down his proven framework for restaurant business development, from the intense "Adrenaline-Espresso years" of proving your concept, through the strategic "chill out and reflect" phase of perfecting your brand, to the pivotal "should I stay or should I go" decision point. Whether you're an independent restaurant owner planning for expansion or seeking to optimize your multi-unit operation, this episode delivers actionable entrepreneurship strategies to help you identify your current stage and chart your path forward in 2026. Learn how successful restaurant businesses overcome growth barriers, build strong organizational foundations, and create the freedom and flexibility that comes with strategic planning and execution.

Key Topics Covered

• The three stages of restaurant business growth and how to identify which stage you're currently in
• Stage 1: Adrenaline-Espresso years - proving your business model and stretching yourself to make things work
• Stage 2: Chill out and reflect - perfecting your brand and organization for the long run
• Stage 3: Should I stay or should I go - deciding whether to sell or continue building
• How to set yourself up for optimal success in 2026 based on your current growth stage
• Strategic planning for operations, branding, culture, and lifestyle decisions
• Overcoming expansion barriers in multi-unit restaurant operations

Links Mentioned

• Matthew Mabel's Guide to Pushing Through Expansion Barriers: https://surrender.biz/wp-content/uploads/Matthew-Mabels-Guide-to-Pushing-Through-Expansion-Barriers2024.pdf

Resources Mentioned

• Website: www.surrender.biz
• Free initial consultation available

Connect with Matthew Mabel

Matthew works with owners of successful, independent, multi-unit restaurants to improve:

• Profit growth
• Sales optimization
• Guest count increase
• Unit expansion
• Employee engagement
• Brand loyalty

How to Support the Show

• Subscribe to the Restaurant Success Podcast and Newsletter
• Rate and review the show
• Visit www.surrender.biz for additional resources

Transcript

Hello, and welcome to the Restaurant Success Podcast. I'm Matthew Mabel, veteran restaurant advisor, coach, consultant, and speaker devoted to multi-unit independent restaurant unit, profit and revenue growth, internal harmony and ownership freedom and flexibility.

This is your weekly entree of the advice, strategy and tactics that I currently provide to my best clients.

Today, we're going to talk about something that's been on a lot of minds lately: growth.

Specifically, I want to walk you through what I call the three stages of restaurant business growth. 

We'll explore how to identify which stage you're in right now, and more importantly, how to figure out what you need to do to get to the next level. By the end of this episode, you'll have a clear picture of where you stand and what steps to take in twenty twenty-six.

Let me tell you, for my best clients, it doesn't matter what curveballs life throws at them.

They stay on a strong growth curve regardless, remaining in control of their destiny and putting the right information to work. And when you do that, great things happen. I'm talking about jumping from five units to twenty one, or reinvigorating revenue at a brand that has become tired, or creating a life changing amount of earned personal freedom.

For each of these critical planks of success, I have a free download which I'm offering and you can find a link to the second of those downloads in today's show notes. 

Right now, a lot of people are pondering sales growth and guest count growth, considering the right timing for unit growth. I get it.

When my career started, ever since the time when I started working on a second unit, the idea of growth rented out a space in my mind, but in a positive way every day. Understanding growth and accelerating successful growth remain top things my clients look to me for advice on.

So let me break down what I call the three stages of restaurant business growth. If you spend your days and nights in the restaurant business, you exist in one of these three stages.

The first stage is what I call the Adrenaline-Espresso years. At the beginning of your brand, when you feel highly motivated, you stretch yourself as far as, or further than, you personally can to make things work. You prove your business model. This is where everything feels intense, where you're running on pure energy and determination.

But you can't live on adrenaline forever, which brings us to stage two: chill out and reflect.

This is where you prepare for the long run, and perfect your brand and organization.

You've proven the concept works, now you're refining it, making it sustainable, building the foundation for what comes next.

And then at some point, however, you come to a fork in the road.

This is stage three: should I stay or should I go. You decide to either sell or keep building yourself. This is a critical decision point that every restaurant owner eventually faces.

Now, here's what I want you to understand about setting yourself up for optimal success. The only smart way to know whether you should spend twenty twenty-six proving, perfecting, or deciding is to know the stage you're in and figuring out how to arrive at the next one. Once you know that, the steps you should take in operations, branding, culture, and strategy, and your lifestyle, become crystal clear and you don't have to ponder anymore.

So, how do you find that out? This week's free download is my guide to pushing through expansion barriers. You can find a link to this in the show notes. This guide will help you focus on the smartest places to expend your energy in twenty twenty-six.

I want you to ask yourself: how will you refocus your energy in the right places in twenty twenty-six? 

Do you live in the adrenaline slash espresso stage?

Are you starting to chill out and reflect?

Or, are you thinking "should I stay or should I go?"

Let me tell you about how we might work together. I work with owners of successful, independent, multi-unit restaurants to grow their profit, sales, guest count, and unit count. My unique approach bonds employees and guests to restaurant brands and allows owners to enjoy the freedom and flexibility they have earned.

To schedule a call with me to discuss how to achieve your biggest goals, follow the link in the show notes. The initial consultation is complimentary, and we can discuss which big moves might be right for your operation.

Thanks for listening. If you haven't already subscribed to the Restaurant Success Podcast and Newsletter podcast, please do so, and rate and review the show. Find more information in the show notes at Restaurant Success Podcast dot com.

Also find tons of information you can use in print, audio and video form at my website, www dot surrender dot biz. Thanks again and see you next time.