Why Avoiding Risk Isn’t Actually a Great Strategy

In this episode of the Restaurant Success Podcast, Matthew Mabel tackles a critical question facing many restaurant entrepreneurs today: is playing it safe actually the riskiest business strategy of all? For multi-unit independent restaurant owners navigating a flat market, the comfort of stability can mask the slow deterioration of brand strength, business performance, and net worth. Matthew provides the context restaurant operators need to calm their nerves, explains why the downside risk of doing nothing outweighs the fear of taking action, and lays out the specific steps owners can take right now—from setting attainable growth goals to honestly evaluating their management teams and operations—to get their restaurants back on a forward trajectory and achieve six to eight percent annual growth.

Key Topics Covered

• Why playing it safe is the riskiest move for restaurant owners in today's market
• The downside risk of doing nothing: brand deterioration, declining performance, and shrinking net worth
• Context for the current restaurant industry landscape and why your staying power is an accomplishment
• Setting reasonable, attainable goals for guest count, revenue, and profit growth
• Evaluating whether your multi-unit management team has the talent to drive results
• Four existential questions every restaurant entrepreneur should ask about their operations, concept, marketing, and learning and development
• How the best independent restaurant groups are growing six to eight percent annually

Links Mentioned

• Restaurateur's Essential Guide to Developing Powerful General Managers
• How to Clarify the Best Way Forward for Your Restaurants

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 might hit close to home for a lot of you: why avoiding risk isn't actually a great strategy.

We'll look at why playing it safe can actually be the riskiest move of all, what context you need to calm your nerves, and the specific steps you can take right now to get your restaurants back on a forward trajectory.

So, you've been riding the wave of today's challenging market, and you're proud that yours isn't one of the restaurants near you that's recently succumbed to tragedy.

Your sales have continued to increase one or two percent a year, a little less than your menu price increases. So you experience stability, but not excitement.

Maybe you feel like your staying power is the result of your risk-averse, or sometimes nervous, approach.

And, if you feel that way, it might've occurred to you that just doing what you have been doing all these years, avoiding risk, is the most irresponsible and riskiest thing of all. And why is that? 

Well, because the downside risk of doing nothing is the deterioration of your brand, your business' performance, and your net worth.

I want you to do more for yourself. I want you to feel a strong need to spring into action, to accept the reality of change personally and in your company to get the results you want.

Now, let me give you some context here, because context will calm your nerves.

First, I want to remind you that restaurants close all the time, and that's not necessarily a reflection on you, since your brands have a future.

Second, like my clients, successful owners of multi-unit independent groups, you came into this flat market with more strength, more experience, and a better balance sheet than many of the brands that close their doors.

And that describes a big group of people I know, whose companies sit in the middle of the pack right now.

That's an accomplishment in and of itself in the current economy.

But you realize you cannot go on like this forever. Still, you feel a little scared, a little uncertain, and sometimes frozen regarding what action to take.

So let's talk about the steps you need to take.

First, set a reasonable, attainable goal for an increase in guest count, revenue and profit, enough to get you back on a forward trajectory.

And be honest with yourself here.

Does your multi-unit team have the talent to get there?

If they don't then start coaching and improving them, or accept making some changes in the cast.

Do your general managers have the capability to get better?

Do their supervisors have the ability to get them there, or does the smart move look like identifying what GMs to replace?

Do you have an honest, unbiased evaluation of the gaps in your operations, concept, and marketing that allow you to win the guest count sweepstakes?

Do the learning-and-development efforts in your organization produce the guest experience that is the best in your segment?

These four existential questions lead to a plan to be one of the winners in this flat market.

They put you on a path to really improving your business, growing six to eight percent annually, like my best clients do now.

If you don't have answers to these questions today and don't know what actions to take, then when will you start?

Now, before we wrap up, I want to point you to a couple of things I've written that connect directly to what we talked about today.

First, since we spent some time on the critical role of general managers and whether yours have the capability to get better, I've got a piece called "Restaurateur's Essential Guide to Developing Powerful General Managers."

It covers the four top ways I develop GMs with my clients, from education and delegation to getting them out of their units and making sure they feel support from ownership. 

And second, I mentioned that many of you are experiencing stability but not excitement. I wrote about exactly that in a piece called "How to Clarify the Best Way Forward for Your Restaurants," where I break down the three categories of operators I see in today's market: the Winners, the Stable Companies, and the Floundering Companies.

It'll help you figure out which group you fall into and what to do about it.

Links to both articles are in the show notes for today

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.