We look forward to seeing everyone at the Restaurant Finance and Development Conference in Las Vegas November 14-16
Stop by the Wray Executive Search booth #224
Viewpoint
Great Leaders Build Great Teams
by Bob Gershberg, CEO/Managing Partner, Wray Executive Search
Amongst the most important traits a leader must have to attain success, the ability to influence the team and get them to follow are often the most powerful. Building high performance teams requires compassion, integrity, a keen understanding of people, and brilliant communication skills. Just as important as being a great communicator is being a superb listener. Trusting and empowering is essential, but we must ensure that our teams have the resources to develop, advance and excel. Show confidence and conviction in your team. As leaders, we must create direction to develop strategy and execute on a plan. Be confident but hold yourself accountable and be willing to course correct.
by John A. Gordon, Principal and Founder, Pacific Management Consulting Group
So, being a restaurant operator, and allied industry member, such as employee, investor, vendors, analysts, consultants and others, it has been a wild ride since February 2020. Two black swans since then: the Pandemic itself in March 2020 and then the War in Ukraine in late 2021 have affected global society and business. These factors are still kicking us every day.
I’m afraid we will soon have another bad swan upon us, the FED, which is bound and determined to raise interest rates to lower an artificially constructed index that may not be correct. That may cause a recession. Another thing we operators, investors, employees, suppliers and analysts can’t control.
"Leadership is about keeping your team focused on a goal and motivate to do their best to achieve it. It is about laying the groundwork for others' success, and then standing back and letting them shine."
~ Chris Hadfield
Check out the top 14 Restaurant Brands with Highest Quality Takeout from Nation's Restaurant News
by Rebecca Patt, SVP Development, Wray Executive Search
Dean is a Tampa-based beverage consultant who specializes in building bar programs, managing spirits portfolios, and developing new liquor products. He consults clients around the US including Guy Fieri, Andrew Zimmern, and Bern’s Steakhouse Group.
How did you become a bar consultant and beverage expert?
That’s a two-part question for me. I took an interest in cocktails on my first trip to NYC in 2001. I was immediately hooked on the quality and creativity of the bars I visited. This was the early part of the cocktail boom: NYC was at the center, and Tampa was still slamming vodka sodas. As my interest grew with multiple trips a year back to NYC, so did my desire to bring it all home. My drinks menus got better. I learned a lot about presentation on the menu, in the drink, and in the delivery. By 2010, the spirits available to a buyer were starting to grow, as did beer and wine. I saw a need for a specialist and, after a lot of selling to the owner, I created the title of Director of Spirits at Bern’s Steakhouse Group. Bern’s already had a long line of sommeliers, and beer was less than 1% of sales. Spirits and cocktails were my opportunity to make a mark at my job and in the market, locally and nationally. It defines my hospitality career.
Stop Overcomplicating It: The Simple Guidebook to Upping Your Management Game
by First Round Review
Pick up Russ Laraway’s new book, titled “When They Win, You Win” and the first sentence is sure to grab your attention: “Managers are failing everywhere, and no one is helping.”
With that framing in mind, when we sat down with Laraway to find out more about the lessons inside his book, his next sentence was just as unexpected: “I think the world has conspired to confuse the average manager and I believe that we don’t need another person’s opinion about what it takes to be a great manager,” he says.
Check out the National Restaurant Association's latest report on restaurant industry sales
In inflation-adjusted terms, average monthly sales in restaurants declined $1 billion between the second and third quarters of 2022.
Consumers maintained their total dollar spending in restaurants in September, but the comparatively larger gains in menu prices revealed the continuation of a downward trend in real sales.
