Restaurant Business Ideas Every Independent Can Follow for 2021 - Podcast Episode 13
To achieve prosperity in your restaurant – including cash flow and time away from your restaurant – you have to follow a very specific formula made up of leadership systems, training, accountability and taking action. In this latest episode of my podcast, The Restaurant Prosperity Formula, I talk to Brian Mueller, owner of The Blue Coast Burrito in Cookeville, Tenn., which is a part of a small growing franchise system.
Brian has recently transitioned from a general manager to owner. We’ve been working together to keep his business thriving during the pandemic. Brian was already a seasoned hospitality professional, but he quickly learned that managing a restaurant is one thing. Running a successful business as an owner is a whole other challenge.
“I had no idea all of the all the different avenues, all the different parts that come flying at you as the owner and then just making that transition of being the owner. I'm a hands-on guy, doing the work day in and day out and really tied my worth to all that. I got paid a salary as a manager,” said Brian. “Right now, as the owner, I'm responsible for keeping all these people working. I'm responsible for making a profit and it ultimately falls on me. I've taken on that responsibility. And it is it's been very good. But at the same time, I realized how much I didn't know and I continue to want to learn.”
This is a great conversation between the two of us as Brian breaks down his transition from manager to owner, how he’s learned to make that shift, the resources he’s used and his appetite for continuing to build a successful restaurant.
Tune into this conversation, he shares how he's transformed his life and business in just a short six months through:
- Understanding his role in the business
- Breaking away from old habits
- Trusting others to get work done
Brian also shares the secret to his success, which includes how he has time off each week, how he can depend on a bigger bank account and the prospect of a second store, all during a pandemic.
If you were set to have a great 2020 and everything went sideways for your business in March 2020, Brian’s story is a great one for you. He had the best two or three months at the start of 2020, things going through the roof, when all of a sudden the world literally changed. Brian tuned into some important cash flow webinars I did, then took what he had, the knowledge he had, combined it with what I was teaching and got to work making sure his business could continue to operate. He got over the idea that things had always been done one way and decided to start trying new things.
“I've always known that I needed direction and guidance and encouraging and prodding to get it done and to be able to sit back and reflect on where we've come from, that's what's been good about this [having David as a coach],” said Brian. “I mean, we're only six months in, and I’ve just scratched the surface on some of the things that we're working on and that you have to offer and that you're able to share. And not only that, all of the other restaurants that are part of your group and a part of your organization, we also get to receive that benefit as well.”
If you’ve wondered what a coach can do for you and the growth of your restaurant, Brian’s experience is a great one to listen to. He also talks a lot about shifting responsibility to his employees and bringing his daughter in to play a key role every restaurant owner needs: the implementer, the person that gets stuff done.
Thank you to Brian for sharing his experience. I hope it inspires you and encourages you to honor your love of your restaurant.
Click the podcast player above to listen in, or you can watch the video on YouTube, click here to download the latest episode.
