SPEAKER_02: 0:07

Welcome back to the show, everybody. It feels like it's been a while since I have recorded an episode and have brought you some new content. And you're probably wondering, what are you talking about? You were just we were just together a couple weeks ago. I pre-batched a bunch of episodes so I could create a really nice long runway for myself because I was planning to move back to Denver and I wanted to take some time off. So I am settled now. I'm in my new home. I'm going through a big life transition right now and starting over at 44, which is awesome and scary and crazy and all the things, but I'm so looking forward to the future of being able to travel the world, work one-on-one in person with my international clients, and work with more international clients that I haven't even met yet. So it's an honor to be back with you. Thank you again for your time. I've got a really exciting announcement today. I have officially launched my book, Multi-unit Mastery, Simplify Operations, Maximize Profit, and Lead with Confidence. And the book is out. You can grab a free copy if you want at www.irfbook.com. That's independentrestauntframeworkbook.com. And there I'll tell you a little bit more about the book in this episode, where I'm joined by my good friend Adam Lamb, who was gracious enough to interview me and ask me some really awesome questions about the framework, why I wrote the book, where the passion came from, what it's all about, and how it really is making an impact in the lives of multi-unit restaurant groups. Super excited for this episode. We are going to talk about some really awesome bullets. We highlight the blueprint for sustainable growth, so how to create an organizational structure that supports expansion, how to develop a strategy, a strategic tenure vision for your restaurant group so your entire team knows where you're going, how to navigate the challenges of expansion, the struggle to let go of control and trust new team members. I'm going through a little bit of this right now with my business as I continue to kind of micro outsource some duties to other people. We also talk about how to balance the standardization with creativity across multiple locations. The framework is beautiful because it gives you the steps that you need to put in place, but you get to bring your uniqueness, your creativity, your concept, your personality, core values, mission, all of those beautiful things that make your concepts authentic to the framework. We also talk about the human element in multi-unit success. So investing in people through training and development opportunities and when to recognize those, and how to create clear communication channels across the organization. So you've got one unified message. Things speed up as far as what you're rolling out, how to roll out successful change so you can really build that strong momentum that you want in your business. So enjoy this episode. If you uh want to learn more about the framework, like I said, go grab a copy of the book at irfbook.com. Um, or feel free to reach out to me if you have questions about where your business may be right now with the framework and ways that I can help you either with providing resources or doing some one-on-one work with you to build that strong foundation to take your restaurant group to the next level. And my you can do that by reaching out to me. My email is kristenlmarvin at gmail.com. I'll talk to you all soon. Enjoy the episode. Welcome to the Restaurant Leadership Podcast, where we coach independent multi-unit restaurant operators to build systems that drive profitability and reclaim time so they can scale with confidence and spend their time and energy where they want to, not where they have to. I'm your host, Kristen Marvin, restaurant coach and author of Multi-unit Mastery. If you are an independent restaurant owner managing multiple locations, you know the chaos that comes with growth. Inconsistent execution across your restaurants, managers who won't take ownership, constantly answering questions your team should already know the answers to. You're stuck in your current role when you want to be playing a bigger strategic role as you scale. You don't have the right leaders in place or you keep losing them. And you're not sure how to find great people and actually keep them around. We work with passionate independent restaurant owners who found success with their first few locations and are ready to scale strategically. Our clients aren't looking to just survive expansion. They want to thrive through it. They're committed to developing strong leaders and creating exceptional guest experiences. Through the independent restaurant framework that we teach in multi-unit mastery, we coach independent restaurant groups to move from chaos to confidence by focusing on three pillars people, process, and profit. You can grab a gifted copy of the book at irfbook.com. On this show, we bring you real coaching conversations, leadership strategies, and the frameworks that you need to lead like a CEO instead of operating like a worn-out manager. And here's the thing: coaching has changed our clients' businesses and can change yours too. If you've never experienced what it's like to have someone in your corner who actually gets the restaurant world, we'd love to connect. We offer one-on-one and group coaching. Head to kristenmarvin.com slash contact for a complimentary coaching session and let's talk about what's possible for your restaurant group.

SPEAKER_00: 6:02

I always have such a great time uh talking to you because I am almost always going to come away with a different perspective. And sometimes that's challenging. And but ultimately it's really great. So I just wanted to start off by saying I'm deeply grateful for us being connected and you being a presence in my life. And I know that we're not necessarily chatting each other every day, but it seems like when we do things.

SPEAKER_02: 6:29

Every time we connect, it's always very impactful. So I really appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00: 6:34

I'm curious. Thank you. I appreciate that. Kind of a weird time because both of us are coming out with books. And I really liked your first one.

SPEAKER_01: 6:44

I really thought it was great.

SPEAKER_00: 6:47

And this one that came out is about multi-unit mastery. And I know that you had spent quite a bit of your time in multi-unit. Why did you think that that was a topic that you wanted to speak to?

SPEAKER_02: 7:03

I had a huge moment. Um writing the first book, as you know, was very much my memoir and really helped me understand a lot of the lessons, a lot of the things that I'd learned being in restaurants for 20 years. Yes, I'd I'd helped a couple independent restaurants grow. One was an independently owned restaurant that grew from five to seven or two two to seven locations in five years, all completely different concepts. The other one was a duplication of the same concept where we grew from six to 48 locations over a seven-year time frame. I've always been a lover of systems. I've been considered a little bit of the black sheep in the independent world be and called corporate a couple of times because I love systems so much. But I am a projector for anybody that's listening that's into human design. And so systems and efficiency mean a lot to me, who I am. I've I've come to learn recently. When I started coaching, you know, a couple years ago, I realized that I was coaching around a lot of the same pain points. Restaurants were wanting to grow or they were growing, and it felt like total chaos. The restaurant owners felt like they didn't know if they had the right people in place. They didn't know what positions they needed to have in order to grow successfully and sustainably. And they were just, some of them were hiring people for leadership positions based on loyalty, not based on exactly the skill sets that they needed. And so after after a couple of years of coaching, I was I had had book two and book three. I've got some, I've loved my whiteboards and I've got posted up of ideas for for next books, as I'm sure you do too. Because I have a system and I don't want to lose that idea. And I had a moment of insight where I sat down and I started thinking about book number two, and I was like, Kristen, there's something here. There's a common thread to the work that you've been doing with clients. They need this tool and resource, and you've already been doing this. I just didn't realize it in my career. And so this was a really fun opportunity for me to get clarity on putting together a really beautiful framework specifically for independent restaurants that they could implement themselves, that I could help and that where they could implement the entire thing or just one part of it and grow successfully and sustainably and be in the role that they truly be in as interesting that you say that because growing up in the industry, there was always a chef who aspired to have multiple restaurants, right?

SPEAKER_00: 9:52

Especially down in South Florida. Me and my crew were coming up under the mango gang. That was Norman Van Aken and Alan Sutter. And Alan Susser just had one restaurant. That's all he wanted to do. But Norman Van Aken wanted to open up restaurants everywhere. Mark Benatello, who's that English guy that yells at everybody? What's his name? I didn't know many of those operators that were successful because they were treating it. They're great at one restaurant, and then they get to three and everything falls apart.

SPEAKER_02: 10:24

Before we dive deeper into today's topic, I want to share something that's been a game changer for the restaurant owners I work with. You know how we've been talking about building stronger foundations for your restaurant? Well, I've taken everything I teach my coaching clients about creating core values, mission statements, and long-term vision, and I've turned it into three hands-on online courses. These aren't your typical watch and forget courses. Each one walks you through using AI tools like ChatGPT to create the foundational elements every successful restaurant needs. We're talking about core values that actually guide your hiring decisions, mission statements your team can rally behind, and a three-year vision that turns your growth from reactive to strategic. The best part is each course is only$49, or you can grab all three for$99. That's less than what most restaurants spend on a single food delivery order, but it'll give you the clarity to make better decisions for years to come. You can check them out at kristinmarvin.com slash courses. You can also text me directly in the show notes. There's a link at the top of the show if you want a special promo code to save an additional amount of money on any of the courses, including the bundle. Now let's get back to our conversation.

SPEAKER_00: 11:46

And I got in a conversation with a friend of mine in Boston where he's he was a fine dining chef who decided he was gonna go barbecue and and ended up ended up winning several Jack Daniels Masters barbecue championships. And he told me that as he grew his organization right at Restaurant 3, everything fell apart. Right at when it got to seven, everything fell apart. Because the same mindset can't do the same thing. First off, I I'm sure you've experienced this, have you not?

SPEAKER_02: 12:20

It's it's again, it's about not not having not sitting down and being intentional and strategic about what the organizational design of your restaurant group actually needs to look like. That's one component of it. The other component is committing to yourself that you're going to let those people, once you put them in positions, let them lead and let go of all those things that you've been controlling. I ha I work with a restaurant owner right now who has four locations, who's who is on the phone constantly or or has to reschedule coaching sessions with me because one of his GMs is on vacation. That shouldn't be his responsibility to deal with, right? So we're working on those things. But it's it there has got to be in order for this to in order for restaurant groups to be successful and profitable, there's got to be layers of key people, systems in place, visibility and accountability, and that cannot be done by just person.

SPEAKER_00: 13:25

It's just right. I also work with a group out in California and they are just on the verge of going from one location to four. Well, it's three in a food truck, but the food truck's three quarters of a million dollars. But from afar, I've seen how they're scrambling a little bit, they're hiring people, they're trying to bring in the right mix of people, and yet it always kind of comes down to that same thing. Like, is there leadership in this position, or is there a leadership in this position? Do they have that covered? Can we layer on top of it? And I think for most of us who have been grinding, we would find that to be antithetical. No, no, no, man. I'll just pedal faster. And I'm curious, this person that you're working with, how much of that motivation you think comes from? You know, he just wants to be uh valued. He's so used to deriving value from that type of performance and a lack of trust.

SPEAKER_02: 14:19

Uh hype hyper vi hyper-vigilant mindset.

unknown: 14:23

I wouldn't know anything about that.

SPEAKER_02: 14:25

Something bad is going to happen, so I have to be present in it all the time.

SPEAKER_00: 14:29

And I'm just curious about, you know, what other parts of his life he's not in.

SPEAKER_02: 14:34

And that's what I always ask, right? Because how you're showing up in your business, how you're showing up in your personal life, right? So when clients, I don't let clients cancel on me very often, but if they do have to reschedule, I like to pose it back to them and say, where else are you rescheduling in your life? Where else are you not showing up? It's a tough love, tough love approach. It's fun.

SPEAKER_00: 14:53

Well, because it's because it's absolutely true. And sometimes those are the moments where clarity can come from, especially from somebody who's, for lack of a better word, not emotionally attached to that person.

SPEAKER_02: 15:06

It's almost because you're a stranger, I can tell you all this crap and you can hold me accountable in ways that people who love me or I love them but it also sometimes it's a result of them being so head down and in their business that they haven't even taken a moment to slow down and take a breath and step back and look at what's actually gone.

SPEAKER_00: 15:22

Yeah, I have a just starting with a group. And the husband and wife have have done everything. They've managed this, it started from a small dream, and now they're going to four restaurants. And it's interesting because there are people in the organization that feel like like Of course they do.

SPEAKER_01: 15:43

Does that work?

SPEAKER_00: 15:44

Does that Yeah, how I get that a rising tide raises all boats, supposedly. Is it just because now we're focused again, kind of that fear-based nut of, oh my god, we're putting all this money in this other restaurant, we don't we're taking from Peter to PayPal? I mean the human dynamic is so fascinating, especially in the in the lar in that kind of weird not small but not big organizational structure. What are some of the things that you've consistently stumbled across? Because I I I get that when you take one restaurant from like seven to forty-eight, it's gotta be a really good system. Right? And there's probably very, very little room for error or I don't want to say creativity, but this is the system. Are you okay within the system? And for some folks, folks who grew up in Applebee's, they thrive in those types of systems. But then when you throw them in an independent restaurant, they really struggle. So what do you think are some of the three or four really core kind of pillars to a small organization's success as they start growing?

SPEAKER_02: 16:54

Organizational development. So understanding exactly what leadership roles you need to have in your organization. Most businesses need some sort of marketing, finance, operational component, human resources, one-on-ones with your key leadership players to make sure that you're being proactive with problems and not reactive, a scorecard so that you can stay focused on what financials mean for your business, both from a proactive standpoint, lagging indicators and leading indicators, proactive and reactive, and quarterly reviews. As humans, we tend to get distracted after 90 days. And so getting your leadership team together to review the scorecards, to talk about your people, to talk about the processes of how you're running your operation and make sure that you are checking in on those things and constantly making adjustments as you need to to continue to strengthen your organization is so powerful.

SPEAKER_00: 17:59

Sure. I mean, yeah, with thinking about Patrick Lancioni's book about the two CEOs, the name escapes me right now, but the one is trying to take over the other. And one kind of begrudges some of the stuff that he has to do, and the other one loves it. And at the end of the book, he makes the the analogy that there's only two types of leaders. One is responsibility-based leaders who know that they get to show up every day and remind everybody about the core values and what's going on and kind of be in rah-rah. And then there's a re rewards-based leader who I as a chef, I don't mop the floor, I don't have to do that anymore. And I found it fascinating that you're talking about multi-unit concepts, yet you developed an independent restaurant framework.

SPEAKER_02: 18:41

Well, independent and multi-unit can be the same, right? Multi-unit doesn't have to mean doesn't equal chain or sure, sure.

SPEAKER_00: 18:48

No, no, no, yeah, I just meant when I read it, first I was like, wow, are you talking about an independent restaurant with a group of restaurants? Like, how does that actually work? But more importantly, I love the fact that you said in the gro what would it look like if an organization just decided that, okay, so we're gonna grow this to seven restaurants in ten years and then we're out. And what would it take to actually get us there? Like to your point, a marketing person. And what at what point do we bring them on?

SPEAKER_02: 19:19

Yep.

SPEAKER_00: 19:20

Like that type of planning.

SPEAKER_02: 19:21

That yeah. That's that's about if you want to grow a restaurant group from one to seven in 10 years, you need a 10-year vision. And then you need a five-year vision and you need a three-year vision, and you need a one year. You it can be whatever years you want. You've got to have your end goal. You've got to know what you want to do from a revenue standpoint, locations. And then you can start to work back and say what exactly you need to get there. You know, when we were growing from six to 48 the first year, I think we opened two or four, I can't remember. But what we did was we had six people in our corporate office. Three of them were part-time. They were part-time servers and part-time corporate headquarters people. Overnight, we had a new CEO and um real estate team come in, recruiter team come in, HR was clearly defined. And then we started to expand and get somebody in charge of sourcing. The accounting team became like 20 people overnight as we grew. I mean, it was, you know, you had build out construction and on top of real estate location. So somebody on the design team, a training department. I mean, there was just all these different areas that needed.

SPEAKER_00: 20:30

And did you find that there were some folks that were just kind of lost in that type of like growth? Like they didn't necessarily know where they fit. Maybe they've been there for a while. Do you advocate that groups, restaurateurs who are looking to grow, you know, form a board of advisors?

SPEAKER_02: 20:52

It completely depends on the way you want to grow. That we grew because private equity money came in. If it depends on if you want to grow to sell, it depends on if you want to grow to sell to your employees, depends on if you go public. You know, I talked to a group last week who's growing from six to ten, and they're in there, uh they have one owner, and she's going to banks and knocking on doors and getting her own funding. And she's fine to do all that stuff on her own and isn't looking to grow and sell. She just wants to have a great brand. It's it's a little ego-driven, I'm not gonna lie. Um I don't know if she has a board or not. I think it all depends on what the owner feels like they need in terms of support. You know, I have another client who's growing a bakery concept from six to um ten in the next year, and just wants an advisory board. Right. So boards can play different roles too.

SPEAKER_00: 21:55

Right. Yep, exactly. Yeah, it's not necessarily directors, but they're a group of people that they trust that will help keep them well.

SPEAKER_02: 22:02

And Adam, there's there's not a one beautiful thing as you know, about the independent restaurant space. There is no one size fits all for this. Right. This framework is built to be able to customize completely. Here, here's the skeleton of what you need to have. Now go make it your own based on your culture and your core.

SPEAKER_00: 22:19

Um And talk to me about the three piece.

SPEAKER_02: 22:23

It's peep people, process, profit. It has to be people first, right? We we have got to invest in our people. We've got to have clear expectations for people. Uh, we've got make sure we've got people, you know, this is from Geno Wickman from traction that that GW see the role. They get it, want it, have the capacity to do it. And if they don't have that, then a conversation needs to happen. But then once you have the people in place, you start to put the systems in place to be able to manage. And when you have consistent accountability and momentum, profit.

SPEAKER_00: 22:56

And I get that in an organization that is growing, sometimes one or the other gets outstripped, right? Either the people or the processes, and then and then things start to go sideways. Why do you like working with this segment?

SPEAKER_02: 23:08

I loved helping independent restaurants grow when I was in this role because it's so amazing to be able to give opportunities to people within your organization, to be able to grow internally, promote people, watch your culture thrive, invest in people of getting certifications around HR or sustainability certifications or marketing certifications, whatever, um, is such a rewarding part of this. Every time we announced a new restaurant opening, it was so fun to see people's hands raise. And that that level of engagement is just, it's beautiful. And it's and it's really, really addictive. I I found a lot of pleasure in it. I also found a lot of pain in it. And I don't, I I talk to a lot of operators that have multi-unit concepts that just keep saying, I don't know how we're doing this. Um, I don't know how this is going to be sustainable, and we really need this right now. We need this book right now. And I just don't, I don't want people to feel the pain points that I did. I want them to be able to slow down and have some intention and have some support on this. I I read uh multi-unit leadership by Jim Sullivan when I was stepping into a regional manager role, but I haven't really seen a resource like that. Um, and so I think there's an this portion is a little under certain at the end of the year.

SPEAKER_00: 24:34

So say more. Like what specifically does this need or does this serve?

SPEAKER_02: 24:42

It's it's the foundation.

SPEAKER_00: 24:43

Your book.

SPEAKER_02: 24:44

It's how do I go from one to two? How do I go from two to three? What are the key things that I need to think about? There there's intention behind the growth and the strategy. Instead of landlord calling you, hey, I've got a great space available for you. Oh, let me take a look at it. Okay, great. Right? It helps it helps people go from being reactive to proactive to being really thoughtful about how they want to grow, to really truly understand what it's gonna take to be successful, and then make the decision if it makes sense and aligns with their core values or not, and the lifestyle that they want to live.

SPEAKER_00: 25:23

Right. That's uh a huge thing to kind of drop off at the very end, right? Like all of us get to design the alliance, right? Start with how you want to live first and then back everything else in. A topic I love to bring up is of course culture. And how does a growing restaurant group I mean it seems to me that putting a poster on the wall is is at least it's something. But when you talk about investing in people, you mentioned a couple certificates certifications and stuff like that. Like what kind of given the workforce of today, what are the things that matter to them insofar as investment in them that creates a culture such that they're the leading uh hiring personality.

SPEAKER_02: 26:12

I think culture is a result of your core values in your business. We were talking about this earlier today. When you are putting together a leadership team and building a business, you can't do that without understanding what your core values are and what your mission is to the business in your vision. When you have your core values determined, you can use those and should use those in your hiring practices, in your performance reviews, and in your hiring and firing, or your firing, excuse me. It's is important to bleed those all the way through the organization so that they're consistent and that they're always top of mind for your people. I think when when people are, when restaurant owners are starting out and they don't necessarily have the systems in place, everything is very personal when it comes to personnel employee issues, right? But when we can stop and bring it to the core values and say, okay, what are the core values for your organization? Oh, honesty is a big core value? Okay, great. Let's talk about how your employees are showing up. What does honesty mean in your organization? Go set that expectation for employees so that when someone missteps, you can say, This does not align with our core values of our organization. Rather than I'm the asshole that's gonna fire you right now. You're holding people to a whole standard, to a different standard.

SPEAKER_00: 27:37

I love I love that framework. I love that framework. I love it. Making that switch for me was a revelation. Like, oh shit. Because again, I think it's human nature that because you've never been really taught or coached or mentored on what true leadership is, that will default to personality. Right? And then we start hiring people who kind of think like us and act like us, and then we start isolating the folks on the out on the periphery who don't feel like they belong there. How I want to be careful with this. Because I it's been a while since the pandemic, and this has been a battleship going straight down the ocean for a long time, and it takes a while to turn. Are you still seeing folks who are unclear about core values and culture?

SPEAKER_02: 28:34

Yeah. You know how tough it's been for the pandemic. It's been way tougher than it was going, oh, okay, let's take a break. So there haven't there hasn't been a lot of time. I think I don't think a lot of people have been proactive in taking a step back and going, maybe now is a time where we need to really rethink our core values. Because core values aren't something that you just create in the beginning of your organization, you set them and then you f you forget about them. You should be revisiting them every single year to make sure make sure that they still make sense with your business as it grows, because there may need to be things that shift who continued.

SPEAKER_00: 29:08

Certainly, certainly. An ongoing evolution of the company and the culture and the organization and the standards. You spend some time on internal communication. And what does good internal communication look like within an organization?

unknown: 29:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 29:27

Because I think that's a good idea. Yeah, well, 100%. 100%.

SPEAKER_02: 29:29

And communication is so tough. It's one of the it's one of the hardest leadership characteristics and and leadership skills to develop because it's so complex, right? There's verbal communication, there's non-verbal communication, there's there's just you can, you know, tell the same you can deliver the same message to seven people and they're going to hear it seven different ways because of their own experiences and perspectives. And sometimes you have to say the same message sever. Um I will say that one of the great things that came out of the pandemic for me was The importance of internal communication. And I had always had like um manager blogs at the end of the shift that would, you know, you'd write it. If I was closing the shift, I would write a blog about what happened. The owners would read that. So if they were off, they understood, or multi-unit, they knew what was going on, even though they weren't in the room. That also set my managers up for success for the next shift in case there was something that I needed them to get done. There was a reservation note for the next day or private party or whatever the case was. So at the leadership level, that's a really simple, basic way that you can enhance communication. But from the hourly perspective, during the pandemic, I uh we were using ScheduleFly. And they had an internal communication platform where employees could, you know, um shift swaps or important messages that needed to happen right away. So if we had to close, if there was a new pandemic update, uh as hours of operation change, whatever it was, it was such a powerful way to get that message out to people immediately because it was it was via text message. Not a lot of people, I mean, hourly employees don't read emails, but m text messages are read 100% of the time. So it's about designing systems, internal communication systems that work best for the for your um but and then you can hold people accountable too. Well, we're setting up this platform for you. If you're choosing not to engage, right? Not engage in the system, then that's on you. But um, I think that those platforms are just so necessary and they're so available in today's tech world.

SPEAKER_00: 31:41

I mean, I've seen some incredible leaps and bounds of just short from short form video training apps that can be followed along by management and it's just right handy on their hand. So in a couple sentences. Or a paragraph. You meet a new restaurant, some principals from a restaurant group who want to grow and you want to lay out the blueprint to them in a simple or complex way as possible. I mean without really knowing what's going on in their company, it would be hard to, like you said, because it's so customized. Right. So I'm just curious, from your perspective, what were the things that you struggled with during this explosive growth period when you were with this restaurant company?

SPEAKER_02: 32:29

Losing my voice was the biggest one. I was talking to somebody about this this morning. Imposter syndrome really set up for me, really showed up. When I was in a in a larger leadership role with the independent group that I was a part, a managing partner of, and we opened five different concepts in five years. I was wearing a lot of hats. I was HR, I was training, I was programming the POS, I was running the Cat Five, I was doing leadership development, helping with interviews, training, soft openings, all the things, menu descriptions, testing. And I could identify a problem quickly and create a system. And that was really, really rewarding to me and a big part of who I am and my values. And I did not realize that at the time. I didn't realize what my values were until I was 40. When we started growing with this other restaurant group and duplicating the same concept over and over and over and over again, I started to lose some of that passion and creativity that I had in the independent space. Because we, because we weren't duplicating concepts, we didn't know where things should go. We didn't know what was going to land with guests and what didn't. So it was just an experiment every day. It was awesome. It was so fun. So much fun to play in. And when we were duplicating the same concept over and over again, we started to bring in all of these key players with all of this industry experience, growing chain restaurants. And I started for the first time in my career to feel like I didn't have the skill set to be able to help take this company.

SPEAKER_01: 34:14

And that fucking not well. Not well.

SPEAKER_02: 34:21

I instead of instead of leaning in and spending time with those key leaders and learning from them, I viewed that everybody was too busy and that I was too small of a fish in the pond. And so I went internal instead of expressing the curiosity that I don't um, I let my boss impact my confidence and shut down a lot of the ideas that I had. And I internalized it and I drank really heavily to cover up how unhappy I was, and I really let my mental and physical health diminish.

SPEAKER_00: 35:06

And I want to make sure everybody else So when did things by the way, thank you because y you spoke to something like in my heart that I had struggled with, right? Like feeling like you don't know where you belong or what kind of impact you can have, or that when you start doubting yourself because your your boss takes up all the space in the room or whatever that conversation is, yeah. God sucks. And so when did things start shifting for you?

SPEAKER_02: 35:36

It was um I left that job and I went on to a different company that was locally owned that was growing, and I tried to, I was engaged and re- reinvigorated for a second, but I wasn't addressing a couple of the issues. I had I was still drinking heavily because then by that point it was a habit. So everything changed for me when I stopped drinking, got a clear head, started working with a coach, and realized what my core values were. Um, that I wasn't living my values, and that I had stopped investing in myself from a leadership perspective. When I was younger, I was, if I wanted something, I'd try to go find it. I was all about Danny Meyer's book setting the table. It was my Bible. I would buy it for train all the staff on it for new openings. I had lost that motivation to go to get curious and to go invest in myself. Um, and so once I rediscovered that that was a responsibility that I needed to check on everything.

SPEAKER_00: 36:41

Yeah. I mean, it sounds like you got rid of a lot of distractions. Well, sure. Uh well, and and and some emotional ones too, right? I think uh we employ tools to make ourselves feel better. And uh and some are beneficial and some are not beneficial. Anything to the extreme like even exercising is is too much. But I'm not gonna knock anybody for trying something because I have a great deal of trust in that given some space and perspective, they can make another decision for themselves. And so I I know I speak for many of us that, like, man, I'm glad you're here.

SPEAKER_02: 37:17

Right back at you. I'm glad I'm here too.

SPEAKER_00: 37:21

And are you starting like do you recognize yourself in uh in others in like you walk into a room to do a workshop and all of a sudden you look over there in the corner?

SPEAKER_02: 37:32

I mean, the things you've you're probably like this too, but a lot of the things that we coach are the things that we're still still trying to teach ourselves. So I attract my ideal client is somebody who's just like me.

unknown: 37:42

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 37:44

Who's incredibly driven and has a really hard time slowing down and breeding their own?

SPEAKER_00: 37:49

But you've made that a core element of your life now.

SPEAKER_02: 37:51

Yeah, I had to put the systems in place, I had to design my lifestyle, put the systems in place, set the boundaries, and then hold myself accountable to it and recognize the feeling emotionally and physically when I am not in alignment. That's that's my tree. That's how I and my mind will not stop. Uh my anxiety will start to tick up. I start to kind of get, and that's when I immediately just freeze where I'm at and take a few deep breaths and just recognize hey, this is going on right now. So finish your day or take a break or whatever you need to do and get outside and get in, get some time in nature, ASAP and get off the tech. Stalls.

SPEAKER_00: 38:36

Um protect yourself. Like I knew it was a big thing when I heard it when you said that to me, and Nicole, design the alliance. And I'm like, what wait, wait, what? Because only because I'd struggle with productivity and I'm trying all these different calendar blocks and all that stuff, all the while trying to think of how do I design this, right? I used to write crazy because the first thing I did after exercise, meditation, and 600 words. Like it wasn't 600 words, it could have been a thousand words, but whatever. It's that is that block, right? And there's part of me that misses that, that kind of rigor. Because I know, again, I have to be very clear in my communication with everybody. Nope, this is it. Please don't come in my office when the door is locked. I'll come out. We need to sit in the morning or sit in the evening so we can communicate. All those little weird things that people are like, oh, I don't want to communicate like that. That makes so much I I enjoy knowing what to expect. Not because I'm an anxious person, but then I can rearrange my day. So is there one or two things that you most hope that aspirational restaurant tours will take away from your book, other than hiring you?

SPEAKER_02: 39:46

This is a resource. You know, I the the majority of the goal with this book is um this is a very needed resource. If you implement one thing in this book, your organization. We were just talking about, yeah, we were just talking about one percent claim, right? Uh on our previous conversation. It's just about getting 1% better every day. And any of these tools could be powerful enough to help your organization. Now imagine what your organization could look like if you implemented all of them over a nine or 12-month period.

SPEAKER_00: 40:15

But to your point, you know, again, it's not like we're not doing we're not doing this as a shotgun blast. We're gonna do it strategically, we're gonna roll out these initiatives over time. Because, you know, I I've rolled out some initiatives that I thought were the greatest thing since sliced bread, and you know, they still fall flat on their face. But at least, you know, the underlying message is that we're trying, like we're working on this, like we're not sitting back on our heels waiting for it to come to us. And when you're trying to create a culture of accountability, that goes a long way. So I commend you for this. And I gotta ask, what's the next book?

SPEAKER_02: 40:54

I don't I know, I know, but I'll know you have it up there on the whiteboard. No, I don't want to talk about it yet. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00: 41:00

Good, because that gives you another reason to come on the show. And I know that I know that this is uh all of us right now seem to be in a a bit of a transition in our lives, careers, family, all that kind of stuff. What is I'm not gonna ask you what your core values are, okay? Although I should because maybe it'll ring true for some folks. But where is your focus leading you, say, the next 12 months?

SPEAKER_01: 41:27

I I want to tell you.

SPEAKER_00: 41:29

What's your intention?

SPEAKER_02: 41:31

I'm intending to find it. What are you intending to cause disruption in the multi-unit space for independent restaurants? And what I mean by that is taking this framework on the road, traveling the world, working with restaurant owners or um hosting speaking engagements around this, workshops around this, getting the word out uh to as many people as possible.

SPEAKER_01: 41:56

At scale, on purpose, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 42:00

On time. Perfect.

SPEAKER_02: 42:02

And Kristen, just to remind everybody how they can get in touch with it.rbook.com. So that's independent restaurant framework book.com. You can grab your free copy, and there's a little bonus in there too. And if you'd like to connect with me on LinkedIn, I'd love to have a conversation about anything that's happening in the business, or just say hi. And that's Kristen Marvin. And my name is spelled C-H R I make that mistake.

SPEAKER_00: 42:32

It's the damn autofill. What I'd like to say is thank you very much for being here. I think you're not thinking, I know you're doing really important work that more people take you up on your offer. Because I didn't get a bonus. I didn't get anything.

SPEAKER_01: 42:47

Okay.

unknown: 42:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 42:48

Come to your house.

SPEAKER_01: 42:49

Give me a month. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00: 42:51

Thank you very much for joining us. Yeah, okay. Yeah, once you get settled, and then after that, you'll probably going somewhere. Who knows? We're gonna off to help the world make better, make it a better place. But there goes Kristen.

SPEAKER_02: 43:04

Thank you, friend.