Everything I Know I Learned in the Restaurant Business
Jim Sullivan April 2006

The first quarter of 2006 is already history, the next quarter may be a mystery, but today is a gift…that’s why we call it the present. So make good use of it. It’s time to sharpen the saw, kick all the cylinders in, and grab some traction for the rest of 2006; because if you’re standing still, you’re walking backwards. So this month I’d like to remind everyone to pay attention to what our business teaches us as busy planning your next moves. Don’t get so future-focused that you overlook the lessons of the past - both great and small - that this industry teaches every one of us each and every day.

Three months ago, we collected 33 of our favorite restaurant sayings into a fun 11 x 17 poster that has sold over 15,000 copies in 90 days (to see the poster, visit our website at www.sullivision.com) Here’s an abbreviated version of those key points on the poster, and hopefully they can help you focus better on this big, wonderful, crazy world of foodservice, too.

1. All work is teamwork.
2. If you want to be bigger than everyone else, you’d better be better than everyone else, too.
3. Our business is run first for the enjoyment and pleasure of our customers, then for the convenience of the staff or owners.
4. The secret to winning is not to lose twice in a row. 
5. The customer is NOT always right, but IS always the customer and it’s all right for the customer to be wrong.
6. A pat on the back is just a few vertebrae up from a kick in the ass.
7. Never practice on the customer.  Training is your secret weapon.
8. Customers will forgive mistakes in the kitchen more than mistakes in bad service 
9. Overteach.  Managers and employees both underlearn and over forget.
10. Unoccupied time passes slower than occupied time. If you have time to lean, you have time to clean.
11. Employees are our first market.  Never treat a customer better than you treat an employee.
12. You can have the best product in the world, but if you can’t sell it, you still got it.
13. Good service means never having to ask for anything.
14. All behavior is the result of consequences:  you get what you reward.
15. Use the “Sullivan Nod”:  If servers smile and slowly nod their heads when suggesting a soda, beer, fries, appetizers or desserts the customer almost always nods back and says “yes”. 
16. If a customer tells you right off the bat to take good care of them because they’re “Big Tippers”, they’re not.
17. It is more fun to eat in a bar than it is to drink in a restaurant.
18. If someone tells you it’s the principle of the thing and not the money…it’s the money.
19. In this business, you can always tell when it’s a full moon without ever looking outside.
20. Tools left in the toolbox never built anything.
21. The restaurant business is a free circus.  All you have to do is pay attention.     

You can get an 11” x 17” poster of these insights and more called “Sullivan’s Laws” as well as manager training DVDs and books exclusively at www.sullivision.com.

Jim Sullivan is the CEO of Sullivision.com an Appleton Wisconsin USA company whose clients include Walt Disney, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, American Express, Applebee’s and Starbucks.