management

Fired: Go West. Or East. Just go.

/ rickeydobbs / 1 Comment

I fired someone on Monday.

She had it coming.

Bad attitude. Flippant guest service. Repeated 10+ minute bathroom breaks in the middle of volume. Refusal to follow recipes. Verbally abusive to supervisors in my absence.

The last straw came when a loyal guest complained about her. The employee was less than deferential to the guest’s questions about vegetarian versus vegan items on the menu. The guest was kind. She told me, “I think your employee just needs a little more training.”

She’s worked here for 3 years. Continue reading →

Thankfully, not everyone is like me.

/ rickeydobbs / 4 Comments

I am the only white male that works at my restaurant. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

It wasn’t a conscious choice, nor is the particular makeup of my crew the “best” or “right” way to be. But it’s how the chips landed when I placed hiring the best people as my target. In Washington, D.C., in the restaurant business, if I went into the hiring process with even a slight preference toward my own gender, national origin, or race, I’d do my business a great disservice. Continue reading →

Leaks are a symptom, not a problem.

/ rickeydobbs / 3 Comments

Leaks are bad, I agree. But let’s take it a level deeper. Why do people leak, as opposed to pledging absolutely loyalty to the guy in charge?

When you’re in charge (if you’re good at your job) you need information. You need it from everyone – those who agree with you, those who disagree with you, everyone. You need it to make great decisions that improve the results of your endeavor.

How do you get that information? Continue reading →

No one ever is to blame.

/ rickeydobbs / 2 Comments

As a leader, I learned a long time ago that when things go wrong, the blame must always start with me.

Team didn’t get the store open on time? I could have scheduled a different crew. I could have set my expectations more clearly. I could have trained better. I could have brought them in earlier.

Sales don’t match projections? I could have set my projections lower. I could have done more external marketing. I could have improved our service or our quality. Continue reading →

Bottom of the 9th, bases loaded…FML.

/ rickeydobbs / Leave a comment

Five minutes. Five goddamned minutes.

If you took a snapshot of any random five minutes, you’d likely see how freaking awesome he was at his job. How much his team loved him. How “on it” he was. Organized. Clean. Smiles all around.

But no, she came in at the five minutes when the shit had hit the fan. Big boss lady hadn’t been in since July. She’d heard how well everything was going, but her eyes were telling her brain a very different story…in these five minutes.

Continue reading →