11360

Every time something unusual happens at GPS Hospitality I can often be heard saying, “that’s going in the book,” referring to the book I plan to write one day in the future. So what is 11360? Zip Code? Lottery Ticket? Pin Number? Nope . . . 11360 is the number of people that currently work for GPS Hospitality – I call them our core team. You know who they are. They show up “rain or shine.” You can always count on them – they never let you down. While we all work for the same company, everyone is here for a slightly different reason. To some getting that check every week provides spending money. To others, it’s rent and groceries or even college tuition. Some are here for the growth opportunities, while for others, it’s all about health insurance. There is one thing we all have in common - we are all worried.

·      Worried about our family remaining healthy

·      Worried about our friends, inside and outside of the company

·      Worried about GPS and our jobs

I would be lying if I didn’t say I am worried about these things too. But I am equally worried about the 11,360 who count on GPS for their livelihood in order to provide all those things I mentioned earlier. As we have gone through this unprecedented crisis, our plan to get the company through this has involved four key steps:

1.    Minimize spending

2.    Operate efficiently

3.    Take care of our people

4.    Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

I don’t believe the best way for GPS Hospitality to minimize spending and operate more efficiently should include reducing the pay, bonus or benefits for our people. For this reason, we still paid out year-end bonuses on time and followed through with planned annual salary increases. While there are many negative headlines that describe the difficult decisions including these choices that other companies are forced to make in order to stay afloat, I would much rather ask our people, our core team (our 11,360) to do a little more during these challenging times. I would ask them to be a little more focused, put in a little more time, manage a little tighter and care a little more. That’s exactly what I see all over the company; people giving more in order to help the company and their teams through this crisis and for that I say, “thank you.”

Because of each of your efforts and the quick decisions we have made as a company, our plan is working. Sales are improving, the P&L is looking better, and our cash burn is decreasing. Operations are improving, our Support Center is operating efficiently and has been providing our restaurants with “Service Obsessed” support. With each passing day my worry continues to decrease, in large part due to the efforts of our core team, the 11,360. They are the people who are busy helping to fill in the future chapters of that book that includes countless stories of incredible guest service. A book that will be sure to describe how GPS Hospitality successfully navigated this violent storm; having done so by being true to our values of Goal Focused, People Oriented and Service Obsessed. Hopefully soon we will turn the last page of the last chapter and we will never have to face Covid-19 again. 

It seems like we have been “social distancing” forever and I hope never again to have to hear the words “shelter in place.” This will end, so let’s make sure we are ready for the business that will come our way. Be sure and keep a clear vision of the future because vision will provide the “gravitational pull” to help us get through this. As I have always said, the best way for GPS Hospitality to achieve our goals is to help each member of our team, the 11,360, to achieve their goals. Working together, our plan is to do just that.

I’m looking forward to getting out in the restaurants and visiting everyone soon.