In the March Issue... The Power of Here and Now

The anniversary of the pandemic surely invites retrospection and prediction. But we must live in the here and now to run our businesses and lives as well as possible.

A year ago, I returned to my North Carolina home from Houston after several days recording episodes of the “The Corner Booth” podcast with co-host Chris Tripoli. I had no idea it would be the last time I boarded an airplane prior to the pandemic.

 By the end of March 2020, our team at Restaurant Startup & Growth and RestaurantOwner.com braced for the worst as on-premises dining was shut down. We took a deep breath and dived into creating content to help our members and readers stay in business. RestaurantOwner.com offered much of the content to operators at no charge.

 As nervous advertisers pulled out of Restaurant Startup & Growth, our editorial team worked even harder for less compensation. Like most of our members and readers, our digital and print companies are entrepreneurial ventures. Moreover, our publishing company operates an upscale restaurant. I share this to underscore when we say “we are in this together”, it is not just a slogan.

The National Restaurant Association estimated 110,000 restaurant units shuttered in the past year, and certainly we felt it in our membership and readership ranks. Still, in retrospect, I am awed by the resilience of independent operators, which was a constant source of inspiration for my colleagues and me.

No doubt, the Paycheck Protection Program funding was an invaluable lifeline for many of our members and readers. Yet, I heard countless stories how operators used the funding to make critical changes in their businesses, including adapting to demand for delivery and takeout, and providing dining spaces that complied with social distancing and sanitation recommendations.

 Last week, RestaurantOwner.com President Jim Laube and I discussed how quickly the industry was changing and the variety of opinions on the future of the industry. They range from predictions “ghost kitchen and delivery will become a predominant business model in the restaurant landscape” to “once a vaccine is readily available guests will clamber to dine on-premises in the company of their fellows.”

Our discussion was more than philosophical. Our media enterprise is not in the news business nor in the business of announcing trends and predicting the future -- always popular activities for industry thought leaders. Our job is to provide sound how-to information on successfully navigating whatever challenges face the independent restaurateur – this month, this week, and today.

In the March issue of Restaurant Startup & Growth, we address tried-and-true ways to drive revenue via gift card sales. We discuss way to assess the effectiveness of your social media program. And keeping abreast of the cutting edge of the industry, we look under the proverbial hood of a new company that is matching independent operators with excess kitchen capacity with brands looking to expand into new markets.

If you are reading this, I hope it means you remain bullish on the future of the independent restaurant sector, including your own concept. I encourage you to invest the modest monthly membership fee to RestaurantOwner.com to have access to a library of restaurant management best-practices content, including the Learning System tools to help you train your managers and staff for optimal performance.

 Have a great month, a great week, and a great day!