The Principle of the Pie

Americans love pie – banana cream, pecan, chocolate – people just can’t get enough. In fact, Americans consume an average of 20 pounds of pie each year. That is a lot of pie. My daughters are no exception – they love pie too. Once a pie is cut, they check to compare the size of their slice to everyone else’s. It requires the skill of a surgeon to make sure each slice will satisfy the girls exacting measurements. After all, neither of them wants to end up on the short end of a slice of coconut cream pie. This all leads me to a pie metaphor, which Americans also love as much as the real thing, everyone wants get their “fair share of the pie” – everyone want to get the biggest slice possible.

The problem with the pie is that it has a predetermined size, usually determined by the baker and the pan in which it was baked. Everyone’s share can only go up or down depending on how many slices are in each pie – the more slices in the pie means smaller pieces for everyone, the fewer slices means bigger pieces. So what would happen if the pie grew larger whereby everyone’s piece of pie was actually larger than before?

One of my favorite TV shows is Shark Tank, a program where entrepreneurs’ pitch their business idea to investors (sharks) to entice them to make an investment in their company in exchange for a piece of the pie (equity). The potential upside for the entrepreneur is huge – not only do they receive capital for growth, they also receive expertise and exposure, both of which can help the business grow exponentially. The tradeoff for the business owner is the amount of equity they must give up in order to convince the “shark” to invest. Shark Tank is the best example of the Principle of the Pie which says,

“It is better to have a smaller piece of a huge pie, than a larger piece of a small pie.”

I see many ways the Principle of the Pie applies to the restaurant industry.

Some leaders are intimidated by top performers. Rather than attracting great people who are capable of helping to grow the pie, they keep poor performers in place in order to keep the pie all for themselves. Because they are intimidated by the thought that someone might actually take their job they don’t make the tough decisions on people and complacency sets in. These leaders are too busy hoarding the pie.

I see franchisees so busy controlling their business that their pie never grows. Because they don’t share in the rewards of growing the business, their people become immune and unmotivated to grow sales and instead adopt the mindset of the franchisee who is focused on cost controls. Once the business stops growing, the franchisee tightens up even more, not giving raises, minimizing bonus and not repairing equipment. As a result, their pie actually shrinks – their fear becomes a self fulfilling prophesy. They are too busy hoarding small pies.

As CEO of GPS Hospitality, I am reminded daily that our industry is more competitive than ever before. Every minute of every day there is someone working feverishly to take what we have – they want to take our piece of the pie. We have to protect it then grow it. Growing our pie takes many forms – developing our teams to become TOP RIGHT LEADERS, growing sales by displaying a Guest Focused behavior daily, remodeling restaurants, building new restaurants and acquiring more businesses. There are endless opportunities for each of us to grow the pie if we will just seize it. And when the pie is growing we are much less concerned about how big our piece is.

More fun than growing the pie is sharing the pie, which we do in many ways at GPS Hospitality. Joining the Partner Plan, unlimited bonus potential, investing in the 401(k) program which matches 100% for top performers or getting promoted to the next level are all ways we can each share in our success and enjoy our “piece of the pie.” But remember - The Principle of the Pie has a sober reality to it … to get your piece of the pie you have to be willing to work hard to grow it. I love pie… how about you?