RESTAURANT STRATEGY

#157 - The Push & Pull of Hospitality ***** We've gotten so used to yelling that I wonder if we've forgotten how to whisper. This week's episode is all about the push and pull of hospitality, and I'm inviting you to do a bit more listening than you have in the past. In turn, I think you'll find your customers and staff will be more willing to lean in and listen to what you have to say. Listen in.  One quick favor... Take a minute to log a rating and a review on APPLE PODCASTS. Same with SPOTIFY.  Thanks!

#156 - INTERVIEW: All About "the People" With Author, Matt Rolfe *****  This week's episode is brought to you by: VIRTUAL RESTAURANT GROUP They offer innovative, turnkey delivery-only brands that you're able to easily operate out of your existing restaurant with very little disruption to your current operation. Onboarding is super easy, with recipe guides, and step-by-step training for you and your staff. Visit the link below and use the promo code CHIP2021 to get started. That link is in the show notes VISIT: https://www.virtualrestaurantgroup.com/chip ***** This week's episode is brought to you by: POPMENU If you’re a restaurant owner you need a great website that not only looks beautiful, but helps drive more traffic and sales. Use POPMENU to take your business to the next level. Best of all, listeners of this show can lock in one, set monthly rate… and get $100 off their first month.  VISIT: https://popmenu.com/restaurantstrategy ***** Matt Rolfe is a restaurant consultant, public speaker, content creator, and author of the new book You Can't Do It Alone. We are in a people business... we partner with people, employ people, and serve people. And yet we like to carry the weight of the world on our backs. Matt's opinion? We can't. And we shouldn't try. This week we're talking all about the book and what prompted him to write that book.  IMPORTANT LINKS: Matt's Website: https://mattrolfe.com Link to purchase the book: https://amzn.to/3CggkEG

#155 - Do You Sell T-Shirts in Your Restaurant? *****  This week's episode is brought to you by: VIRTUAL RESTAURANT GROUP They offer innovative, turnkey delivery-only brands that you're able to easily operate out of your existing restaurant with very little disruption to your current operation. Onboarding is super easy, with recipe guides, and step-by-step training for you and your staff. Visit the link below and use the promo code CHIP2021 to get started. That link is in the show notes VISIT: https://www.virtualrestaurantgroup.com/chip ***** This week's episode is brought to you by: POPMENU If you’re a restaurant owner you need a great website that not only looks beautiful, but helps drive more traffic and sales. Use POPMENU to take your business to the next level. Best of all, listeners of this show can lock in one, set monthly rate… and get $100 off their first month.  VISIT: https://popmenu.com/restaurantstrategy ***** It's not so much about whether or you you sell t-shirts, but rather a question of whether you could. Are you creating the kind of experience that people want to brag about? Are you creating a tribe that people want to be a part of? And if so, are you giving those super-fans a way to show their support? That's what this week's episode is all about. 

#154 - INTERVIEW with Danielle McCusker, Owner of the Denver-Based Startup, Peer Brands ***** Danielle McCusker created Peer Brands out of sheer desperation. She was driven to launch a healthy ghost kitchen concept in her hometown of Denver, CO. But after struggling for more than a year to find a space she gave up. It was through that struggle that she realized there was a need in the market... a tool that could help connect landlords and small business owners. Less than a year later Peer Brands was born.  What does the company do? Peer Brands is basically like AirBnb, matching small business owners with commercial kitchen space. And it's helping launch a new generation of food service businesses. I had the great fortune of sitting down to chat with Danielle, and I can't wait for you to hear what she's working on.  Curious to learn more about her company? Visit: https://www.peerbrands.com

#153 - How to Optimize a Restaurant Website ***** Want to get $500 off my new digital course, RESTAURANT RECHARGE? Send me an email and I'll get you an exclusive promo code! CONTACT chip@chipklose.com  *****  This week's episode is brought to you by: VIRTUAL RESTAURANT GROUP They offer innovative, turnkey delivery-only brands that you're able to easily operate out of your existing restaurant with very little disruption to your current operation. Onboarding is super easy, with recipe guides, and step-by-step training for you and your staff. Visit the link below and use the promo code CHIP2021 to get started. That link is in the show notes VISIT: https://www.virtualrestaurantgroup.com/chip   ***** This week's episode is brought to you by: POPMENU If you’re a restaurant owner you need a great website that not only looks beautiful, but helps drive more traffic and sales. Use POPMENU to take your business to the next level. Best of all, listeners of this show can lock in one, set monthly rate… and get $100 off their first month.  VISIT: https://popmenu.com/restaurantstrategy ***** All restaurants need a great website... but what constitutes "great"? On this week's episode I explain what makes a website pop, and what drags it down. Short and sweet... and packed with great insights!   ***** Want to get $500 off my new digital course, RESTAURANT RECHARGE? Send me an email and I'll get you an exclusive promo code! CONTACT chip@chipklose.com 

#152 - What Disney Taught Me About the Future of Hospitality ***** I'm recording this in the closet of my hotel room at Walt Disney World after a whirlwind week here at the parks. Join me as I share my biggest takeaways!  *****Register for my FREE webinar on January 24 and 25 all about the Two Secrets to Restaurant Profitability: www.restaurantstrategypodcast.com/webinar

#151 - Pick One Thing & Do It Well ***** Want to get $500 off my new digital course, RESTAURANT RECHARGE? Send me an email and I'll get you an exclusive promo code! CONTACT chip@chipklose.com  *****  This week's episode is brought to you by: VIRTUAL RESTAURANT GROUP They offer innovative, turnkey delivery-only brands that you're able to easily operate out of your existing restaurant with very little disruption to your current operation. Onboarding is super easy, with recipe guides, and step-by-step training for you and your staff. Visit the link below and use the promo code CHIP2021 to get started. That link is in the show notes VISIT: https://www.virtualrestaurantgroup.com/chip   ***** This week's episode is brought to you by: POPMENU If you’re a restaurant owner you need a great website that not only looks beautiful, but helps drive more traffic and sales. Use POPMENU to take your business to the next level. Best of all, listeners of this show can lock in one, set monthly rate… and get $100 off their first month.  VISIT: https://popmenu.com/restaurantstrategy ***** In his NY Times bestseller Good to Great, Jim Collins introduces this idea of "The Hedgehog Concept." It's a venn diagram with three overlapping circles... each asking a specific question. The most important of the three goes like this: "What's the one thing you can be the best in the world at?" That's what I want to talk about today. Remember that the opposite of great isn't bad. As Jim Collins suggests in his book, the opposite of great is very good. Let's challenge ourselves to be remarkable.    ***** Want to get $500 off my new digital course, RESTAURANT RECHARGE? Send me an email and I'll get you an exclusive promo code! CONTACT chip@chipklose.com 

#150 - INTERVIEW with Josh Kopel, Host of the Full Comp Podcast This week's episode is also sponsored by STOCK MFG. With Stock you get all the style of retail, with the price, continuity, and customer service of a traditional uniform vendor. They offer an assortment of everyday items that are ready to ship with no minimum order quantity, and can also create custom uniforms to fit any aesthetic.  Visit: stockmfg.co/chip to get get started.  ***** Josh Kopel is a restaurauteur, content creator, and host of the Full Comp Podcast. I had the great fortune of appearing on his show, and will soon be the guest host on the new season of his other show, Restaurant Marketing School. But I had the great fortune of sitting with him to chat all about the state of the industry.  You'll see over the course of this conversation that we disagree about some things, but what we share is a passion for this industry... and a desire to help those who have built their life around it. I hope you enjoy this one!  IMPORTANT LINKS:  Full Comp Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/full-comp-the-voice-of-the-restaurant-industry-revolution/id1506823506 Josh's website - https://joshkopel.com Josh's FB Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/milliondollarrestaurant   *****Register for my FREE webinar on January 24 and 25 all about the Two Secrets to Restaurant Profitability: www.restaurantstrategypodcast.com/webinar

#149 - Looking 5 Years Into the Future This week's episode is also sponsored by STOCK MFG. With Stock you get all the style of retail, with the price, continuity, and customer service of a traditional uniform vendor. They offer an assortment of everyday items that are ready to ship with no minimum order quantity, and can also create custom uniforms to fit any aesthetic.  Visit: stockmfg.co/chip to get get started.  ***** The "restaurant" has gone basically unchanged over the past two centuries, and yet because of the pandemic the world is changing at incredible speeds all around us. Retail, travel, medicine, education, and more... all of it has been upended due to technology and changing consumer behavior over the past twenty years. And yet the restaurant industry resisted. But we can no longer afford to resist the call.  On this week's episode I'm walking you through the inevitable changes that will reshape our industry. We can utilize them to make more profitable businesses, or we can get left in the dust.  Technology Convenience Compensation Behavior   *****Register for my FREE webinar on January 24 and 25 all about the Two Secrets to Restaurant Profitability: www.restaurantstrategypodcast.com/webinar

#148 - INTERVIEW with Bret Csencsitz, Owner of the Relaunched Gotham Restaurant   ***** Register for my FREE webinar on January 24 and 25 all about the Two Secrets to Restaurant Profitability : https://www.restaurantstrategypodcast.com/webinar   *****  This week's episode is brought to you by: VIRTUAL RESTAURANT GROUP They offer innovative, turnkey delivery-only brands that you're able to easily operate out of your existing restaurant with very little disruption to your current operation. Onboarding is super easy, with recipe guides, and step-by-step training for you and your staff. Visit the link below and use the promo code CHIP2021 to get started. That link is in the show notes VISIT: https://www.virtualrestaurantgroup.com/chip   ***** This week's episode is brought to you by: POPMENU If you’re a restaurant owner you need a great website that not only looks beautiful, but helps drive more traffic and sales. Use POPMENU to take your business to the next level. Best of all, listeners of this show can lock in one, set monthly rate… and get $100 off their first month.  VISIT: https://popmenu.com/restaurantstrategy ***** Gotham opened in 1984 and heralded in a new era in American dining. It has a Michelin star, multiple James Beard Awards, and more 3-star reviews in The New York Times than any other restaurant in history (6 total). The restaurant was an institution here in New York City until the pandemic abruptly forced it closed in March 2020. After more than 36 years, the original owners decided to walk away.  But Managing Partner, Bret Csencsitz decided to pick up the baton. He spent the last 2 years planning its rebirth and it has risen like the phoenix. Same address, same layout, but a whole new feel. Vibrant art populates the place, and interesting new spaces make it feel brand new.  On this week's episode I talk to him about opening a restaurant in the current climate, and how exactly you begin to think about relaunching a brand as beloved as Gotham.    ***** Register for my FREE webinar on January 24 and 25 all about the Two Secrets to Restaurant Profitability : https://www.restaurantstrategypodcast.com/webinar