Good Morning Friends! Here are my 5 Things to Consider this week!
Culture – (from 3/18/19) What can we be the best in the world at? Last week I posed the question at the Manager Meeting; What can we genuinely be the best in the world at? We had a great conversation and a lot of great answers came up, but the one that stuck with me was the idea of Pizza. Can we be the best in the world at Pizza? Could we be? Should we try? We ended the conservation with the conclusion, “why WOULD we even try?” Now, that sounds kind of shitty to “not even try”, but here was the thought behind it. We’re never going to be “the best pizza in the world”. It’s like trying to be the best candy in the world. There are simply too many varieties and people like what they like. People are emotional about pizza. Passionate. People have an idea of their favorite pizza and its usually based around what they grew up with. We decided though, what we can be the best in the world at is being the best place in the world TO GO GET pizza. Our pizza has to be good! I personally think we have amazing pizza, but I think we are the truly the best place in the world to go get pizza. See, now it encompasses everything; our customer service, our Piesan experience, our brand, our restaurant design, everything we do AROUND pizza. That is our north star!
Leadership – (from 5/20/19) “A company that’s not growing is in slow motion liquidation mode.” I heard this quote during an interview with the CEO of Delta Airlines, Ed Bastian, on an episode of NPR’s Marketplace the other day and I’ve been thinking about it all weekend. I suppose it’s just another way of saying, “if you’re not growing, you’re dying”, but it seems a little…realer. Growth is a subjective word when it comes to restaurants. On the surface it means adding locations (external growth), but to me it’s just as important, if not more important to equally focus on internal growth. Making sure our systems and processes are good. Making sure our technology is up to current trends and working well for our Piesans and leadership. Developing our next class of shop leadership. Taking time to focus on company culture and our Piesan and customer experiences are all way we grow internally. Growth for us is about a balance between internal and external growth. We can’t have too much of either or something suffers. Build too many locations (grow too fast) and the culture suffers. Focus on internal growth too much, and we deny opportunities to our team members. The Perfect balance of amazing company culture and steady growth opportunities are what we strive for every day.
History – The Pepper Bar is RETURNING! Along with the sauces, one of the options we used to offer our hungry Pizzafaces was a condiment tray filled with banana and jalapeno peppers. We called this the Pepper Bar and people really LOVED it. Over the years, we’ve sort of relaxed on the use of the Pepper Bar. Some locations have them, some don’t. Beginning soon, we’ll be supplying all locations with a new pepper caddy to get the pepper program back on track. Keep an eye out for these this week!
Motivation – “You make your life hard by always being in your head. Life is simple, get out of your head and get into the moment.” – S. McNutt
What I’m Reading or Watching – My buddy, Chris just introduced me to this app that allows you can buy cheap, knock-off shit directly from China. I just bought some “Ray-Bans” for $17 and some wireless surveillance cameras for $25 each. It’s called DH Gate. I’ll keep you posted on the results.
Baby Update – Son Number One is 38 weeks this week. His time served in uterine prison is nearing an end and he’s is officially is thinking about on the outside. Adjustment to the outside world is always tough for those “just getting out” but we hope with enough positive role models and constructive programs he’ll do just fine.
Thanks for reading! Like or hate any part of this? Let me know! I really value your feedback.
Have a great week!
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