Restaurant Management Accountability

All too often we hear managers say things along the lines of “My store would be successful, if it weren’t for . . . ”

These managers can give you a long list of reasons for their operation’s poor performance, but offer very little in the way of solutions. To them, there is always some other reason “out there” that holds them back.

What they fail to understand, or chose to ignore, is that they are the ones who are responsible for producing results. Even worse, there are some of them who do realize this, but are uniquely skilled in playing “the blame game” in order to draw attention away from the fact that they aren’t effective leaders.

Stop for a moment and honestly consider your current situation.

When your food cost runs out of standard, is it your employees fault or is it your own?

When your sales drop, is it because your prices are too high, or have you been neglecting your service program?

When your employee turnover skyrockets, is it because you can’t find good help or is it because you haven’t been following through with your team building responsibilities?

As manager, do you play the part of the “victim” when P&L time rolls around, or do you stand up and hold yourself accountable?

The restaurant industry is filled with managers who make excuses for their performance, but the successful managers are those who won’t tolerate that behavior in themselves.

Why?

Because they have a strong sense of responsibility, not just to their company, but to themselves!

Because they have an overwhelming sense of pride . . . not just in themselves . . . but in the results they produce.

Because they have a have a deep desire to bring about success . . . not just for the company they work for . . . but for themselves.

Accepting personal accountability doesn’t mean that you will always be successful, but it does provide you with the tools necessary for future success. It enables you to evaluate you own performance and actions and say, “Hey, I screwed up but I’ve learned something from it, and I won’t make the same mistakes again.”

To bring it all to the bottom line:

Excuses may sound good, but they never make you a profit!