David Scott Peters [00:00:00]:

Here's 22 of my most successful members I've ever worked with. Tell me what makes you successful? And I said, I think I know. And we discovered two things. One is they each had two of the same personality traits. They have a passion for hospitality. You've got to love this business because there's challenges every single day. The second is they're persistent. And if Covid didn't teach us anything, it's that persistence that keeps us going and going and going.

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David Scott Peters [00:00:27]:

That's like the key of the most successful people I've worked with. But then we discovered, as we're going around, what made them successful, and it really came down to number one. And this is where the restaurant prosperity formula was created.

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Angelo Esposito [00:00:51]:

Welcome to another episode of WISKing It All. We're joined today by David Scott Peters, restaurant expert and coach. David, excited to have you on the show.

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David Scott Peters [00:01:02]:

I'm thrilled to be here. I love the name of the podcast, by the way. I just, it's fantastic.

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Angelo Esposito [00:01:07]:

I appreciate that. I appreciate that. No, it's, it's great. I've seen your content for, for, for a long time. I love what you're doing. I love anyone who's helping the restaurant industry. So I, I, I appreciate it. I know restaurants appreciate it.

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Angelo Esposito [00:01:18]:

And, you know, when you agree to be on the show, I was excited because, you know, I'm a shirt. We have similar, similar paths when it comes to inventory, but I know you do way more than just inventory. But it, it, it got me super intrigued. So, as always, I love to start with the backstory. I'm always curious to understand how people got into this magical space of hospitality. So let's start with your backstory. What got you into the restaurant world?

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David Scott Peters [00:01:42]:

Long story short, as short as I can make it, I grew up my family's restaurant and catering business back in Linwood, New Jersey, where I worked for the toughest manager I know. If you ever worked for your mom, you know, it sucks. She worked my sister and I twice as hard as everybody else said, be no favoritism. While I hated it as a kid, she did me a favor, gave me a work ethic like nobody else around. So every job I had, I elevated, made it quickly fast forward a bunch of restaurant jobs to eventually out of college, moving to Arizona, I ended up, I was bartending and doing some consulting for franchising. I used to be a franchise salesperson and compliance person right out of college, and next thing you know, gets sucked back into the business. Company was called Coyote Springs Brewing Company Cafe here in Phoenix, Arizona Marketplace. This is in the early 90s when brew pubs were opening one a week.

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David Scott Peters [00:02:30]:

And the first one was magic. It was a, it was a cash cow, hand over fist money. I eventually moved into an operations manager role as we opened our second location which like owning a boat, a hole in water in which you throw money. And so this is where I learned cash was king, not profitability, it's. It doesn't matter what your profits are if you don't have money to pay your bills. And I also learned cut my teeth on systems, that there's a system, a process, a way to doing anything and everything your business. When the owner started taking it down a path that we are on path to bankruptcy, I was like, I've got to go. And so I went and taught at Scottsdale Culinary Institute Management, human resources, wines and spirits.

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David Scott Peters [00:03:10]:

I actually skipped one. I went to a company called famous Sam's, a 30 unit restaurant sports bar chain.

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Angelo Esposito [00:03:15]:

Okay.

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David Scott Peters [00:03:16]:

There I was the director of operations, opened eight stores were going gangbusters. They damn near bankrupt the company. So. So I went and taught at Scottsdale Colony Management, human resources, wines and spirits, not a chef. Don't talk to me about food quality. My knife skills are horrible. But I can run anyone's kitchen with the right systems. I can order on budget and par levels, prep systems, I can schedule based on staffing guide and budget.

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David Scott Peters [00:03:43]:

I can open and close every station off of open and closing side work checklist. I can manage it. I just have no culinary skills. And while I was consulting the minority shareholders, Famous Sams asked me to come back. I said sure. And actually it was a lie. It was about. No, no, no.

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David Scott Peters [00:03:58]:

It was about one month before my first child was born. I went, okay. And I walked into a company that the minority shareholders who bailed the company out were now the majority shareholders. And the company should have been toast. Yet I was given a goal. Turn the company around and sell it in five years. I missed that goal by three months. I know what it is, being an independent operator.

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David Scott Peters [00:04:18]:

I know it makes the chain successful. I used to think it was my job in life to give the independent the same systems and tools that chains use without losing your independence. We love our guests, we love our employees, but we are going to do what they do well, that's make money. But as I started down the path of my last company, which was a restaurant training Coach Co. Started 21 years ago, turned into seminars, workshops, eventually software. And my business partner approached me to buy me out five years ago. Five and a half years ago. And I said, okay, so I've been back to my roots of working with independence and not just getting the systems, but understanding.

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David Scott Peters [00:05:02]:

We work towards restaurant prosperity. In my world, it's freedom, free restaurant, and the financial freedom you deserve. So if we get you freedom, that means we have managers in place, you have systems in place, and you're making money. And so it's really focusing on the owner because that's really the person who's got to turn things around.

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Angelo Esposito [00:05:19]:

Well said. I mean, it's really cool. I always like to, you know, start with that kind of backstory, because it's interesting to know where people have been to kind of explain where they're at today, and you have a wealth of experience. And then we're going to get more into the restaurant prosperity formula. So I'm curious, what was. You kind of touched on it. What was that aha moment that sparked the idea specifically for that restaurant prosperity formula?

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David Scott Peters [00:05:41]:

So I was literally writing my book, Restaurant Prosperity Formula. It didn't have a title yet. It was a book, and I didn't want it to be a textbook. And in my old company, and now in my current company, I run a mastermind group, so independent restaurant owners, 20 plus. In fact, the old company is 22 restaurant operators who want to make. Really make a change in their business. So they're at the top of the food chain. They've already made changes.

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David Scott Peters [00:06:05]:

They got growth mindsets. They want to get together and share and help each other. Well, it was my very last. I didn't know it at the time. My very last elite meeting, my old company. And I said, okay, my book is almost finished. I don't want it to be a textbook. I need.

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David Scott Peters [00:06:20]:

I need to refine it. And I want to. Went around the room and said, I'm going to hijack our meeting. Here's 22 of my most successful members I've ever worked with. Tell me what makes you successful. And I said, I think I know. And we discovered two things. One is they each had two of the same personality traits.

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David Scott Peters [00:06:39]:

They have a passion for hospitality. You've got to love this business because there's challenges every single day. The second is they're persistent. And if Covid didn't teach us anything, it's that persistence that keeps us going and going and going. That's like the key of the most successful people I've worked with. But then we discovered, as we're going around, what made them successful. And it really came down to number one. And this is where the restaurant prosperity formula Was created.

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David Scott Peters [00:07:06]:

Restaurant prosperity again, is freedom for your restaurant, the financial freedom you deserve. Most successful people ever worked with. I look at them, listen to them. Very first thing is they're leaders. It doesn't matter that you own a restaurant. It doesn't make you a born leader. It takes leadership to be successful. They were leaders.

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David Scott Peters [00:07:24]:

You have to lead. Then I realized I've been teaching them systems, processes, ways forever. And you've got to have those systems, whether it's counting out a bar door the same way every single time so that it's your way or it's dollars per labor, hour worked or ideal versus actual product usage, from easy to challenging does not matter. There's a system, a process away. And by the way, restaurant owners listening to us, it's your way. I run what I call a democratic dictatorship. I want everybody's input. But you are going to make the call.

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David Scott Peters [00:07:55]:

Whether you want to bend your system or not. It's your way. Then the most successful people I ever worked with, they're learners. Their training is key. They say, I don't know what I don't know. So they're willing to go outside of their four walls, read books, go to seminars, watch YouTube videos, podcasts, go to the NRA show or another food show, like they're information gatherers. And they go, oh, I've got a great. Here's the one idea I needed from this seminar, the one idea I needed from this show.

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David Scott Peters [00:08:24]:

And they go home and take. But more importantly, they have realized it doesn't matter what they know if they don't teach their managers, who cares? So training goes both ways. Then at the bottom of that, care if you have systems, don't care if you have training, if you're not willing to hold people accountable, and that is the Achilles heel for most restaurant owners is not willing to hold people accountable. In my world, accountability is ugly. I'm going to hold you accountable. Right? That's, that's horrible, Angela. I'm going to hold you accountable. That's what managers here.

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David Scott Peters [00:08:55]:

But if I train you what your job is, how to do it, how well it should be done, more importantly, by, when you demonstrate it back to me, then you know your obligation, your job, then you make a decision, do my job or not, and you're answerable for the resulting consequences. So if chef has been taught how to take inventory and, and does it for 24 weeks in a row, if week 25, chef wakes up, doesn't take inventory, there's no why don't you take inventory? It's going to be like, why don't you take inventory? You're not going to get well. You never told me you wanted it 25 weeks in a row. Like, we're so clear, right? So now it's onus is on chef and chef, well, guess what? You're about to get written up. You know, it's coming and it's not going to happen again. But that's where we take accountability and I change it to the word answerability. Last but not least, my father had a phrase said, ideas are cheap. It's the people who put them into action that are priceless.

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David Scott Peters [00:09:52]:

So the last piece of the formula is taking action. I don't give a crap if you have systems. I don't care if you go learn all day. I don't care if you think you're going to hold people accountable. If you don't do something, nothing changes. And that's the hardest part when you look at it. Accountability is usually most people's Achilles heel. But a lot of people like to talk about it.

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David Scott Peters [00:10:12]:

Talk about change, talk about change, you got to do it.

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Angelo Esposito [00:10:15]:

Yeah, no, I love that. And you see that in general, right? Like, I think about when we started WISK being around startups, it was such a common thing. Like people reading books and attending startup conferences and like, you'd meet that guy or girl years later and they still didn't start. And you're like, it's been like three years and they're still, they're still learning and ideating and you're like, at a certain point, it's like, you're right. If you don't take action, it's all for nothing. Like, learn, learn, learn. But, you know, until rubber hits the road, meets the road, so to speak, like, your idea is only.

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David Scott Peters [00:10:45]:

And that's, that's where being the leader your restaurant needs is so critical. You know, a lot of people, when I focus on leadership and I talk about that, I hone it into, I've been doing this a long time, 30 plus years. Got to get close to 40. I'm 58 years old. I'm getting old. With that. Said, in the old days, I used to think when I started 2003, the number one reason why restaurants fail are couponing. And you were under capitalized when you opened.

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David Scott Peters [00:11:13]:

And then time went on. I'm like, no, no, it's food costs out of control, my labor, they're bleeding to me at the time clock. Can't get my managers to do the work. Those are my challenges. And then I Look back at it and I go, no, I was wrong. It's leadership. The number one reason why restaurants fail is lack of leadership. And here's the beautiful part about it, Angelo, is systems make up for our weaknesses.

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David Scott Peters [00:11:36]:

If you're that pencil pusher, numbers person who's impatient, doesn't tell how you want things done and so on and so forth, you've got training and all these things bringing us, making us overlap and become the leader our restaurant needs. If I'm that social worker, the giver who just cares about the guest experience, being the center of attention and doesn't work on budgets and KPIs, well, all of a sudden you put those in place, we become the leader our restaurant needs. So systems not just duplicate who you are, allow you to impose your will being there, they really put you in a position where you're a leader because it makes you the leader you're supposed to do. It overcomes your weaknesses because we all have something that we don't do great at.

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Angelo Esposito [00:12:17]:

100%. 100%. And what one of the things I love about systems because, you know, same right. I mean, when I started WISK, we weren't using many systems. And then as you start scaling the company and sales systems and support systems and success and like, you know, product development, et cetera. And one thing I learned, and it transfers, you know, over to restaurants as well, is the idea of like definition of done. One of my favorite things of good, you know, SOPS or systems is like being very clear on what is done right and could be as simple as the closing checklist. And for me it's like, you know, make sure it looks clean and lights are off, you know, and for someone else it's like, no, these are the 32 things you got to do and the looser that is I, I'm sure you've seen this too.

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Angelo Esposito [00:12:59]:

But it's the cause of so much friction in that world where in reality just people have two different.

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David Scott Peters [00:13:05]:

Well, because it requires common sense. So there is no such thing. You know, I like in a manager checklist, like if you want the lights to be set at a certain level, it can't be. Draw a line on the rheostat. And this is 5:00, 6:00, 7:00 because there's this thing called the sun and there's the earth and we rotate around the sun. So sunset changes all the time. So you've got to be so inner attentive to go go to weatherchannel.com in the morning. Find out what time sunset is.

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David Scott Peters [00:13:30]:

This is two hours for sunset. This hour. This is at sunset. And if it's cloudy, here's a whole nother set of rules. And people go to me, wait, you know, David, you tell me I have to tell my, excuse my French. But I got to tell my, my managers how to wipe their ass. Yes, but not because they're stupid. Because I want them to play a game with me.

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David Scott Peters [00:13:47]:

Find me doing something wrong. If you're so clear, I can only be successful, do it your way. And that's what people got to understand. There is no such thing as common sense.

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Angelo Esposito [00:13:56]:

Yeah, right. Well said, well said. And I'm curious from your, you know, perspective, right? You've been, you've been in this, like you said, 30 plus years, coming up on 40 years. So you have a, a wealth of experience. One thing we see on our end when trying to help restaurateurs is, you know, we have a beverage product that, that's really focused on the liquor, wine, beer side. And then we have a food management side and very different personalities when we deal with chefs to your point, the same way, right? You're like, don't, don't put me behind the kitchen with a knife. But you're very systems oriented in general. There's always exceptions, but majority of chefs are very good at their chef job and working with knives.

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Angelo Esposito [00:14:32]:

But they seem to be very resistant to change, to tech, to even spreadsheet. Not even tech, just spreadsheets. I'm curious, why do you think that is and how do you go about that challenge of like trying to implement systems with that type of personality?

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David Scott Peters [00:14:50]:

So I may have an answer people don't want to hear, but it starts out with an understanding that your culinary professional that I need so badly in my business, depending on the whether I need a kitchen manager, a chef is a whole different conversation. But using chef as our example, they're very arts artistic. They're about creating a great experience and putting a masterpiece on the table. And they're very concerned or focused on the guest in that respect. The problem is chef means manager, not person who makes pretty food taste good. And so the higher we elevate with the, if I become an executive chef, multi unit executive chef, casino, like you're not touching a knife. It's the absolute opposite of what you think. You're working on training and cost controls and knife skills and checklists and inventory and ordering and par levels and all the things to manage the systems.

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David Scott Peters [00:15:46]:

And it's hard for them to break that, especially if they're old like me as a Gen Xer, I call myself a survivor. Like, I survived working in the 80s and 90s in the restaurant business, right? We treated people like crap. I'm a survivor. So a lot of these chefs are survivors and they know one way and they're very stuck in their way. And the reality is we can't treat people like we were treated growing up in the business. They will not show up. They will ghost your ass. And the reality is, while we may complain about it from time to time, the new level of employee that's coming up, they were right.

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David Scott Peters [00:16:26]:

We shouldn't have been treated that way. They need to have a life. They need to be treated and trained properly and paid properly and given structure and proper supervision and all those things. Long way to go back to what I do with that chef. I teach him. I'm going to bring you on board. Like here. An exercise that I do with people all the time.

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David Scott Peters [00:16:46]:

I just did it at my two day seminar. I get the whole room full of people to grab their hands and clasp them together, interlocking their fingers. And it's nice. It's like ever since I was a kid, baby, sucking my thumb, boom, just like this. Nice. And then I get the whole room to open their fingers, shift one finger and close their fingers again, re interlock them. It feels gross. It's awful, right? I say let go.

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David Scott Peters [00:17:11]:

And I asked the group, I say, was that difficult? No, it wasn't difficult. I said, what was it? It was uncomfortable. So change is not easy. Change is uncomfortable. And so I've got to tell my chef why I'm making the change. Hey, we're bringing on WISK because let me tell you, we're going to give the guest a better experience because now we have consistency in our recipe costs and cards. We're going to have better profitability because we're not only going to control our inventory, order on budget, order by some par levels, but you know what, we're going to be able to find ideal versus actual product usage. So instead of me saying, where's your food cost problem? We're going to highlight four lines and you're going to fix those things.

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David Scott Peters [00:17:51]:

I'm going to make your life better. And so I got to tell them why we're doing it. And then I've got to train them.

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Angelo Esposito [00:17:57]:

Yes.

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David Scott Peters [00:17:58]:

And then I give them what I call my three strike approach to management. I train you on how to do it, you show me you got it. I walk around the corner, a month later, you're not doing it right. And as an owner, first reaction is, I want to lick the palm of my hand, get a running start and dope slap in your ass and go, what are you doing? But I got to stop myself. I got to realize people learn differently. Auditory, tactile, visual, best trainings have all three. Some people read it, see it, they got it. Some people hear it, they got it.

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David Scott Peters [00:18:28]:

I'm a tactile learner. I used to do the math problems in high school in the odd problems because the answers were in the back, right? I could do them over and over and over again until I got the right answer and I understood what I was doing. So who's your learner? So I'm going to retrain, retrain you. When I see you doing it wrong, by the way, that's strike one. That is a write up. So now I sit there and go, okay, I'd retrain you a way that I think you're going to learn. Come around the corner, a month later, you're doing it wrong again. I want a dope slap.

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David Scott Peters [00:18:58]:

You know, my fault. Upon the third or fourth strike, depending on what your disciplinary program is, we've reached something called don't know versus don't care. Don't know is my fault, and I've done everything in my power to make sure you know how to do it. And you really do know how to do it. You're choosing not to do it. There's the door. So notice this approach is not going straight. Go.

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David Scott Peters [00:19:19]:

You got it. You got it. It's a let me coddle, coach train, do everything I can in the process because my job is never let you fail. But if you keep fighting it, you will not be on my team.

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Angelo Esposito [00:19:31]:

Right? That's fair. I like that. Don't know versus don't care. That's a good takeaway for restaurant listeners. That might be something to keep in mind, the difference in a don't know and don't care. Another thing I've seen, and I'm sure you've seen this too, is I love the approach of the why, right? If people understand the why, it's. It's obviously super important. And most people skip that step of like, why are we implementing this system, right? Or any system, whatever it is, or why are we just changing anything? It doesn't matter.

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Angelo Esposito [00:19:55]:

It could be changing supply or whatever. But on top of that, what I find, especially when it comes to, like, tech solutions for restaurant tours, I find good leaders involve the staff that's going to use it. And I See this all the time with my team is sometimes the decisions are made at, you know, C level kind of roles and the people using it had no say. And they're like, I hate this thing. And there's resistance and whatever. I find the best leaders do a good job of making sure they have their checklist of what they need. I need to make sure WISK can do XY's okay. And then they involve their staff, whether maybe, you know, a chef or kitchen manager, or if it's beverage side, their bar manager.

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Angelo Esposito [00:20:30]:

And I find that step is so key because there's always a gap between ownership and what they want, which is the reporting and the output. But then the big question mark is how easy is it to get the input? Which I find that's where sometimes there's resistance.

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David Scott Peters [00:20:43]:

Yeah, UI is, is, as you know better than anyone, UI is what makes or breaks your software. Because math is math. You know, your cogs.

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Angelo Esposito [00:20:53]:

Yeah, it's beginning plus purchases.

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David Scott Peters [00:20:55]:

Yeah, it's like, boom, boom, boom. Math is math. So how easy is it to learn? Now, I'm going to agree and slightly disagree with you when it comes to getting them involved, I think that it's important that you bring in your key person, whether it's chef, gm, both in that sales process, the discovery process, does this do. But no matter what their opinion is, if I believe it's the right solution, it's what we're going to use. Again, the key is whether this is that democratic dictatorship. We get their input, but I'm going to guide the conversation and I'm going to tell them why I think it's the right solution for us, why we're going to use it, and what we're going to do to make sure they have the skills to get it done. That's the part of, I think, where the real separation is. Many people sign up for software, they think it's a fricking magic pill.

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David Scott Peters [00:21:48]:

No, it's work. It's kind of like this. Getting all your invoices in, getting your, your recipe car, your products set up, getting your recipe cards in from batch, recipes for soup, sauces, side dishes, you know, components of dishes, and then your item recipes. It's like spinning the ball in your basketball in your, your hand. You got to flip it and then you're all this energy. But then once it's going, here's the beautiful part, tap, tap. Like there's this energy that it takes at the beginning. Like it's work and it's not difficult.

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David Scott Peters [00:22:21]:

I want people to Understand what I just went through. And especially with what you've got, it's not difficult. What is it? It's time consuming. So now it's uncomfortable, but it's time. It's time consuming. You've got to give yourself enough time to go, hey, we're going to start this software. We think it's going to be up and running in one month. No, like you're going to get the full benefit in two, three months.

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David Scott Peters [00:22:44]:

You're going to get benefit. It's going to be six months plus a year to get all the way to ideal versus actual product usage. But after that first initial stuff is done in three months, you've got power at your fingertips. Like it's, that's where the magic comes in, is when invoices update your recipe cards overnight, your, your next order is up to date, your next inventory is update. It's like you got to have that solution. And I would not, by the way.

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Angelo Esposito [00:23:08]:

Yeah.

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David Scott Peters [00:23:08]:

Run my restaurant without food and beverage software, period. I don't care if you're a $500,000 restaurant or you're a 10 million, I wouldn't do it.

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Angelo Esposito [00:23:16]:

One thing I always tell people, and they'll laugh. I'll be like, look, even if you're an Excel wiz, I'm all for it. Right? Excel, great. But at some point you have to realize when you're opening the restaurant, maybe changing your menu. Sure, you kind of figure it out. Fine. But the hard part is maintaining it. You're buying from, I don't know, GFS or Cisco.

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Angelo Esposito [00:23:32]:

And it's the maintaining and the time consuming part of I bought chicken from this guy or came in a different pack size and I got it takes so much work that to your point. You're absolutely right. You nailed it. It's, it's more work in the beginning, but once it's set up, it's kind of like par levels are there, review, order. My recipes are there. Oh, let me swap this. And it becomes maintaining versus, you know.

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David Scott Peters [00:23:53]:

Well, when you create everything with a spreadsheet. I was a spreadsheet geek. That's how I got into this business. Basically I was a prisoner to it. And then somebody would blow up a cell. So I gotta lock down all the cells. Oh, I gotta make a change. I gotta unlock all the cells, I gotta relock all the cells.

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David Scott Peters [00:24:09]:

I go, I gotta make a change. Was when a week go by that I wasn't locking, unlocking. And then I was the only one that underst math. Oh, by the way, if you're a restaurant owner and you've got one of your, your team putting this spreadsheet together. You don't even know it's wrong because you don't know how to audit the damn thing.

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Angelo Esposito [00:24:23]:

Right.

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David Scott Peters [00:24:24]:

So now with software, you put yourself in a position that. Not if this employee moves on, it's when. But I've got multiple people as trained replacements keeping our system. The recipes are in my database. The prep systems are my database. The par levels are in my database. Like, it's my system, my process, my way that's trainable. Over and over and over again.

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David Scott Peters [00:24:49]:

Again, spreadsheets are nice, but you're. You've created a hell for yourself.

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Angelo Esposito [00:24:54]:

Yeah, no, you nailed it. And it's, it's funny you say. It's one of the things I see all the time is like, the manager knows how to order every week because he's there and he's used to it. But it's like the minute he's on vacation or she's on vacation or quits or fired, whatever, it's like you got to figure out your par level. So it's like put the system, have your par levels, and if that person's away, it's like you can. The business keeps running, and it's not dependent on, you know, one person, which is.

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David Scott Peters [00:25:17]:

And then all you got to do is teach somebody how to count. And it sounds silly, but you have to teach them how to count. Like, it's not a go count.

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Angelo Esposito [00:25:25]:

Yeah. 100. Well, I love that. And I'm curious. So obviously you've been helping restaurants for, for years, for decades now. What's a common misconception that maybe restaurant owners have when they, when they first come to you for help?

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David Scott Peters [00:25:38]:

The biggest thing is that they can turn their business around overnight. It is. The systems that I teach are easy. You know, like a key item tracker to prevent theft. Count five to 15 items every shift. It's a clipboard system. Waste sheet. Waste tracker.

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David Scott Peters [00:25:54]:

It's a clipboard system. I get you to take inventory in under an hour. If you're set up properly, shelf the sheet. Like, that's not a problem. But the reality is it's the people part that's the hard part. So, yes, while we could implement these things, if you don't make them a part of your culture, you cannot implement things too quickly. Otherwise they come and they go. For instance, let's take a key item tracker and a waste tracker.

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David Scott Peters [00:26:19]:

These are clipboard systems in the restaurant. One to prevent theft, the other to stop dumbass mistakes. And proactively change. You know, instead of throwing away tomatoes, change your order. Instead of burning steaks, retrain somebody, like, right away. Make a change. Yes, they are the two easiest systems in the world to put in place. They are the two hardest systems in the world to get used on a daily basis because it requires a manager to look at them every single day.

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David Scott Peters [00:26:42]:

And the day you don't look at them, the day they go away. So it's this consistency in using the systems and holding people accountable, accountable to them. That's where change happens. And here's the reality. I really, for the first 15, 16 years of my coaching, I. I was the systems guy. Oh, I'm the restaurant expert. I'm the systems guy.

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David Scott Peters [00:27:04]:

While I'm still the systems guy. The reality is the systems don't change your world. You changing your company culture with systems, that's what we're talking about. You are changing your culture. How you do things, why you do things. People are all on board. And that goes back to leadership again, because you got to be willing to allow people to make a decision to come along with the change or be gone and be promoted to customer. I no longer can allow two, three key employees hold my business back.

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David Scott Peters [00:27:35]:

Period.

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Angelo Esposito [00:27:36]:

Well said. It's funny, as you were saying that a thought that came to mind was even when. When we help clients, you know, with. With inventory and whatever, and implementing what we learned and we learned the hard way, and there's a bit of a parallel is if a custom, in our case a restaurant is not doing inventory, it's very hard because they're going for. And to your point, it's the people thing, but it's like they're going from nothing to something. And I'll joke around, even if WISK is the most magical AI, this that way, it's like if you went from zero minutes a week and now you're doing 30 minutes a week, I created work for you, you're going to resent WISK. And that's what we've seen. And so to your point, it's like that idea of like a big part of this relies on the people.

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Angelo Esposito [00:28:17]:

If someone just doesn't want to do inventory and they're used to a third party coming in and counting, it doesn't matter whether you choose WISK or another software. It's like it's an uphill battle because now they're doing something and you're trying to change behavior.

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David Scott Peters [00:28:27]:

And that's how to be a leader. Hold people accountable. This is what we are going to do, I'm going to support you, get you there. I can tell you I'm like you because I'm a restaurant operations person. I cover labor systems, cost goods, sold systems, leadership systems, training, like you name it, in the restaurant business other than marketing. The reality is I always tell people, and I just did a two day seminar in Vegas, I suck. I create work. If you guys think this is a frickin magic pill, you're smoking dope.

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David Scott Peters [00:28:54]:

It's easy, but it takes time because it's the people part and you create work. But once you do the work at the beginning, it is so easy to maintain. It becomes how you do things. It gets to a point where I'm sure you get to. If somebody had an Internet outage and they call you, your software's down and you're not and it's their Internet, they start freaking out because they got to place an order, they gotta, they gotta do their, their, their inventory, they've gotta do prep or whatever it is and they're. So this is how we do our business. Like it's, it's how they breathe. Like that's what it becomes a part of your system, your operating procedures.

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Angelo Esposito [00:29:33]:

Yeah.

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David Scott Peters [00:29:34]:

And they get to a point where they freak out when they don't have it anymore. And they were the same people who fought it in the beginning.

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Angelo Esposito [00:29:40]:

Yes. That's the best feeling though. Low key best feeling. When I look back, especially early days of WISK because it was like since 2014. But funny enough in a weird way because obviously you don't want clients to have bad experiences. But when someone would call and say, hey, I'm trying to place my order, but it seems like that page is not loading. And we'd be like, it was bittersweet. To your point.

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Angelo Esposito [00:29:57]:

Because. Bad because like we don't want clients to add up, but like, oh shit, people are relying on this finally. This is good. So it's well, well said on that end. And I'm curious, when you, when you look at this, right, there's many different pillars, it sounds like, but I'd love to hear from you that maybe the people one is a bit of the harder one. But from your experience, you know, cogs and labor and this, it sounds like that leadership side maybe is a bit tougher. Timberland. But I'd love to hear from you, from your experience and from dealing with clients, what, what do you find is the most kind of challenging part? I guess generally, I know it depends restaurant to restaurant.

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David Scott Peters [00:30:31]:

So I'll give you the Three, the four biggest complaints. If. If I'm talking to a restaurant owner for the first time and tell me your pain points, what's going on? It's my food cost is out of control, My employees are bleeding at the time clock, My managers aren't doing what I asked them to do, and my employees are idiots. Like, okay, well, how did that happen? Right? You allowed it to happen. You didn't give them a system, a process where you weren't clear with your KPIs. That is, that is allowing people to invent their jobs. And in a vacuum, they will invent their jobs. I was a.

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David Scott Peters [00:31:05]:

I was a manager over at this other restaurant. Doesn't mean they did it right, but they're going to bring their skills over and do what they do right. So fundamentally, it goes back to people. Now, if I can change my company culture and I call it becoming an employer of choice, that's okay. You don't have to be the highest paid, but you got to be competitive in pay rates. You've got to have structured training. You have to have management and rules. Believe it or not, people say employees hate rules.

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David Scott Peters [00:31:36]:

I say, bullshit. They love rules. What they hate is the inconsistency in management enforcing those rules. Rules. So we've got to be consistent with that. We've got to provide people a path forward. Some people don't want to be like, God bless America. The restaurant that has that dishwasher has been with you for 15, 20 years.

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David Scott Peters [00:31:54]:

That is a godsend. May never have a desire to manage, cook, do anything. So do understand some people where they want to be, if that's where you want to be, God bless. But there is a group of people go, what's my next step? If I learn, where do I go? So they've got to see a path. There's got to be continued development. But more importantly, and this is with millennials and younger, they have to feel like they're part of something bigger than them. So this is telling your why. Why did you open your business? It's sharing your core values so that everybody makes decisions based off those two things, moving the company forward, even if they make decisions independently.

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David Scott Peters [00:32:32]:

And it comes down to people, which is back to leadership. The other things, not to poo poo. Labor scheduling and cost controls or, or bar or, or food controls. They are tasks. They are tasks that I can teach somebody how to do. They're incredibly important. But I need to have the people. So my answer sticks.

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David Scott Peters [00:32:57]:

It's the people part.

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Angelo Esposito [00:32:58]:

People. Yeah, it makes sense. It makes Sense. I mean, we. We've seen it. We've Have. Have clients who are saving insane amounts of money every year using WISK. And then sometimes we'll have that client who it's.

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Angelo Esposito [00:33:10]:

It's. They might have a staff member who complains, and then we try to explain them. Listen, it's not a system thing. I don't think. If you. If you told me the. The app is down, I get it. But if you just think you're going to switch software and magically, your staff member who hates doing inventory is going to love it.

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Angelo Esposito [00:33:24]:

There's kind of that gap when.

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David Scott Peters [00:33:26]:

And here's the tough part about having a software company is managers want to find the one bug, the one hiccup you had. Because we did an update. And so now this doesn't perform right. As soon as the first call comes in, we're like, developers fix it. We put a patch out right away. But now that they have this window to go, oh, the software is broken. I would have tried. Oh, software is broken.

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David Scott Peters [00:33:51]:

And it's that little excuse that opens the door to go, I don't want to do this.

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Angelo Esposito [00:33:55]:

Yes.

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David Scott Peters [00:33:56]:

Because a part of it is also. What does the software do? It gives us numbers. It simplifies systems. It makes life easy. Wait a second. I can't hide anymore. It holds me accountable. And that's where a lot of the people want to derail the process.

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David Scott Peters [00:34:14]:

I call them saboteurs in our business. They look like your best employee. Often they're. Yes. I'm so excited we're putting Whiskey, but I've been dying for recipe cards and an inventory system. This is so great. And then they don't do anything. They don't do anything.

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David Scott Peters [00:34:29]:

You're like, hey, did you get that set up? Oh, well, you know, locusts came and took my truck and dropped it on the ground. So I was late to work, so I didn't have time. Today, Locust grabbed my laptop, threw it in the air, dropped it down. I don't care what it is. Any excuse, just call them locusts. And it's all these excuses, and you're like, what? You're giving me all the right things. Yes, yes, yes, I'm excited. But your actions show me you aren't going to do the work.

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David Scott Peters [00:34:52]:

And that's where the frustration happens.

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Angelo Esposito [00:34:55]:

Yeah.

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David Scott Peters [00:34:55]:

So owners have to be willing to let people make the choice if they want to promote themselves to customers. Man, you got to do it.

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Angelo Esposito [00:35:02]:

Yeah, you nailed it there. Oh, my God. So what was the word again? A saboteur.

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David Scott Peters [00:35:06]:

Saboteur. That's what I. I teach it. I mean, I've got four different kinds of saboteurs to look for, but the yes man is.

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Angelo Esposito [00:35:13]:

Yeah, let's. Let's talk. Yeah, no, it's funny. I love. Well, now that we swore, let's go into it because we, you know, dealing with so many restaurants at Whiskey, it's something we see. Thankfully not the majority of the time, but every once in a while it's like, man, we get that saboteur. And you nailed it. This the scary part.

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Angelo Esposito [00:35:29]:

I'm curious to know the other three, but I've definitely seen the yes man of absolutely absolute. And then it's. They don't want to put the recipes in. And then, you know, the variance looks.

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David Scott Peters [00:35:38]:

But those are the yes people. They give you positives. They're like your best employee. They show. I'm the best employee employee. Well, you got the other people that are really easy. You've got the thieves which are literally stealing time from you by delaying the process or have to fight the change because they really are stealing from you. I put this in place.

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David Scott Peters [00:35:56]:

You're going to see I'm taking brisket out the back door like this. I need to fight this as long as possible. You've got the complainers. We don't have time for that. We've tried that in the past. They don't understand our restaurant's different. What do you serve with a limp? You know, you know, so it. They present themselves differently, but the fact of the matter is they all have one common goal and it's to stop the process.

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David Scott Peters [00:36:23]:

Yeah, they are working to stop the process.

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Angelo Esposito [00:36:26]:

I'm happy because hearing this from someone with your experience, I've seen it. I've been doing it maybe 10 years now, maybe a bit over, but you doing it for close to 40. It's nice to hear because sometimes you're like, am I crazy? Am I? And then it's. It's nice to hear like, okay, these things do, do exist, you know, and I'm going to.

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David Scott Peters [00:36:43]:

I'm going to tell you right now. I know who your customers. I work with them and I used to have software. And the fact of the matter is there's probably 10% of your users that I'm going to call power users. They are rock and roll and they are ideal. The actual product usage. When they. Every core, when they give you a system request, you're like, yes, let's put it on the board.

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David Scott Peters [00:37:05]:

This is one of my best people are going to get it done. But there's a whole slew that only use like one thing, two things sporadically, and they buy insurance. And it's scary because when you put the systems in place, the power is unbelievable. Like, I'd go, I have never used your interface, but I can tell you same stuff. And the fact of the matter is, I put it in place blind and realized that I could save three to seven points to my bottom line like that if I use the damn systems. Yes, because Most restaurants operate 7 to 9 points above their ideal cost. No waste, no theft, no spoilage. Following recipes perfectly based on what the customers actually order.

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David Scott Peters [00:37:47]:

Man, you start to pay attention to your product. It is amazing how all of a sudden people don't over order, they don't overuse. When they start to see the misguided use of Lurch and his big hand, they start using portion controls. And all of a sudden you operate like a business. And the beautiful part is a lot of what people think when they get your software is, I'm going to make money, I'm going to save money. I'm going to save money. Do you know that if you put the recipe cards in and you put in all these other controls, your dishes are going out more consistent, which you're going to build business. Because customers come back and they know we can't expect to see the same dish every single time.

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David Scott Peters [00:38:29]:

Not it's spicy one day, it's not the other. Not it's a big portion one day, it's a small portion, it's the same. And it's that consistency that all of a sudden builds your business because that's where the most of your regulars come in. They don't even look at the menu anymore. They just order the thing they love.

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Angelo Esposito [00:38:45]:

That makes sense. That makes sense. And it's funny because I feel like restaurants are more aware of like how much, you know, change in percentage points, whether it's food costs or beverage costs can. Or just cost of goods in general can affect the business for us specifically, we saw people being more aware of it post Covet because I guess, you know, everyone shut down and looking at their inventory. So people became a lot more aware. But it's like sometimes I have to remind people, like, you know, a lot of our customers do well over a million a year. But I even just take that as for simple math, I'm like, look, you're doing a million a year. A 5% improvement on your COGS is 50,000.

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Angelo Esposito [00:39:22]:

Yeah, it's $50,000, right? Like it's, it's A bit. And that's bottom line. Meaning it's not $50,000 of revenue. It's even, you know, in that sense. Right.

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David Scott Peters [00:39:30]:

So the biggest thing needs to happen, this is what I teach my members. It is critical to what we do. I, in fact I say it's the most important thing we'll ever do together is we create our budget for you based on your trailing twelve months. If you operate the same way, then we say what systems are we going to put in place, how quickly to achieve new numbers. Now it's a proactive plan. Without that plan, we don't know where our food costs should be. We don't know where our labor costs should be by position. Because all of a sudden there's, there's this term called prime cost.

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David Scott Peters [00:40:00]:

To an old timer like me, it was called controllable expenses in control of management. How we hire, fire, train, utilize our people, purchase product. Utilize a product, prime cost. Well, if you're $850,000 year more business, your target used to be 65%. For my members, since I've been doing this, it's 55. And the reason being is we have tech stacks now we've got costs that are going through the roof from food costs, rising, poor costs, rising labor, minimum wages, the roof our occupant sauce is going, occupant costs are going through the roof. So we've got to become more efficient. So 55% if you're under, it'd be 60, under 850.

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David Scott Peters [00:40:41]:

Well all of a sudden when we manage that, if I'm in California and I've got now fast food restaurants in Los Angeles are $22 an hour going to 25 I think. Right. Well, guess what, my food costs gonna have to be 20 or sub 20s. But I could be in Atlanta, Georgia where we still have a tip credit. I got service at $2.13 an hour. I could run the old 34% food cost and still make money. So you've got to know based on your location, your price point, your style of service, your quality product, your core values, where your prime cost should be. Because you could have higher labor costs, lower right cost of goods sold, vice versa.

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David Scott Peters [00:41:21]:

So we've got to start with the budget so we have the right KPIs. What key performance indicators. What is my target food cost? Bottle beer, draft beer, wine, liquor, nab based on its sales mix and then my labor by position. Now we're running a business, we're not just shooting from the hip and our gut. So now when I use Your software. I not only have an ideal and an actual from the software, but I have a budgeted target to shoot for. And that's, this is not the 34% you grab from a freaking magazine article or saw somebody quote the NRA show like what is your food cost supposed to be? And it goes. It's a much bigger story.

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Angelo Esposito [00:42:02]:

Yeah, well said, well said. And obviously over the years I can't, I can't even imagine how many clients you help, but I'd always like to maybe highlight. Is there a success story? I'm sure there's a lot. But is there one that comes to mind or a favorite one that comes to mind that was able to apply your strategies and you can kind of share?

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David Scott Peters [00:42:18]:

Well, that's a tough one because I've literally worked with thousands of restaurant owners and their managers.

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Angelo Esposito [00:42:22]:

It's hard to pay.

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David Scott Peters [00:42:23]:

So I can tell you more more recently.

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Angelo Esposito [00:42:27]:

Sure, sure.

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David Scott Peters [00:42:28]:

I have a member who had become one of my member mentors now in my program, a member that helps other members. Daisha Wakefield.

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Angelo Esposito [00:42:38]:

Okay.

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David Scott Peters [00:42:38]:

She was a schoolteacher, husband's a cpa. They had a dream to open up a tasting room for brewing beer and distributing and they bought a wood fired pizza to have pizza an oven. So that's it. Well, they've grown into a several million dollar a year business. Seasonal. They are crushing it. But she went from being a schoolteacher wrapped into the business where their food cost was out of control, their labor cost in off season because it kept every employed, robbed them all their profitability and now loves her numbers, has a full management team in place, opened a second restaurant and does not require to be in either one of them any point in time and are running a, I believe in season about a 50% prime cost out of season, about a 55 to 58 depending where it is. But they're going to end their year on budget.

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David Scott Peters [00:43:32]:

And this is somebody who said I don't know numbers. That's my husband just was a great trainer, a great manager of people and not a restaurant person. Yes, she grew up in the business on and off. But the fact of the matter is stellar and it just shows how important budgets and systems are because this woman rocks and rolls like I, I, she was at my seminar just last week, brought her a couple of her managers, we call it drinking the Kool Aid to get them to buy in. And I kept, I kept giving her kudos and you could tell she was embarrassed she didn't want the kudos. But she's a rock star and that's the beautiful part about systems, you know, whether it's your system, whether it's a training system or counting out a bar drawer, it's a system. You master these things, man. Running a restaurant is much easier to lead, much easier to get your numbers, much easier to be profitable.

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Angelo Esposito [00:44:26]:

Well said. Well said. One definitely we're going to plug. I want people to be able to find you that don't know you already, but to our audience to be able to find all that. So we'll do all those plugs, but one last one for you. To all our restaurant operators listening, what's maybe, and this might be a little generic, but what's your go to advice for restaurant operators listening in who generally just feel completely overwhelmed? Where can they start?

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David Scott Peters [00:44:49]:

To start is on themselves. There is, you know, something called mindset. There's a growth mindset and a fixed mindset. And I need you to pull yourself up by your bootstraps. We'll talk about that. But a growth mindset person is different from a fixed mindset. Fixed mindset says, the government screwing me, My vendors are screwing me, my employees are idiots, all my customers are Karens. Like, it's never your fault.

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David Scott Peters [00:45:12]:

All these things happening to you are somebody else's fault. From Horizon Food costs, labor, and so on. The growth mindset person says, man, all these challenges are coming, but I can outwork it, I can out learn it, I can outspend it. I will find a way to get over this as a speed bump, not a wall that stops and be dead in the track. So you've got to find yourself, your inner self and go, I've got to find the positive outlook of what I do. What are the positive things? What are my wins? Don't focus on the negative. What did we do? Well, hey, we grew a business from nothing, you know, to $800,000. Like, that's a win.

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David Scott Peters [00:45:48]:

So starting with your mindset, because I can't work with you or a fixed mindset, nor will you look for me, but growth mindset, the other is this as an entrepreneur, and I think, Angela, you can, you can probably agree with me on this. There are days as an entrepreneur, especially as a restaurant operator, that the shit hits the fan that you like. You are just so down, like somebody kicked you in the gut and goes, ah, this is horrible. You feel bad about yourself in the restaurant business. What you could, you do all the debauchery. You could drink yourself to sleep, eat yourself to sleep, do whatever badness that you do, feel sorry, cry, do whatever. That's okay, we're humans. What you do the next day defines you.

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David Scott Peters [00:46:30]:

If you let that feeling go to two days, which goes to three days, which goes to a week, to a month, to a year, you're never leading your business out of the hole. You're always going to be a prisoner to it. You're always, always going to have a great cloud over your head. So you have to say, I can and I will make the changes necessary in my business to be the leader I need to be now.

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Angelo Esposito [00:46:51]:

Well said. And yeah, I'm sure you've lived that. I've lived it. There's roller coaster of a ride, owning a business. The highs are highs, the lows are extra low. But you're right, like sometimes it's not even about fighting the feeling, but just own it for one day. But then get back on the horse and like, you know, like, I'll take it. Today was horrible because X, Y.

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Angelo Esposito [00:47:08]:

But then you're right, it's how fast you get back on the horse because. Because it's a slippery slope. And, and I do find that like, you're absolutely right. Like, if you stay, if you dwell on something too long, it, it gets progressively harder to get it. To get.

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David Scott Peters [00:47:20]:

Doesn't mean it doesn't suck. Doesn't mean it's not going to be easy. Yeah, it means you have to believe that there is a solution. Go find it.

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Angelo Esposito [00:47:27]:

Yes. Well said. This is awesome. And I, I could talk to you for hours, but we're going to post this obviously on YouTube, on our, on our podcast channels. We even turn this into a weekly newsletter we give out where you kind of take away some key takeaways from the each episode. So there'll be some good ones here from the, from the four types of. What's the word to use?

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David Scott Peters [00:47:46]:

Saboteurs.

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Angelo Esposito [00:47:47]:

The saboteurs. And there'll be a bunch of good stuff, so that'll be great. But for people who want to find you, people are looking for help. I'd love for you to just plug away. We'll put the links, but just, you know, people listening. If you want to share, you know, website, YouTube channels, LinkedIn, whatever, there's an.

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David Scott Peters [00:48:02]:

Awful lot of places you can find free information from me. You can buy my book, Restaurant Prosperity Formula. What successful restaurateurs do found in all popular booksellers. But Amazon has it. You can come visiting my YouTube channel. David Scott Peters. You can listen to my podcast, Restaurant Prosperity Formula. You can go to my website, davidscottpeters.com there's a blog there there's so many different ways to get free information from me that you can circle for years.

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David Scott Peters [00:48:29]:

But if ever you want to learn, make sure you click on the link to learn more about what we do. We're not right for everybody. I just like to think we are.

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Angelo Esposito [00:48:37]:

I love that. Well, once again, you're listening to David Scott Peters, restaurant expert and coach. Thanks for joining us, David. It was a wealth of knowledge. I appreciate you being on the show.

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David Scott Peters [00:48:46]:

My pleasure. Thanks so much.

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Angelo Esposito [00:48:47]:

If you want to learn more about WISK, head to WISK AI and book a demo.

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