People Book
3055 Hire for Friction Not Fit
Last Updated: August 3, 2026The candidate who made you comfortable in the interview is not necessarily the right hire. Culture fit has become the restaurant industry's most expensive hiring shortcut. Not because it started wrong — it began as a values proxy, a way to protect what the building stood for against people who would corrode it. That instinct...
3060 The Standard Does Not Negotiate
Last Updated: August 3, 2026Operator's Playbook | Casting arc | Insert candidate Status: DRAFT Never lower your standard so a mediocre applicant can raise theirs. That trade feels practical in the moment — the shift needs covering, the calendar is full, the alternative is going short. It is not practical. It is expensive. The cast member hired below standard...
3100 The Four As of Employee Engagement
Last Updated: August 3, 2026You hire people to achieve outcomes — namely growth. You don't just hire them to create and manage inputs: take orders, push buttons, run food. If that's all you expect from the people on your cast, that's exactly what you'll get. And it will cost you everything. There are three levels of staff. The engaged...
3095 FUNDAMENTAL 3 PEOPLE
Last Updated: August 3, 2026The restaurant industry has a talent competition happening at every level, every day, in every market. Most operators aren't aware they're in it until they lose someone to it. Poaching is the word the industry uses when a competitor recruits one of your people. It carries a connotation of aggression, of theft, of disloyalty. Strip...
3090 Theyre Not Your Family Theyre Your Cast
Last Updated: August 3, 2026It's one of the most common things an operator says about their people. "We're like a family here." It's said with genuine warmth. It comes from a real place — the operator who stayed late with their people, who celebrated their milestones, who showed up when things got hard. The relationship is real. The care...
3085 The Family Hire
Last Updated: August 3, 2026I've hired mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, cousins, brothers and sisters. Some of the best hires I've ever seen came as a pair. Some of the worst did too. The relationship is irrelevant. That's the point. Most operators walk into a family hire already decided. Either they're excited — it's someone they trust, someone...
3080 The Interview Process Is a First Impression
Last Updated: August 3, 2026The way you hire tells a candidate everything about how you value people — before they've worked a single shift. A hiring process that takes a week sends a message. The candidate who walks in motivated, ready to talk, and interested in what you're building is a different person after they've filled out a three-page...
3075 Stop Asking Goofy Questions
Last Updated: August 3, 2026Before we talk about what to ask, let's talk about what to stop asking. Behavioral interviewing — the "Tell me about a time when…" format — is one of the most widely used and least effective hiring practices in this industry. Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a difficult person....
3070 A Level Talent
Last Updated: August 3, 2026There is a category of cast member that changes the operation simply by being in it. Not because of their title. Not because of their tenure. Because of their standard — the way they show up, the way they execute, the way they make everyone around them better without being asked to. The Guest experience...
3065 The 180 Number
Last Updated: August 3, 2026Operator's Playbook | Casting arc | Insert candidate Status: DRAFT Run the math. One cast member. A standard four-top section — 16 seats. Two turns a shift. Thirty-two Guests. Multiply that by the number of shifts they work in a week and you have the weekly reach of one hiring decision. Now multiply by your...