I visited a new place in town the other night with my dear wife.  I like going to new places (who doesn’t), seeing what’s happening in town, watching the different approaches to the same old business.

I love this most of all

My favorite part of going into a new restaurant has to be the positive energy.  Everyone is so excited to be working there.  So proud of where they work.  This place that I visited had stolen quite a big handful of employees from many of my favorite haunts in town–a practice that is common in the restaurant industry.  That’s okay. 

It was great to see.  Front of the house employees respecting and getting along with back of the house employees.  Back of the house employees patient and eager to help front of the house employees with any questions or problems that come up.  Complete Shangri-la.  Eden.  Paradise.  Every restaurant employers (and employees) dream.

How can we keep it that way?

So, the question remains:  How can we make sure it stays this way?  A good question.  Inevitably things are going to decline on this front.  Servers are going to get frustrated on slow nights, line cooks are going to grow tired of answering the same old questions, bartenders are going to get sick of line cooks, who earlier were completely unapproachable about a customer issue, now demanding their earned shift drink and taking up bar stools from actual paying customers.

We must fight

Therefore it is imperative that we combat this forgone conclusion.  Continue to make it the expectation that you are all in this together, and therefore must not tolerate the negativity that ultimately creeps in.  Again, it starts with you.  You need to remain a positive force.

You need to be the cheerleader

It is important that you are not sucked down the path of crabbiness.  Stay positive.  Do your best to keep your staff from heading down that road.  Remember:  It starts with you.