How I built the number one new restaurant in America | Aaron Silverman | TEDxMidAtlantic
Summary
TLDRThe speaker recounts their journey of opening a restaurant, emphasizing the importance of hiring the right people over skills. They highlight the restaurant's rapid success, attributing it to their talented and passionate staff. The speaker shares insights on hiring for desire over experience and creating an environment that attracts and retains top talent, ultimately concluding that they are in the 'people business' rather than just the restaurant industry.
Takeaways
- 🚀 The speaker opened a restaurant with no prior experience and faced the challenge of convincing people to work in an industry known for high turnover rates.
- 🤝 They partnered with a close friend who shared similar ideas and beliefs about restaurants and people, highlighting the importance of alignment in values.
- 👥 They built a team of 25 people, many of whom remain with the restaurant, emphasizing the significance of a strong and loyal team.
- 🏆 The restaurant quickly gained recognition, being named the best new restaurant in America by Bon Appétit and GQ magazine, showcasing the impact of a dedicated team.
- 🍽️ The speaker believes that their success is 100% due to their employees, who are talented, ambitious, caring, passionate, and well-dressed.
- 👨🍳 As a chef, the speaker reminds the staff that food is only 40% of their service, indicating the importance of the overall dining experience.
- 🤔 The speaker questioned what made their restaurant different and concluded that it was their people, not just the food or service, that led to their success.
- 🧐 The speaker suggests that the quality of a business's product or service is a direct result of the people who create and deliver it, underlining the role of employees in business success.
- 📝 Hiring practices are crucial; the restaurant looks for people with the right attitude and desire, not just skills, as skills can be taught, but care and passion cannot.
- 🌟 The restaurant's hiring process de-emphasizes resumes and focuses on references and personal fit, valuing personality and attitude over past experience.
- 🌱 The restaurant has created an environment that attracts great people, reducing turnover and making hiring a less challenging process.
- 🙌 The speaker concludes that they are in the 'people industry' rather than the restaurant industry, as their success is driven by the people they have gathered.
Q & A
What was the speaker's initial concern when deciding to open a restaurant?
-The speaker's initial concern was how to convince anyone to come work with them, especially considering the restaurant industry's notorious high turnover rate.
Who did the speaker reach out to for help in starting the restaurant?
-The speaker reached out to one of their oldest and closest friends, who shared the same ideas and beliefs about both restaurants and people.
How many people joined the team when the restaurant was first established?
-Initially, 25 people joined the team when the restaurant was first established.
What recognition did the restaurant receive within its first year?
-Within its first year, the restaurant was named the best new restaurant in America by both Bon Appétit and GQ magazine.
What does the speaker attribute the restaurant's success to?
-The speaker attributes the restaurant's success to their talented, ambitious, caring, passionate, and well-dressed employees.
What percentage of the restaurant's success does the speaker attribute to the food?
-The speaker attributes 40% of the restaurant's success to the food.
What did the speaker initially think the restaurant industry was about?
-The speaker initially thought the restaurant industry was about serving good food and providing good service.
How has the speaker's perspective on the restaurant industry changed over time?
-The speaker's perspective changed from thinking they were in the restaurant industry to realizing they were in the hospitality industry, and ultimately to being in the people business.
What is the speaker's philosophy on hiring practices?
-The speaker believes in hiring people based on their desire and personality rather than solely on their skills or experience, as skills can be taught but not everyone can be inspired to care.
What is the speaker's approach to retaining great employees?
-The speaker focuses on creating a great environment that people want to be a part of, prioritizing the employees as the main stakeholders and the core of the business.
How has the restaurant's approach to hiring affected its staff turnover?
-The restaurant's approach has resulted in a low staff turnover, with many of the original team members still working there four years later, and new, talented employees seeking to join the team.
Outlines
🍽️ Building a Restaurant Team with Heart
The speaker reflects on the journey of opening a restaurant four years ago, emphasizing the importance of assembling a dedicated team. Despite being inexperienced, they sought help from a close friend who shared their values. Together, they built a team of 25 people, many of whom remain with the restaurant today. The speaker credits the success of the restaurant to the talented and passionate staff, who have contributed to its recognition by Bon Appetit and GQ as the best new restaurant in America. The speaker also discusses the realization that their business is in the hospitality industry, focusing on making guests feel good, and not just serving food. They conclude that it's the people who make a business great, highlighting the employees as the key to their success.
🛠️ Hiring Practices and Cultivating a Supportive Environment
In this paragraph, the speaker delves into the hiring practices that have contributed to the restaurant's success. They emphasize looking for people with the right attitude and desire to work with the team, rather than just the necessary skills. The speaker shares that they no longer rely on resumes, instead focusing on personal references to understand the character of potential hires. They highlight the importance of creating an environment that attracts and retains great people, treating employees as the core stakeholders of the business. The speaker proudly states that they no longer need to search for talent; instead, it comes to them. They share anecdotes about staff members who started with little to no experience but have since become integral parts of the team, illustrating the power of a positive and supportive work environment.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Restaurant Business
💡Turnover Rate
💡Team Building
💡Hospitality
💡People Business
💡Employee Retention
💡Hiring Practices
💡Desire
💡References
💡Stakeholders
💡Success
Highlights
The speaker decided to open a restaurant without prior experience, emphasizing the importance of seeking help.
The concern over the restaurant industry's high staff turnover rate and the challenge of retaining staff was highlighted.
The speaker's approach to building a team with the help of a close friend who shared the same beliefs about restaurants and people.
The successful growth of the team from 25 to 64 staff members within the first year.
Recognition from Bon Appetit and GQ magazine as the best new restaurant in America.
The ongoing popularity of the restaurant, with people lining up before opening for a seat.
The belief that success is 100% due to the employees' talent, ambition, care, passion, and presentation.
The chef's perspective that food only accounts for 40% of the restaurant's success, with people being the key.
The realization that the restaurant business is more about hospitality than just serving food.
The idea that the end goal is to make guests feel good, using food and service as tools.
The acknowledgment of the importance of people in creating and delivering products and services in a business.
The hiring practice of looking for great people with the right attitude rather than specific skills or experience.
The decision to not rely on resumes and instead focus on references to understand a candidate's character.
The success of the hiring strategy, with some staff members having no restaurant experience but excelling in their roles.
The creation of an environment that attracts and retains great people, leading to a decrease in turnover.
The shift in perspective from being in the restaurant industry to being in the people industry.
The speaker's humility in acknowledging that the success of the restaurant is due to the staff, not themselves.
Transcripts
about four years ago I decided to open a
restaurant I had no idea what I was
doing or where to begin all I knew was
that I was going to need help and a lot
of it in fact that was my biggest
concern at the time how would I ever
convince anyone to come work with me and
with the restaurant industries notorious
turnover rate how would I get them to
stay for my own personal experience I'd
seen restaurants turnover staff anywhere
from two to five times in as little as
the first six months so I reached out to
one of my oldest and closest friends and
asked for help he wasn't in the
restaurant business at the time but I
knew he was the right man for the job
when it came to restaurants we share the
same ideas and beliefs but more
importantly the same was true when it
came to people so back in 2011 we set
out and began to build our team one by
one we found 25 other people willing to
join us many of whom are still with us
today four years later and if you've
ever worked in the restaurant industry
you know restaurant years are like dog
years every everyone feels like seven so
fast forward to today we're about to
turn two years old
we've gone from 27 to 64 staff members
in our first year both bone Appetit and
GQ magazine named us best new restaurant
in America and to this day
and to this day people still line up
outside the restaurant before we open
hoping to get a seat
so how did we get here and how did we do
so in such a short period of time I can
honestly say that it is 100% due to our
employees our talented ambitious caring
passionate and well-dressed employees
that was New Year's Eve as a chef it's
strange to say this but I often remind
our staff that our food only accounts
for 40% of what we do sure we have to
nail 39 and a half percent of it but at
the end of the day our success is
dependent upon our people if there's one
thing that I've learned over the past
four years it's that we're not in the
restaurant business we're in the people
business so let's go back to when we
opened I thought we had a pretty good
chance that we'd be at least somewhat
successful I mean we had good food good
service good atmosphere and we were
charging a pretty fair price and when we
opened we were a hit we even made a
profit in our first month mind you it
was only about $750 but for restaurants
that's actually pretty good but as time
went on I started to think maybe we
weren't really in the restaurant
industry I started to think maybe we
were in the hospitality industry I mean
our end goal was not to serve good food
or provide good service our end goal was
to make guests feel good our food our
service those were just the tools we use
to make the people happy
they were the means to our end so as the
praise in the awards continued I started
to wonder was there something more that
was helping us achieve such success I
mean other people had obviously figured
out that the restaurant industry wasn't
about serving food it was about
hospitality Danny Meyer even wrote a New
York Times bestseller about it so why
were we receiving such unusually large
bounce of praise after asking myself
what made us different I realized it
wasn't our food or our service it wasn't
even our hospitality it was our people
our people were the reason we had been
so successful think about it
what makes a business great very simply
it's the quality of the product or the
service they provide but who creates
those products and services it's the
people who work there
it's the housekeeper who cleans the
house it's the designer who creates the
logo and it's the coffee roaster who
roast the beans it's those people that
make a business great it's those people
that make a business a product or
service what it is and the same is true
for a restaurant the food the service
the decor those are just the products
that our restaurant sells but it's the
people who work there that create and
deliver those products a restaurant
needs good chefs to conceptualise create
and execute its dishes it needs good
bartenders to create delicious cocktails
in these gracious hosts to welcome the
guests and it needs friendly servers to
take care of them
throughout the night so the question
becomes how do you find these people and
once you do how do you keep them first
have really great hiring practices it
doesn't matter what business you're in
you need to know exactly what you're
looking for but more importantly you
need to know what you're not looking for
for example when we're hiring we always
keep in mind that we're looking for
people not positions we're looking for
great people to join our team not great
people to complete a specific task we
don't look for people who have the
necessary skills we look for people who
have the necessary desire and what I
mean by that is we look for people who
have a strong desire to work with us
anyone can be taught a skill or a task
but not just anyone can be inspired to
care we don't hire people because they
can do a job
we hire people because they want to do a
job and those people are always worth
ten times more than someone with solely
great experience we don't look at
resumes we listen to references a resume
can tell you where someone's worked and
how long they've worked there but what
it can't tell you is what kind of person
they are to be honest we don't we
haven't really looked at a resume in
almost two years and so far we haven't
regret that decision once in fact quite
the opposite
some of our most successful staff
members had whittled to no restaurant
experience when they started for example
one of our front-of-the-house managers
started as an unpaid intern almost a
year ago with no restaurant experience
and today she's second-in-command of the
restaurant and a huge part of managing
our daily operations we look for people
not positions we look for incredible
people from all walks of life we look
for great personalities and attitudes
but in order to get these people you
have to create an environment that they
want to be in an environment that
they're attracted to a place that they
want to go every day we always put our
people first
they are your main stakeholders they are
the core of your business more so than
your customers or even your investors
and in fact if ever there was a secret
to attracting and retaining great people
that's it we all know the expression a
good help is hard to find but it's just
not true in fact it's easy to find
what's hard to find is a good
environment and I like to think of our
business as proof we no longer have to
go out looking for these incredible
people anymore they come looking for us
turnover is no longer an issue yeah in
our first year we lost like three to
five of our opening staff but we also
gained 37 new team members in fact today
we have the opposite problem we have too
many people that we want to hire so
every once in a while I find myself in
this funny situation where I'll have a
guest come up to me and say thank you so
much for an incredible meal and I always
say no thank you for coming that I'll
often respond I don't know why you're
thanking me I didn't do anything I
didn't take your order I didn't greet
you at the door
I didn't cook your steak and I didn't
pour your wine in fact I had nothing to
do with your meal
and every time I say that it reminds me
that we that our business is nothing
without the great people that we've
collected it reminds me that these
people are the key to our success so if
you asked me two years ago what industry
I'm in I tell you the restaurant
industry but if you ask me today I tell
you I'm in the people industry it just
so happens I work in a restaurant thank
you
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