Too much force will backfire. Constant interventions and instigations will not make a good group. They will spoil a group. The best group process is delicate. It cannot be pushed around. It cannot be argued over or won in a fight. The leader who tries to control the group through force does not understand group…

Last week, I was invited to present at Radio City Music Hall as motivational speaker for 400 new team members during the annual kickoff meeting for the Christmas Spectacular! I had spent the week in New York conducting Service refresher training courses for the seasoned veterans of Radio City Music Hall. I am so honored…

Here’s your chance to get involved in the NEXT BIG THING in the culinary world—Rival! If you’ve ever watched competitive cooking shows on television like Iron Chef, Top Chef, Chopped or MasterChef and wished you could taste the food and be the judge, this is the experience for you. Rival is an interactive culinary extravaganza!…

Growing up in a lower-middle class family on the wrong side of the tracks, there was no spare money for non-essentials. So, at 8 years old, I started selling seed packages door-to-door in the spring and Christmas card packages in the winter. I also had a paper route, babysat and even went door-to-door and offered…

As a restaurateur and operator, I was always focused on costs, control and expense reduction. But I got an incredible lesson from Jeffrey Chodorow one night. We opened rumjungle and it was a smashing success. It was definitely the busiest nightclub in Las Vegas, and arguably the country, when we opened in 1999. After our first…

One of my biggest frustrations involves restaurants that are difficult to maintain. Once you’ve laid out your grand vision on paper and purchased the wood, glass, metal and drywall to turn it into a reality, it will need maintenance. Design flaws can hinder that maintenance, leading to small problems that can result in a run-down…

The design of a restaurant can affect the product, atmosphere and the hospitality provided by your staff. Whatever the designer creates, you have to live with that. That’s why, even though form is important, it can never be at the expense of function. If the food line is positioned too far from the dining area,…

My Trust 3 partners and I were recently hired to consult for a brand new nightclub in Dallas, Texas. In speaking with the owners of the club, I learned that they had previously hired a consultant, but that consultant was unable to deliver the items promised. The nightclub owners were coming up on zoning deadlines…