August 19, 2022 • 30 mins
Jim Taylor of Benchmark Sixty and Adam Lamb discuss the #hustleculture of our industry, and while it might have made most food and beverage operations more efficient, it may have come at the cost of staff safety and retention.
Turning the Table Is the most progressive weekly podcast for today's food and beverage industry, featuring staff-centric operating solutions for restaurants in the #newhospitalityculture.
Join Jim Taylor of Benchmark Sixty and Adam Lamb as they "turn the tables" on the prevailing operating assumptions of running a restaurant in favor of innovative solutions to our industry's most persistent challenges.
Sponsored by Benchmark Sixty Restaurant Services
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Adam Lamb (00:05):
Welcome back to our hashtag lunchbox live stream
here at turning the table.
This is episode three, and we're gonnabe discussing the hustle culture.
I'm here with good friend, Jim Taylorof benchmark 60 and is always turning
the table is sponsored by benchmark 60.
So yeah, of course wewould have him, right.
Jim Taylor (00:24):
morning.
How's it going?
Well, I guess afternoon, ifyou're in the east, right,
Adam Lamb (00:27):
exactly.
Yeah.
We cover all time zones here.
We do.
And so for those of you, this is thefirst time that you're actually seeing
this we broadcast live every Thursdayat noon and we're doing it on linked.
YouTube and on Facebook.
And the whole idea is staffcentric, hashtag operating solutions
(00:49):
for today's restaurant tours.
And we speak to a lot of peoplein the restaurant industry.
Don't
Jim Taylor (00:55):
we time.
Yeah, everybody.
I mean, had a conversation with a guyin a cafeteria the other day had a
discussion with a senior living personlast week, you know, the hotel part of
the industry, you and I were chattinga lot about the hotel side of things
the other day mm-hmm you know,mainstream restaurant QSR, full service.
I mean, you name it.
Yeah.
Adam Lamb (01:13):
Yeah.
And it's funny cause I'm not gonnado that because I'm gonna get an echo.
You know, every, you know, it's so funny.
It's no news that everybody's trying to,this is something I found on the web.
Holy crap is a food brand.
Can I answer your question?
Thank you, echo.
Yes, it did.
holy crap is a food brand.
(01:34):
Wow.
That's amazing.
Just mute him while I'm at it.
Little echo down herein the dish pit studios.
So it's no news to anybody that they'redoing less or doing more with less.
Which kind of backs into our conversationtoday about the hustle culture.
Yeah.
And how that's actually killingthe restaurant industry right now.
(01:57):
Well,
Jim Taylor (01:58):
I think it's always been killing the restaurant industry.
It's just front and centerall of a sudden, right.
I was re I don't know.
I was, I think I sentyou some of the stuff.
I was reading some stats the otherday from restaurants, Canada, but
I'm sure it's the same in the us.
We're close to that.
There was an unbelievably low numberof restaurants compared to what I
assumed that have actually increasedpeople's pay this year, but it
(02:19):
was almost 80% of restaurants areactually asking their people to work
more hours than they already were.
Before I talked to someoneyesterday, she told me at 108 hours
on her last two week pay period.
What I mean that's not sustainable, right?
Adam Lamb (02:33):
Crazy.
No, no, it's not.
And I know that everybody's in thiscrunch where they can't find good help
or so they say they can't find good.
. Yeah, I just did a post this morningabout, you know, the folks that
are complaining that they can't getqualified staff are probably the
same people who are still tryingto hold onto their wage levels.
Mm-hmm from pre pandemic they'reresistant to trying to add any
(02:56):
benefit packages because theycan't accurate calculate the ROI.
Like how the hell is that gonnaactually help us in the long run?
And someone responded to the post.
Yeah.
It's, it's weird how people are resistantto trying to do anything to better.
The lot of their associates, which tome, just, just shocking mm-hmm and
(03:18):
I don't wanna make anybody wrong,but you know, typically those are the
operators that nobody wants to work for.
So they're actually,they're actually right.
You are right on the money.
Nobody wants to work for.
If you are not going to do somethingoutside of the box, and we've been
exploring all kinds of things thatpeople have been talking about,
(03:39):
but in so far as increasing benefitpackages without necessarily
getting kicked in the bottom line.
But why don't you talk for abit about what your experience of
the hustle culture was when youwere actively managing meeting?
Jim Taylor (03:58):
I was, I think, you know, I was really lucky to work for a really
cool, really innovative, really growthfocused, you know, front and center
in the industry in Western Canada.
Well, Canada in general, I was reallylucky to work for a great company.
But, you know, the interestingthing, looking back now, even some
of the things that we did and we, webelieved and they still do believe
(04:20):
in taking really good care of people.
Good benefits, packaging, you know,good reward and recognition, good
compensation, all of that stuff.
The people that worked there aresome of, you know, they, they get
really well taken care of in terms ofindustry standard, but there was still
this like underlying hustle culturethat was kind of never spoken about.
But if you didn't followit, it, you just sort.
(04:43):
Who weren't successful.
And you know, the thing that I always,and, and I looking back, I was guilty
of this too, but the thing that I alwaysthink about is we use this term resiliency
all the time with our people and said,you know, people who are resilient get
promoted and people who are resilientmove forward in this organization.
And, you know, I would say not topick on that organization, but it's
about the industry in general, peoplewho are resilient have opportunity
(05:06):
and move forward and grow and getpromoted and get a raise and all these.
What the, what our industry's reallysaying by that though, you know,
looking back now is not who's resilient.
It's who doesn't complain, whojust their head down works, who
just goes in on their day off.
Who does their admin at home?
You know, I remember I used to write allof the, the one that sticks out to me or
(05:29):
something I was thinking of this morning.
I used to write all of my schedules whenI was a general manager for December.
I would write the wholemonth's schedule at once.
Right.
Because I wanted to, my goal was thatI wanted to make sure that my team had
the ability to plan around the holidays.
Right.
They either worked new year's or theyworked Christmas, or they worked boxing
day, or they worked new year's day.
You know, like we triedto get that stuff out.
(05:50):
But looking back at the resiliencething, well, I took one whole
weekend cuz I didn't have timeto do it within my work hours.
I took one of my whole weekendswith a couple of bottles of wine
and sat there and wrote schedulesfor like 12 hours straight.
and, you know, looking back at it now,I'm like, okay, so this was good for the,
(06:12):
the team probably, but I burnt myselfout in one of the busiest times of the
year, you know, trying to do that stuff.
So I think it's just, you know, thisresiliency concept in our industry,
we need to find a way to reframethat because people are just.
Condition then it's, you know, youand I have talked about this badge of
honor thing, put your head down andgo, and it's just not sustainable.
Adam Lamb (06:33):
Yeah.
I'm glad you bring up the badge ofhonor thing because it's this it's this
veneration of, of not, not just hardwork, but really abusing yourself in
order to support whatever version of you.
You want to promote to your employersor to your friends or whatever.
(06:55):
And I have to think that looking backat my career, that I was my own worst
enemy, you know, I was the one that wasactually promoting the hustle culture
and this idea that, you know, you'regonna go in there and you're gonna.
You're gonna do the best thing.
And then using that to train, shame andcondition, everybody around me, mm-hmm
(07:17):
and very often it's not anything thatyou say, but it's just like, if there's
a tight relationship, you know, a lot ofemotional capital that's been put into
that piggy bank between you and yourstaff, as soon as they start shift, see
you shift, then all of a sudden theyall kind of fall back because they're
all taking their emotional cues fromus as, as supervisors and leaders.
Mm-hmm , which is what.
(07:39):
Consider to be one like job one for us isto get rid of that whole hustle culture.
Like if we're planned properly and whatI mean planned properly, we're also
planning for things to go sideways.
You know, that the shipments are cominglate or that we're getting MIS picks
on our orders or what, whatever that is.
(08:00):
We plan that into our day ofaction so that there's no stress.
so that there's no hustle.
Like one of my favorite examples is thehealth inspector is at the back door.
So everybody starts scrambling.
Like everybody's got prearranged ordersof what they're gonna do, do, do, do
do, but it's this mad scramble to, tohave everything in perfect condition
(08:22):
for when the health inspector comes in.
When in fact that should beyour operating standard anyway.
Yeah.
So that there is no hustle and if it's notcoming from us, then no one else is gonna,
no one else is gonna do that for us.
So you know, we've got a couple peoplefrom all over the world watching us today.
We've got Stanley from Tanzania Africa.
We've got John stable for, fromthe UK who says he is loving.
(08:45):
So John , which is awesome because Asthis reach widens, you know, again, one
of these things about our lunchbox livestream is to get a couple actionable items
from our discussion so that folks canturn around, go back into their operation
and start affecting change right away.
Mm-hmm because culturehappens from the ground up.
(09:06):
It's all elbow to elbow.
It's nothing that comes out of abox or a, or a, or some corporate
boardroom or the HR department.
You know, I don't wanna make anybodymad at the, in the HR sector.
We know it's about complianceand how important that is.
And yet if culture's nothappening at the ground level,
it's just gonna get watered down.
(09:27):
So culturally speaking, then we're gonnahave to be the ones that breaks the back
of this hustle culture and venerating,abusive working conditions and hours.
Whether that means, you know,going to a four day work week,
which a lot of operations.
Or playing around with, or considering,you know, looking at your, at your P and
(09:50):
L, is there a day where you can close andthen get everybody off at the same day?
I always thought that was brilliantthat you could put your entire crew
off the same two days so that you havethis consistency all the way through.
I'm not advocating that people closefor two days, but it may make sense in
part of the season or part of the year.
I, I don't know.
(10:11):
Yeah.
I mean, I know in Europe, August istypically a month where everybody
takes off everybody except for peopleworking in restaurants and hotels.
yeah.
Jim Taylor (10:24):
Yeah.
And, and, you know, I feel like weneed to sort of clarify something
around this hustle culture thing.
Hustle is important and hustle is mm-hmm.
awesome.
And hustle is fun and hustle.
When it's needed.
It's really, I mean, ultimatelyone of the most important, I think
skills you can have mm-hmm if youlook at any other industry, right?
(10:47):
I mean, everything from when you'rein a, if someone's an accountant to,
someone's a pilot to someone, you know,there's hustle time and it's like,
it's go time, you know, professionalsports, the playoffs, all those things.
There's time where, when you gotta hustle.
Yeah.
You know, I, I grew upin, in Calgary, Alberta.
In Western Canada where the CalgaryStampe is mm-hmm and it's 10 days.
(11:08):
And it's insane.
It's this giant rodeo andbeer gardens everywhere.
And, you know, hundreds of thousands ofpeople come to the city and it's go time.
It's like 10 days straight of nonstop,especially if you work in a restaurant
it's hustle time, but it doesn't haveto be, you know, 108 hours on your
paycheck in the middle of August whenyou shouldn't necessarily have to do.
(11:29):
And, you know, I think we were a fewof us on the team were talking the
other day about the difference betweenhard work and having to work too hard.
Adam Lamb (11:39):
yeah, absolutely.
That goes up with someof my earlier influences.
There was a guy by the name ed ESE,who was the meanest front of the house
manager I have ever met in my life.
And when I met him, he was inhis seventies and, and still
work in the floor and he wouldconstantly pound it into my head.
You know, lamb, you gottaplan your work and work your.
Got plan, your work and work plan.
(12:01):
And some people are just chimingin with some of the things that
they've seen that are, have beenworking in their operations.
You know, hustle is great, Jim,except if you're a customer, right.
If I don't want my service staff to be sohustled that I can't get my next drink.
Right.
Right.
(12:21):
So there's this idea of.
What benchmark 60 has gotten so goodat at being able to accurately forecast
and then actively manage workloads,which is completely different than just
going in and saying, okay, your laborpercentage was two points high yesterday.
What are you gonna doto recapture that today?
Jim Taylor (12:46):
Yeah.
Yeah.
That workload piece is.
It's been a, a game changer for lotsof places because you're, you know, not
only, like you said, is it a labor a toolfor, you know, management, labor costs.
But if you look at that concept overan extended period of time, If you,
if you go back to a time in, when youworked in restaurants, where there was
(13:08):
just, you know, maybe, maybe you wereshort staffed or maybe it was a really
exceptionally busy summer, or therewas a bunch of events going on or, you
know, whatever, there could be a milliondifferent factors, but go back to one of
those times in your career in operations,when everybody had to just really
grind for an extended period of time.
Oh yeah.
What happened?
People quit right.
(13:28):
There's a threshold.
Right?
Right.
And that, that workload concept ofmeasuring that in a restaurant allows
you to get ahead of that and say,okay, I know that if, if we pass this
certain level, everyone's gonna hate it.
Right.
And what happens then people quit.
So, you know, there's direct connectionbetween how hard the team has to work and
Adam Lamb (13:50):
turnover.
Mm.
This this badge of honor thing too.
And speaking again of my own experiencewhat it allowed me to do was to
engage in some really poor behavior,insofar as my own health and wellness.
You know, if you think of it as a totempole and putting everyone up above me,
(14:10):
then that meant that I was constantlyin service to everyone else, except for.
Yeah.
And when it came time for me to,for lack of a better word, take
some time and refill my cup, youknow, I was pretty well broken by
that point and no good to anyone.
And then I would have to go backand basically recommit to all my
fellow managers and associates, youknow, and say, Hey, I, I, I realize
(14:32):
I haven't been here fully for you.
And I'm really sorry about that.
You know, can you accept my apology?
And this is what I'mcommitted to moving forward.
I've always been incredibly transparentabout what's happened in my professional
and personal life, because if Iwant somebody to be vulnerable and
transparent to me, then there's, there'sno way that I can advocate for that.
If I'm not gonna do it first nowneed to practice a little discernment
(14:56):
because not everybody needs to knowwhat I do in my personal time, but
I'm pretty sure that, you know, we'reall gonna come up against the same
factors if we're in this business.
Mm-hmm so I like to also.
Remind people that if you're in thisbusiness, you are by defacto, a sensitive
soul, or have a sensitive spirit becauseyou get something emotionally from being
(15:19):
in service to somebody else, which is anhonorable thing, which is a sacred thing.
Very true.
But it's a completely differentthing when you advocate your own.
You know, you either tie that toyour self worth or you put yourself
at the bottom of the totem pole.
You just got back.
I mean, not just got back becauseyou're still not sweating, but you took
time out of your busy day to do what?
(15:40):
A 45 minute thing
Jim Taylor (15:44):
this morning.
Yeah.
Still a little red in the face.
Adam Lamb (15:49):
Well, why do you, why do you think that that's
important for you to get done?
First thing in the, in the day consist.
Jim Taylor (15:56):
Well, for me, it's just as much mental as it is physical, for sure.
I mean, it puts you in the right space.
Adam Lamb (16:01):
Yeah.
Because there's this energythat gets built up in our
bodies being under this stress.
And really, there's only a couple ofdifferent ways to expel that energy.
And one of the most powerfulways that I've seen is, you
know, by exercising for sure.
Yeah.
Because there's just nothing betterthan sweating in that particular.
Yeah.
Jim Taylor (16:21):
In a positive way, right?
Adam Lamb (16:24):
Yeah.
Right.
And so to anybody who says to you,well, listen, man, I don't have a choice.
I got a hustle.
Like sometimes it just pisses me offto see some of these posts by people
who are claiming now on LinkedIn of,you know, now we have influencers on
LinkedIn that are trying to like use thealgorithm as they would for TikTok or, or.
(16:47):
Or, or Instagram, but they'readvocating this hustle, hustle,
hustle, hustle, hustle thing.
Mm.
Like it, like, it's great you togo out there and hustle like, yes,
you gotta pull up your bootstraps.
Yes.
You're responsible for your own success,but how are we gonna break people
out of this hustle culture withinthe industry that basically negates
(17:10):
self and puts everyone else above us?
Jim Taylor (17:13):
So here's one of the things that I think is interesting, and this is
aligned with what you're saying right now.
If you look at what's going on in,in multiple other industries, outside
of restaurants and, and multiplegovernments, actually there's starting
to be these limitations placed onwhat happens in the workplace, right?
(17:36):
Ontario, a province in Canada,for those that aren't in Canada.
Has now implemented a, a lawthat your employer cannot call
you outside of office hours.
It's illegal.
Okay.
So that's a protecting ofemployee workload, right?
You get the, the four day work week,things that are happening, you get
even something as simple as, you know,people went crazy a few years ago
(17:58):
when Facebook said where, whateveryou want to work, wear a hoodie.
I don't care.
You know, our, our industry, and thisis where I I'm, you know, sometimes
on a bit of an island, but you know,people like you and, and a few others
are, are definitely helping to rallythe troops on this is that the same type
of stuff is possible in our industry.
We just, our industry just seemsto just be stuck and not be able
(18:21):
to wrap our heads around it.
And it still, this.
108 hours on my paycheck every two weeks.
It's still this, you know, Idon't want to close an extra
day because you've gotta grind.
And it's a, and it's a penny industry andit's margins are tight and you know, those
types of things, but it it's possible.
With and, you know, while still doingsome of these other things that the rest
(18:41):
of the world has figured out how to do.
Correct.
I woke up this morning to some veryinteresting messages on in, in my, in my
DM, from somebody who was quite passionateabout the fact that everything that we're
trying to accomplish at be benchmark60 is a total fantasy we're on our own.
It's never gonna happen.
(19:03):
Call me every name in the book.
Right?
Where do you get off?
You're an idiot.
Like really?
It was, it was actually interestingand it actually reminded me that, you
know, it's that much more importantthan I think we even realize, right.
Especially in restaurants,
Adam Lamb (19:17):
I couldn't agree more.
You know, to a certain extentthere are operators who are
always gonna be ahead of the wave.
You know, they're gonna beso far out in, in front.
Because they recognize a good strategyor a good idea worth implementing, or
at least playing around with mm-hmm andthere are gonna be those that are gonna
(19:41):
come kicking and screaming to the table.
The unfortunate thing is those that arekicking and screaming may not necessarily
have a table to be brought to becausetheir operations may be closed by then.
I mean, it is just so tight out thereand I am empathetic in understanding
of the weight of responsibility thatsome GMs, DMS chefs, managers have.
(20:04):
Absolutely.
I mean, it is absolutelyfucking crushing yet.
If we don't make some small strides.
Towards protecting ourassociate's emotional and
physical safety, physical safety.
I think for the most part we got right.
We've got OSHA in the United States.
And to your point about these lawsthat are being implemented about eight
(20:26):
months ago, I talked to an Australianchef who works in Germany, who told
me it is illegal for him to contactan associate out of work hours.
Yep.
Can't call him on a day.
Can't call 'em in . Nope.
And I'm thinking to myself.
Okay.
So that changes the dynamic a lot becausehere in the United States, we have this
(20:46):
implication that you are always available.
Right?
And it's a different thing.
If you're on a call list and you haveto call in and, you know, to see if
you're gonna shift, but you know,here's a LinkedIn user who said part
of my interview process asks candidatewhat they do daily to keep them of
sound mind, and body and escape.
Escape reality.
Cool.
(21:06):
that might lead to a couple other thingsbut my expectation is they'd be a hundred
percent mentally healthy and physicallyoutside of work, and then be able to
give the job a hundred percent insidethe walls, which is kind of like, you
know, a new way of thinking in that we'renot just hiring a pair of hands we're
actually, or, you know, a position ona schedule, even though that's the way
(21:28):
you might organize your schedule, whichmakes sense a bunch of different reasons.
So we celebr.
This, the LinkedIn user for their capacityto actually think outside the box.
And there is nothing saying that anoperator can't say to a staff, okay,
we're implementing a new policy.
We will never call you on your day off.
Or we won't, or we won'tcall you after hours.
(21:50):
Mm-hmm . Now you might have acall, you know, scheduled check-in.
But there's nothing saying that thingsthat are happening in other countries,
can't be applied to our, to our currentoperations here in the United States.
And by the way Canada Calgary,Calgary, just got named one of the
top 10 places to live in the world.
So it did.
Yep.
(22:11):
Had some places had a couple places inCanada's on the pitch and doing well up
Jim Taylor (22:15):
there.
Yeah.
And you know, that, that concept around,you know, this LinkedIn user with this
question around, what are you doing tomm-hmm, keep yourself protected and keep
yourself motivated, keep yourself healthy.
And you know, those things, I mean, propsto that operator for actually doing that.
Yep.
I think that, you know what, I wouldencourage every employer, whether
(22:37):
they're in restaurants or not.
But every employer to think aboutis how powerful would it be?
If you could say to your people,listen, I expect that you work
hard when you come to work.
Mm-hmm right.
That's there's that one side, right?
This is your job.
You've gotta work hard.
Mm-hmm but we're gonna implementsomething to protect you
from having to work too hard.
(22:58):
Correct?
We're gonna do things for you tonot just say here's an extra dollar.
Thanks for working your butt off.
Not just, here's an extra day off.
Thanks for working so hard.
We're gonna actually do somethingproactively as a business in terms
of, and use data as, as we'vediscussed a lot in the past to do
(23:18):
that so that we don't even have tohave the conversation about burnout.
Because we already know we're protectinghow hard the team has to work.
Right.
I mean, think about that from a,from an employee standpoint, you're
talking to your friends about, andthey're telling you how exhausted
they are and burnt out there.
And I go, well, my employer actuallyhas a system and a strategy that
(23:39):
they use to protect us from burnout.
Right.
It's totally different.
Right.
Let's flip that.
Adam Lamb (23:46):
Yeah.
That, that gets back to like, okay.
Now all of a sudden thatshifts the perspective on the.
because listen, if you're getting,if you're getting treated really
well at work, chances are you'regonna talk about it, right?
just because what you hear fromeverybody else is such a horror show
and you just, you shake your head.
But pretty soon that operation nowbecomes that becomes a point of attraction
(24:09):
for staff who, who wanna work hard.
Who wanna do the things that they love?
You know, this other thing about badgeof honor, there came a point in my career
where I felt like I had been tricked.
I had been bamboozled.
I had been no, this should be good.
I had been taken advantage ofbecause of the passion that I had.
(24:30):
Right.
Some operator looked at meand said, man, he really he's
really passionate about what he.
I'm gonna use that.
I'm gonna ride that like a rentedmule until he can no longer pull that
plow and did that time and time andtime again until I started to create
healthy boundaries for myself and beable to say no, there's some really
(24:52):
great, funny Facebook rails and talksabout where they're playing a part
of an employer and an employee aboutgetting asked to do extra stuff.
And some of 'em are funny, butsome of 'em are like pretty PO.
like where you kind of look at thatand go, why do I always say yes?
Why can't I say no?
Yeah.
Like, what am I afraid of losing?
If I say, no, I'm not gonna goto this non-mandatory company
(25:17):
outing that they're not paying for.
They're not paying us.
Right.
We're gonna do a picnic or whatever,which is great for team building.
But again, I always made surethat meetings were scheduled.
People got paid for 'em mm-hmm regardlessof whether they had to come in from the
outside or, you know, it's on shift.
These are just small accommodationsacknowledging the fact that they're
(25:37):
human beings that we're dealing with.
And one of the things I posted about thisweek is there's a, there's a circular
economy and marketplace called resourcenetwork that is here in Asheville, Austin,
Texas, about five other cities, where youas a vendor or as a restaurant tour, can.
Start a marketplace andget, and sell your product.
(25:59):
So now you have this other potentialclient base and you get paid in resource
dollars, which are secured by theirown cryptocurrency called source.
But then you can also turn aroundand use those crypto, that those
resource dollars as benefits to yourassociates because they can book
massages, hyperbaric chamber sessions,yoga there's, even companies on there.
(26:22):
There's one here in Asheville that.
Some awesome organic, raw food delivery.
You know, it's just like a Bobasket of, you know, vegetables and
meat and all that kind of stuff.
Associates can use all of that andit hasn't cost you a dime, but it
gives your associate an abilityto now here's all these resources
that you have an ability to haveaccess to that didn't exist before.
(26:44):
Yeah.
And you have a brand new potential market.
So there are definitely ways to.
To rattle the cage of those of uswho wanna still hustle and remind
ourselves, remind each of us that,you know, it's important to take time.
It's important to continue to sharpen thespear as well as softening your heart.
(27:07):
Because if we're sensitive people,why the hell do we want to close
our hearts to either customers.
Or to our fellow associates.
Yeah.
Jim Taylor (27:17):
Yeah.
And, and I think, you know, you weresaying earlier about making sure
that people whoever's, you know,taking the time out of their data,
listen to us rant about this stuff.
Mm-hmm, make sure they've gota couple of things to take away.
And, you know, the hustle side ofthings is still ultimately gonna help,
you know, determine success or not.
Right.
Sure.
But it's about.
(27:38):
Thinking about it differently hustlewhen we need to, not all the time.
And, and, you know, to your comment asecond ago around this, you know, feeling
like you have to show up to that unpaidstaff meeting or whatever it was the crazy
thing about, you know, thinking back overthe last few years and how our industry's
changed so much, there's always beenthis retention issue in, in restaurants.
(28:00):
It was just masked by worker.
So don't come to the step meeting.
I don't care.
There's someone we'll get ridof you and there's someone
that will replace you tomorrow.
And now ain't
Adam Lamb (28:12):
happening.
I know, I know Jim.
That's about all we have time for today.
We wanna really appreciate Stanleyand And John Stableford and a
few other viewers for putting intheir comments really appreciated.
It certainly helps guideour dialogue on the show.
Absolutely.
Because we're doing this as a service,you know, it's taking time out of our day.
(28:32):
We're we're happy to do it.
Not only because we get to be withone another and, and talks some
mad shit, but also to be in theinquiry of what it would look like to
co-create a restaurant industry that.
Would be proud to work in.
So I'm down.
And I guess I would answer and forthose of you who are watching this on
(28:54):
replay, please add your comments belowbecause we're gonna ask, are you with us?
Who's with me.
Right.
Tim Taylor, who
Jim Taylor (29:03):
was with me.
Let's make some moves.
Adam Lamb (29:07):
Thanks, Adam.
Yeah, my pleasure.
It's that's it for this week on turningthe table and we'll see you next Thursday
on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, please.
Thanks for joining us on thisepisode of turning the table with
(29:28):
me, Adam Lamb and Jim Taylor.
This episode was sponsored by benchmark60 we're on a mission to change the
food and beverage industry by focusingon staff, mental health and wellbeing
by forecasting and actively managingworkload productivity over 200
restaurants and food and beverage operat.
Have discovered for themselves how toincrease staff retention and become
(29:49):
a preferred employer in their marketby using our proprietary system.
If you'd like to have an operationalculture that everybody wants to work
for, then check out benchmark 60on the web@www.benchmarksixty.com.
Thanks for taking the time to bewith us and the courage to try
new things for the restaurant.
Profession's oldest problem.
Turning the table is aproduction of realignment media.
Welcome back to our hashtag lunchbox live stream
here at turning the table.
This is episode three, and we're gonnabe discussing the hustle culture.
I'm here with good friend, Jim Taylorof benchmark 60 and is always turning
the table is sponsored by benchmark 60.
So yeah, of course wewould have him, right.
Jim Taylor (00:24):
morning.
How's it going?
Well, I guess afternoon, ifyou're in the east, right,
Adam Lamb (00:27):
exactly.
Yeah.
We cover all time zones here.
We do.
And so for those of you, this is thefirst time that you're actually seeing
this we broadcast live every Thursdayat noon and we're doing it on linked.
YouTube and on Facebook.
And the whole idea is staffcentric, hashtag operating solutions
(00:49):
for today's restaurant tours.
And we speak to a lot of peoplein the restaurant industry.
Don't
Jim Taylor (00:55):
we time.
Yeah, everybody.
I mean, had a conversation with a guyin a cafeteria the other day had a
discussion with a senior living personlast week, you know, the hotel part of
the industry, you and I were chattinga lot about the hotel side of things
the other day mm-hmm you know,mainstream restaurant QSR, full service.
I mean, you name it.
Yeah.
Adam Lamb (01:13):
Yeah.
And it's funny cause I'm not gonnado that because I'm gonna get an echo.
You know, every, you know, it's so funny.
It's no news that everybody's trying to,this is something I found on the web.
Holy crap is a food brand.
Can I answer your question?
Thank you, echo.
Yes, it did.
holy crap is a food brand.
(01:34):
Wow.
That's amazing.
Just mute him while I'm at it.
Little echo down herein the dish pit studios.
So it's no news to anybody that they'redoing less or doing more with less.
Which kind of backs into our conversationtoday about the hustle culture.
Yeah.
And how that's actually killingthe restaurant industry right now.
(01:57):
Well,
Jim Taylor (01:58):
I think it's always been killing the restaurant industry.
It's just front and centerall of a sudden, right.
I was re I don't know.
I was, I think I sentyou some of the stuff.
I was reading some stats the otherday from restaurants, Canada, but
I'm sure it's the same in the us.
We're close to that.
There was an unbelievably low numberof restaurants compared to what I
assumed that have actually increasedpeople's pay this year, but it
(02:19):
was almost 80% of restaurants areactually asking their people to work
more hours than they already were.
Before I talked to someoneyesterday, she told me at 108 hours
on her last two week pay period.
What I mean that's not sustainable, right?
Adam Lamb (02:33):
Crazy.
No, no, it's not.
And I know that everybody's in thiscrunch where they can't find good help
or so they say they can't find good.
. Yeah, I just did a post this morningabout, you know, the folks that
are complaining that they can't getqualified staff are probably the
same people who are still tryingto hold onto their wage levels.
Mm-hmm from pre pandemic they'reresistant to trying to add any
(02:56):
benefit packages because theycan't accurate calculate the ROI.
Like how the hell is that gonnaactually help us in the long run?
And someone responded to the post.
Yeah.
It's, it's weird how people are resistantto trying to do anything to better.
The lot of their associates, which tome, just, just shocking mm-hmm and
(03:18):
I don't wanna make anybody wrong,but you know, typically those are the
operators that nobody wants to work for.
So they're actually,they're actually right.
You are right on the money.
Nobody wants to work for.
If you are not going to do somethingoutside of the box, and we've been
exploring all kinds of things thatpeople have been talking about,
(03:39):
but in so far as increasing benefitpackages without necessarily
getting kicked in the bottom line.
But why don't you talk for abit about what your experience of
the hustle culture was when youwere actively managing meeting?
Jim Taylor (03:58):
I was, I think, you know, I was really lucky to work for a really
cool, really innovative, really growthfocused, you know, front and center
in the industry in Western Canada.
Well, Canada in general, I was reallylucky to work for a great company.
But, you know, the interestingthing, looking back now, even some
of the things that we did and we, webelieved and they still do believe
(04:20):
in taking really good care of people.
Good benefits, packaging, you know,good reward and recognition, good
compensation, all of that stuff.
The people that worked there aresome of, you know, they, they get
really well taken care of in terms ofindustry standard, but there was still
this like underlying hustle culturethat was kind of never spoken about.
But if you didn't followit, it, you just sort.
(04:43):
Who weren't successful.
And you know, the thing that I always,and, and I looking back, I was guilty
of this too, but the thing that I alwaysthink about is we use this term resiliency
all the time with our people and said,you know, people who are resilient get
promoted and people who are resilientmove forward in this organization.
And, you know, I would say not topick on that organization, but it's
about the industry in general, peoplewho are resilient have opportunity
(05:06):
and move forward and grow and getpromoted and get a raise and all these.
What the, what our industry's reallysaying by that though, you know,
looking back now is not who's resilient.
It's who doesn't complain, whojust their head down works, who
just goes in on their day off.
Who does their admin at home?
You know, I remember I used to write allof the, the one that sticks out to me or
(05:29):
something I was thinking of this morning.
I used to write all of my schedules whenI was a general manager for December.
I would write the wholemonth's schedule at once.
Right.
Because I wanted to, my goal was thatI wanted to make sure that my team had
the ability to plan around the holidays.
Right.
They either worked new year's or theyworked Christmas, or they worked boxing
day, or they worked new year's day.
You know, like we triedto get that stuff out.
(05:50):
But looking back at the resiliencething, well, I took one whole
weekend cuz I didn't have timeto do it within my work hours.
I took one of my whole weekendswith a couple of bottles of wine
and sat there and wrote schedulesfor like 12 hours straight.
and, you know, looking back at it now,I'm like, okay, so this was good for the,
(06:12):
the team probably, but I burnt myselfout in one of the busiest times of the
year, you know, trying to do that stuff.
So I think it's just, you know, thisresiliency concept in our industry,
we need to find a way to reframethat because people are just.
Condition then it's, you know, youand I have talked about this badge of
honor thing, put your head down andgo, and it's just not sustainable.
Adam Lamb (06:33):
Yeah.
I'm glad you bring up the badge ofhonor thing because it's this it's this
veneration of, of not, not just hardwork, but really abusing yourself in
order to support whatever version of you.
You want to promote to your employersor to your friends or whatever.
(06:55):
And I have to think that looking backat my career, that I was my own worst
enemy, you know, I was the one that wasactually promoting the hustle culture
and this idea that, you know, you'regonna go in there and you're gonna.
You're gonna do the best thing.
And then using that to train, shame andcondition, everybody around me, mm-hmm
(07:17):
and very often it's not anything thatyou say, but it's just like, if there's
a tight relationship, you know, a lot ofemotional capital that's been put into
that piggy bank between you and yourstaff, as soon as they start shift, see
you shift, then all of a sudden theyall kind of fall back because they're
all taking their emotional cues fromus as, as supervisors and leaders.
Mm-hmm , which is what.
(07:39):
Consider to be one like job one for us isto get rid of that whole hustle culture.
Like if we're planned properly and whatI mean planned properly, we're also
planning for things to go sideways.
You know, that the shipments are cominglate or that we're getting MIS picks
on our orders or what, whatever that is.
(08:00):
We plan that into our day ofaction so that there's no stress.
so that there's no hustle.
Like one of my favorite examples is thehealth inspector is at the back door.
So everybody starts scrambling.
Like everybody's got prearranged ordersof what they're gonna do, do, do, do
do, but it's this mad scramble to, tohave everything in perfect condition
(08:22):
for when the health inspector comes in.
When in fact that should beyour operating standard anyway.
Yeah.
So that there is no hustle and if it's notcoming from us, then no one else is gonna,
no one else is gonna do that for us.
So you know, we've got a couple peoplefrom all over the world watching us today.
We've got Stanley from Tanzania Africa.
We've got John stable for, fromthe UK who says he is loving.
(08:45):
So John , which is awesome because Asthis reach widens, you know, again, one
of these things about our lunchbox livestream is to get a couple actionable items
from our discussion so that folks canturn around, go back into their operation
and start affecting change right away.
Mm-hmm because culturehappens from the ground up.
(09:06):
It's all elbow to elbow.
It's nothing that comes out of abox or a, or a, or some corporate
boardroom or the HR department.
You know, I don't wanna make anybodymad at the, in the HR sector.
We know it's about complianceand how important that is.
And yet if culture's nothappening at the ground level,
it's just gonna get watered down.
(09:27):
So culturally speaking, then we're gonnahave to be the ones that breaks the back
of this hustle culture and venerating,abusive working conditions and hours.
Whether that means, you know,going to a four day work week,
which a lot of operations.
Or playing around with, or considering,you know, looking at your, at your P and
(09:50):
L, is there a day where you can close andthen get everybody off at the same day?
I always thought that was brilliantthat you could put your entire crew
off the same two days so that you havethis consistency all the way through.
I'm not advocating that people closefor two days, but it may make sense in
part of the season or part of the year.
I, I don't know.
(10:11):
Yeah.
I mean, I know in Europe, August istypically a month where everybody
takes off everybody except for peopleworking in restaurants and hotels.
yeah.
Jim Taylor (10:24):
Yeah.
And, and, you know, I feel like weneed to sort of clarify something
around this hustle culture thing.
Hustle is important and hustle is mm-hmm.
awesome.
And hustle is fun and hustle.
When it's needed.
It's really, I mean, ultimatelyone of the most important, I think
skills you can have mm-hmm if youlook at any other industry, right?
(10:47):
I mean, everything from when you'rein a, if someone's an accountant to,
someone's a pilot to someone, you know,there's hustle time and it's like,
it's go time, you know, professionalsports, the playoffs, all those things.
There's time where, when you gotta hustle.
Yeah.
You know, I, I grew upin, in Calgary, Alberta.
In Western Canada where the CalgaryStampe is mm-hmm and it's 10 days.
(11:08):
And it's insane.
It's this giant rodeo andbeer gardens everywhere.
And, you know, hundreds of thousands ofpeople come to the city and it's go time.
It's like 10 days straight of nonstop,especially if you work in a restaurant
it's hustle time, but it doesn't haveto be, you know, 108 hours on your
paycheck in the middle of August whenyou shouldn't necessarily have to do.
(11:29):
And, you know, I think we were a fewof us on the team were talking the
other day about the difference betweenhard work and having to work too hard.
Adam Lamb (11:39):
yeah, absolutely.
That goes up with someof my earlier influences.
There was a guy by the name ed ESE,who was the meanest front of the house
manager I have ever met in my life.
And when I met him, he was inhis seventies and, and still
work in the floor and he wouldconstantly pound it into my head.
You know, lamb, you gottaplan your work and work your.
Got plan, your work and work plan.
(12:01):
And some people are just chimingin with some of the things that
they've seen that are, have beenworking in their operations.
You know, hustle is great, Jim,except if you're a customer, right.
If I don't want my service staff to be sohustled that I can't get my next drink.
Right.
Right.
(12:21):
So there's this idea of.
What benchmark 60 has gotten so goodat at being able to accurately forecast
and then actively manage workloads,which is completely different than just
going in and saying, okay, your laborpercentage was two points high yesterday.
What are you gonna doto recapture that today?
Jim Taylor (12:46):
Yeah.
Yeah.
That workload piece is.
It's been a, a game changer for lotsof places because you're, you know, not
only, like you said, is it a labor a toolfor, you know, management, labor costs.
But if you look at that concept overan extended period of time, If you,
if you go back to a time in, when youworked in restaurants, where there was
(13:08):
just, you know, maybe, maybe you wereshort staffed or maybe it was a really
exceptionally busy summer, or therewas a bunch of events going on or, you
know, whatever, there could be a milliondifferent factors, but go back to one of
those times in your career in operations,when everybody had to just really
grind for an extended period of time.
Oh yeah.
What happened?
People quit right.
(13:28):
There's a threshold.
Right?
Right.
And that, that workload concept ofmeasuring that in a restaurant allows
you to get ahead of that and say,okay, I know that if, if we pass this
certain level, everyone's gonna hate it.
Right.
And what happens then people quit.
So, you know, there's direct connectionbetween how hard the team has to work and
Adam Lamb (13:50):
turnover.
Mm.
This this badge of honor thing too.
And speaking again of my own experiencewhat it allowed me to do was to
engage in some really poor behavior,insofar as my own health and wellness.
You know, if you think of it as a totempole and putting everyone up above me,
(14:10):
then that meant that I was constantlyin service to everyone else, except for.
Yeah.
And when it came time for me to,for lack of a better word, take
some time and refill my cup, youknow, I was pretty well broken by
that point and no good to anyone.
And then I would have to go backand basically recommit to all my
fellow managers and associates, youknow, and say, Hey, I, I, I realize
(14:32):
I haven't been here fully for you.
And I'm really sorry about that.
You know, can you accept my apology?
And this is what I'mcommitted to moving forward.
I've always been incredibly transparentabout what's happened in my professional
and personal life, because if Iwant somebody to be vulnerable and
transparent to me, then there's, there'sno way that I can advocate for that.
If I'm not gonna do it first nowneed to practice a little discernment
(14:56):
because not everybody needs to knowwhat I do in my personal time, but
I'm pretty sure that, you know, we'reall gonna come up against the same
factors if we're in this business.
Mm-hmm so I like to also.
Remind people that if you're in thisbusiness, you are by defacto, a sensitive
soul, or have a sensitive spirit becauseyou get something emotionally from being
(15:19):
in service to somebody else, which is anhonorable thing, which is a sacred thing.
Very true.
But it's a completely differentthing when you advocate your own.
You know, you either tie that toyour self worth or you put yourself
at the bottom of the totem pole.
You just got back.
I mean, not just got back becauseyou're still not sweating, but you took
time out of your busy day to do what?
(15:40):
A 45 minute thing
Jim Taylor (15:44):
this morning.
Yeah.
Still a little red in the face.
Adam Lamb (15:49):
Well, why do you, why do you think that that's
important for you to get done?
First thing in the, in the day consist.
Jim Taylor (15:56):
Well, for me, it's just as much mental as it is physical, for sure.
I mean, it puts you in the right space.
Adam Lamb (16:01):
Yeah.
Because there's this energythat gets built up in our
bodies being under this stress.
And really, there's only a couple ofdifferent ways to expel that energy.
And one of the most powerfulways that I've seen is, you
know, by exercising for sure.
Yeah.
Because there's just nothing betterthan sweating in that particular.
Yeah.
Jim Taylor (16:21):
In a positive way, right?
Adam Lamb (16:24):
Yeah.
Right.
And so to anybody who says to you,well, listen, man, I don't have a choice.
I got a hustle.
Like sometimes it just pisses me offto see some of these posts by people
who are claiming now on LinkedIn of,you know, now we have influencers on
LinkedIn that are trying to like use thealgorithm as they would for TikTok or, or.
(16:47):
Or, or Instagram, but they'readvocating this hustle, hustle,
hustle, hustle, hustle thing.
Mm.
Like it, like, it's great you togo out there and hustle like, yes,
you gotta pull up your bootstraps.
Yes.
You're responsible for your own success,but how are we gonna break people
out of this hustle culture withinthe industry that basically negates
(17:10):
self and puts everyone else above us?
Jim Taylor (17:13):
So here's one of the things that I think is interesting, and this is
aligned with what you're saying right now.
If you look at what's going on in,in multiple other industries, outside
of restaurants and, and multiplegovernments, actually there's starting
to be these limitations placed onwhat happens in the workplace, right?
(17:36):
Ontario, a province in Canada,for those that aren't in Canada.
Has now implemented a, a lawthat your employer cannot call
you outside of office hours.
It's illegal.
Okay.
So that's a protecting ofemployee workload, right?
You get the, the four day work week,things that are happening, you get
even something as simple as, you know,people went crazy a few years ago
(17:58):
when Facebook said where, whateveryou want to work, wear a hoodie.
I don't care.
You know, our, our industry, and thisis where I I'm, you know, sometimes
on a bit of an island, but you know,people like you and, and a few others
are, are definitely helping to rallythe troops on this is that the same type
of stuff is possible in our industry.
We just, our industry just seemsto just be stuck and not be able
(18:21):
to wrap our heads around it.
And it still, this.
108 hours on my paycheck every two weeks.
It's still this, you know, Idon't want to close an extra
day because you've gotta grind.
And it's a, and it's a penny industry andit's margins are tight and you know, those
types of things, but it it's possible.
With and, you know, while still doingsome of these other things that the rest
(18:41):
of the world has figured out how to do.
Correct.
I woke up this morning to some veryinteresting messages on in, in my, in my
DM, from somebody who was quite passionateabout the fact that everything that we're
trying to accomplish at be benchmark60 is a total fantasy we're on our own.
It's never gonna happen.
(19:03):
Call me every name in the book.
Right?
Where do you get off?
You're an idiot.
Like really?
It was, it was actually interestingand it actually reminded me that, you
know, it's that much more importantthan I think we even realize, right.
Especially in restaurants,
Adam Lamb (19:17):
I couldn't agree more.
You know, to a certain extentthere are operators who are
always gonna be ahead of the wave.
You know, they're gonna beso far out in, in front.
Because they recognize a good strategyor a good idea worth implementing, or
at least playing around with mm-hmm andthere are gonna be those that are gonna
(19:41):
come kicking and screaming to the table.
The unfortunate thing is those that arekicking and screaming may not necessarily
have a table to be brought to becausetheir operations may be closed by then.
I mean, it is just so tight out thereand I am empathetic in understanding
of the weight of responsibility thatsome GMs, DMS chefs, managers have.
(20:04):
Absolutely.
I mean, it is absolutelyfucking crushing yet.
If we don't make some small strides.
Towards protecting ourassociate's emotional and
physical safety, physical safety.
I think for the most part we got right.
We've got OSHA in the United States.
And to your point about these lawsthat are being implemented about eight
(20:26):
months ago, I talked to an Australianchef who works in Germany, who told
me it is illegal for him to contactan associate out of work hours.
Yep.
Can't call him on a day.
Can't call 'em in . Nope.
And I'm thinking to myself.
Okay.
So that changes the dynamic a lot becausehere in the United States, we have this
(20:46):
implication that you are always available.
Right?
And it's a different thing.
If you're on a call list and you haveto call in and, you know, to see if
you're gonna shift, but you know,here's a LinkedIn user who said part
of my interview process asks candidatewhat they do daily to keep them of
sound mind, and body and escape.
Escape reality.
Cool.
(21:06):
that might lead to a couple other thingsbut my expectation is they'd be a hundred
percent mentally healthy and physicallyoutside of work, and then be able to
give the job a hundred percent insidethe walls, which is kind of like, you
know, a new way of thinking in that we'renot just hiring a pair of hands we're
actually, or, you know, a position ona schedule, even though that's the way
(21:28):
you might organize your schedule, whichmakes sense a bunch of different reasons.
So we celebr.
This, the LinkedIn user for their capacityto actually think outside the box.
And there is nothing saying that anoperator can't say to a staff, okay,
we're implementing a new policy.
We will never call you on your day off.
Or we won't, or we won'tcall you after hours.
(21:50):
Mm-hmm . Now you might have acall, you know, scheduled check-in.
But there's nothing saying that thingsthat are happening in other countries,
can't be applied to our, to our currentoperations here in the United States.
And by the way Canada Calgary,Calgary, just got named one of the
top 10 places to live in the world.
So it did.
Yep.
(22:11):
Had some places had a couple places inCanada's on the pitch and doing well up
Jim Taylor (22:15):
there.
Yeah.
And you know, that, that concept around,you know, this LinkedIn user with this
question around, what are you doing tomm-hmm, keep yourself protected and keep
yourself motivated, keep yourself healthy.
And you know, those things, I mean, propsto that operator for actually doing that.
Yep.
I think that, you know what, I wouldencourage every employer, whether
(22:37):
they're in restaurants or not.
But every employer to think aboutis how powerful would it be?
If you could say to your people,listen, I expect that you work
hard when you come to work.
Mm-hmm right.
That's there's that one side, right?
This is your job.
You've gotta work hard.
Mm-hmm but we're gonna implementsomething to protect you
from having to work too hard.
(22:58):
Correct?
We're gonna do things for you tonot just say here's an extra dollar.
Thanks for working your butt off.
Not just, here's an extra day off.
Thanks for working so hard.
We're gonna actually do somethingproactively as a business in terms
of, and use data as, as we'vediscussed a lot in the past to do
(23:18):
that so that we don't even have tohave the conversation about burnout.
Because we already know we're protectinghow hard the team has to work.
Right.
I mean, think about that from a,from an employee standpoint, you're
talking to your friends about, andthey're telling you how exhausted
they are and burnt out there.
And I go, well, my employer actuallyhas a system and a strategy that
(23:39):
they use to protect us from burnout.
Right.
It's totally different.
Right.
Let's flip that.
Adam Lamb (23:46):
Yeah.
That, that gets back to like, okay.
Now all of a sudden thatshifts the perspective on the.
because listen, if you're getting,if you're getting treated really
well at work, chances are you'regonna talk about it, right?
just because what you hear fromeverybody else is such a horror show
and you just, you shake your head.
But pretty soon that operation nowbecomes that becomes a point of attraction
(24:09):
for staff who, who wanna work hard.
Who wanna do the things that they love?
You know, this other thing about badgeof honor, there came a point in my career
where I felt like I had been tricked.
I had been bamboozled.
I had been no, this should be good.
I had been taken advantage ofbecause of the passion that I had.
(24:30):
Right.
Some operator looked at meand said, man, he really he's
really passionate about what he.
I'm gonna use that.
I'm gonna ride that like a rentedmule until he can no longer pull that
plow and did that time and time andtime again until I started to create
healthy boundaries for myself and beable to say no, there's some really
(24:52):
great, funny Facebook rails and talksabout where they're playing a part
of an employer and an employee aboutgetting asked to do extra stuff.
And some of 'em are funny, butsome of 'em are like pretty PO.
like where you kind of look at thatand go, why do I always say yes?
Why can't I say no?
Yeah.
Like, what am I afraid of losing?
If I say, no, I'm not gonna goto this non-mandatory company
(25:17):
outing that they're not paying for.
They're not paying us.
Right.
We're gonna do a picnic or whatever,which is great for team building.
But again, I always made surethat meetings were scheduled.
People got paid for 'em mm-hmm regardlessof whether they had to come in from the
outside or, you know, it's on shift.
These are just small accommodationsacknowledging the fact that they're
(25:37):
human beings that we're dealing with.
And one of the things I posted about thisweek is there's a, there's a circular
economy and marketplace called resourcenetwork that is here in Asheville, Austin,
Texas, about five other cities, where youas a vendor or as a restaurant tour, can.
Start a marketplace andget, and sell your product.
(25:59):
So now you have this other potentialclient base and you get paid in resource
dollars, which are secured by theirown cryptocurrency called source.
But then you can also turn aroundand use those crypto, that those
resource dollars as benefits to yourassociates because they can book
massages, hyperbaric chamber sessions,yoga there's, even companies on there.
(26:22):
There's one here in Asheville that.
Some awesome organic, raw food delivery.
You know, it's just like a Bobasket of, you know, vegetables and
meat and all that kind of stuff.
Associates can use all of that andit hasn't cost you a dime, but it
gives your associate an abilityto now here's all these resources
that you have an ability to haveaccess to that didn't exist before.
(26:44):
Yeah.
And you have a brand new potential market.
So there are definitely ways to.
To rattle the cage of those of uswho wanna still hustle and remind
ourselves, remind each of us that,you know, it's important to take time.
It's important to continue to sharpen thespear as well as softening your heart.
(27:07):
Because if we're sensitive people,why the hell do we want to close
our hearts to either customers.
Or to our fellow associates.
Yeah.
Jim Taylor (27:17):
Yeah.
And, and I think, you know, you weresaying earlier about making sure
that people whoever's, you know,taking the time out of their data,
listen to us rant about this stuff.
Mm-hmm, make sure they've gota couple of things to take away.
And, you know, the hustle side ofthings is still ultimately gonna help,
you know, determine success or not.
Right.
Sure.
But it's about.
(27:38):
Thinking about it differently hustlewhen we need to, not all the time.
And, and, you know, to your comment asecond ago around this, you know, feeling
like you have to show up to that unpaidstaff meeting or whatever it was the crazy
thing about, you know, thinking back overthe last few years and how our industry's
changed so much, there's always beenthis retention issue in, in restaurants.
(28:00):
It was just masked by worker.
So don't come to the step meeting.
I don't care.
There's someone we'll get ridof you and there's someone
that will replace you tomorrow.
And now ain't
Adam Lamb (28:12):
happening.
I know, I know Jim.
That's about all we have time for today.
We wanna really appreciate Stanleyand And John Stableford and a
few other viewers for putting intheir comments really appreciated.
It certainly helps guideour dialogue on the show.
Absolutely.
Because we're doing this as a service,you know, it's taking time out of our day.
(28:32):
We're we're happy to do it.
Not only because we get to be withone another and, and talks some
mad shit, but also to be in theinquiry of what it would look like to
co-create a restaurant industry that.
Would be proud to work in.
So I'm down.
And I guess I would answer and forthose of you who are watching this on
(28:54):
replay, please add your comments belowbecause we're gonna ask, are you with us?
Who's with me.
Right.
Tim Taylor, who
Jim Taylor (29:03):
was with me.
Let's make some moves.
Adam Lamb (29:07):
Thanks, Adam.
Yeah, my pleasure.
It's that's it for this week on turningthe table and we'll see you next Thursday
on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, please.
Thanks for joining us on thisepisode of turning the table with
(29:28):
me, Adam Lamb and Jim Taylor.
This episode was sponsored by benchmark60 we're on a mission to change the
food and beverage industry by focusingon staff, mental health and wellbeing
by forecasting and actively managingworkload productivity over 200
restaurants and food and beverage operat.
Have discovered for themselves how toincrease staff retention and become
(29:49):
a preferred employer in their marketby using our proprietary system.
If you'd like to have an operationalculture that everybody wants to work
for, then check out benchmark 60on the web@www.benchmarksixty.com.
Thanks for taking the time to bewith us and the courage to try
new things for the restaurant.
Profession's oldest problem.
Turning the table is aproduction of realignment media.
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