Category: Just Think

  • Great Restaurants Thrive on Cultural Diversity

    Great Restaurants Thrive on Cultural Diversity

    To say that I have been fortunate to be part of several great restaurant teams would be an understatement. Diversity was a characteristic of all of them. Restaurants are commonly raved about for their food, decor, location, and drinks. What truly sets apart the great from the good is the people. The team that delivers…

  • Mother’s Day

    Mother’s Day

    Mother’s Day. Thanksgiving for our most personal relationship. Our mother, nourisher, protector, teacher, counselor, consoler and chief celebrator. As my Dad used to say: “When she says jump you say: how high? She used to wipe your ass.” A mother is the rare combination of sacrifice and intense love all in your direction. She gives…

  • The First Question We Should Ask When Starting a New Business.

    WHY? The basis for asking WHY we are doing what we are doing is to avoid a deep-rooted flaw in the way we build, brand, and market our new business. That flaw could lead to a division between what our customers, employees and community stakeholders truly care about and what he business stands for.  Answering…

  • 360 Degree Feedback Explained

    WHAT IS 360-DEGREE EMPLOYEE FEEDBACK? Often referred to as 360 reviews or 360 assessments, 360-degree employee feedback provides a all encompassing view of an employee by gathering feedback from an employee’s whole team. That includes their manager, peers and direct reports. Sometimes, external salespeople or vendors who work one on one with the employee are…

  • Dear Christos, about your Baptism…

    Dear Christos, about your Baptism…

    Yesterday we baptized my son Christos in the church where his godmother and I both were baptized and where the man he is named after grew up as an altar boy. We were lucky to do so in front of his loving extended family and friends. Once the baptism began, I realized he was in my…

  • Dear Chefs and Bartenders – part 2

    “I’d rather play Chiquita Banana and have my swimming pool than play Bach and starve.”—Xavier Cugat, born 01-01-1900 There is a point in time when creating something that people want, in an extremely well done way trumps doing something you want to do regardless of whether it is wanted. That point in time is when…

  • Dear Chefs and Bartenders

    John Tesar has a few words for you: Delicious is more important than creative because everything’s been done before. You’re not going to reinvent the wheel. At this point, after the post molecular era and the compositionist era, where basically commercial artists have gone into the food business because its more lucrative for them financially.…

  • Unapologetic Marketing

    Unapologetic Marketing

    Don’t keep acting like you are the only one with a product trying to fill the consumers’ need. That’s just plain doubtful, in most cases the consumer has the choice of hundreds of competitors, and you need them to choose you. With that in mind, are you paying into a marketing scheme that simply states…