What Fast Casual Is and Why Some Companies Don't Measure Up

The fast casual restaurant segment stormed onto the dining scene in the mid to late 1990's and has really never looked back. The timing was perfect as there was no middle ground between the QSR segment and fine dining, and many consumers were looking for different dining options that fit in with their increasingly mobile lifestyles and decreasing margin of time. But it wasn't just the choice that resonated, it was the options that resonated. Deeper, richer flavors with textures and nuances that weren't available at many QSR's is what many guests were looking for, and the fast casual segment was there to greet them.

Over the last 20 years we've seen many different iterations of fast casual restaurants created to try and capture the guest with their approach to better food choices, served in a unique service model in a more contemporary enviornment. Many of those concepts have been very successful. 

Having spent the last 13 years of my career immersed in the fast casual segment I am amazed that many organizations call themselves fast casual when they are really in the casual dining segment. This not only creates great confusion for guests, but also a lack of focus for the restaurant concept. Trying to be something you're not is a dangerous proposition, and can do serious damage to your brand.

The idea of fast casual is rooted in the idea that you can get a high quality meal with engaging service in an efficient manner. The beauty of the fast casual model is you order your food, get exactly what you want, and it's ready for you as you pay for it. If the execution does not match that model, it is not fast casual. It may be casual. If you order, get a number, and sit down and wait for your meal it is casual dining. And there's nothing wrong with that. But calling a casual dining concept fast casual is setting an unrealistic expectation for the guest, and creating undue stress on the employees working in the restaurant. 

Not every concept translates to the fast casual model, nor should they. The restaurant world needs all kinds of concepts, for all sorts of occasions, and whatever segment a restaurant finds itself in, it should be embraced in order to deliver the best possible experience to the guest.

Leadership For The Long Haul

Leadership can be lonely and you have to protect yourself against the isolation that you can sometimes feel as a leader. As a leader you spend so much time pouring into others that you can very easily run out of gas because no one is pouring into you.

Every leader needs another person, or group of people, to invest in them so that they can continue delivering results and developing their team. This is one of the biggest opportunities I see today in the marketplace.

Leaders are encouraged and recognized for accomplishing so much at whatever the cost, that sometimes a leader finds that they are standing alone on the road of progress all by themselves with no one to share the success with.

Here are five things a leader can do to ensure that they are maximizing their personal brand of leadership:

1. Have a mentor. A mentor is described as an experienced and trusted advisor. Sometimes leaders, especially those in charge of an organization or department, feel like they don’t need a mentor. They are the expert, the resource, and the encourager. And that is the problem. They are so valuable they don’t take the time to seek someone out to help them process their own situation and objectively assess their surroundings and shortcomings. Every leader needs a sanity check that a good mentor will provide. 
2. Schedule blank space. As leaders we are all driven to go non-stop all day, everyday. The problem is if we manage to a full schedule, we will overcommit and burn out. I have learned this the hard way and am beginning the process of scheduling blank space in my calendar to think, write, and process my ideas. After just a few sessions of nothing on my calendar but time, it has allowed me to think about my business and my family with a great deal more clarity than at any other time in my career.
3. Read books. All kinds of books; business books, fiction, biographies, special interests…whatever you are passionate about, read about it. If you not a reader, I highly encourage you to get an Audible subscription and listen to your favorites. Reading (or listening) allows us to explore ideas and passions in a way that allows us to really process them versus drinking from a fire hydrant. Taking the time to digest different concepts and how they might apply to you and your organization is a powerful catalyst for change.
4. Take notes. I always take notes when I am in a meeting, even if I know the content inside out. Taking notes does a couple of things for me as a leader. First, it sets a great example for my team. When my team sees me taking notes it reinforces that what I am hearing is important and I want to capture it. Seeing me take notes makes them want to as well. Secondly, it helps me process ideas further and think about other things we can do as an organization to move forward. I also remember content better from physically writing it down and that helps me in telling the story of our brand and our journey.
5. Be a mentor. When you mentor someone it brings your leadership full circle. Sometimes when you are pouring into someone else and you hear the words coming out of your mouth, it causes you to realize “I need to hear this as much as this person does” and it creates the opportunity for you to lead by example. When I send a team in to open a restaurant, I send talented folks that I know will take the opportunity to teach and learn from it, and then come back and apply the standards in their own restaurant. Most importantly there is nothing more satisfying as a leader than seeing someone you are investing in start to “get it”. 

Leadership can be lonely, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s only lonely because we make it that way by carrying the weight of the organization on our shoulders instead of leading in such a way that it involves those around us to help carry the load.

So leaders make sure that you are being developed as much as you develop those leaders around you. Take time to invest in yourself, and to allow others to invest in you.

What I Learned From My 40 Day Journey of not Drinking Diet Sodas

Since the beginning of Lent this year which started on February 18th I have given up Diet Sodas. I did not set out to do this for religous purposes. But I do respect the act of Lent, which is defined as a period of 40 days before Easter which many Christians do not eat certain foods or do certain pleasurable activities as a way of remembering the suffering of Jesus.

First off, I know that not drinking diet sodas is not some monumental sacrifice. But it’s my first attempt at this and I have learned some lessons along the way. I dropped diet sodas as a way to raise some money for Blood:Water, an organization started by Jars of Clay to bring clean water to Africa and end the HIV/AIDS crisis in that country.

It’s been an interesting journey for me. It hasn’t done everthing I thought it would do. For instance, many people tell me, quit drinking diet sodas and you’ll lose weight! Well, I’ve actually gained a few pounds. I’m eating about the same way, exercising about the same amount, and I’ve gained. And I am okay with that. That’s about how it goes for me. The things that help other people lose weight don’t help me. I am also getting older so I need to change my diet a bit more as certain foods affect me more now than they did even 3 years ago.

But what it has done for me is raise my awareness about what is happening around me and helped me gain clarity in my thinking. I have been drinking unsweetened iced tea (with Splenda) and I know many would argue that is the reason I have not experienced the weight loss benefits of not drinking diet soda, and they are probably right. But I am not drinking near as much iced tea as I was diet soda, so the net result is a positive one for me.

The clarity I have gained has benefited several areas of my life including emotional health, balance at home, travel schedule, and consciousness of what I am thinking about when I would have normally reached for a Diet Dr. Pepper. Sacrificing that small thing in my life, brings others needs to the forefront for me. I am donating what I would have spent to Blood:Water, Evan inspired me to give some extra cash to someone on the side of the street, I am listening to my wife and kids a little closer, praying more than I have in a long time, and I have been thinking a lot about Jesus who lived with very little in terms of material possessions. 

This world is hurting and as humans we are inherently selfish. We pretend we aren’t, but we are. I have a long, long way to go but during this season of Lent I am learning to be a little less selfish and hopefully in some small way a little more like Jesus.

Lent is offically over April 2nd. I don’t know if I’ll go back to drinking diet soda or not. But even if I don’t I won’t forget these lessons I have learned during these 40 days.

Thoughts on Scary Close

I am reading the new book by Donald Miller, Scary Close. It's all about dropping the act and achieving true intimacy. I must say that it is really convicting, and really good. Donald Miller goes out of his way naturally to talk about the ways he has been an actor in how he has handled relationships, and how, counseling & therapy, close friendships, and his now wife Betsy, have helped him get to the point he has healthier relationships.

There are some brilliant nuggets of wisdom in this book that everyone should pay attention to. The ones that struck me as being especially powerful were these quotes:

1. There's no right way to be known. 
2. How can we be loved if we are always in hiding?
3. The fear of letting people down is one of the primary reasons people procrastinate. 
4. The whole experience makes me wonder if the time we spend trying to become somebody people will love, isn't wasted because the most powerful, most attractive person we can be is who we already are; an ever changing being that is becoming and will never arrive, but has opinions about what is seen along the journey. 
5. William Blake said about Jesus that He was all virtue and acted from impulse not from rules. If we are to be like Him aren't we to move and speak and do to act upon the world and take new ground from the forces that work against our unique genius and beauty. 
6. What if part of God's message to the world was you? The true and real you. 
7. We need each other. There's no reason to judge. People are more fragile than you can possibly imagine.
8. The more fully we live into ourselves the more impact we will have. Acting may get us the applause we want, but taking a risk on being ourselves is the only path towards true intimacy. And true intimacy, the exchange of affection between two people who are not lying, is transforming. 

These are just some of the statements I am wrestling with in Don's new book. I look forward to posting more of my thoughts in the next few days.