Leadership Is the Secret Ingredient - Christin Marvin

What does it really take to grow a business that doesn't depend on you?

In this episode, I sit down with Christin Marvin, founder of Columbine Hospitality and author of Multi-Unit Mastery. Christin shares her journey from line cook at 15 to managing partner by age 30, proving that initiative, curiosity, and the willingness to step outside your comfort zone can completely change the trajectory of your career.

We talk about why struggling restaurants are often facing a leadership problem—not an operations problem—and what it takes to build leaders who can help your business grow beyond the day-to-day. Christin shares real stories of helping operators identify and develop leaders from within, as well as working through unexpected employee turnover by uncovering the real issues instead of simply treating the symptoms.

One of my favorite takeaways was the importance of creating a consistent rhythm of checking in with your team. Whether it's weekly, monthly, or somewhere in between, making time to listen and create a safe space for honest conversations builds trust, strengthens culture, and helps leaders address problems before they become bigger ones.

And Christin didn't stop there—she's also offering listeners a free digital copy of her book, Multi-Unit Mastery through the link she shares in the episode.

Whether you're leading one restaurant, one department, or one hundred employees, this conversation is full of practical leadership lessons you can put into practice right away.

http://www.irfbook.com/

Transcript

Welcome And Why Leadership Matters

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to Confessions Beyond the Food. I'm your host, Nancy Redwin. Let's dig in and get inspired.

SPEAKER_02 0:11

Welcome back to Confessions Beyond the Food. I really enjoy this conversation because although we talk a lot about restaurants, this episode is really about leadership. My guest, Kristen Marvin, shares her incredible journey from starting as a line cook at just 15 years old to becoming a managing partner by the age of 30. Her story is a great reminder that growth comes from raising your hand, taking chances, and never stopping learning. We also dive into why great businesses are built by developing great people, how to identify and grow leaders from within your organization, and why investing in your team is one of the best investments you can make. If you lead a team in any industry, I think you're going to enjoy this one. Let's dig in.

Getting A First Kitchen Job

SPEAKER_02 1:04

Oh, I'm really excited. So you guys don't know this, but Kristen and I connected, I think it was back in November, and we've kind of been going back and forth. And she actually hosts a podcast as well. So really thrilled we were able to finally get this done. So you have a really cool background. You started out at 15 as a line cook. So can you take us back to that 15-year-old version of yourself and what hooked you into this crazy industry?

SPEAKER_00 1:34

You know what? It took me a while to get hooked. I think I was just looking for, I knew that when I turned 15, I was going to need to start working immediately. I wanted to. My parents were both really hard workers. And I, for me, I just looked at something that was really comfortable. And so it felt very natural to just go to the restaurant where we spent many birthdays, you know, celebrated good grades on my, you know, my report cards. It was called Barbosa's. It was a family-owned Mexican restaurant. And I don't think, you know, it's all about who you know. I hated that saying in college, but I think it's so true. And so we, you know, it was very natural. I went in, we were having dinner one night, and I said, Hey, do you guys have any openings? Or my mom probably asked because I was such, I was such a shy kid and so quiet. And they said, We have, you know, something in the kitchen. I had no idea, you know, what that was going to mean or look like. And they stuck me in the corner and I flipped enchiladas after school. And it was great. It was easy. It, you know, it made sense for um for my schedule. And I I think, you know, I I had no, obviously I was 15. I had no desire or understanding of what I even wanted to do, you know, over time with a career. And I was just looking to get out of the house. And so, and I loved the food. I was super passionate about the family. I went to school with the kids. I mean, it was just like, it was just all encompassing and it just made a lot of sense back then.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

So tell us a little bit about how you, I mean, you went from a line cook at 15 to a managing partner at 30, which is an incredible accomplishment. Tell us how a little bit how you got there.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

I am uh crazy driven. I'm an only child. I grew up fast. You know, it was my mom had me balancing the checkbook and paying bills when I was 10. Like uh I just I liked learning a lot of um I and I still do. I love learning a lot of new things and constantly growing and developing and being challenged. I uh can't really sit still for too long. I'm very much a hyperachiever. I like making my lists, I like crossing things off. I get that dopamine rush and I and I just move forward. So I uh I moved to Colorado when I graduated high school and I got a job in this is 1999 at Outback Steakhouse as a server to bartender. And that really taught me, I mean, I learned so much about structure and trainings, and you know, everything had a reason to why we did the things that we did. It taught me how to sell, it got me out of my comfort zone. You know, again, this this shy girl from the Midwest from a small town moving into Colorado Springs, which I thought was a big city at the time, working for the busiest out back in the state, which was right next to the World Arena. Uh it was just, it was, it was thrilling. I was making amazing money. I was living by myself. I was putting myself through college, I was having a blast. I was meeting people. I mean, it was like everything, you know, you could experience in the restaurant industry. It was like I was 19. We were drinking with the staff after work, managers were pouring us drinks, you know, everybody like we were sleeping with each other. I mean, it was just like all the thing, you know, it was like, what is this industry? This is a blast. So I I loved it uh and I still love it. But um, I worked there for about a year and a half, and I wandered up the street to the Broadmoor, which is a gorgeous five-star, five diamond property in the springs, and they were just happened to be having a job fair. And I met a very charismatic Irishman that was there interviewing people who was he was there on an international program. And he said, We're opening this cocktail bar that we've just put a million dollars into, and it's gonna be, you know, a cigar lounge. It's got a great story behind it. It was in the original building of the hotel that was built in 1918, where all the hoteliers first came when the when the hotel opened. And I got behind the story and I was like, this is really cool. I want to be a part of this. I've never opened anything before. And uh I got hired as a cocktail server and I was still in college, again, making great money, having a blast. And I graduated high or uh graduated from college. I started looking at jobs and marketing, and I was like, oh, this none of this pays well. I don't know what I want to do. And I ran to the food and beverage director and I said, I love what I'm doing. How do I just do this for the rest of my life? It seemed like the very easy thing to do. And so he said, Go go through our management training program. And I totally respected the process and, you know, wanting to um be in that kind of structured learning environment. So I immediately signed up. I went, I got my binder, and I and I was 24 at the time, and I was like, okay, I got my binder, I'm ready to be a GM now, you know, from cocktail server to GM. And they were like, why don't you go be an AGM first? So I did that for three months, raised my hand when the GM job became available at the cigar lounge and became a GM.

Learning Systems And Early GM Lessons

SPEAKER_00 6:10

I was very driven and said I wanted to be a GM by the time I was 24 years old. And they helped me do that. Now I fell flat on my face. I was still partying with the staff. I didn't know how to be a GM. I was trying to be hands-on all the time. I was just an elevated cocktail server, really, at that point. I would sit in manager meetings and have zero idea what they were talking about. I didn't understand the lingo. I didn't understand the numbers. Um, I was just really trying to figure things out on my own. But I was so determined to just work hard. And I was studying to become a Psalm and studying mixology. I did, it was just such a cool learning experience. So I was there for five years. I transferred over, opened a fine dining restaurant with them, where I saw my mentor who who was the GM there worked for Danny Meyer. And so I got to see setting the table actually come to life in the opening of our restaurant. And I saw what it what it meant to put really good systems in place in terms of hiring and training and development. I had one-on-ones with my GM every single week. These were things that I had never experienced before. And we created this incredible opening team and we had gorgeous food, Michelin Star Chef. I mean, it was just really, again, an eye-opening playground for me in my mid-20s. So I was there for five years. I didn't get, I wanted the GM job when my GM moved on. I didn't get it. And I was really, really bitter and resentful. And I left and I moved to Denver. And I became a GM for a concept that was going to be open in two weeks. I saw an ad on Craigslist for this awesome restaurant downtown on Larimer Square that was going to open in 2007. And they had 50% of the staff already hired, build out was done, everything. And I jumped right in with both feet to be the GM. And we, it was gangbusters, crazy busy, amazing, 600 covers a night. It was an opportunity for me to bring that fine dining finesse and the standards that I had learned to a high volume restaurant. So that team and I still talk. They're an incredible group of people. And we were just in the trenches working hard, again, like playing hard. It was great. And I raised my hand with that company. I knew that they, the uh, the um owners, the husband and wife, had wanted to open, they had two concepts, but they wanted to open five more over the course of seven years that were all different. And I was like, Yeah, I love opening restaurants now. Like, let's do this. So I raised my hand and said, How do I grow with the company? I'll do whatever it takes. And I want to be a managing partner. I want to invest. So I took on events, director of some director of operations tasks, HR, you know, I was developing the managers, working on training programs for the new restaurant, running the cat five through the ceilings, doing, you know, program the POS. And uh, we just continued to open concept after concept after concept, and I became a managing partner. And it was, I was 30 and I wanted to own a restaurant by the time I was 30. But what I learned during that time was really what partnership meant to me versus what partnership meant to them. And when we opened a casual French restaurant together, it was really, really, really unsuccessful. And the sales were not there, and it the concept was not what the neighborhood wanted. And I immediately saw what happened to our organization when things weren't going well. And we stopped listening to the guest and what they wanted, and all that feedback fell on deaf ears, and we didn't, we didn't give the community what they wanted. And ultimately that restaurant closed. So that was my first taste of failure in the business. And I left that organization to go work for a couple brothers that owned six of the same concept that was a fine diet or a fine dining, high volume brunch concept. And two weeks after I got hired, they said, Hey, we sold a private equity, we're gonna grow on a national level, and we grew from six to 48 locations in a seven-year time span. So I took my knowledge of systems and and everything to this, to this brand. And I never I never wanted to work for a chain, I never wanted to scale like that, but I but I also believed in the concept a lot and knew that it had legs. And so that really set me on this journey of just high-paced, you know, high, high volume growth. And then it I burnt out and then I ended up uh pulling back from the industry for a second to figure out how to reignite my passion and figure out what I wanted. And that's how I discovered coaching and decided to start my own company.

Partnership Reality And A Hard Failure

SPEAKER_02 10:40

And can you tell the audience a little bit what you coach on?

SPEAKER_00 10:44

So it's really leadership. I mean, again, it's we uh we empower owners to be able to build multi-unit restaurants that run without them. And that first and foremost means that they have the right leadership team in place. So that's where we start. You know, we have a very specific independent restaurant framework that we've created over the last three years of working with over 40 clients. We realized that everyone was missing very common threads in their business. And it all starts with identifying exactly what leadership rules the restaurant and the business actually need versus just promoting people that are loyal to them, which used to work during the pre-pandemic when top-line sales were great and margins were healthier, we could get away with that. Now we can't. And so we help people identify what those rules are, find the people or develop the people into those rules. Once we get that foundation set, then we can start to build the systems and help the organization fly so they can create really sustainable growth for themselves and make sure that the owner isn't chained to the business because we we work with a lot of entrepreneurs that want to open a business because they want to have freedom of time and freedom of purpose and freedom of money and all these things, right? That I love that Dan Sullivan talks about a lot. And then they realize that they're completely chained to the business. So we help them break free of that before they continue to scale.

SPEAKER_02 12:06

So in a nutshell, do you I mean, I'm hearing that like so leadership is why restaurants fail, not necessarily the food.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Yeah, absolutely. I think it, you know, I used to go back and forth um all the time with our uh with my chef partner. He he would secretly say to me, Kristen, you're right, like the service and the hospitality is more important than the food. If if you can go into a place and have, and I do this all the time, I go into places that have mediocre food and mediocre drinks because I know the team, because I know that they care when we're in there, that they love saying hi, they're actually taking time to engage. We get to know them, we get to know their families, what they do on their days off, what their hobbies are. That's more important to me than the quality of the food. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:55

So what is the biggest misconception? Because you talked about scaling that one operation from six, did you say six to 44 is a crazy number of locations. What's the big misconception about scaling a restaurant?

SPEAKER_00 13:11

What we see a lot with, and I'll tell you a story of one of our clients. We have a client that had three rest three locations when we opened and went to six. They think they can do everything on their own. And this operator, this owner came to us and said, Look, I'm in the day-to-day every single day. I can't get away from my phone. I'm constantly getting text messages. I can't take a day off with my family. I want to open more businesses, I want to be more profitable, I want to create more opportunities for my people. I have no idea how to develop my team. And I don't have leadership around me that can help me be a conduit to development and actually give me space to do what I want. And so we worked with him three years ago to identify the talent within his organization and start to nurture and develop them. So we found an AGM, moved her up to GM over the course of a year, moved her into regional. She's been a regional now for two years, and they've got leases four, five, and six signed, and they're ready to go. And we've helped her really build a strong bench of talent within the organization because the owner just wanted to be in charge of real estate and be the face of the brand and vacation a ton with his family, which he does, right? He's gone three, four weeks at a time and he loves it. But he's but he's wants to be proud of what he's built and he still wants to be there to support the team. So I think it's that misconception of if I'm going to open more locations, I have to be the one that's in charge of everything. I have to be the one that's really driving momentum and moving the needle. And it's just not the case. And we we bring him back into the business quarterly and meet with his regional. And we do four-hour quarterly meetings together to celebrate what happened the last 90 days, to plan ahead for the next 90 days, and to get him and her aligned on here are what the biggest priorities of the business are, so that they are very clear on what they're working on together. Because because he's so removed from the business, he has all these shiny objects coming at him all the time that he's constantly trying to throw at her. And she's like, No, no, no, no, no, no. I I know what the operations need, I know what I'm focused on. So it really helps keep them aligned.

Sponsor Break And Owner Alignment

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Quick pause to thank W3Sales for sponsoring this episode. If you're looking for inspiration and food service, from the details that shape the space to the products that elevate the experience, W3Sales new online catalog is built just for that. Explore and shop anytime at W3Salesonline.com.

SPEAKER_02 15:46

I know, I mean, that's really incredible advice for anybody that owns a business. I know for me, I'm a business owner and probably the it took me like six or seven years to figure that out, you know, empower your people. And so that when you do have to step away for, you know, to do fun things or health or family or whatever it is that that the business thrives and um is operating at that level. Cause I think that's all of our big concern, right? Is if you step away, they're not they're not gonna care like you do.

SPEAKER_00 16:19

Yeah. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 16:20

So I'm curious. So what what's a mistake that you see like operators make over and over again when they expand?

The Retention Mistake Leaders Repeat

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Oh man, I think this doesn't necessarily have to do with expansion. Uh, it just in, you know, anybody that's listening right now that that owns a restaurant or is operating a restaurant. I had a coaching session yesterday with an executive chef, and he's probably 26, maybe 28. I'm not exactly sure. I've never asked his age, but he's green, but he's and he's hungry. He's been a chef for a few years, such a growth mindset. I mean, just somebody like takes responsibility for what's going wrong, celebrates what's right. I mean, just it's just an awesome, awesome leader. And I had a really tough conversation with him yesterday, and it really opened my eyes to a lot of conversations that I've had with with that we've had with junior managers lately. He's lost six people in the last three weeks in the kitchen. And this is not a high turnover kitchen. It's a very, very successful concept. They have gorgeous food, it's consistent, it's local, it's seasonal, it's beautiful, and uh they take care of their people really, really well from a compensation standpoint, from a schedule standpoint. On paper, they're doing it really, really right. And we we started to go through each one of those conversations. And I said, Did you know they were gonna quit? What's the reason that they gave you? Did you do a check-in with them when they gave notice? And and we started this conversation by him saying, Look, I've got five or six openings in the kitchen. I think he'd he'd hired one by the time we spoke. And and he he said the same thing that we hear from everybody right now. We are getting applicants in the middle of summer when it's really busy, but when people aren't looking for jobs and the applicants are not of quality, right? And we're hearing this post-pandemic so often. We know the experience is less than it ever than it than it has been before from candidates. And I said to him, Okay, how often are you having conversations with people before they even get to the point of notice, of giving their notice so that you can be proactive and make sure you're solving any issues as they come up? And he said, Kristen, I'm not. I'm not at all. And he said, now I want to do check-ins with all these people that are leaving. And so we talked about that. And I said, Okay, you're taking a very reactive approach, which is very stressful because he's like, I'm gonna give up a vacation. I'm gonna be working the line six days a week now until we get these new people in. I know how much pressure this is gonna put on the existing team. So we talked about him being reactive versus proactive. And I said, okay, do these check-ins with people, identify why they're leaving. And it's not, it's not the reason they give you, it's not because their schedule changed, it's not because of money. There's something deeper there. Let's get to the root of that and figure out what's going on. And then let's figure out how you do check-ins consistently with the team moving forward. One person for 15 minutes every single week because he was like, How am I going to meet with everybody and check in? My point is our young managers are just accepting people's resignations and not challenging or digging or seeking to understand why they're actually leaving and then using that information to fuel them to start doing proactive check-ins with people to make sure that they can not shelter them, shoot themselves in the foot, you know. And I said to him, I said, look, you just told me that the quality of applicants that you're getting is really, really poor. And yet you haven't really started to fight for these teammates yet that have been with you for years, that have been great people, great performers. You've invested so much time and energy. They've invested so much time and energy for you. Why wouldn't you fight for them? And it's not that idea has not clicked for our young managers. And I think it's because there are a lot of veteran leaders out there who are also not fighting for their people. And so we haven't set that expectation to have a conversation. I know that I've had times in my career and I talk to operators all the time. When somebody gives notice, they it's like they're dead to them and they're they're pissed and their pride and loyalty is gone. And it's like, okay, then, you know, F you, you don't want to be with us anymore. And that is such backwards thinking. We have got to shift that and we need to start teaching these young managers the value of our people. And I reiterated to him, look, it costs $5,000 for an hourly every single time you turn somebody over. Wouldn't it be so much easier to have a conversation with someone, fix that one thing that they're resentful about or that they didn't, they weren't able to express to you, or they're scared to say out loud or whatever? Wouldn't it be so much easier to fix that versus go through all this time interviewing and hiring and stodging and training, dealing with the inconsistency of the food, having to train them every single day, teach them knife skills because a lot of people are coming in without them, and put all that pressure on your team. Like, come on, think about think about the options here. What makes most sense?

SPEAKER_02 21:15

I've always wondered, uh, and if it's changed, because I mean the chefs have, I mean, their demeanor has changed a little bit in some really good ways, you know, caring about their team and some of the old school, you know, hardcore, like, don't talk to me scary chefs, you know. But is one thing I've always you know thought about is like the education they get when they're going through culinary school, if they do, on how to manage and lead a team. Because I mean, yes, it is about the food, but it's it's really, I mean, at executive chef level, you're managing. I mean, if you're in a big property like a hotel, you could be managing hundreds of people. And there's just So much more than just the food, you know, beyond the food. So what are you seeing in terms of like education opportunities for like how to manage people?

Soft Skills And What Leaders Look Like

SPEAKER_00 22:11

I mean, we're still just focused too much on the technical aspects of the job that people are going to be able to learn as they go, you know, and get more and more practice and experience. We're not teaching soft skills. I mean, that's a lot of what we do with our leadership workshops because people say leadership and they're like, I don't know what leadership is. I don't know that I'm a leader. What do you mean you want to talk to me about what my communication style looks like? What do you mean that you want to talk to me about how to show up with intention? They they're just these things, they feel woo-woo and they they just sound so out of the ordinary because we don't talk about this stuff. We don't, you know, with our clients when they say, I want to, I want to, I've got an opening, I want to promote somebody, we're not asking if they've ever done a schedule or they know what food cost is. All that stuff can be taught. We're talking about leadership. Are they consistent? Do they match your core values? Do they have a positive mindset? Are they good problem solvers? Are they bringing you problems all the time or are they bringing you solutions? Are they making the organization better already? Are they empathetic? Are they hospitable? Are they willing to help other people around them? Or are they in it for themselves? You know, that the these are the qualities and the characteristics that we are not teaching in the education system today around the industry. And, you know, there are more educational platforms out there and more resources and tools than there ever have been before, with, you know, like you and I with podcasts and books and all the you know, newsletters and and social media posts and all that stuff. But the education I think has a long way to go because it's it is hard. We see this when we, you know, sit for just two hours and do leadership workshops. It's hard for us to sit down and focus, right? We're we're moving a million miles an hour, always on our feet. And we don't love learning in a classroom style. And so it's so it's it's easier to infuse that learning every single day in the day-to-day operations through butcher classes or wine classes and tastings or cocktails or uh anything like that, pre-shift lineup. Those, those are the moments of education that are currently existing in our in our four walls today that we need to infuse more leadership in.

SPEAKER_02 24:24

Yeah. And I love how you just gave us the picture of what a good leader looks like. Because I thank you for doing this. That was my if you could pick out a perfect leader. But yeah, I think that that is something that turnover is a real thing. And this, you know, the upcoming generations aren't staying at jobs very long. And maybe they just think that, okay, like, you know, there's always going to be turnover and people, people job hop all the time. But, you know, what if we could make the environment where it could thrive and create that environment for somebody to grow? And, you know, I related a lot to what you said earlier about, you know, I didn't know how to run a business. I mean, I knew how to sell and I knew how, you know, I knew a lot of product knowledge and customers and all those things, but I didn't know accounting or, you know, that side of the business. And so I had to do a lot of self, you know, outside of learning, you know, what people were talking about. So I can definitely relate to that. And I'm sure a lot of people can in on the education. So hopefully, I mean, maybe they'll be infusing that a little bit more and and having people like you out there that can help coach, you know, somebody to do that. But I think first steps, are you just saying just take 15 minutes a week?

unknown 25:51

Yeah. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 25:52

That's not a lot.

SPEAKER_00 25:53

That's not a lot. It's not a lot. And and again, like I was saying yesterday with the executive chef, his first question when I said check in with your team, he was like, Oh my God, that sounds like so much. And how am I gonna add six to eight hours of work, you know, to my schedule every single week? I want to protect my boundaries. And I said, wait a minute, let's back up for a second. Let's distill this down. How many employees do you have? He said, I have 11, okay, or 14. And I said, You're not the only one doing the check-ins, right? You've got a sous chef. Okay. So split them up. Now we're talking about seven each. You don't have to meet with the same seven people every single week, right? And then I said, Okay, let's talk about, you know, again, how much time you want to spend with them, 15 minutes. Maybe it's 30 in the beginning because this is new and there's more things to talk about, and they will get less and less and more efficient, you know, as you go. So, two, I said, what do you want to walk away with? And he said, I want to know how they're doing, honestly. And I want to know what they want to learn and um how they want to be developed. And I said, Great, those are your two questions. Easy. And then was yeah, it it start there. It's just it's very manageable, make it super bite-sized, but the most important thing is consistency. You know, I said, put them on the schedule so people know when they can expect them. Tell them what you're doing so they're not terrified and they think that they're in trouble, right? Because that always happens when you don't have check-ins and then you switch and start doing them. And I said, hold yourself accountable. If they're on the schedule, you've got them built into your template, you're gonna have a running list for yourself every single time you go write a new schedule. You're the check-ins are just gonna be right there glaring you in the face. You're not gonna miss them. So we we created a really good ecosystem that he felt good with um that would work specifically for his kitchen. But, you know, for people that have larger teams, I get it. This is hard. I didn't used to understand the value in these back in the day because I was like, I'm busy, I'm shoulder to shoulder with these people all the time. I feel like I've got a good grasp on them. You you don't. You sit, you sit them down, you create a safe space for them to open up about what's really going on. Then you find the human element shows up a lot more versus just the professional element when you're working side by side. So meet with people once a month, once a quarter. I mean, it's just it's gotta be more consistent than what we're doing right now.

SPEAKER_02 28:05

Yeah, the investment of time that you think you're losing on productivity, you know, even wherever you sit, you know, in any company outside the food industry, and the more and the more time you can commit to investing in your people and empowering them. I mean, it's I mean, it it it's it's it's awesome. It create it creates a much more honest, transparent, like you have a lot more visibility of beyond just numbers and things like that.

SPEAKER_00 28:35

Yeah, it absolutely. I mean, there's a million reasons why it helps the business, but I don't want to just, you know, sometimes I throw things out and I'm like, oh, it just sounds

Listening Better And Co-Creating Solutions

SPEAKER_00 28:43

so easy. And I'm I'm getting a tough reminder of this in our business right now. It takes time and energy, you know, like to actually want to sit down with these people. And you have to learn how to listen. You know, there's three different levels of listening. Listening, you've got to learn how to listen actively, where you're not just hearing what people are saying, you're ready to hear it, you're understanding what their body language is coming off as, and you understand what the environment is around them too, so that you can fully be present for everything that they are presenting to you. And that's really hard sometimes because a lot of us listen at level one, which is I hear you, but I'm already thinking about what I'm gonna say to you or what my response is gonna be. And that's not listening, right? So it takes time and energy and desire and a willingness to let go of that pride and those emotions. When you sit down with somebody and you ask them how they're doing and they start to unload on you about something that you are not ready for, you've got to be able to prepare yourself for that. Um, and that's that can be very, very tough. I've really struggled with that in the past too. And not take it personally, but when those moments happen, I think you know what we coach a lot on in these moments is ask that person for solutions. Again, don't just let them bring those problems to you. Co-create the solution with them, co-design it together so that there's buy-in from both sides, and you don't feel like you're getting up from every single one of those conversations with a longer to-do list because that's what a lot of leaders fear as well. And that's why they stay away from those conversations.

SPEAKER_02 30:21

That's really, really good advice. So that's awesome. Well, we're kind of um we're almost out of time, but I definitely want to get, I really, first of all, I really appreciate this conversation. I have a little confession before you share your confession. So my husband weighed tables at Outback. So, oh yeah. So, I mean, we still go to Outback, and um, that's where his career, I mean, that's where he hit his college job. So that's awesome. And I weighed tables in a Mexican food, so I feel very kinder spirits with you. So I love it.

SPEAKER_00 30:54

I mean, that bloom and onion, it's so unhealthy, but it is so delicious.

SPEAKER_02 30:58

Yeah. But they have a great platform for learning and development. I've I saw a lot of people go, you know, that were servers that became managing partners. And so it's really cool.

SPEAKER_00 31:08

Well, I knew the development path there, which was cool. You know, I understood when I walked to the door how I could work my way up, and that's that was really cool.

SPEAKER_02 31:15

That's awesome. And that's just something I mean we can all take is to make sure that your employees know, you know, what what path and you know how if you don't have one, sit down and and and put one together. So um well, great. Well, could do you mind sharing your confession?

SPEAKER_00 31:33

I would

Confession Scoop Of Ice Cream

SPEAKER_00 31:34

love to. I am I'm very much so I quit drinking five years ago, and I've really been studying nutrition and dialing in what I eat every single day. I'm I'm a routine person, I'm very regimented. I love eating clean food, but I love ice cream. And so once a week, I've got to go have a scoop at my favorite ice cream shop in Denver. It's called Sweet Cal. They have seven locations for anybody that's listening that's in Denver. I'm a major Sweet Cal fan. I worked there for a couple years during the pandemic. I love them. But I also live in the old Italian neighborhood in Wheat Ridge, which is just a suburb of downtown. And so we have three Italian delis that have been open for like 50 or 60 years. And they have the best gelato. So I will swap between ice cream and gelato if I want to be a little healthier with with my options. But uh, yeah, I've got to have my my scoop of ice cream. It used to be a pint a week, and now I'm I'm trying to behave and it's a scoop a week, but that is my uh my guilty pleasure every week. So so I have to ask, what's your favorite flavor? Oh man, if if it's sweet cow, I like anything with cookies because they use real Oreos. My ultimate favorite flavor is uh at Sweet Cow is fluffernutter. Uh so I watch the app constantly to see when it seasonally comes available. And it's um I've never actually had a fluffernutter cookie, but uh it's marshmallow cream or mellow cream and uh peanut butter swirl that gets really hard in the ice cream, which is delicious. If I'm getting gelato, I love spumoni because I used to go to the old spaghetti factory when I was little and we would eat spimony out of the little silver container on the the caboose when they had a couple tables on the caboose. So it reminds me of being a kid.

SPEAKER_02 33:12

Oh, that's awesome. I love that you splurge. And so that's awesome. Well, I've really enjoyed having you, Kristen. And so I you just have so much wisdom to share. And y'all, I'm gonna link her books and her uh her business on here so you can reach out to her because I think she'd be a great resource if you're stuck and and and you you're looking for some help. So it's okay to ask for help and so out there. So, anyways, but thank you so much and we will see you guys soon.

SPEAKER_00 33:44

Yeah, thanks, Nancy.

Free Book Gift And Closing

SPEAKER_00 33:46

If I can pull one plug real quick before we get it. Yes. Okay, great. Uh if it because I you mentioned if anybody needs help, the everybody is have that we are seeing right now that people are so open to having more conversations about what's going wrong in their business, which is exactly the thing that moves their needle forward. So anybody that's listening to this that wants a free copy of Multiunit Mastery, grab one at IRFbook.com. It stands for international, independent restaurant framework book.com. Once you sign up for that link and you get a copy of the book, you're gonna get a link to my personal calendar. Let's do a gifted coaching session for you and let's start to dive deep into some of those challenges that you're having. So I just wanted to throw that out there as a gift for everybody listening.

SPEAKER_02 34:30

Oh, that's awesome. That's so nice. Well, um, we will put that link, if that's okay, and um in the captions, so you can find that there. So check it out, you guys. Um check it out. So thank you so much, Kristen.

SPEAKER_00 34:45

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 34:46

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