The Restaurant Success Podcast

The Best Ways Restaurants Activate and Retain Excellent Management

• Matthew Mabel • Season 1 • Episode 55

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In this episode of the Restaurant Success Podcast, Matthew Mabel tackles one of the most pressing challenges in the restaurant industry today: how to activate and retain excellent management talent. With restaurant owners and entrepreneurs across the business struggling to find and keep great managers, Matthew breaks down what managers truly want from their organizations, including professional development, inspiration, and pride. He explores two competing approaches to building strong restaurant leadership teams—recruiting experienced talent versus hiring and developing from within—and explains why upgrading your management development strategy is no longer optional for any serious restaurant business. Whether you run a single location or a growing multi-unit operation, this episode delivers actionable entrepreneurship insights to help you build the team your restaurant needs to thrive.

Key Topics Covered

  • What restaurant managers really want: development, inspiration, and pride
  • How to document and track management growth year over year
  • Recruiting experienced managers versus hiring and developing talent internally
  • Why your management development approach may be outdated
  • Fundamentals for building today's restaurant management teams
  • Five key leadership development concepts for restaurant success

Links Mentioned

Resources Mentioned

Connect with Matthew Mabel

Matthew works with owners of successful, independent, multi-unit restaurants to improve:

  • Profit growth
  • Sales optimization
  • Guest count increase
  • Unit expansion
  • Employee engagement
  • Brand loyalty

How to Support the Show

  • Subscribe to the Restaurant Success Podcast and Newsletter
  • Rate and review the show
  • Visit www.surrender.biz for additional resources


Hello, and welcome to the Restaurant Success Podcast. I'm Matthew Mabel, veteran restaurant advisor, coach, consultant, and speaker devoted to multi-unit independent restaurant unit, profit and revenue growth, internal harmony and ownership freedom and flexibility.

This is your weekly entree of the advice, strategy and tactics that I currently provide to my best clients.

Today we're going to talk about one of the hottest topics in our industry right now, and that's the best ways to activate and retain excellent management.

I'll share what managers actually want from your organization, how to move them up, and why upgrading your approach to development is no longer optional.

If you're struggling to find or keep great managers, and let me tell you, just about everyone I talk to is too, this episode is for you.

You know, I can't make it through a single day without someone talking to me about how much they need to hire, or develop, more talented managers

On many days it's multiple-someones. It just keeps coming up.

Now, what's one nice part of our business that can actually help with this? Clarity.

We know what people want in order to stick around and work in our companies. And that's a real gift, because when you know what people want, you can give it to them.

So let's talk about what managers really want.

Number one, they want development. All the data shows that people stick around in jobs when their capabilities, their skills, and their talents grow. They know that when their company teaches them how to be more powerful and more professional, they can use those lessons for the rest of their professional lives. Doing the same job over and over again just feels like a waste of their time.

So here's a question for you: can you document what each manager in your system can do this year that they could not do this time last year?

They also want inspiration. Managers want to be part of something. And success alone won't be enough.

Whether that involves preserving an iconic brand's legacy, leading a segment, or showing the world that a unique and new concept can thrive and grow, you have to be able to talk about the "why," not just the "what," if you want to inspire and retain top people.

And then there's pride. You know, in a highly competitive job market, no one tolerates an organization that cuts corners, or where action seems to be going in the wrong direction, for very long. A sense of pride can be either palpable or it can be missing. So promote pride constantly. Address the issues that dampen it. Because people like winning more than they like losing.

Now, when it comes to actually building your team, two schools of thought compete here.

The first set of people say, "I recruit better people and integrate them into my system." The second group says, "I hire the best people I can find and figure out how to make them better."

If you're in that first camp, here's what you need to know. Restaurant companies seeking to recruit better people must realize that this group of managers does not make lateral moves. To enroll them, you have to make the case for why working with you means truly moving up. That's the key right there.

Most of my clients, though, they hire the best people they can find and then develop them.

They augment at the multi-unit level with education, learning and development initiatives and people. And that approach works beautifully when you really commit to it.

But here's the thing. If your organization over the past few years has not substantially upgraded the way you enroll and develop talent, you look like an outdated record store full of CDs while everyone else puts on their AirPods and streams music. Think about that.

The world has moved on, and your approach to management development needs to move on with it.

Now, before we wrap up, I want to point you to a couple of articles I've written that tie right into what we've been talking about today. The first is called "Overcome the Shallow Talent Pool by Taking This Action Now." I wrote that piece because, let's face it, the management talent pool in our industry is shallow. In it, I lay out four fundamentals for building today's management teams. We're talking about things like involving your managers in decision making so they learn to think critically, choosing your words carefully because your managers are watching you, being very specific about expectations, and preaching guest focus at every opportunity. If you're feeling the talent crunch, that article will give you a concrete plan.

The second one is called "How Amazing Restaurant Leadership Development Creates Success Stories."

This covers my five key leadership development concepts, things like making sure everyone becomes better every year, creating a real development plan, communicating what I call aggressive positivity, and building a culture that actually has room for leadership growth. The bottom line from that piece is simple: either look me in the eye and tell me your leaders are constantly becoming better, or correct that right now.

You can find a link to both articles in today's show notes.

Let me tell you about how we might work together. I work with owners of successful, independent, multi-unit restaurants to grow their profit, sales, guest count, and unit count. My unique approach bonds employees and guests to restaurant brands and allows owners to enjoy the freedom and flexibility they have earned.

To schedule a call with me to discuss how to achieve your biggest goals, follow the link in the show notes. The initial consultation is complimentary, and we can discuss which big moves might be right for your operation.

Thanks for listening. If you haven't already subscribed to the Restaurant Success Podcast and Newsletter podcast, please do so, and rate and review the show. Find more information in the show notes at Restaurant Success Podcast dot com.

Also find tons of information you can use in print, audio and video form at my website, www dot surrender dot biz. Thanks again and see you next time.