Six Beautiful Improvements Can Happen When You Take a Break

In this episode of the Restaurant Success Podcast, veteran restaurant business advisor Matthew Mabel makes the case for why every restaurant entrepreneur needs to step away from their operation. Rather than focusing on revenue growth or management strategy, Matthew shares six powerful improvements that happen when independent restaurant owners take a real vacation. From stress-testing your business systems and discovering hidden operational gaps, to breaking old habits and returning with fresh entrepreneurial energy, this episode is a must-listen for any multi-unit restaurant owner who struggles to unplug. Whether you're planning a spring getaway or need a push to finally book one, Matthew explains why taking a break is one of the smartest business decisions you can make.

Key Topics Covered

• Why stepping away lets your restaurant team grow and strengthen independently
• How vacations stress-test your business and expose hidden operational gaps
• The power of returning refreshed with new ideas to implement
• Breaking invisible habits by stepping outside your daily routine
• Overcoming "store blindness" — noticing what's been right in front of you
• The personal value of making memories with family and friends
• Why some restaurant owners choose to retire in place rather than sell

Links Mentioned

• The Greatest Alternative to Selling Your Restaurants
• Restaurateurs: Why Your First Day Back From Vacation is the Most Important Day of the Year

Resources Mentioned

• Website: www.surrender.biz
• Free initial consultation available

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

Transcript

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 something that might surprise you, when it's coming from me. We're not talking about revenue growth or brand repositioning or management restructuring.

We're talking about taking a break.

Specifically, I want to walk you through six beautiful improvements that can happen when you step away from your business. And I promise you, every single one of them will make you a better operator when you come back.

If you want to learn more about my work, you'll find a link in the show notes below.

Now, it's Spring Break time here in Texas. And I trust you have great vacation plans. If you've already left, congratulations. Enjoy a wonderful week off, and I'm glad you're taking good care of yourself.

But if you don't have plans, I would like to know why. Unless you have a fantastically good reason for working, like for instance no school age kids in the house so a school calendar means nothing to you, I will give you demerits if you do not have something exceptional planned for yourself soon.

You know, some of the most rewarding work I do centers on arranging businesses so their owners can get away, or even stay away for long periods of time. In these cases, my contributions turn pipe dreams into real dreams.

And, that extends to people who planned to sell their businesses but figured out it was a better deal to just retire in place and continue to own. We have all read about those big shots like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates and their "thinking time."

But I'm not asking you to be that outcome-oriented on your vacation. Even my meditation instructors advise me not to meditate with a particular purpose in mind. They just suggest that I meditate and see what happens. I feel the same way about having goals during vacation. Just take a vacation, either home or away.

So what might happen when you do? Let me tell you, some of these things will happen. You'll find out which.

First, you get to watch your people grow and strengthen because you aren't on hand to answer their questions and take care of their issues. That alone is worth the trip.

Second, you stress-test your business and expose a gap you did not identify as reliant on you until you left. Think about that. You might discover something about your operation that you never would have found sitting in your office every day.

Third, you come back refreshed with at least one valuable and significant new idea to implement. And let me tell you, that one idea can be worth more than a month of grinding it out at the restaurant.

Fourth, on your first day back, you change one habit or behavior that you never would have identified had you not broken the cycle by leaving work. This one is huge, because habits are invisible until you step outside of them.

Fifth, on your first day back you notice something that demands attention that has been in front of you every single day for so long that you've ignored it. You know what I'm talking about. That thing you walk past a hundred times and don't even see anymore.

And sixth, or just reflect that you had fun with your family and friends, going to a new place or a place you know well. Either one turns out to be about a thousand times more memorable than any particular week at work. And you know what? That matters too.

Now, if I felt a need to implore you to work harder, I would write that. But I don't. You work hard enough. What I want you to do is take that break, enjoy it, and then pay attention to what happens.

And here's what I'd love for you to do. Email me at the end of your vacation and let me know which of those six outcomes turned out to be the huge benefit from your break. I genuinely want to hear about it.

Now, speaking of a couple of these points, I've written about them in more depth and I think you'll find these pieces really valuable.

When I mentioned retiring in place and continuing to own your business while other people run it, I wrote an article called "The Greatest Alternative to Selling Your Restaurants." It gets into why so many of my clients who founded great businesses back in the seventies, eighties, and nineties have found that it's actually much more expensive to sell the business than to set it up so they can step back while keeping that revenue stream. If that idea intrigues you, you can find a link to that article in the show notes.

And when I talked about that first day back from vacation and the power of breaking old habits, I wrote a piece called "Restaurateurs: Why Your First Day Back From Vacation is the Most Important Day of the Year." It goes deep on what I call store blindness and how stepping away gives you the fresh eyes you need to spot breakthrough opportunities. That link is in the show notes as well.

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.