Don’t tell me how much you care about your business. Show me.
Bottom line: we need to be more protective of our business. That might sound dramatic, but if you’ve spent any real time in restaurants, you know exactly what I mean. This business—at its best—is built on compassion, empathy, and an unrelenting willingness to fight for each other. It’s one of the only industries where art and business collide in real time, creating moments that actually matter. That’s the magic.
But here’s the problem: we don’t protect it nearly enough.
And I’ll be the first to admit I haven’t always done a great job of that myself.
There was a stretch in my career where I worked for a company I absolutely hated. Every second of it was miserable. The owner would walk up to me and say “I hate what you’re doing. Coaching isn’t really my thing, but I don’t like whatever it is you’re doing.” And then, he’d just walk away. This is a man that told me to focus more on the business and less on the people. The environment felt transactional. I didn’t feel like I mattered.
Around that time, I hired a new manager. Good guy, eager, really seemed to want to grow. Less than three weeks later…he was gone. No notice. Just quit. The owner followed up with him to get some feedback, then came back to me and said something that stopped me cold:
“You ordered him around. You didn’t give clear direction. And he didn’t feel like he mattered.”
Here’s the part that stings:
The night before that conversation, I had been sitting at home telling my wife those exact same things about my own job. I was treating this young man the same way I was being treated. Treating him how I HATED being treated.
It hit me like a ton of bricks: I had allowed a toxic environment to change who I was. I wasn’t leading the way I believed in anymore. I wasn’t treating people the way I knew they deserved to be treated. I had become the very thing that was making me miserable.
I started looking for a new job that night. Not because the company was broken—though it was—but because I had stopped protecting what mattered most: the people.
We all know there’s a lot of ways to do this. Plenty of ways to be successful. But we need to be honest with ourselves; we have a problem in this industry. And before anyone gets defensive—this isn’t about pointing fingers at “bad operators.” Most people in this business care. They want to do the right thing. But wanting to do the right thing and actually doing it are two very different things.
Too many leaders tolerate behavior that slowly chips away at their culture:
- Managers belittling line cooks
- Teams speaking about guests with open disdain
- Employees working themselves into burnout while no one steps in
And the worst part? It becomes normal. That’s where the real damage happens. Because culture doesn’t fall apart all at once. It erodes—moment by moment, shift by shift, decision by decision.
So let me say this as clearly as I can:
Don’t tell me you care about your business while allowing your people to suffer. Because you’re lying.
Your people are the business. And if you’re not actively protecting them, you’re actively losing them.
If this part stings a little … good. It should.
There’s a mindset in parts of this industry that says, “this is just how it is” or “it’s a tough business.” Another one of my favorites is “If they can’t handle it, they shouldn’t be here.”
Ugh … your martyrdom BORES ME.
That mindset is outdated—and it’s costing you more than you think. You think you’re building toughness, but you’re actually building turnover. You’re not building standards, you’re building resentment. You’re not building loyalty. You’re building exit plans.
And for owners—this one’s on you too. If you’re not investing in the development of your leaders, you’re setting them up to fail. Being a great operator does not automatically make someone a great leader. Those are different skill sets. One is purely about execution. The other is about the ability to execute consistently through your people. If you don’t teach your leaders how to lead, don’t be surprised when culture breaks down under their watch.
We love to talk about building culture in this industry. Mission statements, core values, brand standards. Love all that. But here’s the truth: Culture isn’t built in a meeting. It’s defended in the moment.
It’s what you do when something’s off. When you walk into the kitchen and a manager is tearing down a cook—what do you do? When your team starts trashing a guest—what do you do? When someone tells you they’ve worked nine days straight—what do you do?
Because in those moments, you have a choice:
Protect the culture—or let it slip.
And if you let it slip enough times, don’t be surprised when it disappears completely.
5 Ways to Protect Your Culture
If we want to get serious about this, we need to move from awareness to action. Here are five ways to start protecting what makes this industry great:
1. Address Issues in Real Time
Not later. Not tomorrow. Now.
Culture is shaped in the moment. If something doesn’t align with your standards, step in immediately. Silence is acceptance.
2. Set Non-Negotiables
Respect isn’t optional. Neither is professionalism.
Be crystal clear about what behaviors are unacceptable—and enforce those standards consistently, no matter who it is.
3. Audit Your Leaders
Your culture will never outperform your leadership.
Take a hard look at your managers. Are they building people up or breaking them down? If it’s the latter, you have a leadership problem—not a staffing problem.
4. Prioritize People Over Convenience
Short-staffed? Busy? Under pressure?
That’s when your standards matter most. It’s easy to care about people when it’s convenient. It matters when it’s not.
5. Model the Standard
Your team will mirror you. Good or bad.
If you want respect, show respect. If you want accountability, be accountable. If you want a culture built on trust, go first.
I love this industry. I love the people in it.
I love the chaos, the creativity, the connection. I love that on any given night, a group of strangers can walk into a restaurant and leave feeling like they were part of something.
But that doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because someone, somewhere in that building, decided to protect it.
So, here’s the challenge:
The next time you walk into your restaurant, pay attention.
When something feels off—fix it.
When someone is struggling—help them.
When your culture is being tested—defend it.
Because the most beautiful thing about this industry isn’t the food, or the concept, or the brand.
It’s the people.
And it’s on us to protect them.
Jeffrey Boland Sr. has spent the last two decades in the restaurant industry, leading teams, opening concepts, scaling brands and guiding multi-unit operations. As Director of Operations he has led cultural transformations that drive growth, retention, and guest loyalty. Today, he consults and coaches operators on building culture-driven brands where both people and profits thrive. As a public speaker, Jeff pulls from his path to sobriety, experience as a father and the countless hours navigating the winding path of a hospitality career to inform, inspire and engage restaurant professionals and future leaders to achieve excellence. A believer that restaurants are at their best when they create belonging, Jeff helps leaders transform their teams into communities and their businesses into destinations. Connect with Jeff at [email protected] and follow him on LinkedIn.
