Dating myself, there was a stack of applications over an inch thick for my first job as a dishwasher. Thanks to a friend who was a busboy at the restaurant, that was the "big break" I needed to be an overnight success in the restaurant business.

Today’s hiring environment is drastically different. I have no idea where the workforce has disappeared to. Are there super-geniuses with a gift of parlaying their stimulus money into record-breaking investment returns Bernie Madoff would have envied?

Recently I had the opportunity to be interviewed for The OrderUp Show, a podcast dedicated to the ins and outs of restaurant operations management.

I had a great chat with host Tommy Yionoulis about CaterZen, the catering industry, and lots more.

Every touchpoint a customer or prospect experiences is marketing. Some are major like a website, and some are minor like how the aprons look on your staff.

With close to ninety percent of communication being non-verbal, it’s important to take inventory of everything and anything that can persuade or influence a sale.

Recently I had the pleasure of being interviewed for the latest episode of Forktales, the popular restaurant, beverage and hospitality industry podcast.

Though I know a thing or two about sales and marketing, I have always been a later adopter of social media. 

There is a stigma around selling. When I say “Natural born salesman”, what comes to mind?

Since I was a child, I have always considered myself lazy. Today the politically correct term would be “efficient”.

Leonard Bernstein once said, “To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.”

Never having quite enough time feels like a prerequisite for owning a catering business. Something always comes up to throw you a curveball. All we can ever do is roll with the punches.

The one thing we do have control over is the plan.

“Perfection is the enemy of progress.”
- Sir Winston Churchill

This quote by Churchill is one of my favorites. It probably should be inscribed on my headstone.

My life philosophy has been, “Why put in six hours for the A, when you can put in one hour for the B?”

True entrepreneurs are a special breed. We live in a ready, fire, aim realm.

I am guessing at least once in your life…

At the beginning of a fight that was about to start…

You were told…

“Choose your words wisely!”

That is great advice to prevent a drag-out or a night on the couch with a flimsy blanket and Netflix playing in the background.

But what I am talking about is choosing your selling words wisely. Whether you are crafting a script for calls, cold calling, your drive-thru window or how your phone is answered, a well-crafted script can be worth tens of thousands of dollars to you.