Episode 673: 3 Things I Learned From Amy Wester of Biscuit Head

Every episode of Restaurant Owners Uncorked runs about an hour. This is the short version, and it's a new thing we're trying. After each conversation, I'm posting a quick episode with the specific, actionable, repeatable things you can take from that owner and use in your restaurant right now.First up is Amy Wester, managing partner at Biscuit Head in Asheville, NC. Amy and her team have four locations, thirteen years in business, and a stretch behind them that included COVID and then Hurricane Helene, which took out their cannery and left the city without running water for 52 days. Here's what I learned from her.Text your whole staff your personal cell number and tell them if something isn't getting heard, call you directly.Say "I messed that up" out loud in front of your team this week and name a real decision that cost money. Amy's leadership team does this on purpose, because employees who are afraid to admit mistakes will bury them until they get expensive.Ask one long-tenured employee what you should change. Amy's team took an idea from an employee thirteen years in and immediately wondered how they had never thought of it themselves.Bonus: call the owner down the street this week. Not to sell anything, just to ask how business is. That network is what carried Asheville's restaurants through Helene.Want to know why each of these works and hear the full story of how Biscuit Head made it through both COVID and Helene and is now having their best year? Go listen to the full episode with Amy.