I still feel that sometimes, but now I realize it’s just business in general.  It can be a little cut-throat.  Everyone wants better lives for themselves, their families and their staff.  And today more than ever, competition is tough.  Technology advancements make it harder to compete.  Online review sites put a magnifying glass on your every mistake.  There is no question, it’s hard!

But that’s also what I love about the restaurant business.  It’s HARD.  Sometimes, you don’t even have to be better than everyone else all the time – you just need to roll up your sleeves and work a little harder than everyone and do the things your competitors aren’t doing.

The next time you feel like the wind is in your face, shift your thoughts and get the edge you need to keep moving forward.  It’s called momentum.

Your tail wind is coming – it could be a couple of months or a couple of years or even a few decades.  But sooner or later, you hit that storm and it’s that moment when you roll up your sleeves, you buckle down, you persist, you don’t get angry or frustrated.  You just take one task at a time and get things done.  While you have your head down, your competitors are going to drop out because it’s just too much work.

Remember, a successful restaurant is really the guy who keeps walking down the harder path doing things the right way rather than trying to find a shortcut.