Fundamental Leadership Skills for Restaurant Owners

"Leadeship" has been a darling topic of business media for decades. Social media posts provide countless aspirational quotes, presumably for middle managers who hope to occupy C-level offices someday.

Maybe you are not hoping to be the next Jack Welch. You run a restaurant business with one to several or more units. You probably don't have a Harvard MBA.

Running an independent restaurant business requires a multitude of front-line management skills in finance, marketing and operations. If you are typical of many of our readers, you work hard at being an effective manager. Is there enough time in the day to be a great leader, too?

If you are about to flip to the next article, stop and consider the importance of leadership skills in the independent restaurant. You are not insulated from front-line employees by layers and layers of management.

All eyes are on you for guidance on how to act. In fact, the experience your guests receive is likely to be a fairly accurate reflection of the attitude you convey to your staff.

In this article, we review some of the key attributes of leadership in the independent restaurant. And most of this advice isn't esoteric, but rather draws from some very basic concepts you heard, most likely, from your parents and teachers growing up.