Today I have Donald Burns on the show to discussing the #1 challenge for restaurants today; hiring and developing staff. Donald is the Founder & CEO of Off The Range Ventures, LLC we he currently has 7 brands in his portfolio including: The Restaurant Coach™, BadChef Good Chef Apparel Co, Restaurant Social+, Chef Branding Academy™, and The Restaurant Coach™ University. Donald is a leading authority, author and international coach helping  restaurant owners, operators and culinary professionals go from just good to becoming exceptional.

In this episode we've got the one... the only... Bruce Irving back on the show not for the first time, not for the second time, but for the THIRD TIME! Bruce is the Founder and Host of Smart Pizza Marking Podcast, and he's one of our authorities on marketing for restaurants. Bruce is chatting with us about whats new with Facebook. Specifically, we'll be discussing: Facebook Video; Facebook Live; and Facebook's unpublished posts.

Chicago Born, John Buchanan, is a psychology graduate of Northern Illinois University. His career at Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, Inc. (LEYE) began at Evanston's Fritz, That's It, in 1978.  When Rich Melman, LEYE founder and Chairman of the Board, realized the need for a Human Resources Department, he selected Buchanan to head up the project. He currently holds the title of Senior Vice President of LEYE and His ability to teach and motivate has led to the position of President of Lettuce Consulting Group.

Molly Hopper Sandrof hails from Norther California and is a graduate of Boston University with a focus on Communication and Marketing. Today she is the Director of People and Staff Development for the Hawthorn, Eastern Standard, Island Creek Oyster Bar and two Row 34 locations.

Andrew and Claire Bowen opened their first coffee shop in 2007, after leaving senior roles in retail and healthcare. Within eighteen months they had opened three outlets and had over 1m pounds turnover. In 2011 they developed their own independent format, which they continue to run. They support coffee shop owners worldwide as founders of The Cafe Success Hub. Together they authored The Daily Grind: How to open and run a coffee shop that makes money.

Peter Jude Ricciardi is a creative consultant, and brand strategist executive producer with 15 plus years of experience working for The Walt Disney Company. He has since moved beyond the castle gates and the house of mouse and Today he is considered the Chief Storyteller and Brand Development Director for 2020 Brand Image. 2020 Brand Image is a full service consulting agency that specifically serves the hospitality industry. 

In this episode we discuss the significance of developing your story and how to deliver that story through brand imaging. 

Cameron Mitchell is CEO and founder of Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. A lifelong entrepreneur, Mitchell is an accomplished businessman, culinary expert and nationally recognized restaurateur. His prominence in the industry increased exponentially in early 2008, when he guided the sale of two of his most popular concepts, a total of 22 restaurants - to Ruth's Hospitality Group for $92 million. With an entrepreneur's energy, vision and passion, Mitchell's sights are set on the development of new restaurant concepts, and the expansion of concepts currently in his company's portfolio.

Paul Barron is the go-to guy in digital, social and media for restaurant and hospitality industries. He's the founder of DigitalCoCo.com, FastCasual.com, QSRweb.com, RSMindex.com, and foodabletv.com. In addition Paul is the author of The Chipotle Effect; an award winning book on the social consumer and the retail and restaurant business. In his book, he shares an equation to help us master the chipotle effect. It is this equation, which we discuss in this episode. Also, Paul shines light on what he believes the future of our industry looks like, based on today's current trends. 

Ryan Gromfin is also known as The Restaurant Boss. After years of working in the kitchen at numerous restaurants, 5 start hotels, with James Beard Award winning chefs, and the best hotelier in the world, he is now using his experience to serve as an industry consultant at Authentic Restaurant Concepts. Today he helps restaurant owners reduce cost and increase profit with efficient strategies and you can find his work at www.TheRestaurantBoss.com