Last week, I was in Vegas speaking at David Scott Peters’ Restaurant Transformation Seminar when a conversation took a surprising turn mid-speech.
I was sharing a story I’ve told privately for years, about restaurant owners who let their servers influence their marketing strategy, when one of the owners in the audience stopped me in my tracks:
Restaurant owner: “You’re telling me your client said he was taking marketing advice from his server?”
Me: “YEP. Happens every week.”
Restaurant owner: “That’s a major issue. Feedback, sure, but marketing advice? Especially when I’m paying experts to help me with that? No way.”
The room lit up, and honestly, it got me excited.
This was the first time I’d included this story in a talk, and to see an owner get that fired up told me: this message needs to be louder.
Here’s the backstory:
About once a month, my team gets a call that sounds like this:
Restaurant Owner: “The program isn’t working. It’s bringing in the wrong customers.”
Us: “Okay, what makes you say that?”
Owner: “Well, my employees are saying the guests with promos aren’t the best.”
So we dig in.
And what do we find? The story is always the same.
The staff remembers the few customers who came in, used a promo, ordered a water, didn’t tip, and bounced.
But those customers? They account for 5 – 8% of total traffic.
The other 92 – 95% are your ideal guests. Quiet. Grateful. Repeat-worthy.
But you didn’t hear about them, because they didn’t cause a stir.
Offers So Good (O.S.G.)… They Attract Everyone
Let’s be real: if you run a marketing program with offers so good people feel stupid saying no to them, yes, you’ll attract a few bottom feeders.
But that’s a feature, not a flaw.
Our data, pulled from hundreds of thousands of transactions, shows that the overwhelming majority of customers who benefited from our O.S.G. offers are the ones you want. They become loyal, high-frequency, high-spend customers.
If you kill the program because a couple of bad apples got a free slice and didn’t tip, you’re missing the forest for the trees.
This Isn’t Just About Marketing. It’s About Leadership.
Let me be clear:
Your staff’s feedback matters. Their insights into daily operations? Critical.
But letting that override strategy and data-driven decisions? That’s dangerous.
A few months ago, a client was ready to cancel our program because of what he was hearing from his team. Then he looked at the dashboard, paused, and said:
“WOW… I need to spend more time talking to people like you instead of my team, Matt.”
That hit me.
Because this isn’t really about marketing metrics, it’s about who you surround yourself with.
Who’s in your ear? Who’s influencing your decisions?
Are you seeking advice from experts, or just whoever’s closest when you’re overwhelmed?
Get in the Right Room
Being a restaurant owner is brutally hard.
You’re not just the CEO, you’re often the dishwasher, the referee, the therapist, and the front-line quarterback.
You’re in it, daily, with your team.
But don’t forget this:
Your team runs your restaurant.
You run your business.
And that means you need peers, mentors, and experts in your corner.
Being in that room last week at DSP’s event gave me hope. It reminded me how many restaurant owners are willing to invest in their knowledge and seek real accountability.
It reminded me that the answers are out there; you just have to stop looking across the line and start looking up.
So this week, ask yourself:
Who has your ear?
And are they helping you move forward, or holding you back?
– MP OUT 
Song = Here We Go by Norman
https://open.spotify.com/
Book = Restaurant Prosperity Formula by David Scott Peters
