Send me a Text Message. I'd love to hear from you.
Ever wondered how to stay ahead in the ever-evolving restaurant industry?
Join us for this recap of my time spent on the Late Night Restaurant Show as we sit down with Canada's restaurant guide, Jay Ashton, and Domenic Pedulla to uncover the secrets of leadership and innovation in the hospitality world.
Chapters
00:00:08- Restaurant Show and Late Night Event
00:10:32-Hospitality Leadership Development and Boundaries
00:23:52-Impact of Restaurant Coaching on Business
00:32:01-Advantages of Coaching in Hospitality
00:45:29-Finding Solutions in Hospitality Industry
Join us as I share my passion for elevating daily leadership practices and gives you a sneak peek into my upcoming book, which promises to be a game-changer for anyone in the industry.
In our final moments on the show, Jay, Domenic and I underscore the transformative power of coaching and mentoring in the restaurant business. Learn how dedicating a small amount of time to strategic reflection can lead to monumental improvements. Whether you are a seasoned restaurateur or just starting out, this episode is packed with actionable strategies and heartfelt advice to help you navigate the complexities of the restaurant world.
Resources
Watch the conversation on The Late Night Restaurant Show on Youtube
Solutions by Christin
Jay Ashton
Domenic Pedulla
National Restaurant Show
More from Christin:
Curious about one-on-one coaching or leadership workshops? Click this link to schedule a 15 minute strategy session.
Send me a Text Message. I'd love to hear from you.
Ever wondered how to stay ahead in the ever-evolving restaurant industry?
Join us for this recap of my time spent on the Late Night Restaurant Show as we sit down with Canada's restaurant guide, Jay Ashton, and Domenic Pedulla to uncover the secrets of leadership and innovation in the hospitality world.
Chapters
00:00:08- Restaurant Show and Late Night Event
00:10:32-Hospitality Leadership Development and Boundaries
00:23:52-Impact of Restaurant Coaching on Business
00:32:01-Advantages of Coaching in Hospitality
00:45:29-Finding Solutions in Hospitality Industry
Join us as I share my passion for elevating daily leadership practices and gives you a sneak peek into my upcoming book, which promises to be a game-changer for anyone in the industry.
In our final moments on the show, Jay, Domenic and I underscore the transformative power of coaching and mentoring in the restaurant business. Learn how dedicating a small amount of time to strategic reflection can lead to monumental improvements. Whether you are a seasoned restaurateur or just starting out, this episode is packed with actionable strategies and heartfelt advice to help you navigate the complexities of the restaurant world.
Resources
Watch the conversation on The Late Night Restaurant Show on Youtube
Solutions by Christin
Jay Ashton
Domenic Pedulla
National Restaurant Show
More from Christin:
Curious about one-on-one coaching or leadership workshops? Click this link to schedule a 15 minute strategy session.
If you are a budding restaurateur or an established industry veteran, listen up. Join me for this special episode where I bring you into the fold of the late night restaurant show with Canada's restaurant guide, J ay Ashton and Dominique Padula. With Canada's restaurant guide, J ay Ashton and Domenic Pedulla, the three of us discuss how to master leadership and innovation in the restaurant space. Welcome to the no Hesitations podcast, the show where restaurant leaders learn tools, tactics and habits from the world's greatest operators. I'm your host, Christin Marvin, with Solutions by Christin. I've spent the last two decades in the restaurant industry and now partner with restaurant owners to develop their leaders and scale their businesses without wasting time and energy, so they can achieve work-life balance and make more money. Achieve work-life balance and make more money. You can now engage with me on the show and share topics you'd like to hear about, leadership, lessons you want to learn and any feedback that you have. Simply click the link at the top of the show notes and I'll give you a shout out on a future episode. Thanks so much for listening and I look forward to connecting. Thanks so much for listening and I look forward to connecting.
Jay Ashton:All right. Well, welcome everyone to the Late Night Restaurant Show. I'm so serious With Canada's Restaurant Guy and Domenic. You know what. Hey everybody, thank you for showing up. Domenic, we have an incredible guest on tonight and you show up late. My deepest apologies.
Domenic Pedulla:I will give my apologies in person again.
Jay Ashton:That's okay. We love when you're late, because then I get to razz you at the show. So for everyone that's going to be joining us tonight obviously this is not a podcast. Don't think it's a podcast, don't even think but it happens to hang out with the other podcast.
Domenic Pedulla:Yeah, because we're good people and we can hang out with anybody right Pretty well anybody.
Jay Ashton:We can really know how to hang, but not overtake the podcast space because we want to share.
Domenic Pedulla:They're okay to share that space with us and we're okay to be there with them.
Jay Ashton:Do you know why? Has anyone ever said that we're like the crazy Canadians? Because don't do that. I don't want that.
Domenic Pedulla:No, we're not crazy Canadians. We're close, we're like everyday Canadians. I think everybody's like this.
Jay Ashton:Everyone's like this.
Domenic Pedulla:Well, we have fun Deep down. Everybody wants to have fun Deep down.
Jay Ashton:Everybody cares about what they do.
Domenic Pedulla:Everyone else shows up on time too. Oh, oh yeah.
Jay Ashton:Anyways, I'm going to do that for the next 10 minutes. I'm just warning you until.
Domenic Pedulla:Yeah, I'm on Toronto time, so I should have actually been earlier. Don't let me try and help myself here, Jay.
Jay Ashton:You didn't show up later. Anyways, we have a great guest on tonight, but before we get started, Domenic, what are you doing? May 18th to the 21st. May 18th to the 21st.
Domenic Pedulla:There's something happening in Chicago, something really big.
Jay Ashton:I think there's a big, big, big event coming up.
Domenic Pedulla:It's probably one of the biggest events at that center. I'm going to say too Do you think I bet you it's one of the biggest events that is held at McCormick Place, because not many of them take over that entire place like these guys do. So, yeah, really, really big, it's a big big deal.
Jay Ashton:Well, what Dominic is referring to is the National Restaurant Show. It's going to be a long night.
Domenic Pedulla:National Restaurant Association for you.
Jay Ashton:Did I say association? Did I throw that in there?
Domenic Pedulla:No, I did for you, but it is the NRA show. Yeah.
Jay Ashton:So there's over 55,000 professionals attend this.
Domenic Pedulla:Wow.
Jay Ashton:The trade show is 10 football fields big. You know it's in the US is when they refer to football fields.
Domenic Pedulla:On telling you how big things are For telling people the size of it.
Jay Ashton:Exactly. Yeah, I've walked two football fields today. You know that kind of stuff. So there's 10 football fields. There's 900 different product categories which I didn't even know that many existed, which would be pretty crazy to maybe count all of them, from food, beverage equipment, technology and everything else in between. The show is the ultimate destination to your source inspiration and innovation. Innovation has to be big right now, D omenic, because we know prices are going up. People are having to figure out what to do with their menus and you know what you need new ideas because you need to change your menu, and I've done a show on that the importance of changing your menu. If you don't, you suck 100%.
Domenic Pedulla:Yeah, you have to do it, and if you've never been there, this is your opportunity to go.
Jay Ashton:Now, dominic, the best thing that we have and you'll see this I put it up on the screen here that if you go to the NationalRestaurant Associationcom website and you register, you get in there and you go and you type in the promo code PODCAST24, all big letters you can save $55, which we do reference that to about five cups of Starbucks coffee, and you'll be able to get that off. But you only have that till May 16th, and after that you got to pay full price. Sorry, people, you snooze, you lose. That's how it goes, anyways.
Domenic Pedulla:Promo code podcast24.
Jay Ashton:Podcast24.
Domenic Pedulla:Yeah, that's a big savings. Well, now you can afford the parking podcast 24 yeah, that's a big savings well, now you can afford the parking.
Jay Ashton:I don't know.
Domenic Pedulla:I've never been there. A lot of people take the train down there. The public transit is pretty good, but a lot of people park for sure. Who says train?
Jay Ashton:well, they take, they have a train you say train, I'm thinking like horse and carriage, people Park for sure.
Domenic Pedulla:Who says train? Well, they have a train. You say train.
Jay Ashton:I'm thinking like horse and carriage.
Domenic Pedulla:I'm not that old.
Jay Ashton:Jay.
Domenic Pedulla:Anyways, let's run our new intro that we have and then we're going to bring our amazing guest in, because she's been waiting here patiently yeah, because of me. I have to thank her again and apologize, and then we're going to learn she rocks, but she's probably excited to have been waiting for this intro. This might erase my lateness.
Jay Ashton:You know what? It's pretty cool. You should see her on social. She's killing it every day. I see her stuff all the time. She's incredible and she also lives in a really incredible place. I see her stuff all the time. She's incredible and she also lives in a really incredible place. I found out while I was waiting for you, so anyway.
Domenic Pedulla:Where in Saskatchewan?
Jay Ashton:Yeah, she's from Saskatchewan.
Domenic Pedulla:What's a good old?
Jay Ashton:place. No, she's just fine, you'll find out. You'll find out. Okay, so let's run this. She's not Canadian. I never asked that. Maybe she has roots, but anyways, she's not Canadian. She's a rock star in the US and she helps so many restaurants out and I think she's just really cool.
Christin Marvin:So, anyways, cool, let's run this. We'll be right back with our guest. Here we go. Oh pain, pain pain.
Domenic Pedulla:It's coming, it's coming Pain, it's coming Pain, it's coming Pain, it's coming Pain.
Jay Ashton:Welcome back, welcome.
Christin Marvin:Hi guys.
Jay Ashton:Hello, Hi Ch ristin. Ch ristin, how are you doing?
Christin Marvin:I'm amazing. How are you guys?
Jay Ashton:We're going to pretend we didn't talk for a half an hour before.
Christin Marvin:I know all the things, jay's already said, you're amazing. I appreciate that.
Domenic Pedulla:Solutions by Ch ristin Awesome.
Christin Marvin:I just have a killer intro. I really got to up my game.
Jay Ashton:You want to up it a little.
Domenic Pedulla:We have a marketing genius that works for us.
Christin Marvin:I know of this.
Domenic Pedulla:We can't release who it is and how much we pay for it no definitely not.
Christin Marvin:Apparently he's Howard Stern. He's the Howard Stern, right. I was just thinking you.
Jay Ashton:Jay, I want to see the early air. Oh, you know what? Look, J im Taylor is watching us. Hey, J im, you know what? You got to come on the show one night, J jim, what's going on? We have had Derek on. We got a lot of people joining us today on Instagram. We are not on TikTok right now. We'll be on TikTok later with our shows and gems and stuff like this, but we are on every other channel out there. And then, if you do happen I don't know if you ever been and checked on podcasts we sometimes like to put ours up with everyone else, but, um, you know what? It's almost sorry we got more people joining us. Um, sometimes we don't want to, you know, ruin what other people are doing. Is that what we appreciate, you?
Christin Marvin:sharing the space.
Jay Ashton:Yeah, well, we try.
Domenic Pedulla:Well, we yeah, we don't want to infringe on your space either. So that's where it's yeah, we don't want to infringe on your space. There's space for all of us, obviously, right, but we don't want to infringe on your space. We're not. We're not here to do that.
Jay Ashton:And no, we're we want to share the space, for sure, we want to be welcome and, like yourself, everyone else is so much smarter than we are, which that reminds me, dominic. We have to run our yeah, run our disclaimer.
Domenic Pedulla:We probably have to get a disclaimer about the disclaimer.
Jay Ashton:So don't listen to anything that Domenic myself say, because we don't know anything Like zero, but it doesn't reflect our sponsors or promotions and all that stuff. What, nothing? What are we saying?
Domenic Pedulla:One of us does not know a lot of stuff.
Jay Ashton:Oh hey.
Domenic Pedulla:It's both of us, Christin, welcome, thank you so much Thanks for joining us.
Christin Marvin:Absolutely my pleasure.
Jay Ashton:So let's hear your story, yeah.
Domenic Pedulla:What I have to ask you. You said can I ask a question first Cause?
Jay Ashton:you said Well, you were taking it. You asked me questions last night for an hour and a half.
Domenic Pedulla:But there was and we didn't finish. Let me ask Ch ristin a question, though, just one question, then you can take over Christin. Jay said you're from a pretty cool place and I said somewhere in Saskatchewan, which that's where Jay's from, and he thinks Saskatchewan's cool. But you're not. You're from Saskatchewan's really cool and maybe you want to be from there, but really, where are you from?
Christin Marvin:I would like to visit. I've never been there. I am originally from a small town called St Joseph, Missouri, but I've lived in Colorado the last 23 years and I now Pretty cool place. Tucson, arizona, yeah.
Domenic Pedulla:Oh okay, nice, Awesome, yeah. So Colorado is much like Alberta, right? Oh yeah, for sure, it's Alberta. Like Calgary's Denver North, a lot of people would say.
Christin Marvin:Oh interesting, yeah Cool, I'll have to come check it out. Yeah, denver's in the middle.
Domenic Pedulla:That's real Jay Jay's looking at me. No, no, I was. It's real.
Jay Ashton:I know it's real. I'm just trying to think how you sort of like trying to get her to come to saskatchewan because that is not for you. I don't even know how you can reference the. That's not a big on saskatchewan.
Domenic Pedulla:Well, we were talking about your story last night. You know saskatchewan came up four or five times.
Jay Ashton:So, um, welcome, jay, I'll let you, I'll let you ask, you know the first well, kristen, tell us, tell us about your story, tell us how you got like, how long you've been in the industry over 20 years.
Christin Marvin:So I started cooking when I was 15 and my favorite Mexican restaurant in St Joe, which is still my favorite restaurant to this day family-owned joint and I worked my way up through the ranks so I became a GM at a five-star five diamond hotel. When I was 24, I started studying mixology with a couple of mixologists out of New York. I studied to become a sommelier, worked at a fine dining restaurant with a Michelin star chef. My mentor came from Union Square Hospitality Group. I was 24 and, just like I don't even know what this life is, but I want to be in it forever. So that's really where I had my, you know, major light bulb moments in the hospitality world.
Christin Marvin:And then that was in Colorado Springs and my husband was selling wine to restaurants and we decided to move to Denver because there was more opportunity for both of us and the city was was not yet exploding. We were there during the explosion of population growth and every independent operator opening like six or eight restaurants. Neighborhoods were exploding. It was incredible. Wow. I was lucky enough to be a managing partner with a local group in Denver and we went from two to seven locations in about five years. All different concepts speakeasy, barbecue, asian noodle bar, fine dining French, fine dining, italian. Wow, just a blast. And then I jumped on with a high volume brunch concept called Snooze AM Eatery. We were locally owned in Denver. We had six locations and then we grew to 48 locations in seven years.
Christin Marvin:So that was absolutely wild ride, yeah, and I oversaw Colorado during that phase of growth, which was incredible and great company, for sure. And after seven years of being with them, I joined a local ice cream company in Denver called Sweet Cow that wanted to grow from six to 20 locations and we had some really awesome plans. And then the pandemic hit and I got burnout in the industry. I stopped taking care of myself and I started working with a coach and needed to reignite my passion for the industry. I knew I wanted to do something different and I wanted to stay connected with it, but it couldn't be in operations. I was ready to do something completely different.
Christin Marvin:Opening the same concept over and over and over again was just not fun anymore. So I decided that I really wanted to help solve the problem of the lack of leadership development resources in the hospitality industry, especially in the independent segment, and I said you know what? I'm going to start my own company and I'm going to deliver leadership development value every single day on as many platforms as I can. So that morphed into LinkedIn and newsletters and the podcast and then soon to be a book launching this fall. So it's been a wild year and a half.
Domenic Pedulla:I'll tell you that well, good for you yeah wow, wow, J jay, you knocked it out of the park again. Um, we like, well, yeah, we'll have to tell her, but we, we, um, jay has a some magic in finding guests that uh, a have a cool story, but B that like to help, and we like, we like, we like hearing that and that's, you know, a big part of kind of what we do on this late night show. Um, you know, we bitch and complain about certain things sometimes, but, but, we really like talking to people that well, I do. But we, we like talking to people that well, I do. But we like talking to people that have an interest and care for helping the industry and that's awesome, yeah, that's what the service is all about, right?
Christin Marvin:So I'm just honored to live in a place where I can do this. Honored to live in a place where I can do this and the creativity you guys know of being your own entrepreneur, and the autonomy that you have and the ability to throw shit at the wall and see what sticks and and make adjustments, uh, every single day in real time, is just incredible.
Domenic Pedulla:So yeah, yeah, that's, that's um, that. That is an awesome part of being an independent, an independent owner and entrepreneur. And and also, yeah, you know, your, your company's called Solutions by Ch ristin, which is which is cool, but I think a lot of people don't don't understand that even in when they open a restaurant right, they're really doing that as well. They might have a concept and you know, and a clear plan of what they're going to do, but a lot of times, those things morph into something else because of circumstance or because of, you know, availability of certain ingredients, and then all of a sudden, they've got a winner and something else that they're doing that they weren't planning on doing. So I like the fact that you're helping the independents, because those are the people that need the help, because they don't have the resources, they don't have the training departments or the development departments or the R&D departments. They don't have all of those things, departments. They don't have all of those things, but they still need it and they still need access to them and they need access to that depth of knowledge that obviously sounds like you could bring.
Christin Marvin:Absolutely, and you know some of those restaurateurs go into the space not having a clear plan right and not really having a vision for their business. So that's really where I start with clients, but I help them also get really clear on where they want to spend their time and their energy and where the priorities are, and work really hard with them to learn how to set boundaries and say no, which is really really hard to do when you dedicate your career to serving other people right. We're people pleasers in this industry, so I do a lot of deep work with understanding people pleasing. You know mentalities and how they make you successful and how they hold you back at the same time it's just I'm, I'm.
Domenic Pedulla:It was probably the first time we heard you know, don't be a people pleaser and set boundaries. I, I, I think we we spoke with michelle about that a little bit about um, kind of a little bit about that um are people accepting of that? How? How long did it take you to accept that? Because you said you worked with a coach?
Christin Marvin:I coach. I learned so much from my coach about self-awareness. I mean, my coach had created a really safe space for me of mutual understanding, of trust and respect. My coach was able to hold up a mirror for me and show me how I was showing up when I was really burnt out, which was a victim, which is not who I am or what I wanted to be or how I wanted to show up burnout which was a victim, which is not who I am or what I wanted to be or how I wanted to show up.
Christin Marvin:And once you start shifting your perspective and your mindset around the impact that setting boundaries can have on your life, your entire life changes.
Christin Marvin:So it's you know, the work that I do with clients and the work that the coach, my coach, did with me.
Christin Marvin:It's all about taking the tiny steps in order to get closer to what you want. And then, once you start to take those steps and you start to build systems so that you can create really great habits, and you start to see the progress and you feel it right and you start to say no for the first time, and then you realize it feels really great. And then you do it again, and you do it again, and you do it again, and then you do it again, and you do it again, and you do it again, and you, you, then you start to see doors opening, you start to see opportunities around you and at that point you realize that you're you're doing the right thing Right. And when, when operators that I work with start setting those boundaries and they see that their businesses are not being impacted in a negative way, but that their teams are being empowered and their managers are thinking more like owners shoot, that's a home run.
Domenic Pedulla:Yeah, that's for an entrepreneur. It's hard to first off, let go right, Let go of that control, and I think that's really tough but it's empowering and I think once they let go and they let their team sort of, you know, fly out of the nest per se, they're not holding them back anymore. I think it's a surprise to everybody at all the creativity and ability that their staff have. Creativity and ability that their staff have. They they didn't. They didn't realize because they were being held back or they were, they were micromanaging or whatever. Whatever the circumstances were I. To me that's really cool when people come to that realization that there's like holy, really like I, I didn't, you know, I never realized I had this talent here 100, 100.
Christin Marvin:You've got to give people the space right to be themselves and to be great problem solvers and show you what they can do. That's why you hired them in the first place, right?
Christin Marvin:And I have a client who finally went to his team and said I'm going to stop picking up shifts for you because I have seven locations and I can't do this and run the company, and I'm going to start taking a day off a week and I'm going to let you guys know when that day is and I'm going to ask that you don't contact me and I'm going to put somebody in charge. And every single one of his managers said thank you so much for doing this. We really see that you're working too hard and we want what's best for you and we want you to take a break too.
Christin Marvin:It's all a example, they can't expect their teams to have a great quality of life and preach it if they're not going to show up and show them to do it.
Christin Marvin:Hi everyone, before we dive back into this week's episode, I'd like to take a moment and invite you to head on over to kristinmarvincom slash change to download your guide to how to create successful change in your restaurant. This seven-step guide can be a great tool if you're currently rolling out a new system in your business or in the process of creating a new system and want to ensure you save time and energy during the rollout process. Feel free to share this resource with your teams. Again, you can download the guide at kristinmarvincom slash change. If you'd like additional help navigating through the process, feel free to reach out at kristinlmarvin at gmailcom, and we can schedule a 30 minute meeting to chat. Now back to the show show.
Domenic Pedulla:Thanks so much for listening and then it creates yeah, it creates it. I think that the the other part of that is it, as much as you think you might be stepping back, when you're doing that, you're also growing yourself, right, you're growing yourself in your ability to let go, but it also creates an opportunity for you to either do other things and or, you know, have rest and relaxation, absolutely. So it creates an opportunity for the owners when they can, when they can let go, which, which, to me, is also just awesome.
Christin Marvin:Yeah, and letting go is really uncomfortable right, Especially for entrepreneurs Again like you said and who have set everything up from the ground. They are the expert in all the systems. They know every single aspect, inside and out of the restaurants. The minute you start to get uncomfortable, though, that's where the growth kicks in, and if you can that as a trigger to just continue to lean into that even more, then that's where leadership development really really starts to happen. Awesome.
Jay Ashton:Christin, one of the things that I always say and I've said this a million times, which is a million and one is I believe every restaurant needs a coach. Would you believe this. Can you tell everyone I'm not just saying this for the heck of it Because you do this. Yeah, I do. How important is it today? Because maybe 10, 20 years ago you didn't need it.
Domenic Pedulla:You probably needed it, just nobody yeah.
Christin Marvin:There's just more of them now. Right, you know what Everybody needs. Call it a coach, call it a mentor, call it a partner, whatever it is.
Christin Marvin:I am a strategic partner for restaurateurs, but leadership is really lonely, right, and single restaurant operators have one location, two location, five locations, whatever it is. They don't usually prioritize building a community of other entrepreneurs or restaurant owners or CEOs around them that they can learn from. They sometimes have mentors by the time they get into their career and then sometimes they give those mentors up as soon as they start their business because they think I got it or they're just too busy. They're not prioritizing their own, they're not investing I have found in themselves and their own leadership because they're spending too much time and energy giving to the guests and giving to their teams. And again, once they start to take a step back and spend one hour every other week strategizing about their business, reflecting on what's going on, slowing down to celebrate their accomplishments, it just opens up a whole new world of how they see their business, because they go back in with a fresh set of eyes and they start to recognize things that they have before right, it's super, super impactful.
Domenic Pedulla:Are people surprised that that's all you're asking? One hour every other week to start with.
Christin Marvin:No, no, they're not. No, nobody's surprised. I think it fits really well with their schedule, right.
Domenic Pedulla:No, it does for sure, but you're not asking for a lot, you're only asking for one hour every two weeks.
Christin Marvin:Yeah, I mean there's a lot that we can unpack in that hour.
Domenic Pedulla:But so it's not a big investment of time to say, hey, I've had this conversation recently with somebody else as well. I've had this conversation recently with somebody else as well. I'm not a coach, I don't profess to coach and not knowing enough about coaching, You're my coach.
Domenic Pedulla:What are you talking about? Well, I know, but I wasn't going to out you like that, jay. But the reality is, though, is you have to spend time on yourself and for whatever it is right. If it was just to not think about anything and have a one hour of quiet time, or one hour strategizing about your business, whatever that is, it's awesome that you can tell them. I think a lot of people would say, when you suggest hey, you're going to need a coach, they would immediately think this is going to be a big, massive time investment that I don't have. Well, when you say it, like you just said it, who could not find one hour every other week? They could, of course they could.
Christin Marvin:They can find it. But I will say, if they're saying I don't have time for this, they're not ready to do the work and it's not just the hour that I spend with people every other week. Every one of those sessions comes with commitments that we make together or they make to themselves and that we design together and really the work happens in between the sessions, right?
Christin Marvin:So it's not just that hour. It's up to that client that I work with to really put the time and energy into noticing their behavior, making small changes. Having really tough conversations that we've had, you know, we've prepared them for starting to time block, starting to set boundaries, whatever it is that we're working on. They, we talk about it, they learn about it. They've got to go in and immediately apply it and then again start to create those habits. So that takes time and energy for sure.
Domenic Pedulla:For sure, but one hour with you over two weeks, if that sets me up to start making that small change again, it's not a massive investment to start that work right. It's not.
Domenic Pedulla:You're not asking for a lot correct yeah which is it's awesome, like I'm not saying it's. I'm not saying it's not enough. I'm just saying for somebody who's thinking about this um, putting in the hard work is going to be hard for sure, putting in that effort. But when you're asking for one hour every two weeks to start thinking about, first off, you know, I guess obviously you, you do this this a little bit of a deep dive to think about hey, how are we going to help? What are your? What are your challenges? Um, back to what jay said everybody should be doing, even if they only ever did one hour just to find out, or two hours to find, I don't know what it takes to sort of get a big picture of here's what the challenges are. Maybe that's a couple hours or three hours. Right that the changes you have to make are not going to be as big or as massive or as scary as you think they might be 100%.
Domenic Pedulla:Yeah.
Christin Marvin:Again, it's just those tiny little adjustments that need to be made, but it's, you know, hold a mirror, you know if you will up in front of clients and say, look at what's happening, talk to me about how this is impacting your business, and then sometimes, them just saying it, they're like, oh, there, it is Okay.
Domenic Pedulla:I see, isn't it? Yeah, that's always so, you know, with my little one person team that they say that. They say exactly that. I knew that it's like of course you did right. Yeah, yeah, knew that, it's like of course you did right yeah. Yeah, yeah, and sometimes that's pretty cool too, because a lot of people know what the challenge is, and does it take a coach to uncover it or does it take a second set of eyes?
Christin Marvin:What is it? I think it takes somebody with really strong intuition and some really strong training about what tools to use when with people right, everybody's different and that's hard right especially if you're very yeah, yeah for sure.
Jay Ashton:Well, restaurateurs are going to be the ones that don't want to open up a lot too, right, right, like they're notorious for keeping that stuff in.
Christin Marvin:Pride Yep Ego Generate Ego yeah.
Jay Ashton:There's, you know, different ethnic backgrounds also. You know those kinds of things. There's a lot of factors.
Christin Marvin:Yeah, they're used to doing a lot of things on by themselves.
Jay Ashton:Yeah, yeah, you're right. Even if they say they got a team, they, you know they're cooking or running the place at the same time. Yeah, doing everything. You're right. You're absolutely right, because I have a question for you. This is one, because one I'm already blown away. But how does Dominic? It's sound like you. I'll do Dominic.
Christin Marvin:Dominic when.
Jay Ashton:Dominic looks to the ceiling.
Christin Marvin:It's a good question coming just so you know, you bet Thank you.
Jay Ashton:And then if I tell you, never mind, I'm going to get into this, but I do want to ask you this when you started helping and you're coaching a client or a customer and you're working with them, I thought the one thing that I'm gonna like people that are going to run into this or maybe they want to start becoming a restaurant coach or they want to do this what's the help to what the help said, the bottom line, what does it do to the business, the business itself? Do we see sales increase, because that's what they're going to ask? Does it grow sales?
Christin Marvin:100%. It impacts every single aspect of your business. Because you're able to slow down, look at every aspect of your business. You're developing your skills as a strategic thinker. You're able to prioritize where you're spending your time and your energy. So you're able to get more curious. Because you have more mental capacity to really start to dive into data, to understand your business more, to have more in-depth conversations with your team and connections. So your retention increases, right. Your sales increase because you're looking at different ways to be innovative with the business.
Christin Marvin:You are able to empower your team more again, like Dominic we were talking about earlier, right, so everybody feels like they're bought in there. You know I do this a lot when I work on leader, when I host leadership workshops for concepts. We get everybody in that room to think like owners. They know exactly what their roles are, they know how they want to show up as a leader when we get done and they know what their marching orders are in order to make the business more successful. And it's about every single aspect of it, right the team, the people, the food, the service, the ambience, how to offer really exceptional experience on every single level so that's like like that just tells me everyone needs a coach and how many people feel like they may say you know what I'm good like?
Jay Ashton:I'm not, I'm not broken, because I keep telling people that it doesn't matter if she's successful already.
Christin Marvin:Oprah has a coach stomach, oprah has I believe, hazel has a coach yeah, because they want to level up right. Coaching isn't for people that are broken. Coaching is for everybody. It doesn't matter at what stage you're at. You need a shirt with that on.
Christin Marvin:I should make that. I was really invested in my own leadership development when I was in my early 20s. I loved books, like Setting the Table. I used to buy copies and train my entire staff on that. Every time I'd open new concepts and at some point in my career I stopped developing in myself because I was really unhappy.
Christin Marvin:And the moment I started working with a coach, who started to really call me out on my bullshit and show me things that I could not see and show me all those roadblocks that were right there in front of me that I just either refused to see or didn't know Again, everything changed and I will work with a coach for the rest of my career because I want to make sure that I am laser focused on the right things, and we know as entrepreneurs it is so easy to get distracted by the shiny objects. Right, and if you can set a clear vision and you can check in on it frequently, but you're still going to run into unforeseen things and having somebody else look at you from an outside perspective is just absolutely priceless.
Domenic Pedulla:Wow, yeah, yeah, well said, I think, dominic, you need a coach. I do. Well, well said, I think, dominic, you need a coach. I do. Well, I do no, exactly for the reasons you said, because I'm a shiny object guy. I'm a shiny object, but kind of no, I'm getting better, but you know, I'm 20 years. I'm 20 years late and getting better. It's just maybe because I'm getting tired. It's not unless you know I'm 20 years late and getting better, it's just maybe because I'm getting tired. It's not a mess, you know.
Domenic Pedulla:But I think there used to be a book, I think, called the Power of Focus, right, like what you just said, like 100% laser focused. I'm talking 30 years ago. That book was out there, right, which was the Power, and it was exactly what she's speaking to in that. When you, when you work and and I, you know, I, I think I had a mentor, I don't really know, but you know, I think an unofficial one but when you're, when you're focused, when, when somebody can help focus you on what that goal is and what the plan is to get there, and and maybe, maybe, they just need to focus you. I spoke to somebody on marketing today, jay, exactly for exactly for what kristen was talking to, because I think we have confused marketing at safe check right me. I've told you that as well. Like I think we're a little bit confused about what our what our?
Jay Ashton:But you do have a great podcast.
Domenic Pedulla:We do, number two, I think, or number three, right? So, and how did I? But to your credit, but to my credit, how did we get a great podcast? Well, wait a sec, I'll tell you why I take the credit for it. Because I asked the podcaster, you did it, you did it. Well, I asked the podcaster why don't we have a podcast? Well, that was you. No, like I did, I was just like why would I have a podcast? But my question was why don't we?
Domenic Pedulla:And Jay's thing was everybody should have a podcast, and he's right, we should. We should be talking about what we do and how we want to help, and you know all that. You know even what we're doing with the late night show. So I think the I think, I think you're spot on.
Domenic Pedulla:I think that, yeah, everybody needs a coach, regardless of what their, what their position, what their services, even, like you said, even if you're said, even if you're already successful, because the reality is, you might discover when speaking with your coach, that you do have this and you have it under control and your team does have it under control, and really you could be letting go to focus on other things that may be important to you or things that you've never been able to do because of work, or you know you might be able to refocus yourself on something you're passionate about. It might be charity, work, like who knows what. It is right. It could be another project, would be something totally different. You're going to be writing a book yourself. Did you ever think 20 years ago you'd be writing a book? Would be my question.
Christin Marvin:Absolutely not, nope. I looked at anybody that had a book as a celebrity. I thought anybody that had a podcast was a celebrity. I looked at people on LinkedIn and I was like those people are celebrities. Until I started having conversations with people, I was like okay.
Domenic Pedulla:They're just regular people, right yeah?
Jay Ashton:You know what's interesting, do you know? What I find is that and this is what I find on my journey, in a sense of like getting to meet people like yourself and working with people like Dominic is that I think in the last 10 years, we stopped having conversations. And this is why I also think podcasting is so cool, because one I think it's an incredible marketing engine. I think it's one of the last pure-ish, let's say, because we do know some bots are coming into this, but I do believe it's one of the last frontiers that we can actually listen and believe the conversations that are happening. But I also believe that we stopped having conversations. We stopped having talk. We stopped talking.
Jay Ashton:I grew up in a house where talking was the root norm the coffee at the table, people showing up just on a Saturday morning to sit for two hours and talk about whatever. We stopped that a long time ago and then, over the last you know, 10 years, we really stopped that and I think it had an effect on a lot of people. So I in you know, covid also bumped up podcasts in a way in streaming stuff like this, how to really jump into the conversations again. But, as I tell everyone that I meet. You have a podcast. Like I said, dominic, because there's so many stories, but's we need to talk and we stop.
Jay Ashton:And I think the fact that it's the simplicity of just talking I have learned more and I thought I knew consulting and helping and coaching restaurants. Over my bazillion years doing it and coaching, you know six like thousands let's put it that way Restaurants across Canada. I thought I knew everything. Nothing you know, like even I'm making notes of what you're saying, kristen, is that I just totally. I think the more we talk, the more we learn. We listen and learn like talking and learning, because I think it both comes hand in hand, but we stop talking. We actually I could probably do a workshop on how to have a conversation with people, and that's how crazy it is. People are having a hard time to talk and to have that dialogue. So when you're talking about like leadership and people trying to lead teams, that's almost like another step in the right direction, but they're having a hard enough time to talk to their team, let alone lead them.
Christin Marvin:Well, it's a great point you bring up, right? I mean, we all played on the playground and had conversations for little, right, and from family, and now tech is a huge barrier, right? So I appreciate that you know what you're saying and I agree that we have to continue to show everybody in the world and in the hospitality industry that you can have conversations on any platform that you want to, and they can learn something from anybody, anytime they talk to them if they're open to it.
Jay Ashton:Dominic, are you like making a sandwich?
Domenic Pedulla:I'm going to plug in my phone here because I'm going to lose.
Jay Ashton:Do you not have a bathroom break, like we had the other night for five minutes because my computer went down?
Domenic Pedulla:No, I'm ready for that. I've been prepping myself for that.
Jay Ashton:No, I just think that we, I think the simplicity, sometimes we can complicate things, but I think honestly, the fact that what you're doing is like incredible complicate things, but I think honestly the fact that you're what, dude, what you're doing is like incredible. First of all, like I'm not kidding you, like I tell you you suck, that's how I am, but I think honestly, like it is, it's incredible what you're doing, because I'm, I, I foresee it. When I work with customers, or me with them, I see the need, right, I see the need of what they're going through and I'm like, and I see the pressures of our industry moving at light speed. Right now, things are changing so fast.
Jay Ashton:If you're trying to be a restaurateur and keeping your thumb on the social channels and using that to promote your business, well, by the time you figure it out, you're late, you're already. There's already shift and change, or tech and using that to promote your business, well, by the time you figure it out, you're late, there's already shift and change, or tech. And you look at food costs, labor costs, all these other factors that are, you know, rent leases, all these things that are a factor, how do you keep your finger on it? And you might, but you're probably going a little crazy doing it and it's a lot of pressure and stress. Yeah, like we had a pill for stress for restaurateurs, which we probably do. Um, but like we can market one.
Jay Ashton:You know, run a restaurant, here's your magic pill, right like yeah um, you probably haven't in the states, but it is well, the, the, the.
Domenic Pedulla:The answer is having a coach. Actually, you don't need the pill.
Jay Ashton:No, you don't need. No, I was getting to that. I was getting to that, but that's important. I really do. I think that's a good thing, yeah.
Christin Marvin:A lot of operators that I talk to come to me with a problem and what they're talking about as we dive deeper into it, that's not really what the issue is. They are spending a lot of time constantly putting band-aids on things. There's always a challenge or an issue underneath that first one, and so, again, once we can really start to understand what the real issue is, then we get to the root cause. We solve the issue, and then typically, that has a ripple effect within the organization too. We solve the issue and then, typically, that has a ripple effect within the organization too, and then, once they start to think like that, then again we start to make a bigger impact, which is just terrible do you think we will ever get to?
Jay Ashton:because this is not. There's not an end to this right, like I don't know if you know? I don't know if you know or Dominic you know, but the industry isn't getting easier.
Domenic Pedulla:No, it's getting harder, it's getting more complicated.
Domenic Pedulla:I think, just on the tech side, on the social side, on the communication side, like you said, jay, younger people have a harder time communicating because they're used to doing it by social and texting, and not not everybody is able to directly communicate with people, even and that's a challenge in itself and that's a challenge for owners in dealing with their staff as well, because we're not we, we don't, we don't understand it and and for, for really old people like myself, it's extra hard to understand, it's extra hard to understand, it's extra hard to understand that shift, because we would say, well, yeah, back in my day, you know, and all these things, jay, we had it with the tech, with the young person that was on and said, hey, let them have their cell phone on the floor, and me and Monty were are you nuts?
Domenic Pedulla:Why would you let them have their cell phone? No, their cell phone needs to be in their car, like 50, 000 feet away from them, not anywhere close to them, so they can't access it. So the I think, I think you're 100 right, the challenges are massive, they're massive. So, yeah, you could be.
Jay Ashton:You should be working with people like kristen I know, like kristen, do you feel like it's gonna like one day people are gonna go like when does this end? There's got to be an end to this, or is it? Just keep pointing getting shittier and shittier and shittier.
Domenic Pedulla:I don't forget shittier. It changes, jay, I think it changes.
Christin Marvin:It's changing, not for the better. I think there are more leadership development resources out there than there ever have been before, through platforms like podcasts and books, and communities like LinkedIn, right and newsletters and all the content that we're creating, you know, but data is.
Christin Marvin:is it's new to restaurants, right? We used to have. Sure, we've had POS for a long time, but the reporting wasn't as slick as it was and so nobody really looked at it. That's a huge mindset shift. I was talking to Derek and I've talked to Jim about this. I think they're watching the show, but hey guys, shout out if you are. But this is new, it's a new concept, it's a new way of thinking and, again, they've got to be able to get curious about it. But they've got to lean in because it's really uncomfortable and they have to be able to make time for it. I had a client a a couple of weeks ago come to me and say my staff is asking for me to teach them about how to look at my POS reporting and I have no idea how to do it. And I was like let's just jump in for 10 minutes and just focus on it and learn a couple of things and then take it back to your team and then come back and continue to do it.
Christin Marvin:It just takes time, but it starts with the willingness to want to do it. And again, I think, hopefully operators are getting into this space because they want to grow concepts and they want to make an impact in people's lives and they want hospitality to thrive and they want to help develop teammates to be better employees when they leave than when they started with their company. That's my hope. I might be hopeless, romantic here, but I'm sticking with it.
Domenic Pedulla:No, I think you're, I, I think you know, we, I've I've spoken about this with Jane, with with a lot of our guests. I think, yeah, there's more availability and I also think that the younger more. Maybe technology sophisticated I don't want to say that, but the younger operators would know. Okay, I'm going to go look for this, I'm going to do a search for this, to just imagine what I can search for, and the older ones might not. I think this is a problem in people that wouldn't go to the NRA show, the National Restaurant Association, or Restaurants Canada show, just to see all the possibilities are there in one place. Do a search.
Domenic Pedulla:I think a lot of people don't know that people like Kristen exist, or like Derek, like we had on the other day, or Monty Jay you're doing a show with Monty that there are people out there that have been there, that have been through those wars and come out of them not necessarily unscathed but alive, to be able to tell you the story of here's what worked for me or here's what we know has worked for many, many other people because of what you do as a business. So I think if people went and looked, there are many solutions out there available to them, and there are many highly skilled people that you can just use as a sounding board. You can use a podcast for sure, right? Then the next step might be okay. Well, I'm going to hire Kristen and I want to talk about what our challenges are, and she's either going to confirm what my belief is or tell me I'm full of shit. I'm totally wrong. This is where your problem is, and as soon as we are open enough to A going to do the search, investing that little bit like she's not asking for a lot, I don't think right. I don't think right. I don't know what the money investment is, but the initial consultation is not going to be a lot.
Domenic Pedulla:I think the first step is to go and look and ask the question. You know what kind of help is out there for me? I don't think it's hopeless, I think it's hard and I think it'll continue to be hard because it's a tough industry. It is. It just is right. There's lots of challenges on top of everything, right, and it's a tough industry. So, if people are willing to look, there's incredible resources, more than there ever was really on the help side, right? If you would have said to somebody 40 years ago. Do you have a coach for your restaurant? They would have said what the F are you talking about? I don't need a coach, I'm making hamburgers. What the what?
Jay Ashton:are you right. I think a lot of times coaches got maybe put into the lane where, like psychologists and people helping out with you know there was a stigma around it.
Jay Ashton:There was a stigma around that right. So that's why I think more and more people like Christian here, that is, promoting the use of getting you know, having coaches and restaurant coaches and business coaches, I think is important, like it's not getting, like you said, it's not getting easier, it's not getting, it's not by no means getting more uncomplicated, it's getting more complicated. And I think the fact is is it's proven, it's a proven track record.
Jay Ashton:So I'm just fascinated being able to sit and chat with you, kristen. It's just that I'm blown away when I hear coaches and people out there helping our industry. That's all we've been focusing on is really getting people out there. You know we don't, if you notice, we don't talk about the negative unless he talks about politics. You notice we don't talk about the negative unless he talks about politics. But, um, we don't talk about the negative because there's enough negative out there. We could talk till we're blue in the face about you know how hard and challenges, and let's talk about what you're doing wrong and all those other things out there. That's what makes our show, I think, different is that we want to spread the the news out there of all these amazing people like yourself yeah, look's why I said you hit it out of the park man.
Domenic Pedulla:You find these amazing guests that are doing amazing things and that really want to help the industry and I truly believe there's probably a solution out there for everything, for every problem. It's already been invented, it's already been proven. They already have a track record of helping. If you really went and looked back to this whole thing, I think A we're afraid of looking. If we know there's a problem and or, and probably both, usually we don't think we have a problem that it's back to doom and gloom, jay, right, kind of what you say is like we need people like Kristen to to help us.
Jay Ashton:You said the mirror. I wrote that down. I wrote it down you. What you said is pulling that mirror out and looking like it. I think it's important because we we tend to avoid that. Like I can look at a whole. I could do a whole week without looking in a mirror. But I think the fact that we have to do that once in a while on the reality right is important. I think it's important to have a self-checkout. You know what I've always said Maybe I'm totally crazy here you have to realize where you stand, to know where you have to go forward.
Domenic Pedulla:So a lot of people.
Jay Ashton:A lot of people don't. Okay, well, I know I was trying to warm up to the point, dominic, you're playing out man. But that's the problem. A lot of people want to admit because sometimes it's not great to say here's actually where we're at. And when you talk to businesses sometimes they don't want to admit mistakes or errors. Or you know what we're not doing good here, or they want, or you know what we don't really do good on social. They have this really hard time for the realization of where they are currently. But I always say we have to find where that is because we can ideally position an endpoint for the restaurant or for the customer what their goal is to get to achieve what their goal is.
Jay Ashton:But typically the hard point is finding out where they're at today, because you have to look in the mirror and go. You know what. I'm not good at this. I've had this happen to me about seven years ago when my boss at the time came and says dude, your team ain't following you because you ain't good. You know I'm like really, and then I had to have that realization go. You know what. She's right. You know you have to kind of. Sometimes. It hurts, sometimes to what that is. But you have to grow, and and until you know where you stand, because a lot of people will okay, well, I'll do this or I'll get going, or I'll fix it whatever it is, but they don't realize where they're at currently at the moment.
Jay Ashton:How, like, where is your position? I always say you have to know you can't improve on anything until you know where you're at currently, at that moment. And I think that's important when we look at our industry, because a lot of people will just keep going through the motion and motion and motion and go you know I'll do this or I'll fix this, or I'll do this or change the menu, and it doesn't really improve things. There's my point.
Christin Marvin:Love it, love it.
Jay Ashton:Put that on a shirt.
Domenic Pedulla:Wow, it's going to be really fine print, jay, really small. We got to have like 16 points for sure. Yeah, exactly, probably 24 maybe. So can you boil that down to one sentence? First off, how do people find you?
Christin Marvin:Yeah, my email is KristenLMarvin at gmailcom and my name is spelled weird, so it's C-H-R-I-S-T-I-N. Or you can call me at 719 494 074 or shoot me a text you know you're good, you are on LinkedIn you know you're good when you throw your phone number out.
Jay Ashton:I've only had, I bet you, 5 people in 1500. Shows that They've done that, so kudos.
Christin Marvin:I um. People don't like email, right, they don't.
Domenic Pedulla:Well, it's, it's I. I I agree with you. I think it's always better I put give us a call, right, cause we do answer our phone and it's often like talking you got to talk and people are surprised. I think You're right, jay, when you tell them hey, you can call me, right, I'm going to give you my cell phone number, call me, and I'm happy to talk to you. You also, you do a podcast.
Christin Marvin:I do Thank you.
Domenic Pedulla:What's your podcast?
Christin Marvin:It's called the no Hesitations Podcast, and each week I teach leaders in the restaurant industry a different lesson to help them be world-class operators.
Jay Ashton:Cool, okay, awesome, well so we'll do this we'll put the link in our podcast for your podcast and then we put the show out. We'll put your podcast in our. We'll promote your podcast for that way. Dominic will get shirts made and we'll promote you up here in.
Domenic Pedulla:Canada. What's the? Well then, people are going to ask no hesitations about what, right? It's pretty open-ended no hesitations, right? So that's. There was a movie called yes man, kind of like no hesitations, I'm not going to hesitate and I'm just going to do it, which is cool.
Christin Marvin:What about a website? So kristinmarvincom and no hesitations was kind of a playoff of no reservations. Big Anthony Mordain and I was playing around with names and thought it was fun. But I also want people to think about don't hesitate to invest in yourself. Don't hesitate to think about your leadership development.
Domenic Pedulla:It's the most awesome, awesome, it's awesome, it's awesome yeah, I said that in reference a 90s movie.
Domenic Pedulla:Thanks, no, well, but, but don't, don't hesitate to invest in yourself is really, really, really, really important. Because when people just yeah, if they take that little step back and say, just self-evaluate for even for a few minutes, investing in a coach or a solutions provider like Kristen is worth the initial conversation at the very least. Like you said, hey, if they don't think they need you, no harm, no foul, right. Like they just talk and they can go away and suffer in misery or think, hey, they're doing great without you, or they can open up and decide well, I should be talking to somebody.
Christin Marvin:Yeah, sometimes it's not the right time, no exactly.
Domenic Pedulla:So yeah, Thank you for your good work.
Jay Ashton:Yes, thank you.
Domenic Pedulla:And thanks for joining us.
Jay Ashton:Yes, thank you for bringing up the question.
Christin Marvin:Appreciate it, you guys?
Domenic Pedulla:are awesome. Yeah we had a lot of fun.
Jay Ashton:Yeah, we had awesome time. So, kristen, thanks again and to everyone else, please check out tomorrow's show and then Friday. Dominic, we have shows tomorrow and Friday, just so you know. Okay, all right, we're doing both tomorrow and then we're airing the other one on Friday, just so everyone knows that as well.
Domenic Pedulla:Both tomorrow. Okay, so so tomorrow and Friday at like 11.30, eastern right.
Jay Ashton:No, no, no, Earlier A little earlier.
Domenic Pedulla:Don't do that. What would that be? 11.30, 12 midnight in Newfoundland.
Jay Ashton:What are you talking about? What language is that? It's a province. Well, they're off by half an hour's. Just not normal. It's weird. It's weird. Anyways, kristen, thank you again. All the best. Well, we're gonna like please check out what you're doing. Everyone that's going to listen to this and if you made it to 56 minutes, thank you for listening and putting up with our crowd.
Jay Ashton:Yes, thank you so much yes, thank you so much and to everyone else, have a great rest of your evening and also check out the Late Night Show on all the other podcasts. This isn't a podcast, I don't think it's a podcast, but we are up on all the other podcast channels. And Dominic, tomorrow we're on twice. Just a reminder, and also everyone else. We'll see you at the NRA show May 18th to the 24th at the McCormick Center, not the Spice Hut McCormick, mccormick, mccormick Place, chicago. Check us out. Thanks, kristen.
Domenic Pedulla:Kristen, will you be going to the National Restaurant Association show?
Christin Marvin:I will not. I will be in Denver for a leadership program.
Domenic Pedulla:You'll be in Denver, okay.
Jay Ashton:Way to go. We talked about that earlier. Anyways, all the best, we'll see you guys later.