Be the Food!

What is your favorite restaurant of all time? 

Why?

Most likely the reason you love your favorite restaurant is not the location, building, music, environment, cost, or the wait staff.  The reason most of us love our favorite restaurant is the food! 

Reggie’s Barbecue and Wings in Jackson, Tennessee has been around for 29 years.  It has occupied several locations in Jackson; including a shed-like structure with seating for about 10 people to one of its current locations inside a gas station in North Jackson. 

The reasons Reggie’s has survived these less than desirable locations are due to two factors:  A hardworking owner and award-winning food.  People drive from all over West Tennessee to eat some of the best barbecue and wings money can buy. 

A restaurant’s survival or failure depends mainly on the food.  They may have the greatest environment, the best prices, and best looking wait staff, but if the food is below par it is only a matter of time until they close their doors.

Where you work….you are the food! 

People may come in the door due to your location, they may really enjoy your environment, and they may be thrilled with your products, but they will choose to stay and come back later…because of you! 

When people talk about a business, I have rarely heard anyone complain about the lighting, the carpet color, or the location. 

People bank, shop, or purchase from you because you give them what they are looking for, a relationship and a smile.      

Now…go upgrade your menu!

Remember today:  BE TOP NOTCH FOOD!

By the way…check out Reggi’s BBQ here. (and turn down your speakers)

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It is not your business to succeed…

 

 

…but to do right.  When you have done so, the rest lies with God.  -C.S. Lewis

Exercise excellence at the last thing God called you to do.  He will take care of the next steps.

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Excellence In Hiding

 

On a recent trip to Chicago I saw something truly inspiring. 

Throughout the trip I interacted with people who had a financial interest in being excellent at their job, and in providing excellent service.

I met doormen who opened doors, carried baggage, hailed taxi cabs, and made small talk, all with a wide smile on their faces. 

I met shuttle drivers who offered facts about the history of Chicago and asked about my hometown, all with smiles on their faces.

I met restaurant waiters who took their time explaining menus and going as far as to bring out every cut of meat available for me to choose what looked the best.  They made recommendations and praised my selections, all with huge smiles on their faces.  

All of these men and women HAD to be excellent at their job.  If they were anything but wonderful, I may choose to stay in a different hotel, take a different shuttle, or eat at a different chop house.  I appreciated their service, but recognize the motivation behind their actions.

Then I witnessed a window washer at the O’Hare Airport.  I am sure I was the only one watching him.  Sitting in my car waiting to be taken to downtown Chicago, with taxis and limos speeding around us, everyone trying to get to their destination, surely no one noticed him.  I watched as he ran a wet sponge down the window, cleaning off weeks of grime and dust.  I noticed how he was careful to work around a bracket holding the enormous window.  I looked on as he overshot with the sponge and soaped the bracket.  I watched as he took out a rag, wrapped it around his finger, and carefully wiped the excess soap off of the bracket.  He was practicing excellence in his window washing career.

He did all this in hiding.  He had no reason to impress me.  I am sure if he had left the soap to dry on the bracket, no one would have known otherwise…but he didn’t.  He practiced excellence. 

You may think your job is mundane or small, but take a lesson from the window washer at O’Hare Airport in Chicago. 

Be excellent for the sake of being excellent. 

You may never get a thank you or pat on the back, but you can rest in the knowledge that you were your best, and that is worth millions.

Remember Today:  THE WINDOW WASHER!

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Pay Your Dues

Former U.S. senator Sam Nunn said,

“You have to pay the price.  You will find that everything in life exacts a price, and you will have to decide whether the price is worth the prize.”

To be who you want to be, you will have to pay the price.  You will have to give up opportunities to be noticed.  You will have to sacrifice some personal goals for the sake of others.  You will have to get out of your comfort zone and do things you have never done before.  You will have to keep learning and growing when you don’t feel like it.  You will have to repeatedly put others above yourself.

And if you desire to be excellent, you will have to do things without fanfare or complaint. 

But remember, as NFL legend George “Papa Bear” Halas said:

“Nobody who ever gave their best ever regretted it.”

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