713: Monte Silva on Applying the Right Pressure on Your Team

Monte Silva has over 40 years of experience in the restaurant industry. He has worked for Wolfgang Puck, Acme Feed & Seed, Fleming’s Steakhouse & Wine Bar, Merchants, Bound'ry, Watermark, Piatti Italian Restaurant, and Jeff Ruby Culinary Entertainment. He has 20 years in management as Director of Restaurants, Director of Operations, General Manager, Regional Training Manager, Chef, Wine Director, Service Manager, and Bar Manager. Monte has also worked as a Regional Sales Manager for a Wine Importer in Los Angeles, and consulted at Vine Street Wine & Spirits and Premiere Liquors, as well as for restaurant groups.

Check out episode 642 with Johnny Carrabba as mentioned in today's episode.

Check out HotSchedules as mentioned in today's episode.

Check out OpenTable as mentioned in today's episode.

Check out The New One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard as mentioned in today's episode.

Check out It's My Company Too!: How Entangled Companies Move Beyond Employee Engagement for Remarkable Results by Thomas J. Walter, Kenneth R. Thompson, Ramon L. Benedetto and Molly Meyer as mentioned in today's episode.

Check out episode 318 with Tom Walter as mentioned in today's episode.

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Favorite success quote or mantra:

• "Attitude determines altitude."

In today's episode with Monte Silva we will discuss:

• Hospitality, gratitude, making people smile
• Working in restaurants allows you to work literally anywhere in the world
•  Mentors
• MAJOR ways to cut cost
• Linen costs
• Working with Wolfgang Puck
• How do you make food look sexy?
• What a manager can do from home to help his/her restaurants
• Importance of tracking
• Guest interaction is critical for a manager
• Hospitality is a team sport
• How he is dealing with COVID-19 within his restaurants

Today's sponsor:

Restaurant365 is a cloud-based, all-in-one, restaurant-specific accounting and back-office platform that seamlessly integrates with POS systems, payroll providers, food and beverage vendors. It generates accurate real-time reporting and analysis in user-friendly dashboards, facilitating immediate, data-driven decision making. Restaurant365 eliminates manual, error-prone processes and is designed to help restaurant businesses grow with functionality that helps optimize labor costs, reduce food costs and increase revenue.

Knowledge bombs

1. Which "it factor" habit, trait, or characteristic you believe most contributes to your success?
   • Care about people, guests and staff
2. What is your biggest weakness?
   • "Hard for me to watch bad decisions being made that are out of my control."
3. What's one question you ask or thing you look for during an interview?
   • I care more about character than talent
4. What's a current challenge? How are you dealing with it?
   • Raising money during COVID-19
5. Share one code of conduct or behavior you teach your team.
   • Honesty and owning up to our mistakes
6. What is one uncommon standard of service you teach your staff?
   • Lack of leadership on the floor in most restaurants. Not with us.
7. What's one book we must read to become a better person or restaurant owner?
   • Lessons in Service from Charlie Trotter by Edmund Lawler
   • GET THIS BOOK FOR FREE AT AUDIBLE.COM 
8. What's one thing you feel restaurateurs don't know well enough or do often enough?
   • Tell their staff their doing a great job
9. Name one service you've hired.
   • Sculpture Hospitality Inventory Serivices
10. What's one piece of technology you've adopted within your restaurant walls and how has it influence operations?
    • OpenTable
    • Tock
11. If you got the news that you'd be leaving this world tomorrow and all memories of you, your work, and your restaurants would be lost with your departure with the exception of 3 pieces of wisdom you could leave behind for the good of humanity, what would they be?
    • Be kind
    • Learn empathy
    • Be you

Contact info:

Email: monteallansilva@gmail.com

Instagram: @themontesilva

Facebook: @MonteSilva

Thanks for listening!

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Huge thanks to Monte Silva for joining me for another awesome episode. Until next time!

 

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