Service Please copertina

Service Please

Service Please

Di: Alex Galanis
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Two former restaurant owners sit around and bitch about the industry, hoping they inspire operators to make change and learn from their mistakes. Every now and then they say something funny, and at the rarest of times, something even useful.

Don’t take yourself so seriously and kick back and listen and learn. You might even start making some profit.

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Arte Cucina Enogastronomia
  • Stop Looking For The Big Win
    Mar 4 2026

    In this episode of Service Please, former restaurant owners Alex Galanis and Kevin Morrison rant, joke, and reflect on how tough the industry has become, especially post COVID.

    Kevin vents about hating sales and feeling overwhelmed by the constant noise restaurant owners face, then reminisces about launching a taco cart and trailer in Denver, where keeping the menu simple and focusing on service helped the concept succeed despite early doubts.

    The conversation shifts to whether restaurants could ever use airline-style surge pricing, and why the backlash would likely be brutal even though many operators are struggling (citing 2025 figures of 42% of U.S. restaurants losing money and 41% of Canadian restaurants and bars operating at breakeven or less).

    They break down how running a restaurant now requires far more systems like budgeting, theoretical food cost, forecasting, digital marketing, and menu engineering just to stay afloat, and discuss the difference between surviving and building a business that doesn’t require 50–70 hour weeks.

    Kevin shares a failed out-of-state expansion to Phoenix and takes responsibility, reinforcing their belief that the biggest problem in most restaurants is often the owner getting in their own way. Kevin explains menu engineering basics (recipes, theoretical vs. actual food cost, PMIX, and managing variance), and they admit how common “theft” and owner perks can be.

    They also talk about how personal bad reviews feel, read and react to harsh one-star-style complaints (including “hair in food” and a low rating over a ‘no dogs on the patio’ policy), and debate dog-friendly patios and restaurant safety. They close with a more hopeful takeaway: restaurant problems happen daily, it’s about how you handle them, and owners should aim for small wins over time rather than chasing overnight turnarounds.

    00:00 Introduction

    01:48 Life's Easier In A Food Trailer

    07:17 Surge Pricing At Restaurants

    12:38 Prime Costing & Planning

    17:22 Love-Hate Relationship

    18:47 Taking Ownership Of Failure

    22:41 Menu Engineering

    28:04 Bad Reviews Hurt Our Feelings

    34:52 Final Thoughts

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    38 min
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