Jon’s Written Reply: Questions on How Your Group Runs

The basics

The basics come first, so the reply fits what you run. Every question needs an answer except the three marked optional; two or three sentences is plenty, and rough figures are fine.

Sent answers go to RANGE Hospitality Advisory: stored there, emailed to Jon, and read by Claude, an AI model, to draft his notes. Details by the Send button.

Recognize what’s real

What is going on in the operation, before anyone names a fix. Rough figures are fine.

Say the problem you most want fixed, in one sentence.

When did it start, and what else was changing in the business around then?

What has been tried so far, by you, by a senior hire or by anyone from outside, and what came of it? If nothing yet, say that.

Where do the numbers point? Give last month’s sales, labor cost and food and beverage cost if you have them, and anything else you watch: guest counts, reviews, turnover.

What do you know about the operation that no report would show you? If nothing comes to mind, say so.

Picture your busiest unit at 7pm on a Saturday. What would worry you there?

Step 1: RecognizeWhat is wrong under the story the business tells about itself?

Align execution to intent

Whether the shift delivers what you ask of it.

Job titles are enough. Nobody needs to be named.

Name the three standards that matter most to you. How does each one look on a quiet Tuesday when you are not there?

Who runs your weakest shift, and how would they describe their job?

Which standard keeps needing to be said again, three or more times, and still slips on some shifts? If none, say so.

When a shift goes wrong, who hears about it first, who hears last, and how long does the news take to travel?

Step 2: AlignDo ownership and operations agree on one problem, and on the result that will count as fixed?

Narrow focus on core drivers

Where the effort is going now, and what spreading it thin is costing.

List every project or improvement under way across the group right now.

Which two on that list would move the business most if they were done well, and what tells you so?

Suppose you worked only on those two for three months and parked the rest. What would that cost in sales, people or growth?

What stands in the way of narrowing like that? If the price is too high, say that.

Who owns each of the two, and what number would prove it is working? If there is no owner or no number yet, say that.

Step 3: NarrowWhich fixes move the agreed number first, and what has to wait?

Generate momentum through process improvement

How the week makes room for improvement, and whether changes last.

What does your week of meetings look like? Who attends, on which day, on what agenda, and does each person leave owning something with a date on it?

With no one watching, what keeps a shift to standard? Name the tools: checklists, scorecards, audits, pre-shift meetings, or nothing.

Think back to the most recent change in the way the group runs. Is it still in place? If it faded, what let it go?

Step 4: GenerateWhat system produces the result every shift, with nobody checking?

Elevate team capability

Whether the operation holds when its senior people step back.

Job titles are enough. Nobody needs to be named.

What do people still bring to you to decide that a GM or manager should settle? If nothing, say so.

If you stepped away for two weeks, would the business hold? What would slip first?

Suppose your best GM resigned tomorrow. What stops working within a month?

How did your strongest manager get that good: the hire, the training, a mentor, or luck?

What does a new manager go through before running shifts alone? If there is no defined path, say that.

Count the GM jobs you will need filled this year, open now or planned. Who is ready for each? Who could one day step into the job above your GMs, and what would they need first? If no one, say that.

Step 5: ElevateWho runs it once the people who built it step back?

Last, what better looks like

The result you are after, and when you could start on it.

Ninety days out, what would a better business look like to you, in specifics? If you can’t say yet, say that.

Anything else you want Jon to know before he writes back? (optional)

Send it to Jon

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Where your answers go: to RANGE Hospitality Advisory, the firm Jon Peck founded. They are kept in its database, sent to Jon by email, and read by Claude, an AI model, to draft his notes before he writes back. They are never sold or passed to anyone for their marketing. RANGE’s privacy policy covers them.

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The RANGE Framework, by Jon Peck, founder of RANGE Hospitality Advisory. Get Jon’s written reply on how your group runs.