"The Employee is My First Customer." Strategies for Restaurant Success from Legacy Restaurateur

Author, restaurant owner and hospitality industry expert Barry
Jessurun discussed his book, life lessons, and tips for
restaurant success with Host Barbara Castiglia on The Main
Course.


As owner of Green Valley Hospitality, Jessurun has ran four
restaurants ranging from fast-casual to higher-end menus to
university settings for up to 32 years. While he was one of the
lucky restaurant owners to remain in business during the
pandemic, Jessurun has learned a lot throughout his many decades
in of restaurant life.


Jessurun took these life learnings to write the book “The
Drunkard’s Path.” Readers can expect a manual-like, easy read
that reviews basic employee and management expectations, the
basics to succeed in any industry and how to tie it all into
one’s life since there really is no work-life separation. The
term ‘drunkard’s path’ refers to a route that an inebriated
person may take on the way home from a pub — similarly, careers
are usually never a straight, inclined line but more so a
zigzagged path.


While the book is intended for audiences of any age, it’s
especially useful for students to set a foundation of how to show
up in your career. One concept that stands out to Castiglia is
self-altruism, of which Jessurun is a big advocate. “To me
self-altruism is like ‘I’m doing this because I want to do this
because it’s the story I’m trying to create, but it also helps
other people around me,’” added Jessurun.


It’s no surprise how Jessurun has maintained four thriving
businesses amidst a pandemic and is eager to share his tips for
restaurant success. For him, employees are seen as his ‘first
customer,’ by focusing on staffing and retaining the best of the
best. That starts with finding people who are happy, because
teaching hard skills like making a sandwich or bartending is
easier.


“The employee is my first customer, and I really need to create a
place where they would just rather be,” added Jessurun.