Pizza Today - September 2022 - 12

MIKE'S MONTHLY TIP
MIKE BAUSCH
there is a massive heaping of overtly
appreciating who consistently performs
protocol right to reinforce that behavior-
also, outward actions to validate staff and
verify they feel supported.
In this sausage example, only saying,
They did it the wrong
way. Now what?
I
had a recent situation where a
person posted a bad photo of a
slice of our sausage pizza served to
them at lunch. It only had three pieces of
sausage instead of the typical seven per
the recipe. Th e knee-jerk reaction to this
or any issue where something goes wrong
is pointing it out to the staff . " Hey, don't
do that, do it this way. " Th e problem with
this approach is that it leads to them
simply seeking to avoid getting in trouble
for this one thing and absolutely nothing
else. Also, usually, it's just the employees
in front of you at that moment that get
the scolding, not the whole team.
I get it, though. You walk into your
restaurant, everything looks good, and
the one wrong thing is all you can see,
and then you want to tell the staff , the
people directly in front of you at that
moment, " Th is thing is wrong. Fix it. "
Please and thank you hopefully occur, but
maybe they don't.
Th is approach is the same as painting
gold over rust. It's a waste of gold and
doesn't tend to the rust. Th e rust needs
to be removed and dealt with before you
apply the gold paint.
Th e knee-jerk approach is a shortsighted
response pervasive in the
restaurant industry. In contrast, great
companies like Trader Joe's, Disney and
the Four Seasons handle corrective action
much diff erently. Th ey avoid constant
nitpicking of what's wrong; instead, they
chase greatness. We can all say we're
chasing greatness, but to chase greatness
means that you point out when something
doesn't match the values of the restaurant
or the company and then address
the root cause instead of the superfi cial
result. And instead of only nitpicking,
" Hey, don't do that, " fi xes absolutely
nothing. It doesn't address the cause. Th e
staff tried to make the fastest pizza possible
and lost sight of the more signifi cant
priority: an excellent experience through
a great product. Th e employee didn't put
enough sausage on because putting raw
sausage on the pizza is tedious. So they
moved quickly; it looked good enough,
but sausage shrinks in the oven, and then
it didn't look so great by the time it baked.
But, as long as they did their goal, which
in this situation, the goal was to stab the
ticket as fast as possible, then yes, they
achieved their goal. Th e goal wasn't to
chase greatness for this staff member and
the others working with them that day.
Th e way to fi x a behavior like this is to
have an all-staff discussion about what
could lead someone to do less than the
right thing. What is " Our Goal " as a
team. Is our goal a perfect pizza or to
get it done fast no matter what we do to
achieve it? Th e root cause could be laziness,
fast pacing being perceived as more
important than quality, or assuming no
one would check? To truly delve into the
issue, lean into how this doesn't represent
us well and how it hurts all of us so they
understand the why. And then show the
perfect pizza, bake it the right way. Share
it with everyone so everyone understands
the diff erence, and let everyone have buyin
on what the team values. Overtly defi ne
what greatness is to really be on the same
page. Heavily point out who is making it
right and what the team can do to help
keep it that way. At that point, systemically,
we fi xed it on a macro scale. Instead
of continuing on like this, we've removed
the rusted root ready for a coat of gold
paint that won't soon wear off .
MIKE BAUSCH is the owner of Andolini's Pizzeria in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Instagram: @mikeybausch
12 / PIZZATODAY.COM / SEPTEMBER 2022

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