There is a saying that feels especially true in hospitality:
People don’t remember you for your money, your house, or your career. They remember you for how you made them feel.
In restaurants, this truth isn’t poetic, it’s profitable.
As we move through another busy season, with dining rooms filling up, staff stretched thin, and operators chasing margins that feel tighter every year, it’s worth pausing to remember why restaurants exist in the first place. Not to sell food. Not to chase trends. But to create moments. To make people feel welcome, seen, and cared for, if only for a short moment in time.
Hospitality, at its core, is humanity in action. And humanity, when practiced consistently, has real economic value.
Hospitality Is Not a Line Item, It’s a Multiplier
The restaurant industry loves metrics. Food cost. Labor cost. Prime cost. EBITDA. We build spreadsheets so complex they could intimidate a NASA analyst. And yet, some of the most powerful drivers of financial performance never show up as a line item.
1. You can’t easily quantify warmth.
2. You can’t depreciate kindness.
3. You can’t amortize gratitude.
But you can absolutely measure their impact.
Over decades of consulting, across countries, cultures, and concepts, I’ve learned that the most successful restaurants are rarely the ones with the most expensive equipment or trendiest menus. They are the ones where people want to be: guests, staff, managers, suppliers, everyone.
That desire to belong creates loyalty. Loyalty reduces friction. Reduced friction lowers costs. And lower costs, paired with consistent revenue, is how sustainable profitability is built.
A Coffee Break Story: The Cheapest ROI in the Industry
I wanted to share a story that feels topical for the time of year and the subject of this article; I wrote about this in my book, The Ultimate Guide to Restaurant Marketing, where I provide a few “coffee break stories”, moments that seem small at the time but fundamentally shape how I view this amazing industry of ours.
One of those stories has stayed with me more than most…
I was engaged to assess a chain of restaurants in the United States. The brief was quite typical for my hospitality consulting firm: evaluate how the client’s offering aligned with emerging market trends, analyze financial performance, forecast future scenarios based on shifting consumer demand, recommend alignment with new trends that we had identified over the next three years.
It was, like most, a data-heavy project, forecasting, trend analysis and consumer predictions. We were deep in both the numbers and strategy.
During our analysis, something odd stood out. One restaurant in the group had dramatically lower staff turnover than the rest. While most locations were averaging around 67% annual turnover, slightly better than industry norms, this particular restaurant was operating at 18%.
That’s not just good. That’s extraordinary, especially considering it was located in downtown Los Angeles during a period of high employment, where competition for good staff was fierce.
Financially, the restaurant was also outperforming. Same-store sales were solid. Prime costs were controlled. But the real magic showed up in EBITDA. Training, recruitment, and onboarding costs were significantly under budget, simply because people weren’t leaving. There was another, often unmeasured KPI which stood out, the tips per employee averaged 22% higher than any other restaurant in the group, this indicated an elevated customer satisfaction level, in a company that overall had a very high customer satisfaction rating.
What made it puzzling was this: No one in the organization could explain why.
The general manager was acknowledged as strong, but so were others in the group. The restaurant itself wasn’t special. It was clean, well run, but entirely ordinary. Nothing about it screamed “outlier.”
The Morning That Changed the Recommendation Deck
We arrived early, before the shift started. The GM, let’s call her Liz, greeted us warmly, her southern accent instantly memorable. We reviewed the financials. We discussed operations. I asked her directly about the low turnover.
She smiled and said, “Well, I love my team. I treat them well. I’m not from California, so they’re family to me.”
All good answers. None that explained a 40% variance.
Then something happened that none of us had ever seen before.
As staff began arriving, Liz excused herself from the meeting, every time. She met each employee at the door.
“Hey Sarah, how’s it going today? Thanks so much for coming to work.” Handshake. Eye contact. Huge smile. “Want a coffee?”
If they said yes, she made it herself. This wasn’t pour and serve coffee, it was high quality Barista level coffee making, and she custom made each one to whatever the employee asked for.
… And there it was, clear as crystal
No grand incentive program.No retention bonus.No corporate initiative.
No Pay rise
Liz wasn’t thanking her staff for performance. She was thanking them for presence, for just showing up.
Indeed, every single day, Liz created a moment of hospitality for her staff before asking them to deliver it to guests. She served them so that they would serve their guests.
The result? Loyalty that spreadsheets couldn’t explain, but could absolutely prove.
When we interviewed the team, the feedback was unanimous. They felt appreciated. Supported. Safe. Many said, “Liz always fights for us.” Curiously, not one could give an example of when ‘Liz fought for them’… When we asked Liz about the comments, she was genuinely surprised. She too could not recollect any dramatic moment where she had gone to battle for her staff, collectively or individually. But because she was consistently present, consistently grateful, and consistently human, her team believed she was fighting for them.
Perception became reality.
The Recommendation That Shocked the Boardroom
When we presented our findings to the client, they were expecting insights on five-year trends, technology, consumer patterns, and menu innovation.
Instead, we presented something else. If they just trained managers to greet their staff, thank them for showing up, and offer a coffee at the start of each shift, the projected improvement in retention would add $765,000 to the group’s bottom line.
No capital investment.No new systems.No operational complexity.
Just humanity.
For comparison, other recommendations included, adding four plant-based menu items, creating an eclectic non-alcoholic menu, and a comprehensive operational technology architecture, all combined was forecast to generate $,1,580,000 in incremental net revenue. But it required substantial capital expenditure, training, and execution risk.
It begged a simple question:Are we better off investing money to reposition, or spending nothing to say thank you?
In restaurants, the answer is often both, but one has a far higher ROI.
That experience solidified my thinking about the consumer - People Don’t Remember the Menu, They Remember the Moment
Guests may forget what they ordered.They may forget the price.They will not forget how they were treated.
The same is true for staff.
In hospitality, humanity compounds. It turns transactions into relationships. Relationships into loyalty. Loyalty into resilience.
And resilience, especially in this industry, is priceless.
As operators head into another season, chasing growth and managing pressure, perhaps the most powerful strategy isn’t found in a trend report or a technology platform.
Perhaps it’s found in a simple habit: Being present in other people’s lives. Because in the end, restaurants aren’t remembered for their margins, they’re remembered for their moments.
And the most profitable moments often cost nothing at all!!
May I take this opportunity to wish Happy Holidays to each and every one of you, wherever you are, whatever you celebrate, and however this season finds you. This time of year can hold joy, reflection, rest, remembrance, and hope all at once, and my wish is that you feel seen, valued, and welcomed during this special time of year. Thank you for being part of my Substack community, for reading, engaging, and bringing your own perspectives and humanity along the way. May the days ahead offer you moments of peace, connection, nourishment (in every sense), and renewed energy as we move toward a new year together, with curiosity, kindness, and care for one another.
About The Author - Robert Ancill
Robert Ancill is a globally recognized restaurant consultant, design innovator, and trend forecaster. Based in Los Angeles and originally from Glasgow, Scotland, he founded The Next Idea Group in 2002, a hospitality concept and design agency that has led more than 800 restaurant and café launches across 24 countries. A respected authority on restaurant brand positioning, restaurant design, franchising, and emerging consumer trends, he also serves as Chairman of Heritage Restaurant Consultants and as a board advisor to the AI-powered experience platform Atmosfy.
A leading futurologist in hospitality, Robert produces annual trend reports covering robotics, AI, plant-based innovation, and the evolution of casual dining. His 2025 trilogy of books includes Restaurant Marketing: The Ultimate Guide to Modern Restaurant Marketing, offering a comprehensive playbook for thriving in today’s tech-driven marketplace.
Books:
Websites
https://www.Heritagerestaurantconsultants.com
https://www.thenextideagroup.com
https://www.globaldesignconsultant.com
https://www.robertancill.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertancill
