Are you ready for an open discussion with the best of the best and the best of what's next? Welcome to the Tony DUrso Show. Join in on a great conversation today with some of the world's great influencers, as they showcase great advice and techniques that made them the game changers they are today. Now, here's Tony DUrso.

Tony:

Welcome. I'm your host Tony DUrso. I interview some of the most successful people in the world, and I thank you for joining us. The show is dedicated to helping you turn your vision into reality. And here's a successful entrepreneur who provides insights and guidance you can use to move along your vision path. Listen to my shows on all the podcast platforms such as Spotify or iTunes, Apple podcasts. Just search for Tony D-U-R-S-O. Okay, success squad. Before we get going, here's a big thank you to some amazing sponsors of our show. Please stay tuned for an important message from LinkedIn on how the right hire can make a huge impact on your business. Hey, I said huge! Do listen for that and get ready to build your first sales funnel without having to hire an entire team to help, as Click Funnels makes it super easy. Visit Tony DUrso.com/click. More info on them just ahead, so please stay tuned.

Today's show is about Food People Management with Shawn Bucher. Let's see what we can learn today. At the end of this interview, I'm going to do a summary recap of what we went over, so stay tuned for that. Here's some info on Shawn. Shawn Bucher is the author of The First‑timer's Cookbook and The First-timer's Bakebook, and his latest Food People Management. He's a regular contributor to numerous food service programs, publications and outlets. His work is awarded and recognized nationwide. Okay, here we go. Welcome to the show, Shawn. So great to have you on with us today.

Shawn: Oh, so happy to be here. Thank you.

Tony:

The honor is all mine to speak to a master chef, if I can say that. I know that there's different hierarchy for chef and Michelin chef and this and when I've said that to someone else before; I've called them a master chef, and I got fully educated. So I don't want to say the wrong words... Just a very good chef. Let's put it that way. Far better than I used to be off here. I told you I've been in food service industry; I believe it's what it's called. I was a short order cook for about five years in Chicago. Made a lot of hamburgers and hotdogs and stuff. That was a long time ago. So glad to have you on with us.

Shawn: Oh, thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.

Tony:

Sean, we're going to talk about Food People Management, a very interesting group of words there, and it's the name of your new book. But before we do that, let's have a blast from the past. Let's talk about your back story and how it all started for you.

Shawn: Well, for me, I had an untraditional start in this business. A lot of people, they go to culinary school. They kind of know what they want to do. For me, I actually started cleaning a butcher store meat department at night. I was 14 years old, couldn't find any other job, and it was by far probably the grossest job I've ever had. But I learned a lot from it. I found that I could actually turn the temperature up on this shrink wrap machine that we had and turn it into a griddle, and so I would make quesadillas and different things for people at night in the produce department or wherever, and I kind of started to develop this love of cooking, but I also had a real love for art and creating and I had taken just about every art course that I could, whether it was ceramics or drawing or painting, and my high school guidance counselor came to me one day and he said, you know, you've pretty much taken all these classes that you can. Why don't you look at maybe taking a class up at this Technical College that's right by us? We'll pay for it. You get high school credit/ college credit, and I thought, Man, what a great gig. I will absolutely do that. So he said, look through this course catalog; tell me what you think. So I'm looking through this and I'm seeing drafting, I'm seeing AutoCAD. I'm seeing these different courses thinking, I don't know if that's really for me, and then I see culinary arts and I'm like, Oh, perfect.

This is an art class. I'm going to be doing watermelon carvings and ice sculptures and this is going to be perfect and well, you know ...rude awakening! I hit in there the first day and the instructor's like okay, we’re going to be doing lunch for a couple hundred people in the next couple hours. So let's get to it. And I thought, Oh, no, what do I get myself into? But, you know, they say that timing is everything, and this was in the late 90s, when the NBA had a big strike. And the reason that that's important is that the arena where ...I was in Salt Lake City at the time where the Utah Jazz played. Their season was supposed to start in October, but because of this strike, it didn't start until January. Well, all those cooks that were supposed to be there went and found other jobs. They couldn't wait around, and so the chef there at that property said, basically, if you can cook, I will hire you, and if you can breathe, I will put you to work in some capacity. And so I was talking to my chef instructor and he said, you know, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. You really need to get down there. And I said, Yeah, but how do I get there? I don't have a car and public transit was like an hour and a half each way. And I thought, well, I'll try it. So I took the bus every day was an hour and a half into work, hour and a half out of work. That very first day, I cut the tip of my finger off. I dropped a knife on my foot; spilled hot turkey juice on me and the chef literally came to me and said, Dude, you're not going to survive. Just go find something else to do. I said No chef, I can do it, I can do it, and I ended up spending the next eight years with him kind of as an apprentice, and he really taught me a lot and kind of set me off on the on the journey that man, if I had any idea what it was going to look like, I may not have gone down that road, but I'm sure glad that I did.

Tony:

That is really interesting, Shawn. Seems so far that you've kind of fallen into it. But here you are today, a consultant, an author, a podcaster, a great chef, etc. etc. How did that vision for what you do now, how did that come about?

Shawn: Well, you know, it's funny because every job that I ...I've never been fired, I've never been let go. I've always kind of jumped around a little bit. But that's always been by design, because I was the kind of guy that said I don't want to just go work in one place. I don't want to be labeled as a restaurant chef. I don't want to be labeled as a hotel chef. I don't want to be labeled as a hospital chef. I want to be a chef that knows how to do multiple things in all these different segments, all these different disciplines. And so that's what I did. I went from restaurants into hotels., I went from the arena into a large hotel. I went from single units into multi units, and that really, really taught me a lot of stuff because you know, the skill set from being just a line cook in a restaurant is very different from say, doing the purchasing in a large hotel. It's also a different skill set learning how to deal in some of the big bureaucratic operations like in hospitals, where you've got a lot of different departments, a lot of different levels of management - directors and managers and things, and learning how to really talk the talk and interact with these folks in these different disciplines was really important to me.

And so I made sure that I made a conscious decision to say, look, as soon as I start to feel like I'm plateauing somewhere if I go somewhere and I learn what I can learn, and all of a sudden, I think, Well, I'm not learning anything, I'm not growing, I'm not expanding, I'm not being stretched, I'm going to move on and I'm going to go do something else. And so by doing that, I was really able to kind of increase my capabilities. I was able to really stretch myself to a point where I could say I've got experience in this area, and I've got an expertise in this area, and I can help you with your business or with your concept or your restaurant or whatever it might be, because I've been able to see a lot and do a lot of things. And a lot of people would look at my resume and they would say, well, man, you jump around a lot, but the intrinsic thing that you don't see in that is that the expertise and the knowledge that I was able to gain over the 20 years of going from segment of the industry to segment of the industry was very invaluable, especially when I started my consulting business. When I started my consulting business, I was able to kind of bring a very unique and overall perspective to things because it wasn't just front of the house, it wasn't just back of the house, I had the perspectives from both. I also had the perspective from a single unit versus a multi-unit, which a lot of times is a very different kind of discipline and a very different kind of skill set, because running one restaurant is very different than having to run three or four or five or a dozen restaurants. It requires a different mindset, a different skill set, a different way that you approach things. And I was really able to kind of capitalize and learn those things through my years in the kitchens, in the different positions that I was in, in different segments that I was in, and now in my business I'm able to come into whatever segment it might be, whether it's a gas station or a hospital or a university or these different settings, and say I do have some experience in this and I understand the unique challenges that you face. I understand the little idiosyncrasies that maybe somebody who didn't have experience in that space wouldn't quite understand or wouldn't experience. And so by having those different diverse experiences and different diverse understandings of the unique pieces of whatever business they're in, that's just made me an overall better consultant. And so I've tried to condense that down into books and into a podcast to really kind of help people in their businesses.

Tony:

Shawn, what's the overriding purpose for what you do? What's the reason for all of this?

Shawn: Well, the reason I do what I do, I think is that for number one, I'm passionate about it. I've seen what this business has done for me and what it can do for others. Hospitality is one of, if not the biggest employer in this country, and really being able to do it well is something that people will remember forever. For example, when I go into these healthcare settings, whether it be senior living or whether it be acute care hospitals, some of the challenges are if I'm a patient and I'm being taken care of, I don't really know what medicine you're giving me, I don't necessarily know a lot about the procedure I'm having, but I definitely know if the food is good and the room is clean. And so all of a sudden, if the food is good, my attitude is much better about how I'm being treated or my perspective on things. And so part of my going into healthcare was to really make a difference because food nourishes and heals, and in starting the podcast and coming out with the books, I just saw an opportunity to really... I've kind of figured things out over the last 25 years and I've been able to condense it down and articulate In a way that hopefully helps people really up their operations because I feel like the healthier we are as an industry, the further forward we're going to move.

Tony:

This is Shawn Bucher, people food management. That is the French pronunciation Bucher is B-U-C-H-E-R. You can find Shawn at businesschef.org Shawn, let's get into your vision path here. As we've mentioned quite a bit, you are a chef but more importantly, you're a business chef. Now if we didn't already discuss it, what is that and what makes that a different kind of a chef?

Shawn: Well, what I found in my experience was that food is very personal. Everybody likes food. That's why celebrities buy restaurants. They like taking their friends out. Everybody enjoys kind of spending time eating and having an experience.

Tony:

This is the Tony DUrso Show, where you can learn from the wisdom and success of others to help you move on your vision path. Just ahead the chat continues about Food People Management with Shawn Bucher, but first it's time for us to take a short break. See you back here in just a moment.

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Tony:

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All right, we're back on the Tony DUrso Show, where you can learn from the wisdom and success of others to help you move on your vision path. Let's see what we can learn today. Today's show is about Food People Management with Shawn Bucher, and at the end of this interview I'll give you a summary of what I got out of this and I'll share some pointers with you. Stay tuned for that.

With over 20 years of hands on industry experience and having owned and operated both independent and franchise food service concepts, as well as having served in many different roles over the years such as Executive Chef, food service director, consultant and Chief Operating Officer, Chef Shawn has worked in almost every segment of the foodservice industry. All right, and now back to the chat with Chef Shawn.

Shawn: You know, what I found, though, was that you had people that really understood food. You had these artists that could make these incredible products and we're so passionate and so dedicated to the craft. The problem was, they couldn't make any money doing it. They just didn't understand the accounting and the marketing and all the different aspects of business, and that made it really challenging for them to stay solvent. You could have the best food in the world, but if you couldn't make money doing it and you couldn't stay open, it wasn't a sustainable future. But then on the flip side, you had these business people that would come in and really understood, man, there's potential here. There's money to be made and their food sucked. They would just would end up with this product that was not worth buying, and so I was trying to find a way to bridge that gap. You know, I got to find a way to get chefs to make money and to meet business people to know how to make food, and so that was what happened with business chef persona. The business chef company and podcasts was really trying to find a way to bridge that gap between making food and making money, and that's also our call sign or tagline is "make food make money" because as much as it's an art and as much as we like to ooh and aah over how creative and beautiful it is, at the end of the day if we can't make money doing it, we can't stay solvent, then we're only going to be able to provide those services for a very limited time, and so that's really what I focus on. I focus on helping my clients create businesses that they can be proud of, and still make money doing it but also having a great product.

Tony:

Shawn, we need you so much. I really hope sincerely that you grow this to a billion-dollar business. I can't tell you how many restaurants I go into, the food sometimes it's not fit for a human, and yet they serve it - and I'm not a snob; I'm not conceited - at least I surely hope I'm not - it's just food that tastes good. If it doesn't taste good, why serve it, and for whatever reason? I live in a very heavy tourist area, and I swear some of these restaurants, they don't care what the quality of the food is because there's so many new people every day lining up - and this is my belief - they don't feel they need to make the food tasty. We need you. There's just too so much room for this. It's amazing. I really hope that you build this into something really, really big.

Shawn: Well, I appreciate that. I've been very fortunate to work with a lot of great people and work with a lot of great concepts, and again, I learned as much through the process as anyone and it's nice to be able to share that expertise, because a lot of times people will look at a consultant, especially a food consultant, and they'll say, Yeah, I can make food. Yeah, I know how to do this, and a lot of times, regardless of the industry or segment of the industry that you're working in, you hire a consultant to cut down on your time, because there's a learning curve with anything, especially new ventures. Those learning curves are quite a bit higher, and so I've been able to really come in and help a lot of people kind of cut down that learning curve, to where they aren't spending two or three years bumping their head and figuring it out and then making it better. I can kind of guide them around some of those roadblocks in the meantime, and really help them make money faster and that way be more solvent faster and longer.

Tony:

Shawn, let's drill into a little bit more of what does a consultant in the food business do? What kind of services do you offer? Take us down this road a little bit more.

Shawn: Well, you know, as a consultant, really the core of my job is to educate and to give options because a lot of times people will look at a consultant and they'll say, you know, we're paying a lot of money for what? Well, what you're paying for is you're paying for the opportunity to save time and money. Yeah, it might cost you money to hire somebody, but the time that you save. the roadblocks that you miss, a lot of times that is worth way more than you can put a price on. So as a consultant, a lot of what I do is I come in and I do a lot of listening, a lot of listening and a lot of watching, and a lot of trying to understand what it is that we're trying to do. So for like a new concept that's not built, we try to talk a little bit more 30,000-foot view level, what is it that we're trying to accomplish? What do you perceive as ... what, what do you want to? What do you want to do with this? What's going to be your biggest competition? What's going to be some of the challenges you're going to face down the road, because a lot of times people, they'll know what they want to a point, but a lot of times, we just don't know what we don't know.

So I give you an example. A little while ago, I was helping a company create a pizza concept. Well, first and foremost, they want to have the best pizza on Earth. They want to have the freshest ingredients. They don't care what it costs. And then taking a step back, I had to say, well, let's look at this, though. What kind of staff are you going to hire? Well, how does that translate? We don't understand why that's applicable. And I said, well at the end of the day, your staff are going to be the ones working in there. They're going to be the ones interacting with the customers. If you're not going to have staff that are going to have the skill levels, or the customer service skills or the attitudes that are going to allow you to kind of take this forward, then really, we have to create this concept based on who's going to be doing it every day, not necessarily who you think or what you think is going to be the ideal situation. And that really kind of took them back for a second because that wasn't something that they had really thought about. But when I brought that up, it became very apparent that we had a very shallow pool to draw from, and we had a level of understanding and talent that was not quite what they had hoped for.

So throughout the process, basically everything that I did was I tried to understand where they were coming from, what they wanted to do and align that with the assets that they had to work with, because a lot of times they don't always line up. We might have all the money in the world, but at the end of the day, if we have a perspective of I want to make it as cheap as possible, then it doesn't matter. All those things derive different paths for us to go down. And so I really try to look at some of the intrinsic and some of the things that we don't always think about, some of the psychology behind it, not just the nuts and bolts. People a lot of times think, well, why don't you come in and show me how to make something, sell me a few recipes, and that's all well and good, but that's not really addressing some of the root causes that could potentially cause you to fail. It's also not addressing what it is that you're trying to do. If you're trying to deliver a service and you're trying to do it super high end, look at the market you're in. Is the market going to support that? Do people have the money to pay for these items for you to make the margins that you need to be successful? So a lot of times, those are the first conversations we have is let's take a step back and really try to figure out what we have to work with, and why we're doing what we're doing. And then from there, we craft a plan and work that plan together. It's very collaborative, because I always like to say at the end of the day, I get on a plane, and so I always want to make sure that people have something that they're proud of that they can step back and say this is mine and this guy just helped me get there.

Tony:

Shawn, my audience is comprised mostly of entrepreneurs, small business owners, as well as corporate executives. I'm sure that there's a number that are in the food service industry, as well as perhaps some looking to get into it or starting something new in the food industry. What advice would you have for someone that wants to go down this route and make that foray into food?

Shawn: Well, I always tell people do your homework because a lot of times they just don't do homework. They don't really understand what it is that they're getting into. In the mid-90s, the Food Network came out and glamorized this industry, and good work to them. You know, I'm grateful that they did that, because it's really brought a different level of understanding and awareness to the general public that maybe wasn't there before. When I got started in this business, it was the Wizard of Oz. No one really cared what was behind the curtain. It was just more or less like, oh, you make food and it looks decent. Thanks. Now, we want to be in the kitchens and we want to understand how it's made and what ingredients were using, and is it organic and there's just a very different level of education that's out there now that wasn't there before, and that's great. But then when somebody goes to create a restaurant or create a concept, they have these things in mind without really knowing what it's going to take.

Case in point, most places will get their food from food distributors. But if you've never worked in the food service industry before, you really don't understand what a food distributor is and what their role is, or what your options are with that. And so I always encourage people, do your homework ahead of time. Figure out how many customers are you actually going to have come through the door? How much you actually going to have to charge for your product? How much you actually going to pay in rent and insurance and utilities, because a lot of times these are all things that come up as they go through the process and they become these like, whoa, I had no idea that it was going to be that much! Well, yeah, that's the point of doing your homework ahead of time is because a lot of times with these businesses, they are still businesses and they have to run as businesses. So if you're getting into a space, it might have high traffic and it might be a great space but if you can't afford that space, then what good is it? It doesn't matter how many you sell of something, if you can't afford that space from the get go, then it's not a good decision to go in there and you're going to have to change that.

Tony:

This is the Tony DUrso Show, where you can learn from the wisdom and success of others to help you move on your vision path. Just ahead the chat continues about Food People Management with Shawn Bucher, but first it's time for us to take a short break. See you back here in just a moment.

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Tony:

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All right, we're back on the Tony DUrso Show, where you can learn from the wisdom and success of others to help you move on your vision path. Let's see what we can learn today. Today's show is about Food People Management with Shawn Bucher, and at the end of this interview, I'll give you a summary of what I got out of this and I'll share some pointers with you. Stay tuned for that. All right, and now back to the chat with Chef Shawn.

Shawn: So do your homework. Really, really do your homework. Dive in, look at all the details. Figure out what licenses you're going to need. Figure out you know what construction is actually going to cost. Figure out what your rent is. actually going to be in the next 3 or 4 or 5 or 10 years. You know, those are all things that we kind of get blinded by the glamour of having our own restaurant or having our own concept or our own business, and we don't always look into it for kind of those dirty details.

Tony:

That's very interesting. As far as smaller establishments, I see the most successful ones where the family members themselves are running it because labor is probably the highest cost of everything in the expenses, and that's the one that can make or break the difference. So when the family members can be involved, cut down the labor a little bit, there's more profit because that just chews away the business. I say that also from experience in running other businesses and starting other businesses. The labor has always been the pivot, the make-or-break, and when you get into the larger businesses, the costs are even more astronomical because of all these other factors that you don't take into account for the smaller business. Many people would scale up, but then there are also people that have that opportunity to get into a larger restaurant or a chain or franchise, and that's a whole big animal. I don't know that, and I guess I'm glad that I'm podcasting because the world's changed. Back then when I was a short order cook I think I've mentioned in Chicago, all we cared about was that the food tasted good. That was always the number one priority. Everything tasted good, and we would always have lines of people, but today, it now has to really taste good. It has to be organic. It has to have this and that. It's such a world. I'm really glad that there's consultants out there for this. I would have never expected that before. So that's really something there. And I think as part of this, and as part of the title, people may say, oh, what is this title - Food People Management? Well, the title is the name of Shawn Bucher’s book called Food People Management. Shawn, let's talk about your book.

Shawn: I'd love to. It's one of my favorite topics. The book kind of was born a lot of the way that my career has been born. With the book, it kind of came out of necessity. I was going to all these different places, talking all these different people in all these different segments of the industry, from CEO level all the way down to the frontline employees, and it just got to a point where I was like, man, I am saying the same thing over and over really to all these different people. There's got to be a way to kind of just condense this into a short lesson, so to speak. So the book is not very long, but it's packed with years and years of insights. It all kind of is based around my management formula, and it's a formula that I created back when I was managing single units, multi-units, regardless, and that is standards plus accountability times consistency equals success.

Standards are very important because without a standard, without an understanding of what is expected, people are not going to be able to rise to the occasion. You're also not going to be able to hold them accountable unless you have a clear understanding of what those standards are. The formula used to be plus consistency, but I changed it to times because the more times we can be consistent, the more likely we are to be successful. And I say that kind of tongue in cheek because my wife is actually the one that came up with that. She's the one that pointed that out so I have got to give credit where credit's due, but it's all based around that formula and explaining what standards are, and how to create standards, whether you do that by yourself or you do that with your team, and if you do that by yourself, what does it look like, and then if you do it with your team, how do you do that? How do you hold people accountable? What does consistency look like? What does success look like? All these things are very relative, depending on where you are in your career, what segment you're working in, so try to cast a long shadow and I try to really get people the principles that they need and the understanding of those principles, and then give them the tools they need from that point to really customize it to them and their situations.

Tony:

All right. I see. Someone in the food service industry would read your book and he would learn about food, the quality of food, where to order, tips or advice or guidance on distributors, as well as I presume a section on how to manage the people, and you talk about labor as well as of course, the management. Is it like three main sections of your book?

Shawn: Well, it's primarily focused on the people aspect of it, because people are our greatest asset, and you talked about labor being the most expensive part. Labor is the most expensive part in a lot of different ways, not only in a monetary way, but just in a headspace, in a mental way, because our employees are our greatest asset. They can be our greatest source of elation where things work out and we're able to help someone become better in their career. We're able to really grow somebody and help them in their life. But then, at the same time, they're the ones that we just go, oh man, another phone call. Oh, you got to deal with this again. And so they can be our greatest joy or they can be our greatest frustration, and so learning how to manage people is really the key of the book and really the focus of the book.

And a lot of what I talk about is communication and how to communicate because a lot of times we think we're great communicators, and we're not. We think that if we tell somebody to go mop the floor, they know exactly what we mean. But what we have to do is we have to step back and realize that it's all relative. If I grew up in a household that is always dirty, and say it's a drug house. Say there's rats running around, say there's cockroaches everywhere, clean to me is going to be different than somebody who grows up in an environment where everything is wiped daily with alcohol pads, and there's just a different standard, different understanding of people out there, and so learning how to communicate what our standards are and what the expectations are really becomes more of a verb than a noun, because we have to show them how we want it done. We have to maybe go over it a couple of times, because let's be honest, the people in the food service industry, they are some of the best people on earth and I count myself as one of them in this group, but there are more people that work in food service that have to work there versus want to work there. We are always hiring as one of the biggest segments of the American economy. We are always hiring and we're always short staffed, and a lot of times we're hiring people that don't want to be there, and it's very difficult to motivate somebody who doesn't want to be there, who's there because they have to be, who's there because they can't find anything else. And so it's really learning how to communicate, inspire and hold people accountable, that's really where our greatest strengths lie as an industry.

Tony:

Thank you so much for explaining that in depth. This is a very needed book, and I encourage anyone who is in food service of any kind - if you touch food, if you eat food - you should get this book. Check it out. Shawn, we can get this book at businesschef.org?

Shawn: Yeah, businesschef.org. You can also get at Barnes and Noble, Amazon. It's available pretty much everywhere, and I think even outside of the food service business, there's a lot of principles in here that I kind of live my life by. Learning how to set standards and hold yourself or other people accountable to those standards, those are things that you can use in almost any business, even outside of food.

Tony:

Thank you so much. And now you also on top of all this, you're adding layers and layers to the service that you provide to the public, to the world. You now have a business chef podcast. Tell us about that.

Shawn: Well, I'm very proud of that. That's something that was a passion project of mine. You know, I've been told I have a radio voice, and so a lot of times, people say, you know, you ought to go into radio, and so I had done some voiceover work and things and one day, one of the guys, one of the producers said, you know, you ought to just start doing your own thing. And I thought about it a lot, what am I passionate about? What is something that I want to do? What's something I could just talk forever about? And the idea of business and food and the marriage of those two things really, really stuck with me.

So we're 100 plus episodes in. We've been going for about two years now. It's a weekly episode that comes out. We try to interview a really broad cross section of people from people in the food service industry, people outside of the food service industry who have insights that will help us be better successful restaurant chains, successful individuals in the business. We really just try to create an environment that lends itself to learning and helps us to kind of create this movement or create this group of individuals that really is of an understanding that we're all in this together, and we all struggle with a lot of the same things, but here's how I handle it, or here's how he handles it, or she handles it, and we've been able to really do a lot of good. I get emails constantly from people who say, hey, thanks for doing this, or, hey, that show really touched me here. It's been a really, really rewarding experience.

Tony:

That's great. And to be in this for two years, you're ahead of the curve, because most podcasters unfortunately don't make it that far. The preponderance of podcasters do like 7, 8, 9, 10 shows and they're unable to monetize it and sustain it, so hats off to you on doing it for so long. Very good.

This is the Tony DUrso Show, where you can learn from the wisdom and success of others to help you move on your vision path. Just ahead the chat continues about Food People Management with Shawn Bucher, but first, it's time for us to take a short break. See you back here in just a moment.

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All right, we're back on the Tony DUrso Show, where you can learn from the wisdom and success of others to help you move on your vision path. Let's see what we can learn today. Today's show is about Food People Management with Shawn Bucher, and at the end of this interview, I'll give you a summary of what I got out of this and I'll share some pointers with you. Stay tuned for that.

Chef Shawn holds an MBA as well as a Bachelor's degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management. He's a certified executive chef - CEC - and certified culinary educator - CCE - through the American Culinary Federation and a certified culinary professional - CCP - through the International Association of Culinary Professionals. And now back to the chat with Chef Sean. Now Shawn, what's the future hold for you? What are you looking to accomplish in the next few years?

Shawn: Well, I'm at a point in my career where I'm really looking forward to giving back. I've kind of gotten to that point where I've made a name for myself. I built up my career, I've traveled, I've had experiences, and really what I'm looking forward to is kind of giving back and I'm about to embark on a project, as we speak, where I'm going to be moving to a smaller town, a secondary market and I'm going to be working on really building a community and enhancing a community. We're going to be building food service outlets. We're going to be building a hospital. We're going to be building a trade college. We're really looking at creating an ecosystem in the middle of the Nevada desert and I'm excited about that, because that's going to really stretch me in different ways than I've been stretched before. I'm going to be taking off my executive chef, my consultant hats and I'm going to be putting on more of a project manager, C-suite kind of position hat, and I'm excited about that. That's going to be good for me. It's going to be the next stage in my evolution and my challenges, and so like I said, I'm looking forward to giving back and being part of building a community.

Tony:

That is very interesting, Shawn. Please circle back when you have that rolling, and we'll bring you back on for an update. That's a very interesting project.

Shawn: Well, I'm excited about it, and I definitely will. Thanks for that invite.

Tony:

Sure. Shawn, can we have some personal habits that contribute to the success of you accomplishing your vision and going where you've gone so far?

Shawn: Well, I'll tell you, I think this changes over the course of your career and as you get older and kind of take a step back from things. I'll tell you the things that really motivate me and really help me run and things that I just almost can't live without. Number one is my health. I've learned that I have to take care of my health. Otherwise, I'm never going to be at my optimal level. I'm never going to be performing the way I want to perform. So really taking care of your health, drinking enough water, eating healthy, getting the right amount of exercise, getting the right amount of sleep, those things have become just so much more crucial to me individually, as I've gone along this journey. I've just realized the value of taking care of yourself. So whatever shape or form that looks like, because I think that's very individual for a lot of people myself, I'm trying to go much more plant based diet. I'm trying to make sure that I get consistent exercise and it might be different for other people, but I think taking care of your health is number one.

Number two is staying true to your word. Act with integrity, and do what you say you're going to do. This world is full of people that talk the talk, but don't always walk the walk. And I'll tell you, that's the part I think that really sets you apart is that when you can do what you say you're going to do and follow through and people see that, there's an incredible amount of value in that. What's thought to be the norm or thought to be the expectation, unfortunately is the anomaly and it's not always that case.

Tony:

Shawn, thank you so much for giving us some of your personal habits, talking about it. Totally agree on the healthy living. I know as an entrepreneur, we forget. We just work, work, work, work, work, work, work, and we forget to do the simple things - take some time off, eat good food, and so forth. So I appreciate all those words of wisdom from you. And lastly, aside from the fact that we all should get the book People Food Management, are there any great resources that you would like to share with our audience visionaries.

Shawn: You know, I think nowadays we have so many options out there when it comes to educating ourselves and opening our minds and helping one another. I just really encourage people to collaborate and to look at those that you might be able to do business with or might be able to form partnerships with. I think that a lot of times, we get very caught up in what we're doing and we forget to look outside of ourselves. But I think there's a lot of value in networking and really being able to look at what opportunities might be out there that maybe we just don't know about yet. And so I always stress to anybody and everybody, regardless of what business they're in, or regardless of what segment of whatever industry they're in, to always be open to opportunities. Always keep yourself open to whatever might be out there. And I think when you do that, that's when you're rewarded with things that maybe you never would have anticipated seeing.

Tony:

Thank you. Excellent. Thank you so much for sharing. Once again, this is Shawn Bucher. Food People Management. You can find him at businesschef.org. Shawn, thank you so much for spending some time with us, and actually giving us much more insights into this world. I mean, we thought we knew food before. You've taken us to a new level and I really appreciate it, and I look forward to finding out more about your project that you're going to be doing, an undertaking in Nevada.

Shawn: Oh, thank you. It's been a pleasure to be here and absolutely enjoy everything that you're doing and appreciate you and your hard work.

Tony:

Hey, success squad. Thanks for hanging out with me while I featured an elite entrepreneur who took his vision to reality. I hope it was inspiring for you as it was for me to do this interview. I learned a lot. So how did you like it? Food People Management with Shawn Bucher. I love this interview, especially since I had about five years in the food service industry as a teenager. Did you ever have a stint as a cook? Mine put me through high school. How about you? I'm quite impressed at the variety of establishments that he worked at and how he built up his resume, and all of that experience put him in the position to have the kind of success he has, as a chef, consultant, manager, podcaster, as well as three time authors so far. I think we've all run into this scenario, even if on a different parallel, you could have the best food in the world and if it's not promoted well, that establishment can sink. And you can have not so good food promoted very well and be successful. You can draw parallels on other facets of business. And just those two points, which are in juxtaposition with each other. The beauty is when you have something very good that is well promoted, and then very successful, something we all strive for, I know and which chef Shawn has mastered in the food industry. I like that as a consultant. He does a lot of listening and really gets into what they want to do, what they're trying to do, what are their challenges and so forth. That's a definite hallmark of a good consultant.

Guys, check out Shawn’s book Food People Management. There's a lot more for you on entrepreneurs out there to help you grow your business. It's not a long book, so you can knock it out in a few readings. I love this formula - standards plus accountability times consistency equals success. Okay? Get out your paper and start writing and relisten to this section of the interview. What are your standards for your business? How do you create a standard for your business? How do you hold people accountable? What does consistency look like? What does success look like? You're the only person who's going to work this all out for your business, project or endeavor. Start writing this all out and see what you get. Don't just let this pass. Get out that pen and paper, do this exercise. This interview is to help you get to the next level in whatever project or endeavor you're in. So get out that piece of paper and start writing this stuff down. And really take a good look at it. You know, this interview has got so much good stuff. I've gotten so much out of this interview. What did you get? And you know, I'd love to know how you use this information to help you in your business or career. Reach out to me.

Okay guys, new grab hold of your vision, decide you're either going to start something great or take it to the next level. You know this you have to decide first it always starts with a decision. And you can get my vision map to help you along the process. The free eBook is at Tony D-U-R-S-O. I created my empire in just a few years. That's all it took. I had the vision map as my guide. I wrote it all up; you can do it too. Once again, check out my shows on Spotify. It's all designed to help you get to the next level in your business or career. Let's help you move on your journey to success. And if you have iTunes or access to any Apple device, look up my name Tony DUrso and subscribe to my show. A kind of review there will get you tremendous appreciation back in return. Thanks. And remember, just take action. Success awaits those who persevere remain steadfast despite the odds. So good seats, do good deeds and join me on the next episode of the Tony DUrso show.

We hope you've enjoyed this week's edition of the Tony DUrso Show with his key influencers. Be sure to tune in again next Friday at 5pm Eastern Time, 2pm Pacific Time on The Voice America influencers channel