Welcome to Morsels, your go-to newsletter from MAJC, breaking down hospitality insights into bite-sized chunks.
This week’s lineup is all about leadership. How to hire for values, coach with clarity, grow future leaders, and master the financial systems that fuel growth. Scroll down, pick your focus, and put these ideas into action.
🎧 LISTEN: Chef Yia Vang on Building a Cultural Restoration Project
Chef Yia Vang didn’t just open a restaurant. He built a cultural restoration project.
The James Beard–nominated founder of Union Hmong Kitchen shares how food became his medium for storytelling, identity, and healing. In this episode of Restaurant Ready, Vang opens up about hiring with intention, designing rituals for team connection, and redefining tradition in a modern context.
Takeaways:
- Hire for values, not just résumés
- Systems should protect storytelling, not erase it
- Leadership is about lifting others into the spotlight
- Menus can be acts of protest, healing, and cultural expression
📖 READ: How to Turn Your Restaurant Into a Leadership School
A restaurant that grows leaders keeps staff longer, runs smoother, and frees owners from carrying it all themselves. This new article pulls from 40+ conversations with chefs, operators, and experts to show how you can develop leadership at every level of your restaurant.
Takeaways:
- Responsibility teaches judgment faster than titles
- Teaching financial fluency strengthens decision-making
- Feedback and recognition fuel growth
- Promoting leadership behaviors sustains culture
🔧 USE: Coaching Conversation Guide
Drawing on Taylor Scott’s leadership approach, discussed across his episodes of Serving Success, this tool provides a step-by-step framework for handling tough conversations with clarity and care. It helps you hold team members accountable while reinforcing values and supporting growth.
Takeaways:
- Focus on observable behaviors, not personal traits
- Anchor the conversation in values and team standards
- Stay open, calm, and direct
- End with clear expectations and follow-up
📹 WATCH: Replay Meg Blair’s Expert Session
Meg Blair’s last Expert Session was one of our most practical and highest rated. As founder of Snow + Blair, she helps operators get clear on their numbers and take control of their business. This session delivered.
Blair broke down the finance systems that support real growth: labor strategy, cash flow, menu pricing, forecasting, and more. Operators left with clarity and tools they could put to work right away.
If you missed it, log in to the MAJC Community and watch the full replay.
Cheers,
Your Friends at MAJC
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