Pizza Today - May 2022 - 12

MIKE'S MONTHLY TIP
MIKE BAUSCH
pill to do something you're not that great
at.
Here's the thing, though, nothing is
Tighten Up or Loosen Up
T
his month, it's time to tighten
up, or it's time to loosen up.
Th ink about all the things you
are fanatically interested in and even
maniacal about. Loosen up on that stuff a
little bit. If you're an absolute stickler for
punctuality and never being your REAL
self in front of staff , maybe loosen up a
skosh. If you are way too loose and drink
with your staff , tighten that up and stop
the lack of professionalism. If you're a
passionate chef who knows every nuance
of fermentation and live it 24/7, never
compromising your quality, it's time to
be passionate about something that's
lacking. Make sure your frontage and
aesthetic are as tight as your recipe. Go
into the front of the house and make sure
your mats and your menu look clean. It's
time to dabble in something that ain't
your thing.
Because you need to be well-rounded
to survive, you could be the absolute
crème de la crème of a pizzaiolo and still
be using non-branded pizza boxes that
make you look bland and cookie cutter.
And that means you need to tighten up
on your branding. And understand that
this is a multifaceted business. Have the
courage to suck at something and not be
the absolute dominating force of what
you know so well. Swallow the humility
really that hard if you give it time. Do
you have a remote control at home? Of
course you do. Do you know where the
ON button, volume up, and channel down
are without looking at them? I'm willing
to bet you do. You've built up muscle
memory by fl icking and changing the
remote over time. Develop that muscle
memory in something else. Social media,
HR, baking a style not your own, or any
litany of things that just ain't your bag
today but could quickly become your bag
with a few months of muscle memory and
tightening up.
Allow yourself to loosen up on some
of the stuff you're being a little bit too
serious about. I get that this is most likely
your business, your money, your shot at
doing it right, and being anything less
than all-in intensity each day means
dropping the ball; I've learned that's not
true. Don't suff ocate your staff and loosen
up some things you micromanage to see
if they thrive without your control. You
might fi nd some others do your thing
better, which will take humility to allow.
Some might do it ok, but not as good as
you, but that's also ok because it means
they're growing and you are developing.
It's when everyone gets locked into their
box that things grow stale, and before
you know it, everything sucks, and no
one cares because the cog in the machine
approach grows old quicker than you'd
think. Encourage your management
team to do this as well. Th e managers
who know the POS like the back of their
hands but can't run the oven should meet
the heat in the kitchen. Th e manager who
everyone is afraid of because they're too
brash, have them avoid bad cop behaviors
for a month and see what it does for their
interactions and rapport with the rest of
the crew. Mixing it up leads to growth,
and you need growth because the inverse
is stagnation and failure.
MIKE BAUSCH is the owner of Andolini's Pizzeria in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Instagram: @mikeybausch
12 / P IZZATODAY.COM / MAY 2022

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