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Ninety percent of having a successful life is simply showing up.
-- Woody Allen

I've become addicted to the TV reality series "The Restaurant." What about it caught my fancy? First of all, it's about two fascinating characters -- Rocco, the CIA (Culinary Institute of America graduate chef), and Jeffrey, the very successful New York City restaurant entrepreneur. Together, Rocco, the chef and operator, and Jeffrey, the "money-man" and behind-the-scenes operations Svengali, opened a restaurant called Rocco's on 22nd Street. They both had high hopes for the restaurant, but it hasn't turned out that way as the restaurant is losing money. Why do I think this has happened? Because in my opinion, Rocco, who is as charming as he is enterprising, became a celebrity. He wrote a book, he appeared on all types of TV shows, he spoke at the CIA commencement ceremony in Hyde Park, N.Y. -- he was everywhere except back at Rocco's.
In the meantime, Jeffrey wanted Rocco to spend more time at the restaurant, but Rocco wanted to be a celebrity and be all over town. So, Jeffrey decided to make changes that he felt would improve the restaurant operation. He started installing people from his vast restaurant organization into key positions at Rocco's. This of course caused conflict -- Rocco didn't like it and Rocco's managers didn't like the fact that Jeffrey's people were now making the decisions that they were being paid to make.

How was this conflict resolved?
That's the business question I hope to answer in this article. But is it simply a business question, or is it a more complex human relations question? To start with, do Rocco and Jeffrey even have the types of personalities that would enable them to be partners? How do they communicate their likes and dislikes? Do they have a working dialog that enables them to be clear with each other? Are they honest with each other and do they really hear what the other is saying?
How would I rate their communication skills? Rocco is not a good listener. He gets through life by being charming and being the star. He's really good at being the star. People love him. He has a warm, engaging smile that people respond to, but does he really hear what Jeffrey has told him about why the restaurant is losing money and what needs to be done to change that situation? I would say emphatically, "No!" I don't think Rocco has the necessary communication skills to have a meaningful dialog with Jeffrey.
Jeffrey on the other hand appears to be a clear presenter of the facts and a good listener, but he has no empathy for what Rocco is saying nor does he have a clear idea on how to mesh Rocco into the restaurant operation. No one can feel what the other person is feeling, but they can make a guess at how the other person is feeling. It's possible that Rocco is being uncooperative in addressing certain problems because he's afraid of losing the restaurant. He could be fearful that Jeffrey is moving in on his "baby; after all, the restaurant is named Rocco's. He might also be feeling that no one has the right to tell him how to run his restaurant.
How will this reality series end? Will Jeffrey fire Rocco? Will the restaurant start making money? Will Rocco quit? Will Rocco and Jeffrey come together, settle their differences, and work out a plan to save the restaurant together, or will Jeffrey pull the plug on the whole operation? As of this writing, I don't know how the season's finale will tie up all of the show's loose ends, but I'm eager to find out. I'm also eager to discover whether there will be another season of "The Restaurant." I've enjoyed the concept tremendously and for me, it's turned out to be more about relationships than about the business of running a profitable restaurant.

What lessons can be learned from watching Rocco and Jeffrey battle?
I have to give you a business example from the catalog industry. No one can dispute that the two primary factors determining a catalog's success are its merchandise and its pricing. The catalog industry is full of success stories of books that do not win design awards and whose mailings use standard segmentation techniques, but whose merchandise is exactly what the audience wants. While pulling together all the elements ultimately spells success, the catalog must first have the right products. Unfortunately, merchandising is more of an art than it is a science. Naturally, the items necessary to build a successful catalog include: Sourcing, pricing, exclusivity, private labeling, inventory control analysis, and staffing.
Unique merchandise is probably the singlemost important way to separate a company from its competition and to strengthen its position in consumers' minds. Therefore, the freshness of offerings is a measure of how companies attract new customers and retain previous ones. The need for new merchandise differs by business type. Among consumer catalogs, the need to be fresh is much more important than among business-to-business companies. In fact, in business-to-business cataloging, there are staple items that represent a major portion of every book.

What's the problem at Rocco's restaurant?
Is it the food? Is it the service? Is it the pricing? Is it the operation? While the operations division of a restaurant is considered the least glamorous, it is the only one that directly interfaces with the customer, from taking the orders through resolving customer satisfaction issues. Is there an appreciation of the importance of the operations division at Rocco's? I suspect not and that's why Jeffrey installed his operations people in the restaurant. Measuring customer satisfaction is the formal method of ensuring that there is customer feedback on how the restaurant is performing. Do customers return to Rocco's? Is the food service quick enough? Is the food consistent? The first step in fulfilling customer expectations is to get orders to them as fast as possible. Is Rocco's meeting that expectation?
My suggestion would be to conduct a specific survey of the restaurant. Obtain customer feedback and then prepare and execute a plan to create benchmarks for continuous improvement at the restaurant. The continuing goal of Rocco's is to make a profit. I'm intrigued with the dysfunctional partnership between Rocco and Jeffrey -- I'm pretty sure that they cannot work together as partners to make Rocco's a success.
Tune in for the conclusion of "The Restaurant" and keep your eye on what makes your own operation a success. It takes a lot of effort to better understand and communicate the values of your business. Often, you need to transform the way you reach out to customers, but you must keep a watchful eye on your operation. Many things can go wrong when you are dealing with relationships. Everything else may be just fine, but if you have a breakdown in relationships, you have a problem in your business. One of the scarcest commodities in business today is good people. This is especially true in the restaurant business. In fast-growing companies, not being able to recruit and keep the best talent is the greatest barrier to growth and profitability. Did Jeffrey make hiring a strategic initiative in his firm? Did he create an employee success profile? Did he fill his recruiting pipeline with qualified candidates and get new hires productive in a hurry? Learn lessons from Rocco and Jeffrey and initiate a regular time for you and your staff to conduct a clear dialog about what's going on in your relationships. Make good relationships a strategic priority in your business and especially don't neglect the relationship with your partners. You don't want to have a dysfunctional Rocco-and-Jeffrey relationship.
Editor's Note: "The Restaurant" was canceled by NBC. The last episode ran June 5, 2004.

Marshall Marcovitz is president of MM Consulting, a catalog and Internet consulting company that specializes in the retail industry with a focus on marketing communications for retail store, catalog, and Internet organizations. Marshall is also a professor at the University at Chicago where he teaches courses on marketing communications. Contact him at mmellow9@aol.com.