Built from the floor up

My restaurant career started at age 20, not in an office or behind a desk, but on the floor as a server at Don Pablo’s. That experience taught me something that still shapes how I approach restaurant consulting today: before you can lead a team, train a team, or improve an operation, you need to understand what it takes to serve the guest.

From Server to corporate trainer

Within six months of starting at Don Pablo’s, I advanced into corporate training, helping train service teams during eight new restaurant openings. I later brought that experience to Red Robin, where I continued developing as a corporate trainer and participated in ten additional new-store openings. Those 18 openings gave me firsthand experience with structured training, clear expectations, and the importance of preparing a team to execute consistently from day one.

FROM TRAINING TO LEADERSHIP

As my career progressed into restaurant management and leadership, I learned that strong teams are not built by standards alone. They are built by consistently training those standards, reinforcing accountability, and giving employees the tools to succeed. By strengthening Steps of Service, improving training, and creating clearer expectations, I saw how the right systems could change a restaurant’s culture, improve execution, and build a team that took pride in delivering a better guest experience.

Building systems that last

Strong training should create capability, not dependency. Cyclone Consulting Solutions is built around developing practical systems that restaurant teams can continue using long after our work is complete. We assess the operation, train the standards, provide opportunities to practice, verify execution, and give managers the tools to reinforce those expectations moving forward. The goal is not simply to improve one shift—it is to help build stronger habits, greater consistency, and a structure the restaurant can continue to develop over time.