When I was a bartender (all those years ago), I would host cocktail-making masterclasses regularly. One of my classes was attended by a professional football player. He was awful at it. Although it was very entertaining to watch him fumble and drop all the glasses and bottles. He said I made it look easy. I thought to myself, “Of course!” I make hundreds of cocktails every single day. I’ve had plenty of practice and the knowledge to do so. However, if you ask me to make a drink today, having not worked behind the bar for ages, I am bound to make a couple of mistakes and be clumsy.
I believe that each stage requires a different knowledge. Just like driving a manual car – you need to switch gears at the right time.
You might have noticed that many restaurant owners are stuck in the same place after many years. This is because they are stuck in the same mentality. They haven’t changed or developed their mindset at all. They can stay stagnant for 10 years until the market eventually washes them out.
Knowledge without any practice will not become a skill. In business, it is important that you spend time doing both.
If you go back 15 years, I never paid attention to any business skills. I thought the world was simply. You just had to be clever and work hard. However, I was wrong. The old saying really is true – “Knowledge is Power.”
Let me elaborate with an example. When I first started my business, I didn’t know much about business skills. I always thought people went to university and wasting 3 years doing nothing. This was until I learnt about marketing and branding, and that’s when I understood that it’s not as easy as I thought. There are many layers involved in any area of business. Now I know, we can only act on what we know.All businesses require different areas of knowledge - such as leadership, marketing, branding, operation management, human resources, business strategies, customer behaviours, accounting, product design and development, and so on…If you wanted to open a restaurant today, it wouldn’t be the same as opening one 15 years ago. This is because there is much more information about the industry today. More people are educated and make wiser decisions before taking any drastic actions.If you are serious about doing well, you must understand that it is essential to constantly learn and develop your knowledge. Not only in one area, but in various sectors, divisions and departments. This is because it takes many different steps to build, and all kinds of combinations of knowledge to succeed. Our F&Bindustry has become more and more challenging. I believe the main reason is because the people entering the industry nowadays are equip with much more business knowledge then before. 15 years ago, most people didn’t have such complex business skills – it just wasn’t as important. Restaurants today however, are trying and implementing all kinds of different methods and skills to attract and acquire customers and market share. Those who don’t have a clue about restaurants or businesses will be left in the deep end – even if the answer is right in front of their eyes.Learning is much easier today. Everything can be found on the internet. A simple search on your phone can provide you with endless solutions and ideas. Try it – you will see the difference.Every now and then, you will see it on the news – a CEO of a bank becoming a CEO of a tech company. This shows that it is possible for people with a certain level of knowledge and experience to venture into different industries. The same applies to business skills. You will learn how to apply your knowledge in all kinds of scenarios. Although the industry may be different, the basic foundation is the same. For instance, you need to know what it takes to be a good leader and how to delegate jobs - whether you’re a manager of a Fish & Chip shop or a manager of a global bank. There is no secret to having knowledge in business. Everyone can learn it. Just like how Apple proved that everyone can learn how to use an iPhone. It just takes time,
Without knowledge action is useless and knowledge without action is futile. "Abu Bakr"
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