It’s Not You—It’s Your Hospitality

Preston Lee

It’s Not You, It’s Your Hospitality is for independent restaurant owners, operators, and leaders who want to build thriving businesses without burning out their teams or losing sight of what hospitality really means. Hosted by Preston Lee, founder of The 30% Rule, this podcast dives into the systems, leadership strategies, and culture shifts that separate the struggling 90% of restaurants from the top 10% that thrive. With over 20 years in the industry and a decade spent helping major brands grow sales, Preston shares raw stories, proven tools, and hard lessons learned from the front lines. If you’re tired of high turnover, inconsistent guest experiences, and the endless cycle of training without transformation—this podcast will dive deep into the world of Hospitality and show you how to fix it once and for all. Because at the end of the day, it’s not you—it’s your hospitality.

  1. 6d ago ·  Video

    Restaurant Mogul & Top Chef Judge Reveals Training Secrets | Janet Zuccarini

    Most restaurants don’t fail because of bad food, they fail because of bad leadership, weak training, and inconsistent hospitality. So in this exclusive interview, Restauranteur and Top Chef judge Janet Zuccarini sits down with Preston Lee to break down the secrets to leadership, hospitality, and training systems that helped her build one of the most respected restaurant groups. From opening her very first restaurant with zero restaurant experience to building a 30+ year hospitality empire with packed restaurants across Toronto and Los Angeles, Janet shares the real reason great restaurants succeed: culture, systems, consistency, communication, and people. This conversation is packed with practical strategies and tactics for restaurant owners, managers, servers, and hospitality leaders who want to build stronger teams and create successful restaurants. You'll learn how top hospitality brands create loyal employees and loyal customers. Janet also shares how her company built long-term retention, ongoing training systems, leadership pathways, and a hospitality culture that keeps staff for decades. We dive deep into: • How elite restaurants train staff for long-term success • Why most restaurant training programs fail • How to build stronger restaurant culture and staff buy-in • The secret to creating loyal guests and repeat business • How great restaurants handle mistakes and recover service • How to develop leaders, trainers, and managers internally • How top restaurants create memorable guest experiences • The systems successful restaurant operators use every day This episode is a masterclass for restaurant owners, hospitality professionals, managers, servers, bartenders, and entrepreneurs looking to level up their leadership, training, and customer experience.

    1h 4m

  2. May 22 ·  Video

    Restaurant Server Success System in 45 mins...

    Restaurant culture is broken… and nobody wants to talk about it. In this server training I break down the detrimental mindset that is destroying hospitality and restaurant culture and instead show how to thrive in the industry. In this powerful training, we dive deep into what real hospitality actually means and why the best servers, bartenders, managers, and restaurant leaders don’t operate from entitlement, they operate from service, consistency, and care. This video covers restaurant leadership, teamwork, mental health in hospitality, guest experience, server training, and examples of how top-performing restaurants build loyal guests that keep coming back. We talk about why toxic attitudes around tips, sections, and coworkers create miserable work environments, and how the best hospitality brands focus on culture, guest retention, and creating unforgettable experiences instead. Christy and I go through her journey from server to manager to shift lead, along with the lessons she’s learned about leadership, communication, emotional control, and leading by example in a fast-paced restaurant environment. I break down how she and restaurants in general can improve training systems, create stronger team culture, and help employees develop a winning mindset without burning out. So If you work in restaurants, whether you’re a server, bartender, manager, or owner, this 1 on 1 training will challenge the way you think about hospitality, teamwork, and leadership and give you the server success secrets to advance your career. 🔥 Reserve your seat at our free training built for the 2026 workforce. Learn how to build simple, repeatable systems that run even when you’re off-site: 👉 https://join.30percentrule.com/training

    47 min

  3. May 17

    Top 10 Reasons Restaurant Management Fails

    In this podcast, I break down the 8 biggest restaurant leadership problems I’ve seen after working with over 350 restaurants worldwide and evaluating more than 1,000 restaurant operations, from small mom-and-pop shops to multi-million dollar hospitality groups.  And here’s the truth: the problems are always the same. The only difference is scale. If you’re a restaurant owner, operator, or manager, this video will hit home. We cover real-world challenges around restaurant leadership, staff accountability, training systems, guest experience, and team culture and more importantly, how to actually fix them. You’ll learn how to handle difficult guest interactions without lowering your hospitality standards, why allowing “small” issues like lateness destroys your culture, and how to create clear systems that hold your team accountable without relying on personalities. We also dive into how to deal with “bad apple” employees, how to turn around team performance through structure and consistency, and the simple behaviors that dramatically improve the guest experience. This isn’t theory. These are proven strategies used across hundreds of successful restaurants to build high-performing teams, consistent service, and strong leadership cultures that drive revenue and retention. So, If you’ve ever struggled with: Inconsistent staff performance Weak accountability systems Poor guest experiences High turnover or “bad apple” employees Lack of training or leadership structure …then this podcast will give you the clarity and direction you’ve been missing.

    19 min

  4. May 8 ·  Video

    Restaurant Management Training that Turns Them into Leaders (ROI time)

    For this in depth restaurant management training...Preston sits down with rising restaurant leader Camille, to break down the real-world management training that transforms restaurant managers into true leaders. After leaving her photography business, Cammy started as a hostess in 2021 and quickly climbed the ranks into restaurant leadership. Now managing the floor at a busy Southern California Mexican restaurant, she shares the biggest challenges she and restaurant managers face today,  from guest recovery and hospitality consistency to leadership culture and team accountability. This conversation dives deep into: • Restaurant management training • How to become a better restaurant leader • Guest recovery systems that actually work • Hospitality vs. service • Building consistency in restaurant operations • Managing restaurant culture and employee productivity • Leadership mindset for restaurant managers • How top-performing restaurants create unforgettable guest experiences • The difference between “order takers” and “experience makers” • Restaurant systems, training, and accountability Preston shares his lessons from working with 350+ restaurants worldwide and explains why leadership, systems, and training are the foundation of every successful restaurant brand. 🔥 Reserve your seat at our free training built for the 2026 workforce. Learn the 4-Domino Sequence Behind Every Restaurant Doing $7M+ With 15% Margins, The Proven System That's Scaled 350+ Restaurants By Weaponizing Hospitality and much more! Reserve Your Seat Here 👉 https://join.30percentrule.com/training

    1h 13m

  5. Apr 30

    Coffee Shop Marketing and Branding That Changes Everything l with Coffee Dose founder Jeni Castro

    If you think restaurant marketing is just posting pretty food photos… you’re already losing. In this in depth interview, I sit down with Coffee Dose founder Jeni Castro, one of the most disruptive and effective marketers in the coffee and hospitality space, to break down what actually drives sales, brand loyalty, and real growth. From building a cult-like following with “Anti-B*tch Serum”… to creating lines out the door by going against the grain of traditional marketing plans… Jeni shares exactly how she turned bold, unapologetic branding into a multi-location powerhouse.  This is a masterclass in not just Coffee Shop Marketing and Branding, but can be applied to any business. In the podcast, we go deep into: ✔️ Why most restaurant marketing is completely broken ✔️ The biggest mistake owners make when hiring marketing agencies ✔️ How to stand out in an oversaturated industry ✔️ Why “playing it safe” is killing your brand ✔️ The real relationship between marketing and revenue ✔️ How hospitality (NOT marketing) is what actually brings guests back ✔️ What it takes to scale without losing your identity Jeni also shares her journey from burnout in another business… to building Coffee Dose into a brand people drive across counties for. Marketing gets people in the door. Hospitality is what makes them come back. If you’re a restaurant owner, operator, or entrepreneur trying to grow, this is truly a masterclass in cutting through the noise and building a brand that actually converts. 🔥 Reserve your seat at our free training built for the 2026 workforce. Learn how to build simple, repeatable systems that run even when you’re off-site: 👉 https://join.30percentrule.com/training  --

    1h 6m

  6. Apr 27

    Restaurant Manager Training: Step-by-Step to Higher Profits

    Restaurant Manager Training: Step-by-Step to Higher Profits Struggling with inconsistent staff performance, poor hospitality, or missed revenue opportunities? In this in-depth restaurant manager training, I sat down with a general manager and we broke down the real reasons his team isn’t executing and I showed him a step-by-step system to fix it. This isn’t theory. This is what actually works inside real restaurants and drives real results. In this podcast, you’ll learn how to transform your restaurant from inconsistent and reactive… into a systemized, profit-driven operation with strong culture, better guest experiences, and higher sales. We cover: ✔️Why hospitality breaks down (and why meetings & documents don’t fix it) ✔️The truth about managing Gen Z employees and post-COVID work culture ✔️How to build systems that create consistent execution every shift ✔️The difference between temporary motivation vs. real culture change ✔️How poor training is silently costing you thousands in lost revenue ✔️Why upselling isn’t “salesy”and how it actually improves guest experience ✔️The exact strategies top 10% restaurants use to drive retention and profit ✔️How to turn every guest into repeat business and referrals You’ll also see: Real-world restaurant scenarios Proven training frameworks Practical leadership strategies you can apply immediately If you’re a restaurant owner, GM, or leader trying to fix staff performance, improve hospitality, and increase profitability…this video will give you the clarity and structure you’ve been missing. Because…Better systems = better staff performance = higher profits.

    1 hr

  7. Apr 14

    Your Host Is Costing You Thousands (Here’s Why)

    Are your hosts secretly hurting your restaurant’s growth? Most restaurant owners massively underestimate the power of the host role and it’s costing them sales, guest retention, and long-term success. In this podcast, Preston Lee talks why your host (or cashier in QSR) is actually one of the most important positions in your entire operation and how failing to properly define, hire, and train this role leads to mediocre guest experiences, poor reviews, and lost revenue. You’ll learn how to reframe the host position, build a structured hiring process, and create a hospitality-driven culture that drives consistency, increases retention, and ultimately boosts your sales. This isn’t about “being nice” or “smiling more.” This is about building a system that creates repeat guests, stronger teams, and a scalable restaurant business. In this podcast, I break down: ✔️ Why most restaurants completely misunderstand the host role ✔️ The biggest hiring mistake managers make in interviews ✔️ Why “the basics” are actually hurting your guest experience ✔️ How operating out of fear leads to underperformance ✔️ How to create a system that actually drives consistency and growth

    16 min

  8. Apr 10

    Fix THIS or Your Restaurant Will Keep Struggling

    Most restaurants don’t have a sales problem, they have a people development problem. When you break down inconsistent service, weak guest retention, bad reviews, and high turnover, it almost always comes back to the same root issue: underdeveloped training, weak leadership, and broken systems.  In this video, we break down a complete restaurant training and onboarding system designed to fix that at the source. What you’ll learn in this video ✔️ ✔️ How to build a restaurant training system that creates consistency at every level ✔️ How to turn employees into high-performing “drivers” instead of passive “passengers” ✔️ How guest experience directly drives sales, reviews, and retention ✔️ How to fix leadership gaps by developing managers, not just hiring them ✔️ How to create a culture of accountability where “that’s not my job” disappears ✔️ How to onboard staff so they are aligned, bought in, and ready to execute from day one We also cover mindset and leadership principles like Kaizen (1% daily improvement), the “driver vs passenger” mentality, and why discomfort is necessary for growth. You’ll see how proper onboarding builds buy-in first, before any real training even begins, and why that changes everything about execution inside your restaurant. At the core of it, restaurants don’t scale because of better menus or more marketing, they scale because of better systems and better people. When you develop your team intentionally, you increase sales, improve guest experience, reduce turnover, and build a stronger culture across the board. If you want to build a restaurant that runs on systems instead of stress, this is where it starts.

    20 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

It’s Not You, It’s Your Hospitality is for independent restaurant owners, operators, and leaders who want to build thriving businesses without burning out their teams or losing sight of what hospitality really means. Hosted by Preston Lee, founder of The 30% Rule, this podcast dives into the systems, leadership strategies, and culture shifts that separate the struggling 90% of restaurants from the top 10% that thrive. With over 20 years in the industry and a decade spent helping major brands grow sales, Preston shares raw stories, proven tools, and hard lessons learned from the front lines. If you’re tired of high turnover, inconsistent guest experiences, and the endless cycle of training without transformation—this podcast will dive deep into the world of Hospitality and show you how to fix it once and for all. Because at the end of the day, it’s not you—it’s your hospitality.

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