Faith

There comes a time in every endeavor when the results of your activities are either not yet in or not exactly what you have hoped. At Mad Pizza, we are in the midst of a lot changes and projects. The impacts of these activities are not yet evident. And it is at this exact moment that we need to have the most faith in ourselves and our colleagues; it is also necessary to reinforce that things will be just fine (actually better than fine). As I look at the existing staff and the new colleagues we have added over the last 6 months, I am tremendously confident that their will be a moment of great satisfaction in the next 3 months where the results will show. Until then, we gotta have faith!

Change is just plain scary

We are moving on so many fronts at Mad Pizza that we sometimes scare our colleagues as move forward. We need to be cognizant that more communication is better than less; updating is really necessary; and that our colleagues will read "tea leaves" unless we fill in the blanks.

People love Pizza

A point of personal priviledge: Just got back from a great trip to Roseville, California for a special reason: the grand opening of a new public library named after my mother. My family is intensely proud of her work over the years on behalf of the City of Roseville, and it is a well-earned honor. You can check it out here: http://www.roseville.ca.us/library/locations_n_hours.asp.

Back on topic: still amazed at how much input I get from everyone I tell about Mad Pizza. People feel really strongly when they find a place they like; we need to remember that when we "monkey" with things. There are thousands of loyal Mad Pizza customers who rely on their particular Mad Pizza favorite, and we need to make sure that we keep those customers happy!

Good to Great

We had a great Restaurant General Manager meeting yesterday and introduced a new customer feedback tool to our RGMs. I was extremely pleased to see how our RGMs embraced the opportunity to understand their businesses more fully. I want to thank Max Israel and his team at www.Customerville.com for their good work in rolling this out with us.

One of Max's best points is that the difference between a good ranking and and great ranking from our customers is the difference between a stagnant or shrinking businesses and a growing business. Our Lake City RGM Greg summarized it best by stating, "there is a big difference between good and great."

Whether Greg knew or not, he had given me a new phrase to motivate myself and our colleagues as we continue our journey at Mad Pizza. Simply put: Good isn't good enough.

Welcome to the Mad Pizza Blog

I am Tom Riley. I've been President of Mad Pizza for 5 months now, and this blog will be my chance to communicate to you a number of things.

First, I want to update you on activities that we are engaged in to make our customers' experience at Mad Pizza live up to our mission.

Second, I want to explore the world of pizza, restaurants and food in Seattle.

And, finally, I want to share some of my insights on business management: what I'm reading, who I'm listening to, and what trends I'm following.

And I'll always strive to make it entertaining. Come along for the ride.

TR...