Business, FootbalI Are A Lot Like

By Ted Davenport
Co-owner of Ruby Tuesday Hawaii

Succeeding in business is like being successful on the football field. You have to have a game plan and you have to be able to adapt. The reason we have been successful with our Ruby Tuesday restaurants in Hawaii is we have a good team. Without a good team, no matter how good your game plan, you can’t win. Many of our employees have been with us since we opened, and that is one of the keys to having good, consistent customer service.

During these recent tougher economic times we have had to work harder, be more creative and willing to take some risks to grow. This is why we are so proud of our new Kihei, Maui, restaurant. It’s a beautiful restaurant that is being well received. We take a great deal of pride that we are locally owned and operated.

We are fortunate that we also are able to adapt to local tastes. One of our most popular items is the Prime Loco Moco. None of the other Ruby Tuesdays around the world serves this dish. You have to always work to keep everything about your establishment fresh.

My belief is that consistency wins out over flashy. Our goal is to be consistent with our food, our service and with our customer experience. A wide receiver who makes a spectacular catch every now and then but drops the easy ones is usually looking for a job very soon. This is true in our business. People come in because they are expecting a certain experience, and we need to deliver on this expectation. In this respect, we need to complete 100 percent of our passes to be successful. We can’t afford to have any incompletions.

Football is so much like business. You take some hard hits, you get back up and keep going. The biggest difference is, in business there is no such thing as a losing season. You have to win each day with each customer or you will soon be out of the game.