The restaurant industry is grappling with big questions this year. Diners these days are more value-conscious, more selective, and more willing to stay home; and costs, along with competition, continue to rise for operators. As big chains and local independents try to protect sales or regain their footing, analysts who spoke to Business Insider said the year ahead will come down to whether restaurants can do more with less, without losing what made people want to dine out in the first place.
There is a scripture that says you cannot serve two masters, and I think that is a difficult and important lesson for all of us in everyday life, Carrillo said. If I am a MLS executive that has to do both the for-profit MLS arm and the non-profit association arm, I constantly have to switch hats and mindsets and that has to be a challenge. I don't think I could do it.
What makes these myths dangerous isn't their persistence, it's how we rationalize them. We tell ourselves they're based on data. (A survey from 2018? Please.) We cite competitor behavior. We assume it's "just the way things are." And then we design strategies, products and entire business models around them. But these myths are born from perceptions. Not facts. Not insights. Just patterns we've gotten used to seeing and explaining away.
