Restaurant Unstoppable #1222: Three Elements that Define Excellence with Rudy Miick, Part 1

Host: Eric Cacciatore
Guest: Rudy Miick (Founder & President, MEick Companies)
Release Date: September 25, 2025

Episode Overview

In this first part of a three-part series, industry consultant and frequent guest Rudy Miick joins host Eric Cacciatore to explore the foundational elements that define excellence in the restaurant business. The focus is on developing and truly utilizing vision, purpose, and values as operational tools—not just platitudes. Rudy provides actionable strategies to embed these elements into restaurant culture and operations, emphasizing their real-world impact on performance, staff engagement, and sustainable growth.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Power of Being "On Purpose"

• Personal Mantra:
  "My mantra on a daily basis is to be on purpose."
  — Rudy Miick [04:54]

• Explanation:
  Rudy describes "being on purpose" as living and leading with intentionality in all aspects of life and business—where intention aligns with impact.

• Quote:
  “Am I grounded in why I’m here and am I conscious of the impact that has throughout the day, with my company, my family, and myself?” — Rudy Miick [05:09]

2. Restaurant Excellence as Performance & Practice

• Performance Metaphor:
  Rudy analogizes restaurant operations to music and sports: excellence requires clear standards (the score or playbook), rehearsal (training), performance (service), and reflection (debriefs).
  “The stage goes up the second we turn on the lights and open the door for business. That is the performance.” — Rudy Miick [08:06]

• Continuous Improvement:
  Drawing from martial arts, he stresses that mastery (like a black belt) is just the beginning of deeper learning and growth.

3. Purpose, Vision & Values as Tools (Not Wall Art)

• Grounded, Guided, Pulled:

  • “Purpose grounds us. Values guide us. Vision pulls us.” — Eric Cacciatore [25:15]
  • Rudy expands: “Every day we pull consciously towards the vision that we’re headed. We move the company, we move consciously. But if we don’t pull towards that goal grounded, the rubber band snaps back into the old habits.” [26:06–26:33]

• Restaurant Root Meaning:
  The root of “restaurant” is “a place one goes to be restored”; the restaurateur “a restorer of soul.”
  — [30:59]

4. The Three Strategic Drivers: Culture, Strategy, Structure

• Bird’s Eye View (50,000ft):

  • Culture: Exists by design or default. Is it what you want? If not, what must change?
  • Strategy: “Where we want to go and how are we going to get there?” [17:14]
  • Structure: Systems, standards, routines, even the way you communicate. Supports strategy and maintains or shifts culture.
    “Something as tiny as, is my doorknob loose? What is the signal that sends? Maybe I don’t care. Maybe I do care.” — Rudy Miick [18:46]
    “Structure is where purpose shows up: from door handles, to systems for communication or money handling.” — [18:13–20:45]

• Why Strategic Change Fails:
  85% of strategic planning fails because old cultural habits snap back like a rubber band. Without supporting structure, strategy alone isn’t enough. [18:06]

5. Building and Training Purpose, Vision, & Values

Purpose

• How to Build Purpose:

  • Involve a diagonal slice of your team—top to bottom, diverse and high-performing, to articulate purpose together.
  • “The owner’s purpose is strong, but every single time the team comes up with a stronger, more buy-in purpose.” — Rudy Miick [39:11–40:25]

• How to Train Purpose:

  • Signal purpose from the job post (“You’re not just a cook/bartender, you’re a restorer of soul”).
  • Reinforce in interviews, onboarding, and ongoing rituals.
  • “If you post ‘I need cooks,’ you get cooks. If you post about your purpose and culture, you get your people.” — [56:45]
  • Use purpose and values language in daily operations and feedback.

Vision

• How to Build Vision:

  • Preferably collaboratively, set clear targets for 3-5 years out:
    “How much money, how many restaurants, how many people have we graduated, how much time am I taking off?” — [67:33]
  • Vision can be a few focused paragraphs (not just a catchy phrase).

• How to Train Vision:

  • Embed in goal-setting, team meetings, and feedback loops.
  • Break long-term vision into tangible milestones; update regularly.
  • Reference visionary leaders (e.g., Ari Weinzweig/Zingerman’s) for more on vision construction [73:04].

Values

• How to Build Values:

  • Make them verbs, present-tense, “collective I/we” statements.
  • Avoid broad abstractions like “integrity” or “loyalty”—these are results, not values. Specify behaviors:
    “We communicate openly and honestly, treating each other with dignity and respect.” — [46:07]
  • Individual and collective: “We do X, I do X.”

• How to Train Values:

  • Use in training, orientation, and daily operations.
  • Encourage language and feedback referencing values:
    “What’s the issue? Which values apply? Go do that, report back.” (IVS approach: Issue, Value, Solution) — [53:30]
  • Model with high consistency; expect culture carriers to reinforce.

6. Embedding Purpose, Vision, & Values in Daily Operations

• Start Training from the Job Ad:
  “What if training starts in the job post?” — Rudy Miick [55:19]
• Interview Practices:
  Have candidates demonstrate alignment (e.g., “Find 3 things we could improve. Show me how you’d move on a Friday night.”) — [57:44]
• Ongoing Use:
  • Have the whole team “speak in values” daily.
  • Rituals: Use language in shift meetings, check-ins, and peer feedback.

7. Why People Struggle Defining Values

• It requires intentional reflection and deep honesty.
• Tendency to default to generic terms (“integrity,” “loyalty”) which are outcomes, not actionable behaviors.
• Need to clarify: “What behaviors build trust, loyalty, engagement?” [78:32]

8. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Purpose as Restorer of Soul:
  “The actual root of the word restaurant is a place one goes to be restored... Restorer of soul. That’s purpose.” — Rudy Miick [31:03]

• Systemic Change is Hard:
  “85% of strategic planning fails because the existing culture snaps back. There’s so much gravity in the habit we’ve had for 10, 20, 30 years.” — Rudy Miick [18:06]

• Leadership and Feedback:
  “If I’ve got a coach that goes ‘Nice carry, great greeting, thank you for wiping the front door’—that’s conscious feedback, and that builds engagement.” — Rudy Miick [64:24]

• On Building Buy-In:
  “How much more likely are they to buy into something they helped create? Now it’s not coming from the top down, but from within.” — Eric Cacciatore [40:25]

• Culture is Not What You Say:
  “We can talk all day long about who we think we are, but our behaviors actually are the data. No matter what we say, what we do and the ripples from what we’re choosing to do is the culture.” — Rudy Miick [23:18]

• Finding Purpose:
  “Start with passion. Where is the juice—what has inspired you over time? That leads you to purpose.” — Rudy Miick [58:38]

Important Timestamps

• 04:54 — Rudy's daily mantra: "Be on purpose"
• 08:06 — Restaurant operations as performance, rehearsal, reflection
• 18:06 — Three drivers: culture, strategy, structure (and why strategy fails)
• 25:15 — Purpose grounds us, values guide us, vision pulls us
• 30:59 — Etymology of "restaurant": to restore, restorer of soul
• 39:11 — Team-led purpose creation and the power of buy-in
• 46:07 — Values as "collective I/we" statements, not just words
• 53:30 — Practical use: Issue, Value, Solution (IVS) tool
• 55:19 — Recruiting for values and purpose in the job post
• 58:38 — How to find purpose (start with passion)
• 67:33 — Building actionable vision: money, scale, graduation, lifestyle
• 73:04 — Ari Weinzweig/Zingerman’s as vision reference

Additional Resources Mentioned

• Simon Sinek (“Start with Why”)
• Ari Weinzweig & Zingerman’s (visioning process, books)
• Patrick Lencioni (“Five Dysfunctions of a Team”)
• Dr. Benjamin Hardy (“Be Your Future Self Now”)
• Restaurant Systems Pro & EOS as structural tools

How to Connect with Rudy Miick

• Call: 720-641-7565
• Email: rudyc@miick.com
• LinkedIn: “Rudy Miick”

Parting Thought

This episode sets the table for excellence by making clear that vision, purpose, and values are not just conceptual—they must be lived, trained, and used as daily tools if a restaurant’s culture and performance are ever to rise above average.

“The more I use the values in my language, the more the values show up, and people actually look forward to coming to work and getting feedback.” — Rudy Miick [77:03]

Next Episode: Part 2 will delve into the Drama Triangle, conscious communication, and how to use these foundational elements in tough conversations and operational challenges.

Find all Rudy Miick episodes at:
restaurantunstoppable.com/miick