
A BLOG FOR HOSPITALITY PEOPLE

To Our Hospitality Blog
Pre-shift was the highlight of my day for the entirety of my restaurant operations career.Â
Whether I was leading it or attending it, those minutes before service when we all came together to name a shared vision for the evening, talk about what it looks like to get 1% better than the day before, celebrate the meaningful moments we’d co-created with our guests and each other, and anticipate where things might get sticky or weird over the night to come felt cathartic and deeply connecting. Â
If trust is the heart of a high-performing team, pre-shift was my main artery.
As a leadership coach for hospitality people, I no longer host this sacred gathering in the middle of a dining room or around the bar top. Now, my partner Kimberly and I host it here...and we also named the weekly trainings we lead in our group coaching program Pre-Shift! This blog, those trainings, and our newsletter are each spaces we’ve carved out for values-based hospitality leaders to gather round to receive heartfelt connection, mutual support, and expert guidance as we all reach to grow into the leaders we wish we had in this industry.
Leadership can be a profoundly lonely place, and we hope that by welcoming us into your inbox and joining this virtual huddle, you feel like you’ve got a pair of wise big sisters (who happen to be restaurant whisperers!) and a community of like-minded hospitality people walking with you.
Welcome to Pre-shift, a blog for hospitality people. We’re so grateful you’re here.
Love,
![]() |
& | ![]() |
Actionable insights
for hospitality people,Â
from hospitality people,
you can read in 5 minutes flat.
Add our newsletter to your inbox.
We won’t send spam. We promise.
Our Most Popular Blog Posts
Why are Boundaries Important in Your Personal Life?
I got boundaries wrong for years, and fully expect to be honing this essential leadership practice for the rest of my days
I learn so much from reading the work of thought leaders like...

Hospitality Burnout: The #1 Reason Restaurant Leaders are Leaving the Hospitality Industry (Part 1)
If you’re feeling emotionally exhausted, physically depleted, detached from yourself, and...

Business Pain Points in the Restaurant Industry are a Very Particular Beast
The majority of my media diet consists of leadership podcasts and personal development books. (And the rest of it consists of binging Love Is Blind)...
Our Complete Catalogue of Blog Posts
Photo courtesy of Spoon and Stable
The majority of my media diet consists of leadership podcasts and personal development books. (And the rest of it consists of binging Love Is Blind).
I learn so much from reading the work of thought leaders like Brené Brown, Gabor Mate, and...
Team,
2023 was a hard year. Hospitality industry challenges were abundant.
To compile this post, we read through hundreds of client agendas and call notes, reviewed text exchanges with our friends, reflected on our own personal experiences, and collected end of year reflections from our...
I got boundaries wrong for years, and fully expect to be honing this essential leadership practice for the rest of my days.
What helped me most in the beginning was to remember what a boundary IS NOT, and I wonder if it might help you too:
- A boundary is not a demand of someone...
Have you thought or said anything that sounds like this recently?
- “I’ve wanted to fire this manager for 3 months, but I haven’t had a single conversation with her about her performance, so I keep kicking the can down the road.”
- “Showing up 15 minutes late suddenly...
Our profession was one of the hardest hit by Covid. During the pandemic, restaurants did whatever they needed to do to survive, and that was exactly right. It was exhausting, frustrating, scary, and stressful…and if you’re like most of our clients, you’re probably still feeling...
Photo captured by Libby Anderson
In most professions, if someone quits, you push a deadline back, you reschedule the presentation, you do what you need to do to make changes without compromising the end product. In the restaurant industry, the show must go on no matter what, and missing a beat...