That's how Chef Sedrick Crawley from Black Sicilian opened our conversation this week. He says if the dough formula isn't built for your specific environment — your climate, your water, your kitchen — everything else is secondary. Do you agree? Are you building your own dough formula or still running someone else's recipe? Drop it in the comments https://youtu.be/lXMubUpmyGI

You get offered a 40-pizza order, but it requires delivery support and extra coordination that does not fit how your shop normally runs. Do you take it or turn it down? Why? I talked about this on a recent Takeout Tip, and I think this is a real leadership question for operators. At what point does extra revenue stop being worth the disruption?

I put together these Shift Huddle Prompt Cards to help you lead with more intention, even on busy days. A lot of teams do not need a longer meeting. They need a better one. These cards give you a simple way to start each shift with focus. Each day includes: - a motivational prompt - a team question - one clear focus area The prompts cover the stuff that matters most on the floor: - cleanliness and first impressions - speed and accuracy - team communication - consistency - rush readiness - guest experience - growth and reflection Use them as written or adjust them for your shop. The goal is simple. Get your team thinking before the shift starts, not just reacting once the rush hits. Grab the cards here and put them to work this week:

You get offered a 40-pizza order, but it requires delivery support and extra coordination that does not fit how your shop normally runs. Do you take it or turn it down? Why? I talked about this on the latest Takeout Tip, and I think this is a real leadership question for operators. At what point does extra revenue stop being worth the disruption?

Gross sales looks good on paper. It feels like progress. But it can lie to you. I’ve seen stores push sales up and still lose money. I’ve lived that. Here’s what matters more than the top line. Profit pays you. Sales don’t. You can run $40K weeks and still struggle to make payroll if your costs are out of line. Focus on what you keep. - Net profit. What actually hits your pocket - Prime cost. Labor plus food should stay tight - Average ticket. Bigger tickets, same traffic - Order mix. Are you selling high margin items or just volume Discounts can trick you. You run a big promo. Sales jump. Feels like a win. Now check this: - Food cost goes up - Labor gets stretched - Ticket average drops - Profit shrinks You stayed busy but made less money. That’s not growth. Busy is not the goal. Profitable is. Here’s how I look at it in the shop right now. If I add $1,000 in sales this week, I ask one question. How much of that do I keep? If the answer isn’t clear, I slow down and fix the system before chasing more volume. What to do next. - Pull your last 2 weeks of sales - Compare against labor and food cost - Calculate your actual profit per week - Look at your top 5 selling items and their margins - Cut or fix anything that doesn’t make money Simple rule. More sales only matter if they bring more profit. Everything else is noise.