The Restaurant Guys' Regulars
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The Restaurant Guys is one of the original food and wine podcasts, launched in 2005 by restaurateurs Mark Pascal and Francis Schott.
With roots as a daily radio show, the podcast features in-depth conversations with chefs, bartenders, winemakers, authors, and hospitality professionals—offering the inside track on food, cocktails, wine, and restaurant culture.
New episodes and vintage conversations because the best stories, like the best bottles, age well. Expect insightful, opinionated, and entertaining conversations about food, wine, and the finer things in life.
Contact: TheGuys@RestaurantGuysPodcast.com
The Restaurant Guys' Regulars
How to Build a Team That Actually Cares | Preston Lee
This episode is only available to subscribers.
The Restaurant Guys' Regulars
Exclusive access to bonus episodes!Hospitality consultant Preston Lee explains how restaurants can build stronger teams, earn employee trust and create the kind of human connection that keeps guests coming back.
Why This Episode Matters
- Why hospitality begins with genuine care, not a memorized script
- What younger employees need from restaurant leaders today
- How daily training creates consistency without overwhelming the staff
- Why the employee experience directly shapes the guest experience
- How AI may make real human hospitality even more valuable
Banter
Mark and Francis take aim at New York City’s new anti-alcohol campaign and its failure to acknowledge the social and cultural role of restaurants and bars. Francis proposes a protest involving drinks, campaign posters and social media…until Mark’s old college beer funnel makes an appearance and immediately weakens the case.
The Conversation
Preston Lee joins Mark and Francis to discuss why hospitality is ultimately a structured form of kindness and care. He explains how restaurants can motivate younger employees by providing purpose, clarity and consistent expectations rather than assuming earnings alone will create commitment. The conversation explores hands-on training, daily pre-shifts and Preston’s “drip training” approach, which introduces meaningful changes gradually and reinforces them through accountability. They also discuss creating hospitality between employees, recognizing when someone is not right for the organization and developing managers rather than simply promoting them. Finally, Preston considers how AI may support restaurant training while making authentic human interaction an increasingly valuable luxury.
Timestamps
0:00 New York City’s anti-alcohol campaign
6:35 Hospitality as kindness, care and purpose
17:00 What Gen Z needs from restaurant leaders
25:00 Drip training, accountability and earning trust
30:30 Building hospitality within the restaurant team
43:30 The 30% Rule, AI and the future of human connection
Bio
Preston Lee is a hospitality consultant, founder of The 30% Rule and author of The Hospitality Handbook: How Unconditional Hospitality Transforms Teams, Customers, and Companies. He works with restaurant operators to develop stronger leaders, more consistent teams and hospitality systems that can grow with the business.
Info
Preston’s book
The Hospitality Handbook: How Unconditional Hospitality Transforms Teams, Customers, and Companies
Preston’s site
https://30percentrule.com/
Our Places
Stage Left Steak
https://www.stageleft.com/
Catherine Lombardi Restaurant
https://www.catherinelombardi.com/
Stage Left Wineshop
https://www.stageleftwineshop.com/
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