Stop Making Plans and Start Executing: What Restaurant Owners Get Wrong About the New Year

Have you laid down the plan for the new year?

That is what everyone says this time of year. Make your plan. Set your goals. Write down your resolutions.

But let me ask you something honest.

Is this the same plan you had last year? And the year before that? Are you setting the same goal again because you still have not reached it?

If so, you do not need a plan.

You need to execute.

When the same goal shows up year after year, it stops being a goal. It becomes a mission. And missions do not need planning sessions and vision boards and New Year motivation. Missions need focus. Discipline. Doing whatever it takes to get there. Doing it well. Doing it consistently until it is done.

The plan is not the problem. The execution is the problem.

So this year, instead of making another plan that will sit in a notebook somewhere, ask yourself a harder question. Why have I not done this already? What is actually stopping me? And what would it take to finally break through?

That conversation matters more than any plan.

When the Same Thing Keeps Not Working

Let me talk about something I see constantly with restaurant owners.

They do the same things every year. Party packs. Special offers. Seasonal promotions. The regular things that everyone does.

And every year, it does not work the way they hoped.

So what do they do? They do it again. Maybe with a slightly different offer. Maybe with a new design on the flier. But fundamentally the same approach.

Here is a truth that will save you years of frustration.

If something is not working, doing it again will not make it work. There is something missing. Something you are not seeing. Something that needs to change at a deeper level than just adjusting the discount percentage.

You have probably gotten feedback about this. From customers. From staff. From your marketing team. From people who care enough to tell you the truth.

But what is feedback when you do not respond to it?

I call these people excusistics. They hear the feedback. They nod. They acknowledge it. And then they come up with reasons to ignore it. Reasons why this time is different. Reasons why that feedback does not apply to their situation. Reasons to keep doing exactly what they have always done.

The successful restaurant owners do the opposite.

They hear feedback and they execute on it. They use it to do better. They keep trying, keep iterating, keep improving until the feedback changes. Until customers start saying different things. Until results start moving in the right direction.

And when feedback tells them that something fundamental needs to change, they change it. They innovate. They adapt. They do not cling to approaches that clearly are not working just because those approaches are familiar.

This is the difference between restaurant owners who grow and restaurant owners who stay stuck year after year making the same plan they never follow.

The WhatsApp Problem

Let me tell you about a pattern I have noticed.

The most unsuccessful restaurant owners I have worked with are always logged into WhatsApp. They are always messaging. Always in some group chat. Always responding to something that seems urgent but is not important.

I have never fully understood this. But I have seen it too many times to ignore.

There is something about constant messaging that keeps people busy without being productive. They feel like they are working because they are always doing something. But that something is not moving the business forward. It is just filling time with activity that feels like work.

Compare this to the most successful restaurant owners.

They are not constantly available. They are not always on their phone. They are focused on the things that actually matter. They let their team handle what their team should handle. They let experts do what experts do.

This is not about being unavailable or disconnected. It is about knowing what deserves your attention and what does not.

The successful ones understand that their job is leadership and management. Their job is setting direction. Their job is making the big decisions and building the team that handles everything else.

They know what they hired people for. And they let those people do their jobs.

Stop Bothering Your Marketing Agency

This brings me to something I need to say directly.

If you hired a marketing agency, let them work.

I have had clients who hire us and then spend more time messaging us than we spend actually doing the work. Every day there is a new question. Show me this. Change that. What about this idea? Be careful with that. Can we try this instead?

This is not partnership. This is interference.

If you knew exactly what to do and how to do it, you would not need an agency. You hired experts because they have expertise you do not have. So why would you then override that expertise with your own opinions at every turn?

I personally struggle with these clients. I will be honest about that. We have had them. We have left some of them. We still have some and we give them chances to change. But there is a limit. Push too far and I will walk away from the relationship.

This is not about ego. It is about effectiveness.

When a client constantly interferes with the work, the work suffers. The agency cannot execute their strategy because the strategy keeps changing based on whatever the client thought of that morning. Results suffer. Then the client blames the agency for poor results that the client themselves caused.

I do a two to three month evaluation period with new clients. Not to judge them, but to see how the partnership actually works. Can we collaborate effectively? Do they trust us to do our job? Are they focused on results or focused on controlling every detail?

The clients who trust the process get results. The clients who micromanage get frustration for everyone involved.

The Goal Problem

Here is something that reveals a lot about how a restaurant owner thinks.

When they hire us, what do they ask for?

Some clients say we want to reach two hundred thousand a month. Help us hit that number.

Other clients say we want to be known for serving the finest Indian cuisine from home-grown ingredients in an elegant setting.

These are completely different requests. And they lead to completely different outcomes.

The first client is focused on revenue. They see marketing as a machine that turns money into more money. Put in advertising dollars, get out customer dollars.

The second client is focused on positioning. They see marketing as building something in people's minds. Creating a perception. Establishing what the restaurant means.

Which one do you think is easier to actually market?

Here is the truth about marketing that most restaurant owners do not understand.

Marketing is more about psychology than revenue.

We do not play this game to win money directly. We play this game to get inside people's minds. To create desire. To build association. To make your restaurant the one they think of when they think of the category you compete in.

When you are in their minds, the revenue follows. But you cannot skip straight to revenue. You have to do the psychology work first.

The restaurant that asks us to help them reach a revenue target is asking us to do something we cannot directly control. We cannot make customers spend money. We can only influence how they think and feel.

The restaurant that asks us to build their positioning is asking us to do something we absolutely can control. We can shape perception. We can tell stories. We can create content that lodges in people's brains.

Which request sets us up for success?

Your Offers Cannot Outrun Your Fundamentals

Let me tell you something about pricing strategy and special offers.

They will never overcome a fundamental problem with what your restaurant actually offers.

If the product is not right, discounting it will not help. If the experience is not memorable, promoting it will not help. If customers do not know what you stand for, advertising will not help.

Your offers only work when the foundation is solid.

Think about it this way. Marketing amplifies what is already there. If what is already there is good, marketing makes it reach more people. If what is already there is mediocre, marketing just shows more people something mediocre.

The restaurants that win are not the ones with the best offers. They are the ones with the clearest identity. The strongest experience. The most consistent delivery of something worth talking about.

Then offers become acceleration. Not desperation.

When your fundamentals are right, a special offer brings in new customers who then become regulars because the experience was worth it. When your fundamentals are wrong, a special offer brings in discount seekers who never return because nothing was worth paying full price for.

Same tactic. Completely different results. Based entirely on what lies underneath.

Being Inside People's Minds

Let me explain what it really means to be inside people's minds.

When someone in your city thinks about Indian food, what name comes to mind first? Is it yours? Is it a competitor? Is it nobody because they have to think about it?

That first mental position is almost everything in marketing.

The restaurant that occupies that position does not need to convince people to choose them. They are already the default. The consideration set of one. The obvious choice.

Every other restaurant has to fight to be considered. They have to interrupt. They have to make a case. They have to overcome the default.

This is why brand building matters more than promotional marketing.

Promotional marketing says here is a deal, come buy something. It works in the moment but builds nothing lasting.

Brand marketing says here is who we are and what we stand for. It might not drive immediate action, but it builds mental real estate that pays dividends for years.

The restaurants that dominate their markets are the ones that invested in brand. That created something in people's minds. That stood for something specific and repeated it until everyone knew.

Your pricing strategy, your offers, your promotions—none of them can skip this step. They all work better when the brand foundation exists. They all work worse when it does not.

What Innovation Actually Looks Like

I talk about being innovative. Let me explain what that means in practice.

Innovation is not doing something completely new that nobody has ever seen. That is invention. And invention is risky, expensive, and usually fails.

Innovation is seeing what works elsewhere and adapting it to your context. It is combining existing ideas in new ways. It is taking feedback seriously and creating something that addresses what customers actually want.

Innovation comes from paying attention.

What are customers asking for that you do not offer? What are successful restaurants in other markets doing that your market has not seen? What friction exists in your customer experience that nobody has bothered to remove?

The answers to these questions are your innovation opportunities.

But innovation also requires courage. It requires being willing to try something different when everything in you wants to stick with what is familiar. It requires being okay with failure as part of the learning process. It requires believing that better is possible even when the current way is comfortable.

The restaurant owners who never innovate are the ones making the same plan every New Year. The ones who do innovate are the ones who actually achieve their missions.

Competition and Confidence

Let me talk about competition for a moment.

Some restaurant owners pretend they have no competition. They think their food is so unique or their concept is so different that comparison is impossible.

This is delusion.

You have competition. Everyone has competition. If someone is deciding where to spend their dining budget tonight, every option is your competition—not just the other Indian restaurants.

Acknowledging competition is not weakness. It is clarity.

But here is what matters more than acknowledging competition.

Being confident enough to compete.

This means knowing what you are good at and doubling down on it. It means understanding why customers should choose you and communicating that relentlessly. It means not trying to be everything to everyone but being the clear best choice for someone specific.

Competitive confidence comes from competence. When you know you are good, you do not need to constantly worry about what competitors are doing. You focus on being the best version of yourself. You let them worry about you.

This confidence shows up in everything. In how you train staff. In how you price your menu. In how you present yourself to the world. Customers feel it even if they cannot name it.

The opposite is also true. Insecurity shows. Desperation shows. Constantly chasing competitors shows. And customers feel that too.

Know who you are. Know what you offer. Know why it matters. Then compete from that foundation.

The Execution Mindset

Let me bring this back to where we started.

The New Year is not about plans. It is about execution.

If you have been chasing the same goal for years, stop making plans for it and start doing whatever it takes to achieve it. Remove the obstacles. Change the approach. Get help if you need it. But stop treating it like a goal and start treating it like a mission.

If things are not working, respond to the feedback you have been ignoring. Stop being an excusistic who explains away every signal that change is needed. Hear what customers and staff and partners are telling you, and actually do something about it.

If you have hired experts, let them be experts. Stop micromanaging. Stop interfering. Stop thinking you know better while paying someone else because you don't. Trust the people you trusted enough to hire.

If you are focused on revenue, shift your focus to psychology. Get inside people's minds before you try to get inside their wallets. Build the brand that makes the revenue follow.

If you are leaning on offers and promotions, make sure your fundamentals deserve promotion. Build the experience worth talking about. Then amplify it.

This is how restaurants actually grow. Not through better planning. Through better execution.

Join the Restaurant Growth Challenge

I have been in this industry for over five years. I have worked with more than one hundred Indian and Asian-fusion restaurants. I have consulted with over one thousand restaurant owners.

I have seen the patterns. I know what separates the restaurants that grow from the ones that stay stuck.

It is not luck. It is not location. It is not having more money to spend on marketing.

It is execution. Mindset. Willingness to change. Trusting the right partners.

We created the Restaurant Growth Challenge because we believe results should be shown, not just promised.

Here is how it works.

You book a free call with us. We look at where your restaurant is right now. We assess what is working, what is not, and why.

Then we show you exactly what the next thirty days would look like if we worked together. Not vague promises. Specific strategy. Concrete actions. Clear expectations.

If you like what you see, we move forward as partners. We do the work. You see the results.

If it is not the right fit, no pressure. You walk away with clarity about your situation and ideas you can use on your own.

We qualify our clients just as carefully as they qualify us. We are not interested in working with micromanagers who will interfere with the work. We are not interested in clients who ignore feedback and blame others when things do not improve.

We want partners who are ready to execute. Who are ready to trust. Who are ready to finally achieve the mission they have been planning for years.

Is that you?

https://www.anthconsulting.com/restaurant-growth-challenge#calendar-652ZsXHqbhZk

Stop planning. Start executing. Let this be the year something actually changes.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a goal and a mission?

A goal is something you plan for and work toward. A mission is something you have been chasing for so long that planning is no longer the issue—execution is. If you have had the same goal for multiple years without achieving it, stop treating it like a goal. Treat it like a mission that requires total focus and whatever it takes to complete.

Why do special offers and promotions stop working?

Offers work when the fundamentals are solid. When your restaurant offers a great experience, promotions bring in customers who become regulars. When the fundamentals are weak, promotions just bring in discount seekers who never return. Your offers cannot outrun problems with your actual product and experience.

How should I respond to feedback I disagree with?

Consider that the feedback might be right even if it is uncomfortable. The most common mistake is finding reasons to dismiss feedback instead of responding to it. Successful restaurant owners use feedback to improve, then keep iterating until the feedback changes. They do not explain away every signal that change is needed.

Why should I stop micromanaging my marketing agency?

You hired them because they have expertise you do not have. Overriding that expertise with your own opinions defeats the purpose of hiring them. Constant interference prevents them from executing their strategy, leads to worse results, and then you blame them for results you caused. Trust the people you trusted enough to hire.

What does it mean that marketing is about psychology not revenue?

Marketing works by getting inside people's minds. Creating desire. Building associations. Making your restaurant the one they think of first. Revenue follows when you achieve this psychological position. You cannot skip straight to revenue—you have to do the brand building work that makes revenue possible.

How do I get inside people's minds?

Through consistent brand building. Stand for something specific. Communicate it repeatedly through content, experience, and every customer interaction. The goal is becoming the default choice when someone thinks about your category. This is not about one campaign—it is about sustained effort over months and years.

What does real innovation look like for restaurants?

Innovation is not inventing something nobody has ever seen. It is adapting what works elsewhere to your context. It is combining existing ideas in new ways. It is taking customer feedback seriously and creating something that addresses real needs. Pay attention to what customers want, what works in other markets, and what friction exists in your experience.

How do I know if I am being competitive or just insecure?

Competitive confidence comes from knowing what you are good at and focusing on being the best version of yourself. Insecurity shows up as constantly chasing what competitors are doing, copying without strategy, and desperation in pricing and promotions. Confident restaurants let competitors worry about them, not the other way around.