Davide Cerretini - Restaurant Industry Strategist

Over the last few years, most of my work has been focused on understanding behaviour — how people think, how they react, and how systems shape outcomes.

What I’ve come back to is this:

In restaurants, the real problems are almost never where people think they are.

A pricing issue is rarely just pricing.
A quiet dining room isn’t just marketing.
And a busy restaurant isn’t always a healthy one.

There are usually deeper structural things going on — in the menu, the positioning, and the way the experience is designed.

That’s what I’m focusing on more directly now.

Working with independent restaurant owners, looking at what’s actually happening inside their business — and helping them see it clearly.

Hiring a chef?
Be careful — the wrong one will destroy your restaurant from the inside.

After 30+ years in this business, I’ve learned one thing:
Most ego-driven chefs don’t show their true face… until it’s too late.

If you want to avoid a disaster in your kitchen, watch this.
This is Part 1 — and yes, it’s brutal truth.

👇 The link is in the first comment.

The Yelp CEO Story They Never Wanted You to Hear

Restaurant owners — this one is personal.

I finally told a story I’ve kept quiet for years… about what REALLY happened when the CEO of Yelp (yes, Big Papa himself) walked into my partner’s restaurant and what he did after.

If you’ve ever felt bullied, pressured, or trapped by review platforms, you need to hear this. It will change the way you look at Yelp forever.

👉 Link in the first comment.

Stop Trying to Be Everything — It’s Destroying Your Restaurant

Restaurant owners, this is the truth nobody wants to say out loud:

The more you try to please EVERY type of customer…
offer EVERY dish…
bend to EVERY request…

…the faster you lose the identity that keeps your restaurant alive.

I recorded a new video about this — and if you’ve ever felt pulled in every direction, you need to hear it.

👉 Link is in the first comment below.

I Learned More From Bad Restaurants Than the Good Ones
Some of the MOST valuable lessons of my career didn’t come from great restaurants…
They came from the DISASTERS.
The bad owners.
The shortcuts.
The lies on the menu.
The arrogance.
The fear.
The “kids eat free” desperation.
The kind of decisions that destroy a restaurant from the inside.
Working for people like that showed me EXACTLY what never to do.
I just released a short video about the worst bosses I had — and the priceless lessons I learned watching them sink their own ship.
If you ever worked in this business, you’ll feel this one.
👉 Watch the video: LINK BELOW IN THE COMMENTS

Restaurant owners make this mistake every single week:

They change something in their restaurant…
and then they panic before giving the change enough time to work.

New menu item?
New policy?
New shift?
New promotion?

They try it for 3–5 days, don’t see instant results, and immediately undo it.

That’s not strategy.
That’s chaos.

Every decision needs TIME — real time — for customers to see it, experience it, adjust to it, and respond.

If you don’t give your changes a real chance, you will never know if the idea was good or not.
You’ll just waste energy, money, and your sanity.

I explain the truth behind this in my new video:
“Give It Time — Restaurant Owners Fail Because They Don’t Let Their Ideas Work.”

If you’ve ever doubted your own decisions too fast, this one is for you.

(Video Link In The Comment Below 👇)

Restaurant owners — we need to talk about The Chef Problem.
Not all chefs, but the new culture around them: ego, instability, burnout, and chaos that can sink an entire business.

I just released a new video breaking down why modern chef culture is becoming unmanageable — and how owners can finally take back control of their restaurant without depending on one unstable person.

The truth nobody else wants to say out loud.
Watch it here 👇 (link in comments)

🔥 I’m about to say something 99% of restaurant coaches would never dare to say — but every restaurant owner needs to hear.

Today this post appeared in my feed.
Hundreds of likes. Dozens of comments praising it like it’s a holy scripture of hospitality.

And in just a few words, it represents everything I proudly — and loudly — do NOT believe.

I won’t mention the coach who posted it, because this is not a personal attack.
He’s not the problem.
The mentality behind this message is the problem.

And I didn’t comment under his post out of respect — for him, and for the many people who jumped on that train so passionately.
It would have been useless and unnecessary.
Some conversations are better held with the people who are ready to hear the truth, not with those who are comfortable in the illusion.

This unconditional, one-way-only worship of the customer…
This fantasy that “every guest must leave feeling better than when they arrived”…
This is the exact ideology that destroyed the restaurant industry.

It’s outdated.
It’s unrealistic.
It’s disrespectful to every server, cook, chef, manager, and owner who deals with the public today.

And it perfectly highlights the difference between me and thousands of restaurant coaches out there.

They sell what people want to hear.
I sell what people need to hear.

And honestly, I hope one day some of these coaches stop chasing the extra buck and stop feeding this industry with fairy tales.
Restaurants don’t need motivational posters.
They need truth, real solutions, comfort, and real help — because this industry is desperate for change.

Here’s one truth nobody wants to say out loud:

**The biggest mistake today is treating every customer the same.

They are NOT the same — and they do NOT all deserve the same treatment.**

It’s not a one-way road.
Good customers deserve your best.
Bad customers deserve boundaries.
Period.

The future of this industry is authenticity — not fakery.
Feeling good about the people you serve.
Demanding respect.
Creating an environment where you genuinely enjoy your guests.
NOT trying to make everyone happy.

We are not in the convincing business.
We are not in the slave business.
We are not in the prostitution business.

We are in the hospitality business — and that only works when respect goes both ways.

And here’s something else the “customer-is-god” coaches will NEVER tell you:

I ran the controversial Botto Bistro successfully for 10 years — and for two decades I’ve been doing the complete opposite of what they teach.
According to their logic, I should have been out of business a thousand times.

But I didn’t.
And not only did I survive — I thrived.

I built a smoother business, a happier life, a stronger culture, less chaos, fewer headaches, and I certainly never walked on eggshells for anyone.

I beat entitlement.
I beat Yelp.
I lived in peace, not fear.
And I did it all by rejecting the corporate fantasy they keep selling as “good hospitality.”

And today, my clients and I continue to do exactly that — every single day — without selling our soul to a god that is everything but a god.

This “make every guest leave happier” mentality didn’t just create entitled customers — it created monsters.
People who walk into restaurants with zero respect, unrealistic expectations, and the confidence to act however they want because the industry taught them they’re gods.

And you know who pays?

Owners. Staff. Everyone.

And here’s the part nobody talks about — not even the “hospitality gurus” selling this fantasy.
In the past 20 years, the most important thing I learned is this:
Not only the people who work in this industry are exhausted by this “customer-is-god” mentality…
the good customers themselves are damaged by it.
This toxic cloud of entitlement ruins the real restaurant experience for everyone — the honest guests, the loyal regulars, the people who actually respect your business.
They walk into a restaurant under a different energy, a different tension, a different expectation, because the entire culture has been poisoned by a loud minority of entitled customers.
It’s not just the staff suffering.
It’s the good customers too.

When your employees are brainwashed into this thinking, they don’t feel protected or respected.
They feel forced to put on a fake mask and walk on eggshells, terrified to enforce boundaries or say “no” to abuse.

That isn’t hospitality.
That’s humiliation.

A powerful restaurant today has:

Clear rules.
Firm boundaries.
Mutual respect.

Not an open door to tantrums, threats, manipulation, and emotional blackmail.

This entire “every guest must leave feeling amazing” manifesto is corporate ideology — safe to sell, easy to digest, and completely disconnected from reality.
It keeps owners weak and customers entitled.

The saddest part?
Seeing how many people cheer for it.
Not because they’re stupid — but because they’ve been conditioned to believe this is “good business.”

It’s not.
It’s the reason the industry is collapsing.

I’m glad I’m not part of that circus.
And I’m glad I don’t work with the masses.

Yes, I have fewer clients than the feel-good coaches.
But the ones who work with me don’t get fairy tales.
They get their life, respect, sanity, and business back.

And I’m damn proud of that.
They are too.

Every restaurant owner deals with them…

The bad customers who cost you money, drain your staff, and destroy your night.

I just recorded a new video covering the 5 Red Flags every owner should learn to spot immediately — before the damage is done.

The link is in the first comment.

Restaurant Owners: FIX THIS NOW (Costs $0)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgBA2cPgh7A

Restaurant Owners: FIX THIS NOW (Costs $0) Every restaurant owner underestimates this one thing… and it costs zero money to fix. In this video, I show you the simplest improvement you can make today t...

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