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)