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\n\t\tOpinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.\t<\/p>\n
For more than 100 years, hospitality has been part of Jon Spiteri\u2019s<\/a> family.<\/p>\n But for Spiteri, that history matters less than what has been passed down with it: a love of taking care of other people.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s in our bones, that whole thing about people and looking after people,\u201d Spiteri says. \u201cI still get the thrill from that.\u201d<\/p>\n His parents came to England from Tunisia in 1957, the year Spiteri was born, and opened an 18-room guesthouse and snack bar in Tunbridge Wells. Growing up above the business meant sharing family life with the people they served.<\/p>\n \u201cLess of a family life, more of a social life,\u201d Spiteri says. \u201cTaking care of other people.\u201d<\/p>\n That lesson stayed with him. Spiteri went on to help open restaurants, including St. John and Sessions Arts Club, and even when he tried to leave hospitality, he found himself coming back.<\/p>\n \u201cIt pulls you back in,\u201d he says. \u201cYou just can\u2019t leave.\u201d<\/p>\n Today, that love has reached another generation. Spiteri\u2019s children found their own way into hospitality, and the family is now working together at Latimer<\/a> in West London.<\/p>\n Spiteri understands why they chose it.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t do this for money,\u201d he says. \u201cThere are a lot easier jobs. You do it because you love it.\u201d<\/p>\n For Spiteri, that means caring for the people who work in the restaurant as much as the people who walk through its doors. He wants employees to grow with the business and believes operators should support them when life gets difficult.<\/p>\n Most managers tell their employees to leave their problems at the door. Spiteri thinks that\u2019s exactly the wrong approach.<\/p>\n \u201cBring your problems to work, and let\u2019s see if between us we can sort them out,\u201d Spiteri says. <\/p>\n It\u2019s the same lesson hospitality taught him growing up: The business works when people take care of people.<\/p>\n After decades in restaurants, Jon Spiteri is still learning new ways to connect with the people who walk through the door.<\/p>\n One of those lessons came during a customer advisory board meeting, where my presentation changed how Spiteri and his daughter thought about telling their restaurant\u2019s story.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I had to hear it from you,\u201d Spiteri says. \u201cAll the notes were about you and what you said.\u201d<\/p>\n The message that stayed with him was simple: Put yourself out there.<\/p>\n For Spiteri, that means showing more than food or carefully produced marketing. He wants the people who work inside Latimer<\/a> to become part of its story.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to include our staff,\u201d Spiteri says. \u201cI don\u2019t want people to say what we think. We want them to say what they think.\u201d<\/p>\n He also came away thinking differently about what success on social media needs to look like. A post doesn\u2019t need millions of views or thousands of new followers to make an impact.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you just get one person that comes in, that\u2019s fine,\u201d Spiteri says.<\/p>\n That perspective has become increasingly important as the way restaurants communicate with customers has changed.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to be on there, and you have to be relevant, and you have to be honest, and you have to be straightforward,\u201d Spiteri says.<\/p>\n Storytelling also gives restaurants an opportunity to better understand the people they serve. Spiteri has learned that the customers operators expect to attract aren\u2019t always the ones who ultimately show up.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t know who your customers are,\u201d he says. \u201cYou need to engage with those, and you need to understand why they come and what it is they like.\u201d<\/p>\n That requires being willing to speak, listen and occasionally have people disagree with you.<\/p>\n \u201cNot being afraid to say something and letting people interact with you about stuff,\u201d Spiteri says.<\/p>\n For Spiteri, telling the story isn\u2019t separate from hospitality. It\u2019s another way to build relationships, one person at a time.<\/p>\n Restaurant Influencers<\/em><\/a>\u00a0is brought to you by Toast, the powerful restaurant point-of-sale and management system that helps restaurants improve operations, increase sales and create a better guest experience. Toast \u2014 Powering Successful Restaurants. Learn more about\u00a0Toast<\/a>.<\/p>\n Restaurant Influencers is proud to have PepsiCo as a sponsor of this episode. Partnering with PepsiCo Foodservice helps restaurant operators drive sustainable growth through smarter digital experiences, AI-backed menu optimization, and tools designed to create more profitable online orders. Check out PepsiCo Foodservice<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nStorytelling builds relationships<\/h2>\n
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