Small Things

Two of the values that define me as an operator, mentor, and a person are honesty and respect. These were put to the test several years ago when I was contracted to direct a national bar program. The company for whom I worked was contracted to handle other services, as well, including food service.

We had two contracts and two budgets. I handled all the operating accounting needs for my contract, including drawing up budgets, tracking the ledger, recording sales and expenses, and so forth. And we had an accountant who handled the other contracts’ accounting needs. While we worked together and our needs and practices often overlapped, we were ultimately responsible for our own contracts. We both reported to our District Manager.

Now the reason I’m bringing this up is not to denigrate my district manager, nor to air dirty laundry. But to demonstrate the value of honesty. Every week, our district manager would ask the regional accountant to adjust prices on produce to transfer to my costs or adjust inventories to ensure there was no undue fluctuation or increased produce cost, at least for her account. My contract ended up consistently going over budget in produce and in labor because I was constantly eating additional costs from another contract.

This is an issue for a couple reasons. I’ll not speak on the ethical questions, because those may be nebulous and are definitely contextual. I will speak on the practical problems. When it came time to speak on my budget and to explain my overages, I was unable to do so well. I was made to look like my team was unable to control costs. And when it came time to open new bars that would not be impacted by the local food service contracts, now my budgets seemed very skewed.

This practice may have seemed a small issue, something to just help balance the books of a larger operation, but it has larger implications. I did not manage one bar. I managed a national bar program whose praxis had a global footprint. What my team did mattered to the entire liquor industry. Our teams trained the best mixologists in the world for some of the largest food and beverage companies in the world. Such a small thing as poor accounting processes could easily lead to poor practices elsewhere, or lead to (and did) questions about honesty and value in programs I suggested as ROI opportunities.

Honesty and transparency in small things is as important as in big things.