How can I, one person, be expected to build and maintain a menu, keep up with vendors, rotate inventory, design and maintain a dining area, build a compelling cocktail list, handle customer complains, schedule and hire staff... The truth is, you can’t.

I run a restaurant consulting company. I know better than most how crucial feedback is for restaurant success. And in that moment, I just didn’t. I didn’t want to prolong my negative experience. I didn’t want to speak to a manager who I was pretty sure would argue with me given the overall state of service ... I just wanted to go.

Checklists are everywhere in restaurants. Or at least, they ought to be. The book spends a fair number of pages trying to convince obstinate professionals that checklists can bring considerable value to even the most highly-trained among us, and in some cases, even save lives.

For more than 15 years, I’ve helped companies ... Nearly every single day of those 15 years, I received an email or a call from a salesman (one time on my personal phone at 7am) promising me that they had the silver bullet...