Every LinkedIn “expert” in hospitality is saying the exact same thing nowadays, and somehow, they all seem to have agreed on a new industry religion, which is a theory pretending to explain reality—as if hospitality needed more theory.
And it always starts with the same line:
“Most restaurants don’t fail because of X… they fail because of Y.”

It’s the new way to phrase a universal truth that ends with the same recycled insight, packaged as wisdom. To be very honest, I’m not just tired of the content; I’m tired of the fucking form. Because reducing an entire, complex industry to one comforting explanation has become a trend. And I can’t stand reading the same sentence with the same structure. the same fake revelation anymore. And at this point it’s not an argument; it’s a template.
And the worst part is people who say that actually believe they’re saying something smart.

Yes, I don’t like them. Is that fucking obvious? I always had a problem with those so-called magicians who pretend to know everything. And if they are so fucking brilliant, why don’t they have their own restaurants? Why not use all this knowledge to their profit? Out of Generosity?
Ah, you prefer to share your wisdom? How noble.
Listen, as long as I leave and breathe, no fucking consultant who just showed up in my kitchen with his brand-new fancy suit is going to tell me how to run my kitchen. Another chef? I will listen, but a clown who has not seen a Saturday night rush for years? Beat it, pretty boy.

On the other hand, I won't lie, I have to plead guilty.
I’ve used it. I’ve done it too. I wanted to be mainstream. I wanted to sound professional and blend in. So like a moron in the beginning I joined the herd, pretending I was delivering something profound.
But I have realized that repeating the same boring shit for the 400th time didn't make it less shallow or inaccurate. It’s the exact opposite; it's just a way to sound intelligent without saying anything new.
The thing is, on social media, it's easier that way. Not because what is said is true, but just because it works. It feels structured. You get likes from people who don’t run restaurants. So people who don’t know better repeat it endlessly to please the mob.
Well, it ain’t me. I never cared for that kind of popularity. The hell with it; I prefer to tell it like it is, like I always did when I was a GM or a chef. No sugarcoating, no polish, and I don’t care if it doesn't seduce the algorithm or bring me the praise of this happy few of the restaurant industry.

Let’s be honest: not everything has an explanation, especially in this line of work. And please, for fuck's sake, let’s drop the act; there is no universal guidebook, and sometimes no mysteries at all.
Just an obvious unsexy truth: some restaurants crash and burn because management is weak; you can see that nobody is running the place. Other times the staff doesn't give a fuck. Most of the times the food is bad, or the concept is just plain wrong. Let’s not forget that the service sucks.
There it is. I’ve said it.
See, not everything is a deep systemic issue or needs a framework or a narrative. Sometimes, it’s just the way it's delivered—or the lack of clarity of it. Or sometimes it’s just reality and facts. Period.
And with experience I have learned something: restaurants don’t “fail.” They either work or they don’t. They are profitable, or they aren't. And no amount of bullshit storytelling fixes approximations or replaces competence. No amount of "content" or positioning replaces consistency.
But let’s be clear about something: Restaurants don’t close because of one big mistake; they die from tolerance. The tolerance of mediocrity, of “It’s fine like this.” Or worse, hundreds of lukewarm policies that try to smooth everything out, trying to turn messy operational reality into clean intellectual explanations.
But reality is messy. And they don’t work because of some deep structural narrative." But more often, the truth is just simpler:
They just are not professional.

But reality doesn’t perform well on LinkedIn. So political correctness cleans it all up and turns chaos into “systems.” Hide mediocrity into “positioning issues.” And change the narrative when obvious failures become “complex dynamics.” All this because it sounds better and it absolves the ones who oversee it. And mostly because it makes consultants look useful and relevant. As if they’re adding value.
That's the rule of this new game now, and most of the LinkedIn profiles are playing it without realizing it.

Here is the core of the problem.
There is a sharp distinction between the tool and the laziness of the mind using it. Most consultants use AI as an "echo chamber." They ask for "reasons why restaurants don’t make it," and AI gives them the same fucking recycled answers because that’s what it was trained on.
If you feed it "safe" prompts, you get "safe," boring everything. And you repost it. And suddenly, out of the fucking blue, you can proclaim and present yourself as an "expert." But rephrasing the average doesn't mean you know what you are talking about or that you have understood anything.
Instead, try this: use AI as a pressure tester instead of asking AI to write the post for you. Use it to find the gaps; to get something original, it’s a formidable tool, but you have to push it toward the edges, to dig the "unsexy” truths—rather than letting it settle for "brand storytelling." Use AI to help you articulate that chaos in a way that it cuts through the noise.
It’s the difference between using AI to think for you versus using it to expand how you think.
Again, restaurants don’t fail. But we do. Most of the time by lack of imagination, vocabulary, or intellectual laziness. And God knows we have a language problem in the hospitality industry. Having this stupid habit nowadays to take an intellectual shortcut that pretends to explain a reality that is far more chaotic, animalistic, and unsexy than any three-step guideline.

So why is it so common, so popular? Why do we do this?
Because we are addicted to rationalizing everything. We turn blood, sweat, and bad shifts into systemic issues. We turn a chef who stopped caring into a misalignment of values. I can't stand those idiotic words: "misalignment" or "alignment."
We use these clean, intellectual explanations because they are comforting. They make us feel in control of an industry that is built and thrives on chaos. Or at least it gives us the illusion of having it under control.
That is the biggest mistake; in this business we have to stop trying to explain and rationalize chaos instead of embracing it. And that is what makes a consultant sound like an AI.
It doesn’t make his job more relevant. It just makes it easier to be replaced by it.
And no amount of bullshit or fucking storytelling will ever change that.

WHY STORYTELLING CAN'T SAVE A BAD RESTAURANT,
OR A CONSULTANT

4/18/26

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