Sunday Morning Coffee

As a veteran of the hospitality, and more specifically bar, industry, one ritual that I have always held sacred is my Sunday mornings. That slow, peaceful morning, a fresh cup of steaming, dark, intense coffee, and my thoughts.

Too often in hospitality, owners, managers, everyone really, gets pulled into the craziness of the business. The weird hours, physicality of the work, and our tendency to enjoy experiencing hospitality after work as much as we enjoy providing hospitality during work. We work hard, party harder, and many of us barely make it from one day to the next as a functioning human.

I remember when I bought my first bar. I was greener than I should have been, overly ambitious, and wanted to make my mark. I poured everything I had into my bar. I worked 80 to 100 hours a week for months. I kept pushing, and pushing, and pushing. It yielded great results. I managed to decrease costs, increase sales, improve guest satisfaction and overall I was killing it as a new owner.

But, for all that success, for everything that I was accomplishing, I was losing.

Personally, I wasn’t functioning. I was too tired. I worked when I should have been sleeping. I was gaining weight, because I was just grazing off the line throughout the day. I wasn’t getting any good physical activity. My personal life suffered as family and friends were pushed to the side for the business. I was achieving outstanding success in my business while slowly spiraling out of control.

Had I continued down that path, I would have probably lasted another six, maybe twelve, months before having some kind of major medical issue, a mental break, or other catastrophic event. I was only in my 20’s. I was way too young to be down the road I was going.

Two things saved me:

First, I hired an amazing general manager, and realized that the money it cost me was worth it. Yes, it cut a huge chunk out of the money that I was putting in my pocket. But, it gave me my life back, my friends back, my family back. Money isn’t everything.

Second, I stopped working on Sundays.

To this day, I hold Sunday’s as a sacred day of rest. I don’t do any “real work” on Sundays. I read, write, work on my yard, run errands, and so forth. But, I never do “real work”.

Sunday morning is my time to sit, think, reflect, read, and write with a fragrant cup of strong coffee. It has become one of the true joys in my week. It is one of the rituals that centers me, keeps me sane, and my priorities in focus.

Not everyone in Hospitality is able to have every Sunday morning off. Maybe your Sunday morning can be Monday afternoon or Wednesday evening. If you subscribe to a work hard/play hard hospitality lifestyle, you also need a time in your week, each and every week, that is held sacred to relax, think and reflect. It is essential for maintaining your physical and mental health. That time is what will allow you to be the best you.

Find your Sunday morning coffee.