National Post’s The Appetizer blog recently posted an interesting if brief article about Wolf Blass, founder of the eponymous Australian winery and now author (his biography is set to be released next month). Most interesting to me were his “five principles of success,” which I image are equally as applicable to restaurants as wineries:
- If you are not hands on, you will be failing.
- If you have got a rotten apple amongst the trees, clear it out sooner than later.
- Don’t borrow money if you know you can’t pay it back.
- Don’t believe for a moment that you can make a fast buck in the shortest possible time.
- In partnership, if you haven’t got control of 51 per cent (even in your private life) it will fail eventually and it is going to bite physically, mentally, in whichever capacity you are operating.
I haven’t seen the book myself so can’t vouch for the accuracy of the quote — indeed, it’s very possible that this list was the product of a candid interview and may not appear anywhere in print — but the use of the word “bite” in the last tip is so delightfully candid I insist on believing that it’s true.
