A chance to give back...
On Wednesday, April 25th I had the pleasure to speak with the Restaurant/Bar Concept Development & Entrepreneurship class at my alma mater, the University of Denver, Fritz Knoebel School of Hospitality Management. I am fortunate that I also sit on the Executive Advisory Board at the school and I take an extreme amount of pride in doing so. I try to take every opportunity to return to the school and share my expertise and when the invitation came to visit, I immediately jumped at the chance. Assistant Professor, Dr. Cheri Young and Director, Operations Eric Lane are teaching a class on developing business plans and concept development, while working with a local entrepreneur to help him develop his gluten-free beer concept/brew pub. They asked me to give the students a consultant's perspective, while helping to lead them in the right direction. What made this class special was that it only contained 8 students and all are seniors graduating in the next few months.
The professors let me know I would have the full 1 hour and 50 minutes of class to speak, conduct a question-and-answer session and true back & forth to engage the students, which I was extremely flattered by and definitely appreciated.
I tried to give the class a varied perspective overall, while guiding them through the process. To start I shared with them my personal background and industry experience, including how important that the University of Denver was and remains to me. Then, I had to give them a ‘reality check’ by driving home the point that passion will only get you so far, but focusing on ROI is a key with any concept and operation. We then talked about the overall methodology of a business plan/concept statement, in broad terms and what was needed in this report. The life of a consultant and what it means to be a consultant – this was an interesting conversation to have with 20-22 year old students soon to enter our industry. This can sometimes be tough for people overall to grasp, since everyone believes that they can be a consultant. On the value of experience – too many people call themselves consultants, however, few have the true time, knowledge and awareness of the industry to provide clients with an appropriate perspective and valued analysis. Finally, I shared a case study by The Nyman Group of a former client of ours that showed the students the positives and negatives of the hospitality industry, along with a comprehension of how we do our job. I finished speaking, talking about moving forward and their role in the hospitality industry upon graduation. I let the students know that they could feel free to contact me directly and I would happily remain available to them should they have any questions that I could assist with.
I can't wait to return to campus to visit with the students and more classes soon. Next trip will before our Spring EAB meeting, held the day before graduation and I will then have a chance to meet the graduating seniors and their families at the going away celebration. I'm thrilled I continue to have the chance to give back to the university and program that I love and care so deeply about. Don't ever forget about the value your experience in your chosen industry has, especially for those who are just starting in the business - you have something to teach! Give back and share...