What Working at Brio Taught Me About Business

Before insurance, before consulting, before any of it — I worked the floor at Brio, a chain Italian restaurant. It was not glamorous. It was demanding, fast-paced, and humbling. It was also one of the best business educations I have ever received.

Brio ran on systems. Every table was turned in a specific sequence. Every dish was prepared to a standard. Every server followed a greeting script, a upsell protocol, a check-back routine. The systems were not there to make the experience robotic — they were there to make it consistent.

Consistency is the foundation of trust. When a guest returns to Brio, they expect the same experience they had last time. The systems deliver that expectation. I took this lesson directly into my insurance agencies: every client interaction follows a protocol, not because it is scripted, but because consistency builds confidence.

A Friday night dinner rush at a chain restaurant is controlled chaos. Multiple tables at different stages of their meal, a kitchen under pressure, a manager managing the floor, and guests who all believe their table is the most important one. Navigating that environment taught me how to prioritize under pressure, communicate clearly in a noisy environment, and stay calm when everything is moving fast.

Those skills translate directly to business ownership. The ability to triage — to identify what needs attention now versus what can wait — is one of the most valuable operational skills I have.

In a restaurant, feedback is immediate and unfiltered. A table that goes quiet after the food arrives, a guest who does not finish their meal, a look of confusion when the check arrives — these are all signals. Learning to read them, and to respond before they became complaints, made me a better server and a better businessperson.

In business, I apply the same attention. When a client goes quiet, when a team member seems disengaged, when a metric starts drifting — these are signals. The question is whether you are paying close enough attention to catch them early.

Working in a restaurant gives you a deep respect for every role in an organization. The busser who clears your tables is as important to the guest experience as the server. The dishwasher who keeps the kitchen running is as essential as the chef. No role is beneath notice.

I carry that respect into every business I run. The person who answers the phone at my agency is the first impression for every new client. That role matters. I treat it accordingly.

Brio was not where I planned to build my business education. But looking back, I would not trade it.