Preston Lee is the author of The Hospitality Handbook and the architect of Thirty Percent, a performance-driven framework built to help restaurants unlock margin, elevate culture, and create measurable operational clarity. Forbes magazine acknowledged him for his emphasis on improving employee satisfaction, ensuring that the customer comes first, and delivering a luxury experience at any brand.
An entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience, from the dish pit to scaling $250M groups, Preston started his career as “the employee restaurant owners dread: entitled, selfish, and lazy,” until he was fired and nearly ended up homeless. That wakeup call became the greatest gift of his career, teaching him to value opportunity, take responsibility, and truly grow up. When he landed his next restaurant job, everything felt different. In what he later recognized as a thriving culture, the management at his new job was supportive, the systems worked, and the staff were engaged and happy.
Today, Preston specializes in moving leaders from an “operators to ownership mindset,” proving they aren’t in the food business, they’re in the people-development business.
He has helped more than 350 hospitality groups and countless leaders and teams become highly profitable operations by focusing on training, systems, and leadership.
Interviewed by Winn Claybaugh, Preston shares his backstory, setting the stage for understanding the difference between service and hospitality. Even when a business provides a wonderful product or service, the customer’s experience can sometimes feel transactional. As Winn and Preston discuss, hospitality goes much deeper.
Whether you’re just entering the workforce or a seasoned professional, the goal of any business is to attract, hire, and retain the best team to provide exceptional hospitality, which results in customer loyalty and, eventually, increased profitability. Who wouldn’t want that?
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