About this episode

Christine Marvin shares insights on building and scaling restaurants effectively while maintaining a focus on people and hospitality.

What does it actually take to build a restaurant that lasts and to scale it without burning out? In this episode of My Food Job Rocks, Adam Yee sits down with Christin Marvin, CEO of Columbine Hospitality, who started as a 15-year-old line cook flipping enchiladas and went on to open 13 restaurants across concepts from speakeasy barbecue to casual French. Today she coaches multi-location restaurant owners on how to grow the right way. Christin shares the lessons that carried through her 20-year career: the difference between the creativity of independent restaurants and the discipline of chains (and why the best operators blend both), what real hospitality looks like when you listen closely and never say no, and the hidden costs that blindside first-time builders — from $80,000 sprinkler systems to million-dollar construction overruns. We also get into the hard stuff: why most owners scale out of ego instead of strategy, how to develop leaders from within so you can work on your business instead of in it, and her "low flame vs. high flame" approach to coaching people through uncomfortable feedback. Plus, an honest look at the toughest moment the industry has faced — rising costs…

People in this episode

Host: Adam Yee

Guest: Christine Marvin

Topics covered

• restaurant management
• leadership
• hospitality
• scaling businesses
• employee development

Keywords

• restaurant
• hospitality
• leadership
• scaling
• employee development
• business strategy
• feedback

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Columbine Hospitality

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