By Jason E. Brooks, Founder of HospiVation, LLC
During peak season, catering teams are tested like never before. Volumes skyrocket, expectations climb, and the pressure becomes relentless. Most leaders double down on effort—more hustle, tighter checklists, faster service. But sustainable performance isn’t built on effort alone. It’s built on energy.
Energy management isn’t fluff. It’s strategy. When fatigue shows up in the form of rushed decisions, missed items, and short tempers, it’s a signal: your team’s battery is running low. Coaching energy—alongside skill, execution, and accountability—helps leaders stabilize operations even in the most chaotic weeks.
The Energy Trap: Overdrive, Overwhelm, Overthinking
Catering teams fall into an “energy trap” during busy stretches. It has three forms:
- Overdrive: Teams operate on adrenaline, not discipline. It feels fast, but it’s fragile.
- Overwhelm: Everything is urgent, priorities blur, and stress rises.
- Overthinking: Under pressure, confidence falters and even seasoned staff second-guess themselves.
When left unchecked, these patterns don’t just wear teams out—they cause inconsistency and mistakes that damage the customer experience. Great leaders coach their teams out of the trap.
The Three Shifts to Sustain Energy
Jason’s energy coaching model focuses on three essential shifts that any catering leader can apply.
1. From Tired to Intentional
Fatigue drives teams toward instinct. But catering isn’t the jungle. Intentionality brings clarity, focus, and safer, more consistent outcomes.
Jason recommends introducing micro huddles—short, targeted check-ins throughout the shift that align the team. Each huddle should answer:
- What’s our focus for this next segment?
- What’s our biggest risk point
- What can’t we let slip?
These pauses sharpen attention and reduce reactive motion.
2. From Stressed to Structured
When tension spikes, predictability calms. That’s where structure saves the day. Checklists, production boards, pack-out maps, and time anchors give the team something to hold onto.
Jason reminds leaders that structure isn’t a restriction—it’s a stabilizer. In moments of pressure, structure reduces errors, prevents confusion, and builds emotional resilience. Even the most experienced teams forget the basics when stress hits. Systems keep the floor steady.
3. From Burnout to Ownership
Burnout isn’t caused by hard work alone. It’s caused by work that feels disconnected from purpose.
To reconnect the team, Jason suggests a simple coaching move: ask what they’re proud of. A question like “What part of today are you most proud of?” invites reflection and reinforces contribution.
Pride, when coached intentionally, becomes fuel. It reignites motivation and helps team members shift from compliance to commitment. Ownership transforms energy from something leaders supply to something the team carries forward.
Real Example: Intentional Interruption
Jason shares a story of a catering team on the verge of burnout. Behind schedule, nerves fraying, mistakes piling up. The leader didn’t push harder. He paused the operation for three minutes.
That pause became a micro recalibration. The team reviewed priorities, reinforced structure, and acknowledged their strengths. After the huddle, they moved with purpose instead of panic—and finished the day stronger than they started.
Coaching Questions for Every Leader
To close the session, Jason leaves leaders with three questions to guide their own teams:
- Where is energy draining the fastest—prep, pack-out, delivery, or service?
- What one energy-giving habit can your team adopt right now?
- Which shift—intentionality, structure, or ownership—would make the biggest difference in the next two weeks?
Final Thought
Coaching energy isn’t soft. It’s smart. It’s the difference between surviving the season and finishing strong. The best leaders know that sometimes the most effective move isn’t to speed up, but to stop, recalibrate, and coach their teams back into rhythm.
About the Author
Jason E. Brooks is an operational leadership coach, author, and keynote speaker with over 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry. As founder of HospiVation, LLC, Jason helps restaurant and catering leaders build teams that run without them using his AIM | DRIVE | SCALE framework. He hosts The Coaching Corner on CaterLinked and is the author of Every Leader Needs Followers and Every Team Needs Coaching.
