In this Thanksgiving solo episode, Gary breaks down one of the most fundamental concepts in the culinary world — mise en place (“everything in its place”) — and shows how it offers a powerful operating principle for customer experience, client success, and leadership.

Using stories from busy kitchens, real-world onboarding challenges, and decades of experience working with complex institutional clients, Gary explores why:

• preparation is a key to CX strategy
• inconsistency comes from lack of readiness
• teams are overwhelmed because processes are underprepared
• customers can feel your chaos even if they never see it

Whether you’re a CX leader, a founder, a client-facing professional, or simply trying to bring more order to the chaos in your work, this episode gives you a practical and memorable framework.

🍽️ What You’ll Learn

• Why mise en place is a key CX discipline

How a restaurant’s prep work translates directly to onboarding, handoffs, and client communication.

• The real causes of inconsistent customer experience

It’s (almost) never talent. It’s almost always preparation.

• Why great CX is built before the customer ever shows up

Preparation reduces chaos, risk, and escalations as it multiplies trust.

🔗 Connect with Gary

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garymarra

Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7pTZksMmQPwZJSeryfK5Xm