Being a Legend, with John Peterson!

HOSPITALITY & TOURISM | John Peterson

Q&A With

General

Manager at Legends Sports Bar, John Peterson

By John Grossi

What is the most exciting part of your day-to-day work?

I get excited about all sorts of stuff, like when a perfect sandwich comes off the line and it looks like a magazine image or there is a big moment in a game... but what makes the hairs stand up on my neck is when the place is just maxed out busy and every single person on staff is kicked into gear and knows exactly what to do. We prepare relentlessly for those big moments so that our guests can experience the magic of this place and when it’s all going right and everybody is in total synch, I start to crack an unbreakable smile.

When did you decide you wanted to enter this field? What steps did you take to make that decision a reality?

I took my first job in a pizza kitchen at 13 doing dishes and that started a run of many, many years and different locations doing just about every job you could imagine in a restaurant but mostly dishes for a long time. hahah.

I had other jobs that I liked but I always had the most fun and made the most money in service industry. Later, trying to take that to the next level of management required a renewed effort to learn everything about the business that I could from those above me. Thankfully I had some incredible people to watch and learn from for many, many years because there is so much to it.

For anyone who thinks your job sounds interesting, what advice would you give them to help them learn/train/explore your field?

Well, that's kind of the beauty of the service industry, that anyone can kind of try their hand at the entry level and see how they like it. I tell new hires with confidence that the thing I really love about the industry is that it can in a way, be whatever you need it to be. From a one day a week entry level positions to 5-6 day/week career servers or bartenders or weekend guys putting themselves through law school or medical school or the fire academy or manager types with salaries and benefits. It's all here for the taking. Nearly everybody has spent a little time in the industry and anybody can get out there and give it a try, all you have to do is do it.