"We are going to relentlessly chase perfection, knowing full well we will not catch it, because nothing is perfect. But we are going to relentlessly chase it, because in the process we will catch excellence."
Vince Lombardi, Green Bay Packers

I get it, if you run a restaurant you might think that a mission statement is unnecessary because you know what you do already, you serve food right? Having previously published on Mission Statements and also on Values I've been discussing the topic with leading chefs recently and I am more convinced than ever that they are an invaluable business tool for chefs who want to show real leadership. Against that backdrop, I was interested to find that Thomas Keller has published a mission statement accompanied by core values. Let's take a look. 

In the last article we talked about mission statements. Often associated with these are 'values' but what are they, how are they different to missions statements and why do they matter? 

Do mission statements want to make you puke? In part, this is because it has become established doctrine that every company should have one but many are simply platitudes about being the best blah blah blah. But a proper mission statement signals exactly what a company wants to achieve, and in that sense should define the purpose for every employee to turn up to work every day. Jack Welch, legendary business leader even suggests:

a mission is the defining moment for a company's leadership

While day to day costs are charged to the profit and loss account as expenses, purchases of equipment which will be used over many years are not. Even after purchase, something like a new kitchen has value and remains an asset for the business. Accordingly, it sits on the balance sheet as a fixed asset. However, over time it will lose value and over enough years will lose all value and itself need to be replaced. To recognise this, each year a proportion of the cost of the asset is charged to the profit and loss (P&L) account, this is called depreciation.