Operations

Life, leadership and restaurants: ‘Ted Lasso’ strikes again

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September 30, 2026 by Valerie Gritton

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* Please note, this post does contain spoilers for the Ted Lasso episode, "Mae Rides the Bus."

I just finished watching the latest episode of Ted Lasso. It never fails to make me cry. I cry during almost every episode of this show. Sometimes out of sadness. Sometimes hope. And sometimes inspiration.

On the surface, this episode was about the power of a team. Coaches recognizing what their players needed. People understanding when something had to shift. Players using their individual strengths while still knowing that none of them could do it alone.

For restaurant brands, which rely on teams every day, there's something powerful in that.

The best teams aren't necessarily made up of people who are great at everything. They're made up of people whose different strengths complement one another — and leaders who recognize those strengths and put people in positions where they can best use them.

Sometimes, that means understanding when someone needs more training, when they need encouragement, when they're ready for more responsibility or when the system around them needs to change.Because asking people to perform at their best isn't the same as giving them the ability to perform at their best. And that's where leadership comes in.

A great coach doesn't just tell players to play harder. A great coach sees what each person brings to the field and figures out how those individual strengths can make the entire team better.

Restaurants aren't all that different.

When employees understand their roles, feel supported in them and know the people beside them have strengths they can rely on too, individual performance becomes team performance. And everyone wins. That's the real power of a team: not that everyone can do everything, but that together, they can do something none of them could do alone.

And then there's Mae

To tell a personal story, my grandparents were there to hold my son on the day of his birth 18 years ago. On that very same day, my mother was there for my grandfather (her father) when he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease at the age of 86.

Two events. One family. Two entirely different situations –- and the emotional complexities attached to each –- existing at exactly the same time. (My mother still says it was one of the most surreal days of her life).

Maybe that's why the ending of this episode struck me so deeply. Richmond finally makes it to the championship and that joy is coupled with the loss of Mae, one of its biggest and most steadfast fans.

That's life, isn't it? The good news doesn't wait for the hard things to pass. And the hard things don't disappear just because something wonderful is happening.

The restaurant business understands that better than most.

A brand can be celebrating a record sales week while a franchisee is struggling. A restaurant can open its 100th location while a longtime employee is going through one of the hardest moments of their life. A team can be hitting every metric while one person on it is quietly struggling to pay bills, care for a parent, manage a health scare or simply get through the day.

Success and struggle can occupy the same space. Love and grief can coexist. As can success and failure.

In the restaurant industry, there will be challenges, there will be wins, and there will be things that makes the celebration feel complicated. But that doesn't mean we stop celebrating.

In fact, maybe it means we celebrate more.

The wins. The milestones. The championships. The openings. The birthdays. And the people beside us who helped us get there.

Mae still got to ride the bus. My grandfather lived another 5 years post-diagnosis, and the women's Richmond women's team still made it to the finals.

There was still life left to be lived. There were still moments to experience, people to love, things to celebrate and memories left to make.

Maybe that's the point.

In life and in restaurants, we don't get to choose how long every season lasts. Teams change. Leaders move on (or up). Restaurants open and close. There are great years and difficult ones, record-breaking days and days when simply getting through it feels like a win.

But we do get to decide how fully we show up for it — and for the people sharing it with us.

I've always said life is for the living. And that's true whether we're celebrating the wins or facing moments we wish we didn't have to.

And maybe that's why I love Ted Lasso so much. For a show about soccer, it understands an awful lot about teams, what it means to be human and how to have faith when the world around us feels like it's falling apart.

Because even then, life keeps happening. We say goodbye to people we love, while somewhere else someone is celebrating a new beginning.

So, RIP Mae. And congratulations to Keeley and Roy, who celebrated a pending new arrival of their own in a way that felt uniquely them.

Loss and new life. Heartbreak and hope. Endings and new beginnings.