How 10 minutes a day could save your restaurant
I hate meetings. Well, it’s not that I really hate ALL meetings, just most meetings that I happen to be AT. This day and age, I just think that there are much more efficient ways to communicate information than requiring everyone to sit in a room for an hour…or longer.
Most meetings are a complete waste of time. There is however, one meeting that could save your restaurant.
We’ve all said it at one point or another. “Good people are just so hard to find!”
I recently spoke with a frustrated operator who said, “My employees are ALL idiots! They can’t do ANYTHING right!!! Why can’t I find any good people anymore? What am I supposed to do? ”
My response was obvious, “So stop hiring idiots.”
The fact of the matter is, there ARE plenty of good people out there. Most restaurants just suck at hiring.
In a nutshell, as operators we need to take responsibility for the quality of our team. When we end up with “bad apples” on the team we need to realize that this is OUR fault!
Once we realize that we’ve got no one to blame but ourselves, we should focus our time on building a process and a philosophy to ensure that bad apples no longer end up on our teams. Read more…
Who gets pissed about pork and beans!?
Photo: Aranami, Flickr
What’s your pickle policy?
While flying on Southwest Airlines to Chicago this morning, I happened to pull out the in-flight magazine that was stuffed into the back of the seat in front of me. Inside was an article written by Southwest President Gary Kelly titled “A Few Thoughts About Customer Service”. As Southwest is celebrating 40years in flight this year, Kelly writes that while many things have changed in the past 40 years, one thing hasn’t - the company’s customer service policy. Southwest’s “policy” is for the employees to always “serve by heart”. To do what’s right. Read more…
Like this:
The things some people say…
Sometimes you just have to laugh. Let’s just take a minute and share a laugh at the expense of our customer’s reviews of our restaurants.
“Ha – ha.” Okay, now stop. This is serious business we’re talking about here.
We all have opinions and we all like to let others know about our dining experiences. Today, thanks to social media, a customer can finish his or her meal and leave a review about it online before they even get home that evening. Those reviews are read by thousands of people when they decide at which restaurant they want to dine. Read more…
Like this:
Visual “BUZZ” via Instagram
Courtesy of Laura Stevens @ sunshineandstarlight.wordpress.com
When it comes to marketing your restaurant today, restaurant operators definitely have lots of options. There are print ads, electronic ads, direct-mail, billboards, television, radio, and the list goes on and on. Today, many small business owners simply cannot afford full color print ads or commercials on their local television stations and, in my opinion, those that can afford and choose to spend their money on traditional advertising are probably being left wondering if they made the right choice.
Why? Read more…
The other day I asked a friend for his opinion on what he felt was the best tool he had in his restaurant when it comes to providing his guests with a remarkable dining experience.
He thought for a minute and then rattled off a few ideas. Having a creative menu topped the list, then a well-trained wait staff, and lastly, a clean restaurant. All of which are great answers and I don’t think anyone would deny that they are all critical components of a great restaurant experience. There is however, one tool that I feel never gets the credit it deserves and the fact of the matter is, many restaurant owners already have this tool in their restaurant but sadly, fail to use it to its fullest potential.
Can you guess what it is? Read more…
In this day and age, if your restaurant’s pre-opening marketing budget doesn’t include cash for a website, you’ve set yourself up for failure… before you even sell your first meal.
Before diners set foot a restaurant for the first time, the majority of them have checked out the restaurant online. By “majority”, I mean 89%. An “official website” will show the prospective diner a “sneak-peak” as to what to expect from their dining experience. With online information available at just the simple shake of their smart-phone, consumers are less willing to venture out into uncharted waters with their hard-earned cash.
Chances are likely, no website, no visit. Read more…
Don’t tell ME how good you are…I’ll tell YOU
It’s not nice to brag…and its probably not true anyways, which then makes it a “lie”…*gasp!*…and THOSE are even worse!
No doubt about it, there has been a major shift in the way our customers make dining decisions over the past few years. Those restaurant owners that have been able to see it and make adjustments to their marketing plans have been able to keep butts in seats and their bottom line in the black. Those unfortunate enough to ignore this reality or flat-out turn a blind eye to it, probably aren’t getting ready for dinner service at their restaurant today. Read more…
Repeat after me, “I will no longer put off rolling out a new menu for my restaurant.”
Again! “I will no longer put off rolling out a new menu for my restaurant!”
One more time!!!! “I will no longer put off rolling out a new menu for my restaurant!!!!”
You can do this, people.
Ask any race car driver why he won the race and he will likely give credit to the car’s engine and the people who keep it finely tuned. Even though the only oil you might be changing in your restaurant is in the fryer, your restaurant also requires a “high performing engine” to push it to the front of the pack. In this case, it’s the menu we’re talking about.
Recommending changing the menu to a restaurant owner will often be met with hesitation. I often hear, “What if the customers get angry when I raise the prices?” or “What if the new menu items are not well received and keep old customers from coming back?” Ironically, it is often the owner’s fears that actually cost the restaurant more and more money in the long run. Because of these fears, their menus sit stagnant month after month, year after year, while the most profitable restaurants realize that their menu is an integral part of their success and spend a considerable amount of time creating, monitoring and evolving it. The major chains are always promoting new menu items and because of it, they reap the benefits. They know that doing so will keep more of YOUR customers in THEIR seats. Read more…
Call a time-out – Get back to basics
February 26, 2008.
That was the night all 7,100 U.S. Starbucks coffee shops temporarily closed leaving countless customers out in the cold. Where were you were that night? Raise your hand if you remember.
I remember that night. I was standing in front of a Starbucks in Virginia Beach, Virginia, tugging on the locked door… to no avail. I was frozen to the bone and desperate for my evening “fix”. Like a true “junkie” (minus the weird arm scratching) I frantically paced up and down the sidewalk peering through the windows of the store.
“You’ve GOT to be kidding me! This has to be some kind of mistake! What kind of prank is this!? Doesn’t Starbucks care about its customers!?” I thought to myself.
Then I saw the sign.
Like this:
What exactly do YOU do all day?
In a recent episode of Gordon Ramsay’s “Kitchen Nightmares”, Gordon was faced with the task of saving a fledgling family owned Italian restaurant from bankruptcy. As Ramsay dives head first into the business, he quickly discovers that not only does the menu need a major overhaul, but the restaurant is disorganized and the staff is frustrated that the owners don’t have a clue how to effectively operate their own restaurant.
During dinner service on a busy Friday night, as the kitchen staff starts to fall apart and the front of the house struggles to keep up, the owners disappear. Instead of actively supporting their team, they chose to order dinner (from the same struggling kitchen) and sit in their car while they ate it! This breakdown in leadership is something very familiar to Ramsay as it is a recurring theme in many of the other episodes. It’s no wonder that these restaurants are on the brink of disaster.
We all know that these type of shows are all about the ratings and at times the “reality-show” drama is so thick you could cut it with a knife, however Ramsay has some serious credentials as a Michelin starred chef, business owner and consultant and his advice really should be taken seriously.
Social Media Marketing : Have you “Checked In” lately?
As the world of social media marketing continues to evolve at the speed of light, Foursquare has just released a new version of its location-based smart phone application that will now allow users to check in at local restaurants, bars, or anywhere else they might end up and ”explore” other places nearby.
Just as amazon.com will store your purchase and browsing history and make educated recommendations to users on music, books, and other products they might enjoy, Foursquare takes the user’s previous “check in” history and makes recommendations on other places that it thinks that particular user might like. For example, if the user has a history of checking in at restaurants that serve chinese food, Foursquare might recommend a new chinese restaurant that opened up just around the corner.
Foursquare users can now “check in” at a restaurant and leave a “tip” for future Foursquare users who happen to check in at the same restaurant. For instance, I’ll show up at a restaurant with my friends and use my smart phone to “check in”. At that point, I get a message from Foursquare that lists the “tips” from other Foursquare users who have “checked in” at that same restaurant. The “tip” might be “The pork chop is a must try!” or “Terrible service. Consider yourself warned!”
While merchants can already offer Foursquare users special promotions and discounts, the new version of Foursquare will allow merchants to offer several new promotions such as a “swarm deal” where a restaurant can offer a deal if 50 to 100 users “check in” all at once. A “flash deal” is a special that lets Foursquare users know that a certain restaurant or bar is offering a deal to the first 10 people who show up and “check in”. A “friends deal” is one that is offered when a user brings several friends into the restaurant.
Here is 3 reasons why your small business should “check in” with Foursquare:
“Don’t worry about it – dinner is on me tonight”
If you’re not paying close attention to your menu pricing, in short time you might be buying dinner for your customers.
Food costs are expected to soar another 10% in early 2o11 with commodity items such as beef, corn, sugar, wheat, pork and coffee leading the rise. As costs began their rise in early 2010, many restaurant operators engaged in a deadly mix of absorbing the cost increases (not increasing menu pricing) and heavily discounting their product to consumers in an effort to keep customers coming back. Actually, discounting got so out of hand that new businesses concepts were created that do just that…discount things for other people!
By the way, five days ago, Groupon reported $760 million in revenue for 2010.
$760 million…..
Discounting someone else’s product…
(If you used Groupon last year, ask yourself what your company reported for 2010?)
Cost of goods increasing is only half of the story. Turmoil in the middle East may lead to hikes in fuel costs as well which will further bleed wallets dry and keep customers at home. With cost pressures hitting restaurant operators from all angles, margins will be getting tighter and tighter. As a result, many will have no other option than to….*gasp!*…. pull back on heavy discounting and….*double gasp!*…increase their menu pricing. Operators opting for the “bury their head in the sand until it all blows over” strategy will likely find themselves out of work by the year’s end.
Restaurant “vital signs” – Cost of Goods
The first thing a doctor will do to assess a patient’s physical health is to measure their “vitals”. The vitals, such as a patient’s temperature, pulse, respiratory rate and blood pressure are the best place to start when investigating any signs of disease.
Good restaurant operators know that keeping close tabs on their restaurant’s “vital signs” is the key to profitability.
When asked to review the efficiency of a restaurant, the first thing that I look at is the restaurant’s cost of goods sold or “COGS”. “Cost of goods sold” is also sometimes called “cost of goods used” or simply “cost of usage,” is nothing more than the cost incurred by the restaurant to sell the products on its menu.
The most successful restaurants have systems in place and monitor their food cost on a regular basis. Regardless of size or concept style, ALL food service operations should be monitoring their COGS on a regular basis. It never surprises me when an unprofitable operator tells me that he does not have a system in place to determine COGS.
Industry standard dictates that a profitable restaurant will typically run a food cost anywhere between 28% and 35% of total sales. It’s important to remember that each restaurant is different and that whether your cost goal is at the lower end of that spectrum or the higher end all depends on your concept. For example, the cost of operating a quick service restaurant will most likely be lower than the costs of operating a fine dining restaurant.
How often should you calculate your COGS? The most profitable restaurants in the country (both chain and independents), calculate their food and beverage costs at the end of each week. In addition, they also know how many days worth of inventory is sitting on the shelf, as of “last night.” This may seem like a lot of work, but if there’s a problem, they know about it quickly and can respond accordingly. Lastly, weekly food cost reporting changes the entire culture in the kitchen because of the awareness and the sense of ongoing accountability it creates. In the past, I have seen weekly COGS reporting result in a food cost drop of 2 to 4 percent of sales in just a matter of weeks!
Chris is a Virginia Beach based marketing associate, consultant and former restaurateur. This blog is focused around helping small business owners sharpen their operations, develop their people and build their brand.
