Category Archives: Employees

5 Fatal — Yet Avoidable — Service Errors

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By David Scott Peters

www.therestaurantexpert.com

Here are the five service errors I have identified to be extremely harmful to independent restaurant owners that can be fixed with systems.

“Let’s just take turns.”

You know, kind of like being a car salesperson. “I’ll get the first people that walk in the door, you get the next and so on, until it’s my turn again.”

While this sounds good in theory, ultimately it can be a fatal mistake.

In reality, every server ends up with tables all over your restaurant, even outside (for those with outside seating), giving servers incredible ground to cover, keep track of and monitor. This spells disaster when it comes to providing top-notch service.

Tables get lost because they all assume someone else has already taken care of the new table that just seemed to seat themselves. But what really happens is nobody ever gets to the table, often resulting in a lost customer.

Never let your serving staff take turns. It is a recipe for disaster and will ultimately destroy your business.

“We can’t make any money if you add another server to the floor.”

If I had a dollar for every time I heard that one, I could buy a new Porsche.

The reality is, if you hear that from your servers, they probably already have too many tables in their sections and aren’t providing anywhere near “WOW” customer service. The general rule of thumb, in a full-service restaurant with a host who staggers the seating, is a server should be able to handle up to seven tables at a time.

The only way to build your sales is to provide incredible service levels, which is even more important to independent restaurant operators who have to separate themselves from the chains.

“Look, I just don’t have time to do that and take care of my tables.”

You must teach your serving staff one of the golden rules to walking the floor: “Nobody enters or leaves the kitchen with empty hands.” This means that for every pass a server takes to and from their tables, even if they aren’t going into the kitchen, they should be pre-bussing their tables. Plus I will take it one step further; they should be pre-bussing other server’s tables, too!

I know you’re probably thinking, “How do I sell that one to my servers?”

You have to get the concept across to your serving staff that just because a guest is sitting in someone else’s section today doesn’t mean they’re not their customer. If each guest doesn’t have a great experience, they aren’t coming back. And if a server can ensure they do have a great experience and they do come back, they could be sitting in that server’s section the next time. Ultimately this means more money for the server in the end.

“You’re kidding me, right? I’m not paid enough to do that!”

Try this line on them: “If you’ve got time to lean, you’ve got time to clean.”

Their first reaction is almost always, “I don’t get paid enough to do that.” Here are two tactics to overcome this:

1) Explain to your serving staff how much they make in tips. And then explain that they are really independent business owners themselves, but unlike you, they have no risk or expenses. Explain to them that you provide them everything they need to sell their product — the building, the utilities and even the product. To keep their business in place, they are responsible for the guest experience.

2) You need to pick up a rag and help too! The only sure-fire way I’ve used to get line employees at all levels to do anything extra, especially cleaning, is to lead by example. So practice what you preach and be a team player.

“All that does is slow me down. That stuff isn’t really necessary, look at my sales.”

When you dine in a chain restaurant, nine out of 10 times you will have a server introduce themselves, ask you if this is your first time here, tell you today’s specials and offer an appetizer. To a server at an independent restaurant, this seems ridiculous because there is usually no training program in place and a lack of follow through by management.

Again, if you find your serving staff saying this to you, they almost definitely have too many tables and think the more tables you have, the more money you make. As I’ve already explained earlier, this is a recipe for disaster and couldn’t be any farther from the truth.

Learn from the chains! Ultimately training your serving staff to follow the steps of service (exactly, every time) is the key to guest satisfaction. And guest satisfaction is what will increase tips and increase your bank account.

Yes, they’re all avoidable!

To increase your sales and attract more business, you need to separate yourself from the chains and provide the best service possible. Do this and I guarantee your sales will go up.

David Scott Peters TheRestaurantExpert (1)David Scott Peters is a restaurant expert, speaker, coach and trainer for independent restaurant owners. He is the developer of SMART Systems Pro, an online restaurant management software program helping the independent restaurant owner remain competitive and profitable in an industry boxed in by the big chain restaurants. He is best known as the SMART Systems guy who can walk into any restaurant and find $10,000 in undiscovered cash before he hits the back door… Guaranteed! Learn more at www.therestaurantexpert.com/rdspos.

 

Make an Attitude Adjustment

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By David Scott Peters

www.therestaurantexpert.com

The restaurant business presents very unique challenges. It is not a business for everyone. For those of us who love this industry and who manage people as part of our daily jobs, there is one thing that is extremely important for us all to remember: be a professional.

If you can bring professionalism into your restaurant, you will elevate everything including customer service, job performance and accountability. If you have everyone doing their best at their jobs and holding themselves accountable as professionals, you’ll have stellar customer service, incredible customer satisfaction, increased sales, lower costs and tighter controls for more profits.

Who doesn’t want that? If you really want to aim for professionalism in what you do and set the example for how you want the people who work for you to behave, then try this formula.

1. Have the right attitude

The key to being a professional is the attitude you choose.

Look, don’t worry about being happy and positive all of the time. Nobody is that way all the time. We all get angry, upset or sad from time to time. I am not going to say you won’t. The whole idea is at least you can bounce back. You tell people you are sorry and maybe you can get your relationships with people back on track.

2. Aim for flexibility

Dr. Otis Maxfield was the gentleman commissioned by the NASA program to select the first astronauts. He was allowed to select the astronauts using any criteria, and he came up with a characteristic that was found most important: flexibility.

You probably think a good astronaut has to be a good test pilot first and foremost. But what they found was the last thing they needed was a good pilot. Test pilots were taught by the book. They were too structured. They would get these guys up in simulators and make something go wrong and these guys would bail out as they were trained as pilots to do.

Instead, they needed the guy who was flexible, who could adapt to the challenge and try to find new solutions.

It’s the same thing with us. Times are always a-changing, and we have to be flexible.

3. Offer trust

Being a professional is to trust your people and create an environment of trust.

You have to build a trusting relationship with your people if you intend to do anything at all. You have to avoid creating an environment where people feel like they can’t ask a question without thinking they’re being set up for a gotcha.

To get the best out of your people — to grow fellow professionals — you have to build safe, positive atmospheres for the people you are working with and for your employees. They have to trust you.

4. Set the example

A professional shows up to work every day, no matter how they are feeling. A professional realizes to be a professional is as simple as choosing a positive attitude. A professional is flexible. A professional creates an environment that facilitates change and trust. In this kind of environment, it’s hard to focus on anything negative and much easier to focus on the success in front of you.

Remember, you are a professional. You’re running a business. You’re managing people. You are the real deal. Choose to act like one, and you’ll see the results.

David Scott Peters TheRestaurantExpert (1)David Scott Peters is a restaurant expert, speaker, coach and trainer for independent restaurant owners. He is the developer of SMART Systems Pro, an online restaurant management software program helping the independent restaurant owner remain competitive and profitable in an industry boxed in by the big chain restaurants. He is best known as the SMART Systems guy who can walk into any restaurant and find $10,000 in undiscovered cash before he hits the back door… Guaranteed! Learn more at www.therestaurantexpert.com/rdspos.

 

Stop the Whining and Stupid Questions Once and for All

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By David Scott Peters

www.therestaurantexpert.com

How to communicate your expectations with one small story

I love the story written by Elbert Hubbard in 1899 called “A Message to Garcia.” The story was written after Hubbard had just finished a debate with his son where his son pointed out how a lieutenant named Rowan was a real hero in the Spanish-American War (the War in which Teddy Roosevelt led his Rough Riders up San Juan Hill). His son said Rowan was a hero for carrying a message to Garcia.

Please take the time to read the reprint of the story here. And as you do, I want you to think about your restaurant and if you have a Rowan working for you. If you don’t, or if you’re lucky enough to have one, you need to share this story with everyone on your staff, but especially your managers.

This short story is thought provoking and vividly clear when it comes to eliminating the whining, the stupid questions from your employees. It communicates exactly your expectations of anyone who works for you. You will quickly see what I mean.

When you’re done reading it, take action:

  • Find the Rowan on your team – he’s the guy that gets the job done and makes no bones about it.
  • Make him an example for others on your team, and soon you might just have a smooth operation of people doing their job.

David Scott Peters TheRestaurantExpert (1)David Scott Peters is a restaurant expert, speaker, coach and trainer for independent restaurant owners. He is the developer of SMART Systems Pro, an online restaurant management software program helping the independent restaurant owner remain competitive and profitable in an industry boxed in by the big chain restaurants. He is best known as the SMART Systems guy who can walk into any restaurant and find $10,000 in undiscovered cash before he hits the back door… Guaranteed! Learn more at www.therestaurantexpert.com/rdspos.

Too Many Projects Have You Frozen in Your Tracks?

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By David Scott Peters

www.therestaurantexpert.com

Take a moment and look at your to-do list. Do you see a list that seems to be growing instead of getting smaller? Do you have more than half your list marked as “A-1 Priority” projects? If you actually got some of those projects completed, would your restaurant run smoother? Would you have happier, better-trained employees? And/or would you make more money?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, what the heck are you waiting for?

I’ll tell you what you’re waiting for: A freakin’ miracle! You know the one… it’s where Tinker Bell arrives, lands on your shoulder, sprinkles her pixie dust and, magically, all of your projects and tasks get completed. Right? (At least that’s how I picture my miracle arriving.)

The reality is that as your list of uncompleted tasks keeps growing, your restaurant suffers and your stress level explodes to a point where instead of getting things done, you freeze and grab hold of your daily routine, praying that if you just keep moving the business will be OK. (I want to thank Dan Korem, husband of an Elite Member, for an enlightening late-night discussion where he shared a study that provided the data proving this point.)

Getting things done

The key to getting things done is to delegate!

What does it mean to delegate? According to Merriam Webster, the official definition is, “to entrust to another or to assign responsibility or authority.” In other words, use your business’ resources, people and their time to get your stuff done.

That sounds easy, but how many times have you heard someone tell you to just simply delegate? How many times have you found yourself able to take that advice?

If only it were that easy, right?

Michael Gerber, author of The E-Myth Revisited, talks about how most small business owners make a critical mistake when they delegate. He talks about how they often “delegate through abdication,” and this doesn’t work.

“Delegation through abdication” is where you have a problem, a major project, a critical task that needs to be done and you hand it off to someone else to do without giving them sufficient direction. You simply hope they will fix it, and that they will know exactly what you want done and how to do it successfully. Without providing specifics and expectations, you’ve just set the person to whom you’ve assigned the task on a path to failure. And when they fail, which they inevitably will since they can’t read your mind, you revert back to the mindset, “If I want something done right, I simply have to do it myself.”

How’s that strategy working for you? Remember that to-do list?

The keys to delegating

If you want to delegate successfully, all you have to do is follow these five simple steps:

  • Be specific and clear. Explain what you want accomplished, the steps you want the assigned person to take and then ensure they understand. For example, don’t just say, “I want you to do these recipe costing cards.” Instead, teach the step-by-step process to completing a recipe card — from writing in the recipe to converting the ingredients used from pounds to ounces, etc. — and show them how to complete one. Then watch them complete one and have them explain exactly what you have asked them to do. You need to make sure they get it. Understand when you assign a task to most people, they will answer, “yes,” when you ask them if they understand a task that has been assigned, even if they don’t. NOTE: You can NEVER be too specific!
  • Define success. When you delegate a task or project, you need to let the person you have delegated to know what success looks like. Take the time to let them know why this task is important, what successful completion looks like and why it’s important.

For example, “The task of completing recipe costing cards is imperative to our restaurant’s success. Costs have been rising and we need to see what items need to be dropped, any opportunities where we can raise prices, reduce costs, or reduce portion sizes to recapture the profits we’re losing, without negatively affecting our guests. And these recipe costing cards are the key to doing that and allow us to use the Menu Profit Generator Software to find those opportunities. You’ll have performed this task successfully when, 1) all of the batch and item recipes have been costed out, 2) proper yield tests have been performed and 3) all current ingredients have been converted to unit costs and input into the recipe costing card worksheet.”

That’s clearly defining success.

  • Let it go. If you were specific, clear and took the time to explain what completing the task or project successfully looks like, don’t micromanage! It’s OK to check in from time to time to see how the project is coming along. It’s OK to check progress. It’s OK to spot-check work. But it’s not OK to micromanage. You don’t want to be over shoulders every step of the way. They won’t want to give you their full effort for fear that it’s never good enough. You have to let whomever you delegated to follow his or her own path to completion. They might take an extra step or two to get it done, but that’s how they learn. If you know the quickest path to completion is from point A to point B, and they divert to C, D and E on the way, well, if it doesn’t hurt the company, let them find their way. That’s how you learned the shortest path in the first place. But when they learn from doing, it’s more likely to stick. Please note that if they’re going to do harm to themselves or the business along the way, that’s when it’s time for you to step in.
  • Continue communication. When you check in on progress, this is your opportunity to give that person positive or corrective feedback. Remember, just because you showed them once how to do the task, that doesn’t mean they’ll keep it in memory the next day or a week from then. They have to practice it correctly to do it correctly. In a nutshell, continued communication equals ongoing training, and that pays off in dividends. Just remember to be patient. They’re learning and may not master the task at hand for some time.
  • Recognize and reward. When you follow the steps above, you’re almost guaranteed to not only get the task at hand done, but also start developing someone you can count on. You’ll be able to delegate more and eventually hand over tasks knowing — and trusting — they’ll get done correctly. Reward someone doing things right with a simple thank you, pat on the back, movie tickets, dinner out, money, etc. Show that you appreciate the hard work and keep them interested in doing more.

Doesn’t that all sound so easy? Even I find myself telling people how easy it is to effectively delegate, but the truth is it’s easy to hand over tasks and pray they get done right. It takes real time and commitment to delegate effectively. If you’re tired of feeling overwhelmed, frozen in your tracks or have too many projects on your plate and really want to get things done, follow this recipe for delegation success and start reaping the rewards today!

David Scott Peters TheRestaurantExpert (1)David Scott Peters is a restaurant expert, speaker, coach and trainer for independent restaurant owners. He is the developer of SMART Systems Pro, an online restaurant management software program helping the independent restaurant owner remain competitive and profitable in an industry boxed in by the big chain restaurants. He is best known as the SMART Systems guy who can walk into any restaurant and find $10,000 in undiscovered cash before he hits the back door… Guaranteed! Learn more at www.therestaurantexpert.com/rdspos.

 

Attracting Good Restaurant Employees

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By David Scott Peters

www.therestaurantexpert.com

One of the key lessons I’ve learned over my years in the restaurant business is that not everyone works for you just for money. Money is a factor, but people are looking for much more.

So how do you provide the “much more?”

Many years ago now, Fred Langley best articulated what you have to strive for if you want to attract and keep the very best people on your team. He said you have to become the “Employer of Choice.” So what does that mean?

Without going into the whole explanation behind clinical psychologist Frederick Herzberg’s, “Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory,” let’s cover the key factors beyond money that he says motivate people to work and work hard:

  1. Supervision – Make sure you have a management team that coaches employees to success, understands what makes each employee unique and is able to push their buttons to get the best of your people.
  2. Fair compensation – While you don’t have to be at the top of your market’s pay scale, you certainly cannot be at the bottom.
  3. Good working conditions – Make sure you have a clean restaurant, that you have all the right equipment and tools for your employees to do their jobs, and make safety a priority.
  4. Interpersonal relationships – Avoid at all costs having a management team that thinks all of their people are stupid and treats them like crap. Remember, this is a people business and it all starts with your internal customers.
  5. Recognition – Look for people doing things right in your restaurant and give them kudos when you see it. It’s easy to find people doing something wrong. When you focus on the good things, you create a positive work environment where people want to continue to please you vs. just waiting for the scolding.
  6. Responsibility – Sometimes you have great employees who have been with you for many years who NEVER want to be a part of the management team. Yet, they are willing to do more. Look to teach and assign them tasks that make the company better and get more done. Allow them to be a more valued asset on the team and they will be motivated to do more.
  7. Achievement – With responsibility there are often measurable results. When your team sees how what they do has a direct positive impact on the business, they get a real sense of achievement, which makes them want more.
  8. Advancement – Remember money is not the only thing people are looking for when they join your management team. Many want to know that there is a clear path to promotion and advancement in your company. Whether it’s moving up the management ladder, moving into the next better paying line position or gaining the skills that make them more valuable in their career, there needs to be a clear path to advancement that’s based on doing a good job, not who you are sucking up to.
  9. Work itself – I remember my first jobs in the restaurant business were washing dishes, and I hated it. It felt thankless to me, and I was probably not mature enough to want to work that hard as a young teen. Moving up in my career, I’ve always kept that in the back of my mind when managing employees. You need to make sure the job, no matter what level in your organization, is rewarding.

High employee turnover is expensive and disruptive to any business. With training and systems in place, you start with employees who know what their job is and what is expected of them. But to keep them long term, you have to be an “employer of choice.” If you properly address the majority of these factors, you’ll be one!

David Scott Peters TheRestaurantExpert (1)David Scott Peters is a restaurant expert, speaker, coach and trainer for independent restaurant owners. He is the developer of SMART Systems Pro, an online restaurant management software program helping the independent restaurant owner remain competitive and profitable in an industry boxed in by the big chain restaurants. He is best known as the SMART Systems guy who can walk into any restaurant and find $10,000 in undiscovered cash before he hits the back door… Guaranteed! Learn more at www.therestaurantexpert.com/rdspos.

 

Four Steps to Setting Standards in Your Restaurant

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By David Scott Peters

www.therestaurantexpert.com

You play a very important role in your restaurant, a role no one else can play. That’s the role of owner. And as an owner, right or wrong, your management team and line employees MUST follow your standards and you have to follow up to make sure they are being followed.

How do you set the standards and make sure they are being met? How do you ensure the process is working? How do you do all that without running shifts and micromanaging your management team?

Easy! With systems, follow up and a willingness to hold your management team accountable.

Follow these steps:
1) Document your standards
2) Implement and train systems
3) Follow up
4) Hold management accountable

1) Document your standards. Whether it is plate presentation, cleanliness, customer service or anything else that goes on in your restaurant, YOU MUST document your standards. You have to clearly communicate what those standards are. You can’t expect your management team to read your mind. That won’t work. So walk your restaurant and write down everything that drives you nuts when it’s not done to your standards. You can even go so far as to use photos to clearly communicate your expectation, such as with plate presentation or table setting. Work all of your standards into every checklist in your building, from management checklists, front-of-house and back-of-house checklists and all position training materials.

2) Implement and train systems. Print off the “Four Phase Plan to Greater Restaurant Profits” from members.TheRestaurantExpert.com. Start going through and identifying those systems you have in place and those you want to put into place. Put together a training program and/or system for you to remember to follow up and check that your standards are being trained and executed.

3) Follow up. This and the next step are the two most important steps. Even if you document. Even if you train. Even if you are there every day. If you don’t follow up to see that everyone is doing the job to your standards, you’ve gained nothing but a lot of worthless paperwork. Checking to see that your management team and line employees are doing things the way you want them done for every aspect of the business is critical to your restaurant’s success.

4) Hold management accountable. For some strange reason, restaurant owners can easily hold a line employee accountable. If a line employee screws up, they, for the most part, find it easy to write them up and possibly fire them because they are not performing to the owner’s expectations and standards. But when a manager screws up, they are given chance after chance after chance and often nothing more than a heart to heart conversation ever takes place.

NO! This is not right. They should be written up just like anyone else in your organization. In fact, I might say even more so than line employees.

Your management team is supposed to run the operation the same way you would when you are not there. They are the leaders and if they set bad examples, your line employees will lower their performance standards to meet what you allow from management.

Instead, if a manager does not meet expectations and needs to be written up, do so. You will find out very quickly if that manager wants their job or not. If they do, they will probably never be written up ever again. If they don’t, they will either quit quickly or get written up again soon thereafter hoping you will fire them. Either way, you will know pretty quickly and will have set the tone that you are serious about your standards being met.

These are the four steps you need to follow to set the standards – and make sure they’re being met – in your restaurant.

Contact us today to learn how to bring these steps to life in your restaurant. We have coaches and tools that will make it work for you.

David Scott Peters TheRestaurantExpert (1)David Scott Peters is a restaurant expert, speaker, coach and trainer for independent restaurant owners. He is the developer of SMART Systems Pro, an online restaurant management software program helping the independent restaurant owner remain competitive and profitable in an industry boxed in by the big chain restaurants. He is best known as the SMART Systems guy who can walk into any restaurant and find $10,000 in undiscovered cash before he hits the back door… Guaranteed! Learn more at www.therestaurantexpert.com/rdspos.

 

Top Business Killers

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By David Scott Peters

www.therestaurantexpert.com

You can’t afford to not make a great first impression. There are too many other options for your customers in today’s marketplace. And with fewer dining out experiences per week, the amount of chances you have is also down.

Here are five points of contact I often find get ignored in independent restaurants. If you ignore these five points of contact, you reduce your opportunity to build your business. You actually drive business away.

Increase your chances of winning and keeping business.

  1. First contact – make it count. Your guests encounter you the first time in many ways and all must be stellar.

–          In print: whether it’s an ad, a direct mail piece or a flyer going out to surrounding businesses, it must reflect your business. When they show up, they should have a reasonably good idea about what they’re going to experience in style, service, menu and price. For example, don’t have 10-cent-wings night with white tablecloths. Don’t woo them in with low-priced menu items or specials when your average ticket price is much higher. Be who you are target the right audience with that message.

–          Word of mouth: Provide a WOW experience to every customer every time so that the word-of-mouth message that precedes that visit is lived up to. In other words, if a customer has a great experience and tells their friends about it, their friends should be able to count on a WOW experience as well. Remember, people are more protective of their positive comments and very open with their negative ones. One terrible experience will travel much faster than five WOW experiences. If one person’s word-of-mouth recommendation is rebuked by your lousy service, you’ve lost the original customer as well. Nobody likes to be made the fool.

–          Drive/walk bys: Make sure your facility looks good. Are the lights all working and turned on? Is it inviting? Is the paint cracked and peeling, or clean and fresh? Does the outside match your style, does it speak to who you are as a restaurant? When someone pulls up to your restaurant, do they want to get out and go inside?

–          Phone: People don’t think about this and it drove me crazy as a manager. You can’t take one phone call for granted. Does it take more than two rings for phone calls into your restaurant to get answered? If it takes too long, you could be giving the caller the impression that their time and effort isn’t important to you.

o   Answer with a smile: You can literally hear it on the other end.

o   Use a tagline, your USP: It’s designed to sum up your business, use it.

o   Those who answer must be trained: Whoever answers the phone must know about the business, such as hours of operation, directions, specials, games on the flatscreens that night, all the basic questions.

You have one chance to make a first impression; there are no second chances.

  1. Facilities – a little spit and polish can only help.

–          Entrance: When people walk up to your front door, is there trash? It doesn’t matter if you share a strip mall with 20 other tenants who never pick up trash. If it’s in front of your door or around it, pick it up. Make your employees aware and make sure they’re cleaning it up when they see it. Do you let your employees smoke out front and leave their cigarette butts? Are your windows clean?

–          Dining room/tables: Your customer has come this far; they’re in the dining room. What will their impression be? Are the tables clean, the chairs free of crumbs, condiments clean and organized on the tables? Are your tables balanced? Your team can see it, make sure they’re eyeing it and keeping it all clean.

In Phoenix, when Sue and I go out, there are so many restaurant choices, you can literally drive down a two mile stretch of road and see about a hundred restaurants. We can be picky, make judgments on the appearance. When it comes to restaurants, we can definitely judge a book by its cover.

  1. Greeting: If you’ve been to my workshop, you know about my GUEST philosophy. The G stands for greet and it must be done within 30 seconds. Make it a rule that someone is near the door at all times. Never fall down on this job because a guest should never have to approach you. And train your employees to all be aware of it. If they’re not sure if someone has been greeted and helped, they should ask. Even if we THINK someone has been helped, don’t ASSUME. You know what they say about what happens when you assume? It makes an ASS out of U and ME.
  2. Bussers: Try to be seen and not heard. And this doesn’t just apply to bussers. It applies to anyone who busses a table, from a server walking by to managers. My mom taught me this rule: No one comes in or out of the kitchen empty handed. If you see dishes on a table, pick them up, and do so without disturbing guests. How do you train your servers to see it as their duty? Yes, this customer isn’t in your section today, but they may be in your section tomorrow. But they won’t come back to be in anyone’s section if they don’t have a WOW experience.
  3. Servers: Your servers spend the most amount of time with your guests. You must train them to think like a salesperson, not an order taker. In so many restaurants I see human vending machines. Fred Langley, Elite member and coach, trains his servers to change their attitude. It’s not about upselling and increasing ticket averages, but improving the guest’s experience. If the server thinks the experience will be better if the customer has a premium vodka, then the server has the attitude necessary to make the suggestion. It’s not pushy. It’s about improving the guest’s experience. They need to guide the guest, show off what they know, be the expert, what they like.

To do this, your servers must be trained in everything menu-related. They have to know ingredients, allergens, portions, prices, extras that are available, etc. Servers need to use the right words, such as “featured item” and “special.” The right words will influence the purchase.

One side note related to clean dining room: have clean and fresh menus. It must be reflective of your business, just as your entrance, your advertising and your phone greeting. Your menu is your sales tool and it costs you more to operate with sub-par sales tools than it does just to purchase new ones.

You have few opportunities to keep business, but many to lose business. Every point of contact counts.

David Scott Peters TheRestaurantExpert (1)David Scott Peters is a restaurant expert, speaker, coach and trainer for independent restaurant owners. He is the developer of SMART Systems Pro, an online restaurant management software program helping the independent restaurant owner remain competitive and profitable in an industry boxed in by the big chain restaurants. He is best known as the SMART Systems guy who can walk into any restaurant and find $10,000 in undiscovered cash before he hits the back door… Guaranteed! Learn more at www.TheRestaurantExpert.com.

 

Why Customers Don’t Come Back

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By David Scott Peters

www.therestaurantexpert.com

You spend thousands upon thousands of dollars a year driving customers through your doors. You’ve tried advertising on the radio, in the newspaper, in magazines, in Money Mailer, in directories, on the movie screen, couponing and more — with some success.

But with all of this money being spent, sales aren’t moving up as fast as you would like or even worse, they are actually going down. Why?

In a past study called “The Spirit of Service” done by the National Institute for the Foodservice Industry (NIFI), they detail six main reasons why customers don’t come back. I not only want to share them with you, but I want to share some ideas on how you can counteract them, with the exception of one.

Reason No. 6

Let’s start things off with a bang, so to speak. It’s the one thing you can’t do anything about. It’s that 1 percent of your customers die. This is just the reality of it all.

Reason No. 5

3 percent of your customers will move out of the area. For many restaurant operators there’s not much you can do about this because when someone moves, they move literally hundreds of miles or more away from your restaurant. But for many restaurants in large metropolitan areas, moving may mean moving to a neighboring city that is still within an hour driving distance.

So staying in touch with your guest becomes extremely important. Just think about this, if your customer moves 45 minutes away you have a choice, lose their business for good or fight like heck to get them in at least four times a year.

Let’s look at the economics of this. Let’s say this customer used to come into your restaurant only 10 times a year. They’d always come in with at least one other person and spend an average of $40 a visit. Every year they would spend at least $400.

If you’ve had them in your marketing database and have created a system where they can update their information with you and continue to receive your newsletter by mail and your e-mails, you might be able to get them to continue to come into the restaurant at least four times a year. So instead of losing $400 a year, you’ve managed to keep $160.

While that may not seem like a lot of money, when you multiply that over the lifetime of visits by that customer and then by the rest of the 3 percent who move… that can be a lot of money.

And don’t forget to make sure that as a part of your marketing budget you employ some form of new-mover marketing, because for every 3 percent moving away there are new families moving into those empty apartments and houses. You need to have a system in place to drive them through your doors quickly so they make your restaurant a part of their dining habits as they’re forming them in their new neighborhood.

Reason No. 4

5 percent find new interests or friends. OK, I know you’re thinking, “that’s completely out of my control.” While this is true, if you follow the example given in Reason No. 5, you will again magnify the importance of building up your customer database and staying in constant contact. Just remember interests and friends change… and they may come back.

Reason No. 3

9 percent change for competitive reasons. This reason is the one most restaurant operators lose the most sleep over. A new restaurant is opening up next door or around the corner. The new restaurant is in direct competition with yours.

If you’ve done your job right and have a restaurant that is clean, has great service and great food, they will come back… and usually do. And it doesn’t hurt to keep communicating with them with your monthly newsletter and e-mails. Remind them that they matter and continue to invite them back in to your restaurant.

Reason No. 2

14 percent change because they are dissatisfied with the restaurant. OK, this speaks volumes to what I just said, “if your restaurant is not running well on all accounts… there’s not a lot you can do except correct it and rebuild…”

So where do we start? Let’s cover a little bit of Restaurant 101 here.

  1. Make sure your restaurant is in clean working order.
  2. Make sure hot food is hot, cold food is cold and ticket times are in an acceptable range for your restaurant.
  3. Make sure every employee is trained and ready to give your customers the best experience they could possibly desire.

Reason No. 1

68 percent encounter an attitude of indifference or unconcern by one or more employees.

Just look at that number, 68 percent. This mean 68 out of 100 customers aren’t coming back because of how your employees conducted themselves, 68!

So as a part of your training program you need to not only cover the basics from food safety to steps of service, you need to make sure you train hospitality and the idea that the customer comes first!

If you do nothing more than tackle Reason No. 1, “encounter an attitude of indifference,” your business will literally explode!

David Scott Peters TheRestaurantExpert (1)David Scott Peters is a restaurant expert, speaker, coach and trainer for independent restaurant owners. He is the developer of SMART Systems Pro, an online restaurant management software program helping the independent restaurant owner remain competitive and profitable in an industry boxed in by the big chain restaurants. He is best known as the SMART Systems guy who can walk into any restaurant and find $10,000 in undiscovered cash before he hits the back door… Guaranteed! Learn more at www.TheRestaurantExpert.com.

 

9 Things to Offer to Attract Good Restaurant Employees

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By David Scott Peters

www.therestaurantexpert.com

One of the key lessons I’ve learned over my years in the restaurant business is that not everyone works for you just for money. Money is a factor, but people are looking for much more.

So how do you provide the “much more?”

Many years ago now, restaurant coach Fred Langley best articulated what you have to strive for if you want to attract and keep the very best people on your team. He said you have to become the “Employer of Choice.” So what does that mean?

Without going into the whole explanation behind clinical psychologist Frederick Herzberg’s, “Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory,” let’s cover the key factors beyond money that he says motivate people to work and work hard:

  1. Supervision – Make sure you have a management team that coaches employees to success, understands what makes each employee unique and is able to push their buttons to get the best of your people.
  2. Fair compensation – While you don’t have to be at the top of your market’s pay scale, you certainly cannot be at the bottom.
  3. Good working conditions – Make sure you have a clean restaurant, that you have all the right equipment and tools for your employees to do their jobs, and make safety a priority.
  4. Interpersonal relationships – Avoid at all costs having a management team that thinks all of their people are stupid and treats them like crap. Remember, this is a people business and it all starts with your internal customers.
  5. Recognition – Look for people doing things right in your restaurant and give them kudos when you see it. It’s easy to find people doing something wrong. When you focus on the good things, you create a positive work environment where people want to continue to please you vs. just waiting for the scolding.
  6. Responsibility – Sometimes you have great employees who have been with you for many years who NEVER want to be a part of the management team. Yet, they are willing to do more. Look to teach and assign them tasks that make the company better and get more done. Allow them to be a more valued asset on the team and they will be motivated to do more.
  7. Achievement – With responsibility there are often measurable results. When your team sees how what they do has a direct positive impact on the business, they get a real sense of achievement, which makes them want more.
  8. Advancement – Remember money is not the only thing people are looking for when they join your management team. Many want to know that there is a clear path to promotion and advancement in your company. Whether it’s moving up the management ladder, moving into the next better paying line position or gaining the skills that make them more valuable in their career, there needs to be a clear path to advancement that’s based on doing a good job, not who you are sucking up to.
  9. Work itself – I remember my first jobs in the restaurant business were washing dishes, and I hated it. It felt thankless to me, and I was probably not mature enough to want to work that hard as a young teen. Moving up in my career, I’ve always kept that in the back of my mind when managing employees. You need to make sure the job, no matter what level in your organization, is rewarding.

High employee turnover is expensive and disruptive to any business. With training and systems in place, you start with employees who know what their job is and what is expected of them. But to keep them long term, you have to be an “employer of choice.” If you properly address the majority of these factors, you’ll be one!

David Scott Peters TheRestaurantExpert (1)David Scott Peters is a restaurant expert, speaker, coach and trainer for independent restaurant owners. He is the developer of SMART Systems Pro, an online restaurant management software program helping the independent restaurant owner remain competitive and profitable in an industry boxed in by the big chain restaurants. He is best known as the SMART Systems guy who can walk into any restaurant and find $10,000 in undiscovered cash before he hits the back door… Guaranteed! Learn more at www.TheRestaurantExpert.com.