Archive for September, 2009

Increase Restaurant Sales

Just watch, stand back, slow down, and go though a theoretical dining experience that we have been through so many times and may have provided ourselves. A bit scary I have seen this stuff through out stores that I was fixing and thought wow we ain’t where we need to be. If your focus is on increasing restaurant sales then keep reading, it is all about the small stuff. So lets explore some pet peeves, yes these are mine however please add your!

1. Eye Contact Now! 30 seconds  or Less where? At the entrance, host stand, drive through, lobby, foyer, front door, Cleaning the bathrooms or delivering the appetizer, entree’s, desert and check. all the time every-time may seem obvious but watch your staff, shut up stand back and just watch.
Watch the employees that make the most money and watch the employees that whine the most about not making the most money. I am willing to bet the eyes have it

2. Crumbs, paper , debris, wrappers, and that’s the dining room, for those restaurants that have an opening to the dining room and the guests have a great view of the kitchen.

At my local PF Changs this weekend I walked into the front door and immediately my eyeballs went right to the view into the kitchen  and it was not impressive. It should not matter what time what day or what the excuse is. this is one of the worst crimes committed in a restaurant.

3. When walking to the table is the table clean do you see crooked silverware, condiments and other stuff that is not supposed to be there? Are the chairs skee-wiff , (I just made that word up). This will not increase restaurant sales.

The subconscious does amazing things to a guest when you are not looking, watch them look around not feel welcome, not even aware they are looking for others things out of line? We know that we are not wanting to start the dining experience on a negative.

4.The storeroom in the dining room clutter junk, trays chairs shoved in a corner and not “strategically positioned around the dining room” with chairs upside down and other clutter making one particular corner of your restaurant look like a store room. I am not sure eating in a storage shed, store room is desirable to any guests

5. Finally at the table you are with your date and the table is not  level, (and they have the self adjusting feet with a folded napkin under one side?) Did you make your guest “feel” like they were the first person to sit at that table?

6. Does your server again make eye contact? is he she friendly, courteous, overbearing? is it all about them? Professionalism is at the up most importance. Hiring is easy, Hire Nice People!!

7.  & 8.  We know or should know Hot Food Hot!  Cold Food Cold! No brainer but easy to muck up

9. Check Back Check down, friendly? Timely? Accurate? Obtrusive? Offer a desert to go? Your restaurant sales?

10. Welcome Back the simple statement, call to action do something, hey you enjoyed your experience please come back and spend your money hear again. Thank You Because I know you can go anywhere else, and even have it delivered, so please come visit again we enjoy your company!

This is just the beginning there are more to come, so stand back and watch slow down and watch listen to your staff and train, train, train. And watch your restaurant sales increase. To busy to listen, to watch, to train, who is minding your business? Check out Jim Sullivan’s Mind Your Own Business: People, Performance, Profits

Caio!

The Wife Just Needed Some Chocolate Cake

Restaurant Safety & Security

Closing time is not the time to let your guard down, the guests are gone, you can relax theoretically speaking and it feels like the curtain has dropped on your final scene of the busy evening. It is finally beer thirty.

You are tired need a smoke even though you don’t smoke anymore, the cooks are cutting corners trying to get home, or lolligagging milking the clock.

The second to the last table of guests are leaving and you are only concerned with checking out the waitstaff and setting the openers up for success. No body watching, nobody is paying attention, I sneak in through the front door, right in front of the two young waitresses closing the dessert station, the three cooks cleaning the hotwells of the open kitchen, nobody looks up, nobody sees me? How can this be?

Al Stewart’s “The Year of The Cat” is the perfect background music for my late night  coup, my plan my wife at the last moment needed…. “The Chocolate Cake”. No really this local restaurant has the best chocolate cake. My Concern I was able to infiltrate their night security to achieve my selfish indulgence.

This is a quiet town a low crime state, not the norm for the rest of the country where security guards are needed in some lobbies of some chain restaurants.  After I slipped in the front door after the last guests left, I go to the Hostess stand and see the closing checks and credit card receipts laying on the counter.  I then look for the guy in the tie, the Restaurant Manager.

Restaurant Security Plan

Still this scares me, do not neglect your The Locksley nightclub, bar, and restaurant security handbook” target=”_blank”>restaurant security for the sake of saving a few bucks on labor. ( If you need information on restaurant security try this source…The Locksley nightclub, bar, and restaurant security handbook) for the sake of the time clock. Back in my OG days (Olive Garden) Corporate got, what we thought was a bug up their “butts in seats”.

Corporate hired a new head of security, we received our auto-shipped (Translation;…nobody had a clue it was coming)  security manual, then the training videos and yes meetings the meeting…with the D.O.

It was then we realized that a manager was shot and killed at a Red Lobsters back east. I think it was the prior year, did not matter the impact lasted even 15 years later the habits are in grained.

The interesting part is that the threats did not work, the threats of being fired on the spot if the D.O. walked in the backdoor and no manager was present, the threat of constant performance counselings for back door security issues, were not as effective as the “video”.

Restaurant Security Is More Then Cameras

But the videos, the crime scene, the interviews of the employees, the effect on the community, the actual death of not only a family man a father a husband a tragic event one and that is not discussed much in the news. The effects business, the lively hood, the ability of the other employees to support themselves and their loved ones. I was convinced, I became “uber paranoid” after that.

The video was so effective it also reminded me that random acts of violence  can and will occur anytime to any of us. That bad people live in a good world and will not hesitate to hurt you, just for cash, just for kicks. I know get a job get off your A– , be a man and… never mind.

Restaurant Safety Is More Then Monitoring The TDZ

Please do not sacrifice your safety, or the safety of your restaurant employees, your cash (Check your restaurant insurance policy), your business your life. Restaurant Security Camera’s can give a false sense of security. If you do not have a The Locksley nightclub, bar, and restaurant security handbook” target=”_blank”>restaurant security plan, get one, if you do not know where to start  let Restaurant Proz help you in creating a custom security plan for your restaurant

Be Safe!
Caio