50 proven ways to build restaurant sales & profits

The Hospitality Masters Series

Read what the industry is

saying about these books:

They fit the way we operate. It is fast-paced and packed with hard-hitting tidbits.In a few minutes, I can pick up a great idea and get back to work!

Greg Hunsucker, Co-ownerV’s Italiano RistoranteKansas City, MO

What a great idea! I can’t tell you how many management books I have startedand never finished. These have just the sort of information I can really use –concise and to the point. I want copies for all my managers and assistants.

Mark Sneed, PresidentPhillips Seafood RestaurantsWashington, DC

You can’t miss with advice from the best of the best! I like that these books don’tpreach. They credit me with enough intelligence to be able to adapt these ideasto fit my particular situations. Why didn’t somebody do this sooner?

Mark Valente, OwnerMarc’s RestaurantWheatridge, CO

These books contain practical ideas in an easy-to-read format that can help anyoperator increase sales, reduce costs and improve profit margins. They areuseful books for any food professional from multi-unit director to small kitchenmanager.

William Dillon, VP for Market DevelopmentARAMARK Campus ServicesPhiladelphia, PA

The Hospitality Masters Series

An invaluable collection of insights and experience from professionals whounderstand our business ... filled with some simple “how to” solutions.

Marjorie Mintz, VP Human ResourcesThe Levy RestaurantsChicago, IL

A super-concentrated collection of immensely valuable sales and profit-buildingideas. These books are truly a tremendous resource to anyone in the hospitalityindustry.

David Newton, Director of OperationsApplebee’sPittsburgh, PA

These are the perfect resource for busy food & beverage executives. Every pageis loaded with common sense that I can put in my managers’ hands for quicktraining of important issues. It’s like a total Restaurant University in a book!

Greg Gallavan, F&B DirectorWinter Park ResortWinter Park, CO

As the owner of a restaurant, I am always searching for ways to improve my salesand profit. [These books] are practical and effective tools for my managementstaff and myself to use for continual growth and success.

Chris Shake, OwnerThe Fish HopperMonterey, CA

These books are filled with clear, concise advice that can definitely increase thebottom line. I have read industry books twice the length with half the insights.

Richard Ysmael, Corporate DirectorMotorola Hospitality GroupSchaumburg, IL

Tested ideas from the leading speakers andconsultants in the hospitality industry

50 Proven Ways to Build Restaurant Sales & Profit

CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS:

Gloria BoileauInternationally-recognized professional speaker specializing in

environmental enhancement, image and communications

Susan ClarkeInternationally recognized as the #1 high energy/high content speakerauthor on attitude, employee motivation, customer service and sales

Barry CohenAward-winning chef, national speaker and

former owner of Old San Francisco Steak House

Howard Cutson, FMPPrincipal of Cutson Associates and a sought-after speaker

on customer satisfaction and beverage operations

Tom FeltensteinThe nation’s leading authority on foodservice and hospitality marketing

Peter Good, FMPNationally-recognized motivational speaker and trainer to the hospitality industry

Jim Laube, CPAPresident of the Center for Foodservice Education

and consultant in profitability and financial management

Bill Main, FMP, FCSI, CSPNationally-known author, consultant and speaker and

Past President of the California Restaurant Association

Phyllis Ann Marshall, FCSIPrincipal of FoodPower, specialist in concept development,growth strategies, and merchandising with food and menus

Bill Marvin, The Restaurant DoctorKAuthor, consultant and advisor to hospitality operators around the world

Rudy Miick, FCSINationally known consultant in hospitality operations and performance improvement

Ron YuddFormer Director of the US Senate Restaurants

and now a national speaker on leadership and service

Edited by

William R. Marvin

Hospitality Masters PressPO Box 280 • Gig Harbor, WA 98335

Copyright ©1997 by William R. Marvin.

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or

mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system without

permission in writing from the publisher. For information, please contact Hospitality Masters Press,

PO Box 280, Gig Harbor, W A 98335.

An exception to the above conditions is hereby granted to a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a

review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper. Exception is also granted to a trade association or other

industry organization which may excerpt sections of no more than 300 words for inclusion in a non-

commercial newsletter with the following credit line: “Excerpted with permission from 50 Proven Ways to

Build Restaurant Sales & Profit available from Hospitality Masters Press, Gig Harbor, W A. (800) 767-

1055.”

This publication is intended to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject

matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal,

accounting or other professional services. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the

services of a competent professional person should be sought.

Photo Credits

Page 125 – Lucien Capehart Photography, Palm Beach, FL

Page 127 – Terry Blackburn Photography, Houston, TX

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 97-70023

ISBN 0-9656262-0-2

ATTENTION ASSOCIATIONS AND MULTI-UNIT OPERATORS:

Quantity discounts are available on bulk purchases of this book for premiums, sales promotions,

educational purposes or fund raising. Custom imprinting or book excerpts can also be created to fit

specific needs.

For more information, please contact our Special Sales Department

Hospitality Masters Press, PO Box 280, Gig Harbor, W A 98335

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Table of Contents

About the Hospitality Masters Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

PART 1

Build Sales1. Marketing: keep it in the neighborhood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Tom Feltenstein

2. Get flexible, get cozy, get wealthy! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Phyllis Ann Marshall

3. Expectations: the key to guest satisfaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Susan Clarke

4. Pre-shift sales briefing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Bill Main

5. Build sales through environmental enhancement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Gloria Boileau

6. Start a late night menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Bill Marvin

7. Change your menu to spark customer traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Tom Feltenstein

8. “WOW” your sales: the ZORK interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Barry Cohen

9. Wine sales for dummies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Howard Cutson

10. Pick a signature item and grow for it! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Phyllis Ann Marshall

11. Making discounts work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Tom Feltenstein

12. Your uniforms leave a lasting impression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Gloria Boileau

13. The specialty drink menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Howard Cutson

14. Tap the power of sampling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Bill Main

15. Build sales by creating more value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Susan Clarke


16. Stop wasting ... people! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Phyllis Ann Marshall

17. Be #1 without being #1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Tom Feltenstein

18. Sales mix: a tool for creating profit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Ron Yudd

19. Alcohol-free alternatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Howard Cutson

20. Lunch on the Fast Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Jim Laube

21. Put empty space to use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Phyllis Ann Marshall

22. Color influences buyers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Gloria Boileau

23. Scripting and role play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Bill Main

24. Zone merchandising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Tom Feltenstein

25. Build loyalty, not the check average . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Bill Marvin

PART 2

Control Costs

26. Beat the clock to raise productivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Jim Laube

27. Position descriptions that improve productivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Bill Marvin

28. Checklist for a profitable purveyor relationship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Ron Yudd

29. Garbage – a blinding flash of the obvious . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Bill Main

30. Improve beverage controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Howard Cutson

31. Lower Worker’s Comp premiums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Jim Laube

32. Purchasing for profit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Ron Yudd

33. Change your work week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Bill Marvin

34. Avoid the great bartender rip-off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Howard Cutson

35. Develop inventory statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Jim Laube


PART 3

Adopt Profitable Ideas

36. Screen applicants, not applications! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Peter Good

37. “WOW” your staff: create psychological ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Barry Cohen

38. Open your books to maximize performance! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Rudy Miick

39. 24-hour recruiting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Peter Good

40. The power of presence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Bill Marvin

41. “WOW” your community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99Barry Cohen

42. Hire your way to profit! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Rudy Miick

43. Just say charge it! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Jim Laube

44. “WOW” management: just TEAM it! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Barry Cohen

45. The wrong trainer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Peter Good

46. Hiring a bartender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Howard Cutson

47. The menu gauntlet: only the strong survive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Ron Yudd

48. Employee evaluations in 10 minutes or less . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Peter Good

49. Higher motivation = lower turnover + more profit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Susan Clarke

50. Art & Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117Rudy Miick

Contributing Authors

Background and contact information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

50 Proven Ways to Build Restaurant Sales & Profit 11

ABOUT THE HOSPITALITY MASTERS SERIES

You may have heard the old exchange:

Q: What is the secret of success?

A: Success comes from good judgement.

Q: Well, where does good judgement come from?

A: Good judgement comes from experience.

Q: OK, but where does experience come from?

A: Experience comes from bad judgement!

The joke would be funnier if it weren’t so accurate!

Have you noticed that the School of Hard Knocks has a high enrollment? Whenwrestling with a problem, have you ever wished you could pick the brain of anindustry expert who has “been there and done that” instead of just volunteeringfor yet another “valuable learning experience”?

Well, that is precisely the purpose of the Hospitality Masters Series of books.

We tapped the leading consultants and speakers in the foodservice and lodgingindustries for their most successful ideas on a series of topics essential tosuccess in hospitality.

Hospitality Masters Press was formed to collect these gems, distilled from yearsof industry experience with their own (and other’s) triumphs and tragedies, andpresent them in bite-sized pieces that even the most harried manager can quicklydigest and apply.

The consultants, speakers and authors whose ideas are collected here are thebest of the best in our business. At any meaningful gathering of industry leadersin North America, one or more of these experts is probably sharing insights in astanding-room only seminar or workshop.

When the leading operators in the US and Canada look for professional counsel,these are the names on the “short list.” Our contributing authors produce thetapes that encourage and inspire thousands, conduct the seminars that leadoperators to higher profitability and write the books that become standard industryreferences.


50 Proven Ways to Build Restaurant Sales and Profit is the first in a mostvaluable and exciting series. We welcome any comments you may have on thisbook as well as your suggestions for future titles.

We believe the books in the Hospitality Masters Series belong in the professionallibrary of every foodservice and lodging executive ... and we hope you will agree.

INTRODUCTION

Profitability is the interaction between income and expense. If you can increaserevenue or lower costs, you are likely to have more money on the bottom line. Ifyou can do both, you are guaranteed more profit.

Increase salesThe most immediate way to build the bottom line is to boost sales. You do nothave a cost problem that cannot be covered by higher volume. In the pages thatfollow, you will find tested ideas to help you gain more sales from your existingcustomers as well as powerful ways to bring in new patrons.

Control costsThe other piece of the profitability puzzle is costs. Nobody ever got rich by savingmoney but you can not afford to waste your resources. Because this book isintended for the seasoned manager, we did not spend time writing about moreconventional ways to control costs (like portion control.) You should already knowabout things like that. The cost control section includes potent but less obviousideas on how to save money and get more bang for your buck.

Adopt profitable ideasFinally, because hospitality enterprises are organic entities, the book includes afew ideas that are a bit more on the philosophical plane to help start you thinkingon a more profitable level. If you can allow yourself to open up to some newdirections, you may be surprised at the possibilities you will start to see.

About this bookThis is not a “how-to” manual. In fact, you may find seemingly contradictory ideasin here. The industry experts we have gathered in this book cannot tell you howyou should run your business – the goal is only to share ideas that have workedfor others. You must decide which ones, if any, are appropriate for you.


Each thought in this book has been condensed to its bare essence so some mayraise more questions than they answer. If this happens, the contributing authorscan provide more clarification ... but only if you ask (and we hope you will)!Contact information is included at the end of the book.

How to use this bookThis book is a collection of bullet-proof ideas from battle-tested veterans – use itthat way. Keep it close and refer to it often. Ideas you are not ready for todaymight be perfect answers a few months or years from now.

In the electronic version, we added a column for notes and action items. Wesuggest that you print out the pages and read them with pencil in hand. Add yourown thoughts when a new idea strikes you. Over time these accumulated insightswill prove as valuable as anything we might have written.

Get copies of this book for all key members of your management team and havepass-around copies for your staff. The cost is minimal and the potential gain ishuge. (Helping others to make you more money is a very smart thing to do!)

A closing thoughtGood ideas won’t make you rich – it is only the application of good ideas that willmake life better. This purpose of this book is only to start you thinking. Ultimately,the real power in these ideas may not be in the ideas themselves, but rather inthe insights each might trigger for you.

We hope you will adapt these notions to fit your needs and take them to an evenhigher level. Good luck!

Bill MarvinEditor

Part 1

BUILD SALES


1MARKETING: KEEP IT

IN THE NEIGHBORHOODby

Tom Feltenstein

Imagine a circle around your restaurant with aradius of three miles. Now, imagine that everyoneoutside that ring disappears. You would hardlynotice the effect on your business!

Our research shows that nearly 80% of restaurantsales – whether a one-store independent or amember of a major chain – come from within thethree-mile radius that represents yourneighborhood. Are you directing 80% of yourmarketing efforts toward that critical area? Oreven 50%?

The mass marketing myth that the more peopleyou reach, the more business you will attract justdoes not work for neighborhood businesses likerestaurants. The battle for the heart, mind (andpocketbook) of the local patron must be wonblock-by-block, store-by-store and purchase-by-purchase through what we call neighborhoodmarketing.

The neighborhood marketing process begins withfour key functions which will provide the data youneed to target your activities:

Define your customersFor each meal period, find out who your customersare and where they live and work. Over a two-weekperiod, ask all guests for their home and business zipcodes. Record the information by meal periods andtransfer the totals and percentages to a local zip codemap. You may be surprised at the results.

NOTES/ACTION ITEMS


Identify potential promotion partnersPromotion partners are retailers, groups, fund-raisersor facilities you can team with to share customersthrough cross-promotion. For example, you mightdistribute a ticket discount that drives diners to thelocal theater. A discount for after-the-show ticketstubs can drive theater-goers to you.

Identify community eventsCertain community events are potent sales and/orbusiness-building opportunities – parades, concerts,fairs, walk-a-thons, etc. Check your local Chamber ofCommerce for a list of activities.

Collect consumer media informationGather data about local media which will reachpotential customers in and around your trading area.Ask for rate cards as well as information onscheduling and required ad materials. Utilize your zipcode research to help identify your best targets.

Completing these four functions will arm you withimportant knowledge to help develop and targetsuccessful neighborhood marketing programs. Itis your future. Do it now!

Tom Feltenstein, an accomplished author and sought-after speaker, ishailed as the top strategic and neighborhood marketing consultant forthe foodservice and hospitality industry. For more details and contactinformation, see Page 125.

NOTES/ACTION ITEMS


2GET FLEXIBLE, GET COZY,

GET WEALTHY!by

Phyllis Ann Marshall

Guests are no longer willing to sit in dining roomsthat are less than half full and too deadly quiet.(Ever notice how everyone ends up in the kitchenat parties?) Please your guests with guaranteedcozy dining and your sales will grow as a result.

Take chargeYou cannot control the number of guests whoarrive but you can control how full the room looksand how cozy the guests feel. It takes thewillingness to re-organize your seating, thewisdom to change service policies and the abilityto reconfigure the dining areas to match yourvolume of business. It will not happen with hugeopen dining rooms, rigid seating policies or byusing the dreaded “This Section Closed” signs.

Take actionHere are a few suggestions:

• Organize the best seats in the house into clustersand seat them first.

• Use permanent or movable room dividers you canreposition to change the effective size of the room.

• Use visual elements like mirrors, plants, trees,umbrellas, wall hangings, curtains and art objects tobreak up the room.

• Change lighting levels between occupied andunoccupied seating areas.

NOTES/ACTION ITEMS


Comfort by designOne of my most frequent recommendations innew construction (and we have often been able todo it in renovations) is to design several smallerside rooms that can be used for private dining,closed off when not needed or opened to the maindining area at peak times.

If you are really ambitious, movable wall systemsand alternative entrances allow amazing flexibilityin utilizing the restaurants square footage whileaccommodating the guests' needs.

Positive changesIf you effectively use simple techniques like these,guests will seldom even notice that the roomlayout has been altered. In fact, the subtlechanges in the look and feel of the dining areacan actually create variety and warmth in the mealexperience.

The safest way to build volume is to have yourexisting guests return more frequently ... andguests only come back because they want to! Themore comfortable and cozy the guests’ diningexperience, the sooner they will want to repeat it.

Phyllis Ann Marshall, founder of FoodPower, is a visionary who can seeadded profit centers in every nook and cranny of a restaurant. For moredetails and contact information, see Page 129.

NOTES/ACTION ITEMS


3EXPECTATIONS: THE KEY

TO GUEST SATISFACTIONby

Susan Clarke

Hospitality is a business based on expectations.The more a consumer spends, the greaterexpectations he or she will have. Meet thoseexpectations and you will succeed; exceed themand you will prosper.

Reality checkLet's say you eat out and your meal costs $5.00.What are your expectations? You expect the mealwill be a "no-frills" experience – ready quickly, thefood hot or cold enough, probably wrapped inpaper and handed over a counter to be eaten withdisposable utensils in an environment dominatedby plastic.

If these expectations are met, a sort of unspokencontract has been fulfilled between the customerand the restaurant. The value receivedcorresponds with the price charged. Theexpectations have been met. The guest issatisfied.

Now consider a $20.00 meal. Your expectationswill be both different and greater. This time youwill probably expect a china plate, a tablecloth,glassware, metal flatware and personal tableservice.

How about a $50.00 meal? You will surely havegreater expectations but now they have to do withnuance and grace. You expect the decor to bemore elegant, the service more attentive, the food

NOTES/ACTION ITEMS


more fashionable. Perhaps you will expect to beserved on fine china at a table covered in reallinen, perhaps with crystal goblets and sterlingsilver cutlery. These upgrades are importantbecause the customer expects them to be there.

No matter what the price of the meal, when theirexpectations are met, guests are satisfied. Whentheir hopes are exceeded, diners are delighted!

Tune in to expectationsTo assure happy guests, it is important that youunderstand your clientele's expectations. Talk toyour guests and take cues from individual diners'reactions, requests and comments. Only whenyou are clear on the expectations can you hope tosatisfy the unspoken contract between you.

To stay competitive in the '90's, you must staytuned to the changing needs of your customers,cater to those needs regularly and let your staffknow how vitally important they are in the processof providing value and meeting or exceedingguest expectations.

When you do this consistently, you create patronswho are loyal supporters, have no reason to go toyour competition and who feel good aboutspending their money with you,

Susan Clarke is internationally recognized as a high energy/highcontent speaker on attitude, employee motivation, customer serviceand sales. For more details and contact information, see Page 122.

NOTES/ACTION ITEMS


4PRE-SHIFT SALES BRIEFING

byBill Main

In most, if not all full service operations, one areaof opportunity to build volume lies in increasingsales through improved selling skills at the table.

There are virtually hundreds of tactical ideas toassist the waiter or waitress in selling more. But toreally make a difference, today's operator mustfocus on selling strategies that unfold within therestaurant's four walls, from the time that a guestcrosses the threshold until leaving the building.

A realistic goal is to improve communicationbetween the management, the kitchen team andthe server salespeople who are actually talking tothe patrons.

Knowledge is powerThe better equipped servers are to explain,promote and merchandise food items - whetherthe core menu or specials - the more they will sell.Tips will be incrementally higher, add-on sales willbuild and extra profit will be banked.

The approach is to create an environmentconducive to selling, replete with information anddata about what is being served. This can be bestaccomplished by developing an effective pre-shiftsales briefing. Most operators have a shortmeeting with the waitstaff before each meal torelay the specials and describe the fresh orin-season menu items. No big deal.

But it is a big deal, because to competeeffectively, you must make a material investment,

NOTES/ACTION ITEMS


not in a short meeting to share information, butrather in a strategic selling session.

Structure of the meetingI recommend a 30-minute session just before thefloor opens with a well-organized agenda. Eachkey area is thoroughly discussed, with points ofemphasis arranged logically. Having a clearformat for the shift supervisor or floor manager tofollow will help assure that all the servers willlisten attentively.

It is imperative that the pre-shift briefing become amajor priority. It permits the communication that isso crucial to success and it can increase theaverage check, introduce new menu items andinject interest, adventure and excitement into thedining experience.

Get your staff involvedOrient the briefing to food, beverage and service.Have the chef, lead line cook or kitchen managerintroduce the specials, focusing on the uniqueselling propositions that make each itemSPECIAL – unique ingredients, preparationmethods and characteristics. The bar manager or wine steward shouldintroduce the wines that complement the dishproperly. If you have featured before or after-dinner drinks, this is the time to introduce them.Be sure the staff knows what they are and how todescribe them to the guests.

Practice the wordsFinally, the meeting should cover how each itemshould be described to the guest and presentedat the table. Servers need to know what questionsthe guests are likely to have ... and the properanswers.

NOTES/ACTION ITEMS


For example, the soon-to-be-world-famousNebraska Smokehouse features "line caughtColumbia River Sturgeon fillet, lightly smoked withalderwood, then pan seared medium rare, servedwith Tule Lake horseradish, mashed potatoes andsteamed fresh broccoli al dente." With adescription like that, do you think you could sell afew of those?

Keep the focusThe point is to use the meeting to educate yourstaff so that they can educate your guests. If youare willing to make the extra effort, you will berewarded with higher price points and greatervalue perception. Most important, guests willperceive that your food is different, exciting,interesting and even adventurous.

The pre-shift sales briefing is the place tocelebrate the magic of food, drink and hospitality;to establish the knowledge, enthusiasm andmotivation necessary to sell, sell, sell!

This article is condensed from a series of Special Reports published byBill Main & Associates. For more details and contact information, seePage 128.

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5BUILD SALES THROUGH

ENVIRONMENTAL

ENHANCEMENTby

Gloria Boileau

Did you ever think that the position of yourentrance, cash register or range could impact onyour sales? Surprising as it may sound, the layoutof your operation may position you for profoundsuccess or endless struggle.

How does it work?What we call environmental enhancement derivesfrom the ancient Chinese art of object placement.Over 3000 years ago, the Chinese discoveredhow your working environment acts as a mirror ofyourself and your life’s circumstances.

Challenges such as financial debt, poor moraleand difficult staff relations can often be traceddirectly to the surrounding energy imbalances.

By tracing the flow of energy through the space,an environmental enhancement expert can locatethe areas of your environment which correspondto such important issues as finances,relationships, health and career.

When the flow of energy in these physical areasof the environment are obstructed or missing, theenvironmental enhancement consultant mayrecommend changes in the position of objects inthe room, the correct application of color andmuch more to eliminate the problem.

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Three case studiesEnvironmental enhancement may sound a bittheoretical, so let me share a few success storiesto illustrate the impact of this technique:

A San Diego area restaurant doubled its business (to$4 million) within a year after making the followingenvironmental enhancement changes: theyrepositioned the entry door to be in direct view of thepedestrian traffic pattern, placed a large aquariumnear the entrance to enhance prosperity, hung amoving object in the window to catch the eye of thepasserby and changed their bar from a straight linedesign to one that was gently curving. The roundedcurve created harmony and goodwill with theirpatrons.

At the Singapore Hyatt, the entrance doors to thefoyer and cashier’s desk were originally built parallelto the main road. This position had the effect ofcausing the wealth to flow right out of the hotel. Oncethe main doors were realigned at an angle to the roadand fountains built on both sides of the main doors tobring in greater prosperity, the hotel’s businessimproved greatly.

A well-known hotel in a major city was in trouble. Theowners redecorated, implemented a new marketingplan and hired top-flight management. Nothingworked and the property was put up for sale withinthree years. The new owners applied the principles ofEnvironmental Enhancement by relocating a pair ofescalators which directly faced the door to a positionat right angles to the entry, putting a long dormantfountain back into use and applying other techniquesto retain the flow of energy within the property. Thishotel now has one of the highest occupancy rates inits market.

Homework assignmentHere are a few environmental enhancement tipsthat you can implement today:

1. Make your entrance spacious and well-lit. Hangchimes at the entrance – their sound is more effectivethan large signs for attracting patrons. Staircases orescalators should not align directly with the entrance

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as this allows flow of energy to escape the building,resulting in a decrease of revenue.

2. Place your cash register in full view of the door.Hang a large mirror directly behind the register tosymbolically double its contents.

3. The chef should be able to see everybody who isentering the kitchen. If the chef is continually facingaway from the door, he or she will feel an uneasinessthat can set off a chain reaction affecting the chef, thewaiter and eventually the guest. If the range is in acramped area where this situation cannot be avoided,hang a large mirror behind the range to alert the chefto incoming visitors.

Each facility has its own set of specific challengesand consulting an expert will help you assuremaximum results. By following the principles ofenvironmental enhancement, you can positionyour business for greater financial prosperity andbetter relationships with your clientele.

Gloria Boileau helps clients maximize the appeal of their businesseswhile increasing their financial prosperity. For more details and contactinformation, see Page 121.

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6START A LATE NIGHT MENU

byBill Marvin

What kind of business are you doing late in theevening? If you are like most operators, theanswer is probably, “Not much.” How aboutdeveloping a late night meal segment to turnthose wasted hours into increased volume?

A successful example of developing the late nighttrade comes from my current-favorite-restaurant-on-the-planet, Sunset Grill in Nashville,Tennessee. The owner, Randy Rayburn, hasimplemented a late night menu that has come toexceed lunch as a source of revenue. Best of all,he has accomplished this without expending apenny in advertising!

His late night menu consists of some lower foodcost entrees off his regular menu and any itemshe wants to run out. These entrees are offered athalf price from 10:00pm until 1:30am during theweek and from midnight until 1:30am on Saturdaynight. Desserts, coffees and beverages remain atfull price.

His late night sales mix is equally divided betweenfood and beverages. Because of its structure, thelate night menu only runs about four points higherin overall food cost than his regular menu.

A large percentage of Randy’s late night markethas become restaurant people looking for a biteto eat in different surroundings when they get offwork! His staff makes it a point to inform guestsabout the late night deal and they, in turn, pass

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the word along to others. The late night menutakes a smaller kitchen staff to produce and allmanagers are cross-trained on pantry operationsso they can cover in case a kitchen worker calls insick.

Interestingly, Randy discontinued his early birdprogram when the late night menu took off. Itseemed that the market could think of Sunset Grilleither as a place to go early or late ... but notboth. In Randy’s case, he preferred the later business.His early evening business was building up wellwithout any additional incentives and he foundthat his early diners were not particularly price-driven.

This article was adapted with permission from the book Guest-BasedMarketing by Bill Marvin, The Restaurant Doctor. For more details andcontact information, see Page 130.

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http://www.restaurantdoctor.com/books/books.html



7CHANGE YOUR MENU TO

SPARK CUSTOMER TRAFFICby

Tom Feltenstein

New menu products offer the greatest potential forrestaurant traffic increases. But changing themenu must be handled properly if operators are torealize that full potential for expanding sales andprofit.

For example, the dining public in Florida is older,better-educated, more nutrition-conscious andmore drawn to convenience than in the past.These shifts create promising areas for light ornutritious foods, regional taste experiences, foodsnot easily prepared at home and take-out/delivered foods. Each can offer an advantage tothe operator willing to exploit it.

We have evolved a seven-step process that willenable foodservice operators to multiply thesuccess of new menu items almost exponentially.

The following summary will give you a generalidea of the approach:

1. Product identificationWhat items will fit? What meal periods will itaffect? What kind of diner will the new productattract and at what price? Will it work with theexisting equipment and menu structure?

2. Product developmentWhat is the product appearance, packagingand price? How well will it fit into the currentsystem? Can you make enough to satisfyprojected demand?

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3. Consumer testingGo outside your staff for objective focus grouptesting before offering the new product. Listento the public. Go back to the kitchen if yourresults are negative.

4. Test marketingSelect test marketing times and locations thatwill address the development considerationsmentioned under the product developmentstep.

5. Consumer researchOnce the product is in the market, continue toprobe for guest reactions beyond the buy/nobuy decision. Why is (or why isn’t) the productselling?

6. AnalysisHow far will you go to introduce and sell yournew product? What are the incrementalearnings and the costs (equipment, training,advertising, media, point-of-sale materials,etc.) attached to the new product?

7. CommunicationShare your ideas with your entire operation,enlisting everyone’s help in introducing,selling and testing reactions to the newproduct.

These steps may seem involved but ourexperience has shown that following theseguidelines will keep you on the new product pathto business expansion.

Tom Feltenstein, an accomplished author and sought-afater speaker, ishailed as the top strategic and neighborhood marketing consultant forthe foodservice and hospitality industry. For more details and contactinformation, see Page 125.

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8"WOW" YOUR SALES:

THE ZORK INTERVIEWby

Barry Cohen

Have you ever heard of a ZORK? Probably not. AZORK costs $250,000 and looks a lot like aball-point pen. It is your job to sell it to a group ofexecutives from the largest companies in theworld.

Does that sound like a tough sell? Perhaps, but ifyou apply for a job on the service staff at Old SanFrancisco, be prepared to convince my managersthat the ZORK is an invaluable asset, worth everypenny.

The reason? If you can generate enoughenthusiasm to sell a ZORK for $250,000, we areconfident you will easily make the sale on a $20bottle of wine or a five-dollar order of BananasFoster.

The items on your menu are like the imaginaryZORK. Guests only know what you tell them, soyour ability to build sales depends on yourservers' abilities to sell what, to customers, areintangibles.

This is where the ZORK starts to work for us. Ourcheck average is $28, more than double theindustry norm. Does that mean our employees aremore than twice as friendly or intelligent as ourcompetition? As much as I would like to think so,they are not ... but they do a terrific job of selling.

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The reason for our


success is salesmanship.

Starting with the ZORK interview, we require ourstaff to go a step beyond being friendly. Wedemand that they "WOW" guests with theirdescription of that bottle of wine or the BananasFoster flambé. So from the very first time theywear our uniform, they are not only focused onmaking our guests comfortable, but on increasingsales – theirs and ours.

The best servers are those who can "WOW" youwith descriptions of things you have never tried,perhaps even things you never knew existed.(You should see the looks on some guests faceswhen they learn we serve emu and ostrichmeats!)

The ZORK Interview reveals who the mostconvincing salespeople are likely to be. It alsohelps reinforce a simple truth: if you love peopleand are not afraid of an audience, you will begreat, whether you are selling Cherries Jubilee ...or a ZORK!

Barry Cohen is an award-winning chef, national speaker and formerCEO of Old San Francisco Steak House. For more details and contactinformation, see page 123.

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9WINE SALES FOR DUMMIES

byHoward Cutson

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to sell more winein your restaurant! Good thing, since most of usdon't have too many of those on the service staff,anyway! But there are not any trade secrets,either. To sell more wine, you just need to do fourbasic things:

1. Make sure everyone is comfortable with(and skillful at) opening a bottle. Buy a $10bottle corker and a gross of inexpensive, newcorks. Recork your old bottles and requireevery server to open at least 100 bottlesbefore you turn them loose on your guests.

2. Assure that your waitstaff knows how topronounce every wine on the list. Run throughthe wine list at pre-shift meetings, with eachserver pronouncing the next wine on the list.How about a “Trivial Pursuit” challenge forservers where they match food items with thewines on your list? They should also be ableto match wines with appetizers and desserts.“Which wines would you suggest with Rack ofLamb?” “What entrees go best with RobertMondavi Fume Blanc?”

3. Be sure your service staff has tasted thewines you offer. Since wine is most oftenconsumed with food, have them taste winewith menu items. For example, try a PinotNoir and a Chardonnay with the salmonspecial and note how different the food tasteswith each wine. Educate your staff so thatthey can educate your guests. The easiestway to encourage suggestions is just to have

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servers recommend their two favorite whites ortheir two favorite reds – but first they must find outwhat their favorites are!

4. Finally, let your guests know that you sellwine! Put the wine list on the dinner menu –or at least your 20 most popular wines.Suggest a wine under each food item(entrees, appetizers, desserts). Pre-set tableswith wine glasses and perhaps a full bottle ofwine. Have a wine display in the lobby ordining room. If your local laws permit, offer afree taste when a guest is unsure about aparticular wine. Better yet, sell them 2-3“tasting portions” so they can try out somenew wines without risk. Make it easy for yourguests to enjoy wine ... and they will!

If you will make these four simple efforts on adaily, consistent basis, I predict your wine saleswill grow by 20-25%. What have you got to lose?

Howard Cutson is an Ohio-based hospitality training consultant, asought-after speaker and seminar leader. For more details and contactinformation, see Page 124.

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10PICK A SIGNATURE ITEM

AND GROW FOR IT!by

Phyllis Ann Marshall

This is the story of how a simple Chinese ChickenSalad accompanied by freshly baked zucchinibread built a restaurant, a banquet business andbecame the famous Dianne Salad of Pasadena.

The tale starts in 1978 at the GreenstreetRestaurant in Pasadena, California when Dianne,a friend of the owners, developed a knockoutdressing for Chinese Chicken Salad. When theyintroduced the salad, everyone at the restaurantfell in love with it and shared their excitement withother guests.

The popularity of this item grew with the ladies atlunch and the businessmen watching theirwaistlines. The owners christened their new starthe Dianne Salad and added freshly bakedzucchini bread to the dining experience.

The press got wind of the salad fromGreenstreet's fans and the subsequent storiesincreased the salad’s following and reputation. Asa result of the exposure generated by the DianneSalad, Greenstreet was voted the best lunchrestaurant in a popularity poll.

In 1992, the restaurant added a pick-up windowso that Dianne Salad addicts could quickly satisfytheir habits. As the convenience grew so did thelarge orders and soon the Dianne became a partyfavorite.

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The offering grew from plated luncheons to partybags to cartons to feed 200 on 30 minutes notice!

In 1996, we revised the menu, adding all newsalads and the Dianne Salad (in two sizes) isproudly and prominently displayed in a boxedcenter section. We also created a newcombination – New York Steak and Dianne Salad– which placed the salad in a starring role on thedinner menu.

By popular demand, Greenstreet recently added afull banquet facility to provide a new place for theDianne Salad and its friends to party!

How much salad do they sell? Weekly productionexceeds 800 lb. of poached and pulled chicken,125 lb. of warm toasted almonds, 50 cases oflettuce to be finely shredded, a truck full of maifun noodles and cases of fresh oranges forgarnish. This is all in addition to endless batchesof secret dressing that is “just light enough, sweetenough and tangy enough."

So what does all this mean? We calculated thatthe Dianne Salad, directly or indirectly, isresponsible for 30% of the restaurant’s total sales!The next goal is to take the Dianne Salad, thesecret dressing and the zucchini bread into retailproduction.

This shows what can be done with a signaturesalad. What is your restaurant famous for? Whatare you going do with it?

Phyllis Ann Marshall and her company FoodPower help restaurantsmine the gold hidden in their menus. For more details and contactinformation, see Page 129.

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11MAKING DISCOUNTS WORK

byTom Feltenstein

As competition in the quick-service segment heatsup, some chains are relying more and more oncoupons and special discounts to draw sales. Inthe short term, discounting can be effective ingetting consumers to try a new product but youcannot count on this tactic to achieve long termsales gains.

Discounting does not build product loyalty – itssole purpose is to drive customers into therestaurant. The rest – add-on sales, buildingloyalty and repeat visits – are challenges therestaurant must meet after the customer arrives atthe counter.

The problem is that, over time, discounting willraise questions about your pricing structure.

For example, if an ice cream cone sells for $1.25and you continue to offer 25¢-off coupons, youtrain guests that ice cream cones are worth $1.00.If such promotions go on, $1.00 is the only pricethey will feel comfortable paying. The trick is todiscount in such a way that does not sabotage theintegrity of your menu.

Rule OneThe first rule of effective discounting is that, once youestablish the retail price for a menu item, particularlya signature item, never discount it. A product’s priceis part of its position in the marketplace. Discounting itwill have a detrimental effect on the perception notonly of that item but of your whole store or chain.

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Rule TwoThe second rule of effective discounting is to neveroffer a promotion that weakens the credibility of yourretail price structure. Create a package separate fromyour regular offering, one that will not negativelyaffect guests’ perception of the value and price of themenu.

In the case of new items, establish a retail price, thenoffer a reduced price as an introductory offer only. Aftera predetermined period, bring the price up to the fullretail level. Better yet, offer to give away one new itemfree for a limited time – it will encourage people to come

to your store and, ideally, lead to sales of other items.

Offering discounts to an existing customer basewill not give you the benefits of increased trial orrepeat business. Instead, it may erode years ofpositioning efforts. If you rely on discountingpromotions, you must take a longer look at youroperation.

Don’t use discounting casually to build sales. Thelong-term effect will be reduced respect for yourmenu and pricing structure. Use discounting tobuild traffic during specific periods, to generateinterest in new products or even newly-refurbished stores.

Remember, too, that once you get your customersin the store, it will take more than a cents-offcoupon to keep them coming back.


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12YOUR UNIFORMS LEAVE

A LASTING IMPRESSIONby

Gloria Boileau

Nonverbal communication is six times morepowerful than the words we express. This meansthat the image you project reflects a message thatultimately can influence the success of yourbusiness. Guests will decide on your competenceand credibility within seven seconds, based uponthe visual image you and your employeespresent.

Dress for successTake a look at your uniforms. Does it project aspecific style? Does the style complement thelook and mood of the operation? Is the colorflattering to the skin tone of the employee wearingit? Does it fit properly? Does it allow the person toexpress their uniqueness?

The style of your uniforms expresses the image ofthe restaurant or hotel. For example, the staff at aMexican-themed operation might wear ethnic garbconsistent with the restaurant’s decor.Congruency in style will elicit a positive responsefrom your guests and you will be perceived asconsistent in your work.

Living colorsEach of us has a spectrum of color which isideally suited to our own natural coloring and it isimportant to stay within your own individual colorspectrum. When you do, you look healthy, richand energetic. You deliver a subliminal messageof harmony and strength.

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When you are not within the appropriate colorspectrum, you convey a look of sallowness,disorder and ill health – definitely not the imageyou want to project to your paying customers.

Choose wisely, choose wellHere are some guidelines in the choice ofuniforms:

1. Jackets, pants and skirts should be solidcolor with prints only in the tie or blouse. Navyand teal are the most widely accepted colorsand most appropriate to all classes of people.

2. The uniform should fit – not only in size butin look as well. A long jacket elongates andslenderizes the silhouette while short jacketsmake most people look wider. Wearing darkcolors on the bottom makes the individuallook taller and thinner.

3. Appropriate accessories give the outfit acompleted look and provide an effective wayfor your staff to express their uniqueness.Give your employees some guidelines andallow them to make the choice. Whenemployees are allowed to make choicesabout the uniform they are more invested inthe process and will take more responsibilityfor projecting a positive image.

When your visual image is positive andconsistent, guests feel more comfortable, have amore pleasant experience and are more inclinedto linger. You work hard to create a pleasantambiance. It is only smart to select uniforms thatwill maximize your image ... and your sales!

Gloria Boileau is an internationally-recognized professional speakerspecializing in environmental enhancement, image andcommunications. For more details and contact information, see Page121.

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13THE SPECIALTY DRINK MENU

byHoward Cutson

Do you want to boost your beverage alcohol salesby 30-50%? If you will take the time and expendthe effort to create a truly exciting drink library,you can sell more beverages, control inventories,raise check averages and build more satisfiedguests at the same time. (And you can even getsome assistance from your suppliers if you ask‘em!)

Here are some key factors to keep in mind whendesigning specialty drink menus:

Stay focusedRemember your overall concept and the clienteleyou want to attract. What are your guestscurrently drinking and how can you upgrade thosedrinks? Could you make that Margarita a “GoldStandard Vodkarita?” Could your Bloody Marybecome a “Hot-as-You-Can-Make-It Mary?” Youwant drinks that fit your concept and arememorable to your guests.

Build in the Ooh! factorUse interesting, distinctive glassware and colorful,fresh, oversized garnishes. You want drinks todraw attention when they are carried through theroom. Listen for guests saying, “Ooh! I want one”or asking, “Ooh! What’s that?” Look for aspontaneous positive reaction when the drink isplaced in front of the guest. If you are not hearingthose “Ooh!” comments, re-work your drinkpresentations until you do!

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Be realisticWhen you develop your list, keep in mind theskills of your bartenders and the limitations of yourbar equipment. Drinks that take too long to getfrom the bar or which are inconsistently preparedjust will not be suggested – or sold – to the guest!

Integrate the drink listThe best way to sell more drinks is to build thedrink list into your food menus. Give each drink acolorful name and a tantalizing description. Do notforget the classic cocktails – they are making abig comeback!

Include pre-dinner suggestions on the appetizermenu. Devote a portion of your dinner menu tothe wine list. Build an after-dinner drink library intoyour dessert menu. This way your guests will bethinking of their beverage choices when they aremaking their food selections. Now if your serviceteam remembers to simply recommend theirfavorites ...

By the way, have you ever sat at the bar of aPlanet Hollywood and watched the servicebartender? Every other order is one of theirsignature drinks ... at prices ranging from $5.50 to$13.95! Wouldn’t you like a piece of that action?

Howard Cutson is a customer satisfaction consultant specializing in baroperations and creative service training. For more details and contactinformation , see Page 124.

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14TAP THE POWER

OF SAMPLINGby

Bill Main

Sampling is the purest form of menumerchandising possible. Enticing the guest with acomplimentary sample of a menu item appeals toall of the senses – taste, sight and smell.Tantalizing those taste buds creates an impulsebuy situation that keeps guests coming back formore.

There are five important points to manage toassure successful sampling:

1. Designate a serverChoose one person from each shift to interactwith the guests and offer the samples. You wantan outgoing person - usually a server, skilledbusser or food runner - who loves people, has aready smile, a generous nature and loves to havefun. In addition to a higher hourly wage, you mayalso offer them a bonus for every order purchasedas a result of their product introduction viasampling.

2. Use special serving piecesPurchase special platters with colorful artwork thatcorresponds to the theme of the food beingsampled. Heavy southwestern platters with cactusand chili pepper artwork can be used whensampling Mexican cuisine. A heavy white platterwith a decorative blue design will nicelyaccentuate a sampling of Jumbo Sea Scallops ina special marinade.

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3. Pay attention to presentationServe sampled items in small portions that areeasy to handle. Try to create small plates toshare. There is no better way to introduce the funof sampling than by creating a mini-event in whichall guests in a party participate. People love togive their opinions and the objective views of yourguests about new food items is powerfulinformation.

4. Create a unique uniform or dress

designationA special hat, sash, apron, button, wristlet,choker, tie or shirt for the server will make thesampling process fun, interesting and visuallyexciting. A young woman in a sailor's hatpresenting samples of deep fried clams or a malebartender in a tuxedo offering a new line ofdomestic caviar, will help energize your guestsaround the food.

5. Develop and practice the verbal scriptThis is show business. With your "samplingteam," discuss how guests should beapproached, what should be said and howresponses should be framed. Then take the timeto actually practice the narrative at least ten timesbefore going out on the floor. Have the samplinginterns discuss which script sounds the best – itmust come across naturally to give credibility tothe product being sampled.

Everybody loves something for nothing andoffering guests samples of your featured itemscan prime the pump for increased sales.


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15BUILD SALES BY

CREATING MORE VALUEby

Susan Clarke

Operators keep saying that times are tough in the'90's. Between the "perceived" recession and the"reality" of all your competition, I can understandwhy they might feel that way ... but they arewrong!

Stop whining!Times are only tough for operators who are notfocused on the primary reason they are inbusiness – their customers! Customers pay yourrent and put food on your table. Whether you sellcots, cocktails or calamari, you are in the peoplebusiness - and if you don't like people, you willsoon have no business.

No slackThe customers of the ‘90's are less inclined togive your business a second chance than theywere a decade ago. Today's diners have lessmoney to spend and less time in which to spendit. This means that the block of time they allot fordinner at your restaurant is perceived as moreprecious than ever.

Create valueOur industry is based on a very simpleproposition: people want to get "perceived" valuefor the "reality" of the money they spend. Theycan count the reality of what they pay out, butvalue exists in a kind of perceptual gestalt – thewhole is always far more than the sum of its parts.

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Value has three components, the blend of whichcreates the customers perception of quality:product, service and atmosphere.

Quality productThink of your product in a broad,encompassing sense. Product is everythingyou sell: food, beverages, rooms or whatever.Having a quality product requires that you beconstantly improving and working on it. Areyou?

Quality serviceService is about how you and your staffaccommodate the guests. It must be prompt,courteous, competent and just a little bitbetter than your competition. Don't worryabout being miles ahead – just a few stepsahead can make you the restaurant of choice.

Quality atmosphereAtmosphere is a combination of your tangiblephysical assets and the intangible ways theyaffect your customer. The personalatmosphere that you and your staff create ismore important than the design and fixtures. Itis a "positive energy flow" that occurs whenevery member of the staff and managementexudes positive attitude and acts like he orshe truly cares about every guest.

When you are focused on the needs of the guestand you are consistently providing quality andvalue in your product, service and atmosphere,your guests will get that satisfying andcomfortable feeling that makes them feel trulywelcome and eager to spend money with you.


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16STOP WASTING ... PEOPLE!

byPhyllis Ann Marshall

There is a new meaning for waste management:maximizing your human resources – utilizing thetalents of your staff (and your labor dollars) toincrease productivity, quality, pride and profits. Toillustrate, let me share a case study from Mr. StoxRestaurant in Anaheim, California:

The situationThe holidays were approaching and the ownerswanted to corner more market share by offeringoutstanding variety in the bread basket (the firstitem to the table) and to knock guests’ socks offwith memorable desserts (the finishing touch).

The challengeTo do this, they would need a talented, creativepastry department – a pastry chef plus twoassistants – but they would also have to increasepayroll substantially to produce items that wouldnot yield much revenue. The bread basket did notgenerate any extra dollars; the dessert priceswere fairly fixed and often included in banquetpricing. At this point many restaurants wouldthrow out the idea as impractical!

We brainstormed the situation and found ...

The solutionWe added another profit center - retail - at thegreeter stand where the popular breads could besold to go. The pastry chef developed chocolatecaramel almond brittle with a 30-day shelf life.

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The management team branded the candy byplacing it in special containers with elegant Mr.Stox logo stickers. They sold these handsome tinsat the greeter stand during Christmas.

The resultsCreating an attractive display in the front of therestaurant and selling handmade breads andcandy paid for the development of the recipes andthe staff to produce the products. Distributionrequests came in from local gourmet stores andnow Mr. Stox has 20 commercial accounts – amajor branded marketing arm of the restaurant –that generates goodwill, name recognition... andabout $30,000+ a year!

The bottom lineYou can pay for (and keep) better people if youhave more work for them to do. An effective wayto build this additional business is to utilize yourexcess labor hours to create memorable products,items you can use in the restaurant and market inmany other ways to enhance your image andincrease total sales.

When faced with the possibility of excess laborhours, don’t waste people or cut payroll, expandsales!

Phyllis Ann Marshall is a chef herself with creative knowledge of thepossibilities with people, equipment and facilities. For more details andcontact information, see Page 129.

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17BE #1 WITHOUT BEING #1

byTom Feltenstein

You can be number one! That does notnecessarily mean being the biggest or mostprofitable restaurant in town. Rather, it meansidentifying an opportunity and doing a better jobwith it than anyone else.

In marketing circles, this approach is called “nichemarketing.” The trick is to find a niche in whichyou can simply be better than anybody else andexploit that position to achieve maximize growth.

If you have already done this, you know thatachieving this kind of domination and growthrequires mental concentration. The greatestmistake in most growth strategies is to try toexpand into too many areas.

There are four primary ways in which you canclaim a niche and differentiate yourself from thecompetition. The greater your separation from thepack, the more your chances of success. Thisrequires a meaningful difference, not a rehash of“me-too” ideas.

1. Determine the marketChoose a group of consumers that you canturn into devoted fans by appealing to them ina unique way. You must answer the question,“Who can I serve as Number One and howwill I do it?” For example, you could becomeknown as the healthiest place in town, thebest place for families, the most romantic spotor the best dining value in the neighborhood.

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2. Create the experienceProduce a “special kind of experience”consumers get when they visit yourrestaurant(s). This comes from what you canprovide that is different and distinctive inservice or product or a combination of themboth. Don’t hide your differentiation. Go publicto gain and maintain your niche. You wouldbe surprised at how many firms defer orunder-do the advertising and promotion ittakes to own their niche.

3. Control your nicheControl has to do with the penetration of newunits, filling in the gaps on a calculated basis.Cultivate strong relationships with youroperators/managers to keep informed of newopportunities. New market penetrationrequires constant monitoring – do not leave itto chance.

4. Establish valueDo not get into heavy discounting to undersellthe competition. No one can have the lowestprice all the time but you can always giveadded value for the price you charge. Priceand added value can be sold just like yourdifferentiated product or service. You mustbuild and enlarge the perception that whatyou offer the customer is worth more than youare charging.

The opportunity to dominate the market in aterritory that you select is up to you. Withcourage, foresight, and the determination tocreate and sell your own niche, you really can beNumber One!


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18SALES MIX: A TOOL FOR

CREATING PROFITby

Ron Yudd

Monitoring your sales mix on a regular basis willgive you a valuable tool that can assist you ineliminating menu losers while enhancing thewinners.

The sales mix helps you analyze what yourguests like and dislike about your menu, tells youwhat items are selling and at what price andprovides valuable data for future menu decisions.

A sales mix is simply a record of sales per menuitem that shows how the items in each categoryrelate to one another. To illustrate, here is asample sales mix for a four-item appetizer menu:

ITEM SELL NO.SOLD SALES

Nachos $6.95 10 $ 59.50Buffalo wings $5.95 15 104.25Mini pizza $5.50 15 82.50Spinach dip $4.95 20 99.00 TOTALS 60 $345.25

Most computerized point-of-sale systems can beprogrammed to generate this information in asmuch detail as you want. Sales mix data providesthe menu maker with the following information:

PopularitySales mix figures will show you the popularity ofan item as it relates to other selections in itscategory. In the example above, the spinach dipsells twice as many orders as the nachos.

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Price pointsSales mix data helps you identify how much theguests like to spend in each category. Our samplesales mix shows that sales of specific appetizeritems decrease as their price increases. However,guests do not seem to make a distinction between$5.50 and $5.95. This helps you identify moreprofitable ways to structure your menu forenhanced guest appeal.

PreferencesThe sales mix shows the types of foods thatguests are choosing – poultry vs. beef or pastasover seafood. Trends can be easily discoveredand used to create new menu items.

PlanningThe sales mix also provides a way to estimate thesales of individual menu items based on projecteddaily sales. For example, let’s say that pastrecord-keeping indicates that 20% of your totalfood sales are represented by appetizer sales.Your food sales projection for the coming week is$30,000. You can safely project appetizer sales ofabout $6,000.

Your sales mix shows that Buffalo Wingscomprise 30% of the dollar value of appetizersales, so you can estimate $1800 in wing sales.At a price of $5.95, you now can project sales of300 orders of Buffalo Wings next week, a greathelp when planning your purchases andscheduling prep staff.

Ron Yudd is an experienced speaker, trainer and consultant who helpsoperators design profit strategies and re-energize their passion forservice. For more details and contact information, see Page 132.

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19ALCOHOL-FREE ALTERNATIVES

byHoward Cutson

At a time when overall alcohol sales are virtuallyflat, smart operators are creating increases inbeverage sales by capitalizing on the hot no-alcohol category. We have seen clients takealcohol-free sales to over 10% of total sales withvery little effort! Here are a few thoughts to helpyou maximize no-alcohol revenue:

Virgin specialsHow about alcohol-free versions of your best-selling signature drinks? Whether kids, non-drinkers or designated drivers, everybody likessomething special – the alcohol content is notrequired. Bonus: selling a special drink instead ofsoft drinks or coffee keeps you from having tooffer those expensive free refills!

N/A beers and winesThis is a must-have category! Carry at least oneAmerican product and one import – more isbetter. Your staff will get questions, so be surethey have tried the products and can describethem clearly.

CoffeeCoffee is hot (no pun intended!) Get serious aboutit! Use high-quality beans and grind them justbefore brewing. Use colorful, over-sized cups.Offer a selection of special and flavored blends.

Don’t just serve coffee, develop a coffee program.In most markets, an espresso machine is still oneof the best investments you can make – provided

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your staff is well-trained in product knowledge andcorrect brewing procedures.

The key to coffee sales growth is guest education.To reduce the fear of trying something new, offera card entitling guests to try specialty coffeedrinks for the same price as a regular cup ofcoffee. Once they understand the difference, theywill be hooked!

TeasDon’t forget about tea! Offer a selection –flavored, decaf, herbal, hot, iced, spiked, bottled,freshly-brewed, make-your-own, etc. You willimprove guest satisfaction and add to incrementalsales.

JuicesHow about fresh-squeezed juices – orange,lemon, lime, grapefruit? What about pineapple,mango and even papaya? They create a qualityimage, give your drinks a distinctive flavor profileand even add color to your back bar. Thepremium that you can charge for them adds up aswell!

WaterMost servers still pour ice water before attemptingto sell an alternative. Offer a selection of bottledwaters at reasonable prices and you will besurprised what you can move – still waters,sparkling waters, spring waters, glacial waters,flavored waters, imported waters and hundredsmore! Mention the options before automaticallyreaching for the water pitcher!

Howard Cutson is Principal of Cutson Associates, a customer-servicefocused consulting firm based in Hudson, Ohio. For more details andcontact information, see Page 124.

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20LUNCH ON THE FAST TRACK

byJim Laube

Time is everyone’s most precious asset,particularly at lunch. Guarantee that your lunchcustomers will get their food served quickly andyou may serve more lunch customers as a result.Here is how it works:

Using a sign or banner, announce something like“FAST TRACK LUNCH – served in 15 minutes orit’s FREE!” Buy plastic stop watches (about $5 atWal-Mart) to place at each table. After customersplace an order, the server starts their stop watch.The food must be delivered to the table within 15minutes or lunch is on the house.

You may want to limit the offer to certain menuitems, modify the allowed time when appetizersare ordered with an entree or exclude parties overa certain size. The fewer restrictions, the morepotent the offer.

The risk, of course, is that you could lose yourshirt if you do not have your act together.However, if you cannot deliver food promptly atlunch, it is already costing you money – you justdon’t know how much!

The upside? Some operators I work with reportlunch sales increases of 30-40% – more thanenough sales to offset the risk of giving away afew meals!

This idea is taken from the seminar “How to Improve Restaurant &Foodservice Profitability” presented by Jim Laube, CPA, founder of theCenter for Foodservice Education. For more details and contactinformation, see Page 127.


21PUT EMPTY SPACE TO USE

byPhyllis Ann Marshall

To turn vacant chairs into cash, develop a plan toattract private parties, banquets and off-hourbusiness meetings. The sound of a guaranteednumber of guests at a fixed price is sweet musicto the ears of all restaurateurs. It also provides therestaurant with exposure to new guests and setsthe stage for off-site catering.

Where to startA great place for many restaurants to startbuilding banquet and private party business iswith Saturday weddings. If your banquet spacecan be configured to open onto a garden-likepatio room for both the ceremony and reception,you have got a gold mine!

Weddings can be scheduled regularly Saturdaysfrom 10am until 4pm. The profit on this businessis sizable and the favorable exposure to a largenumber of potential customers (particularly theyoung adults) will help keep your restaurantgrowing.

Tools to build businessYour toolbox should include: hotel stylestanchions to announce the name of the function(they can also display a generic messagepromoting your banquet facilities), handsomechairs and tables, good table coverings, easilyconvertible flower arrangements, flexible lightingon dimmers, buffet service trays and chafingdishes. You can often save money by buyingthese used from a rental company’s stock.

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External marketingSeveral of my clients have established a part timemarketing position to help book functions to filltheir empty seats. We usually structure the job asminimal wage against a percentage of sales.

This is a perfect post for someone who wants todo most of their work from home. Look for a paststaff member who has left to raise a family orperhaps a retiree in the area.

Internal marketingInclude information on your banquet services as atable tent, include a mention on the menus, put aposter in the lobby. Make a professionalpresentation in the hallway leading to therestrooms. Any area of the restaurant whereguests linger is prime space to let them knowwhat you have to offer.

Phyllis Ann Marshall helps independent restaurants and small chainswho wish to grow. For more details and contact information, see Page129.

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22COLOR INFLUENCES BUYERS

byGloria Boileau

McDonald’s sells billions of burgers. Theirsuccess is due, in part, to the colors they use toinfluence their patrons to buy. The psychological effect of color is profound – it isthe first item the brain perceives. Your decor,menus, product design, packaging, displays,brochures and advertising all make a statementabout your business to customers. Your choice ofcolor can enhance or detract from thepersuasiveness of your business, so it isimportant to learn to use color effectively.

Scientists are continuing to study the power ofcolor and the way it works but there is ampleevidence that color affects blood pressure, mood,eye movement, body temperature, respiration andglandular activity – effects that are subconsciousand uncontrollable.

Here are some guidelines to remember whenworking with color.

Navy is the most acceptable color to all classes ofpeople and is universally accepted throughout theworld. Use it when you want to appeal to a generalmix of customers.

Black, conveys strong authority and power. It canoften intimidate people unless softened by anothercolor.

The color white is emotionally negative by itselfbecause it is perceived as bleak and sterile.Balancing it with another color makes it morepleasing.

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Red is the most dominant and dynamic of all colors. Itvibrates 12% faster than any other color andincreases the nervous tension which creates action.Red can be very effective when you want a responsefrom your customers.

The color yellow is considered energizing andcheerful. It stimulates learning, especially when usedin its clearest, brightest tone.

Green, especially a grass green, is a balancing color.The color green reduces nervous and musculartension.

Here are some tips for accurate color usage:

1. White walls with a red or black accent are the bestcolor combination in the kitchen. The white will showoff the colors of the food.

2. The restaurant dining area may be multicolored butdo not exceed more than three colors or the brain willhave a hard time. Dining room colors should create afeeling of pleasure, comfort and happiness. Avoidusing red in the bar area because it can inspire anargument.

3. Outside signage should be brightly colored andmoving, if possible, to catch the eye of the customer.Red and yellow is always a winning combination – itcreates the illusion of time slowing down. Yellowmakes the person feel cheerful and red gets theminto action. Suddenly the customer is in yourrestaurant, not at your competitors’. Just look atMcDonald’s colors!

The conscious selection of color is critical to thesuccess of your business. Used correctly, colorwill give you the competitive edge and willincrease your sales in today’s fast changingenvironment.

Gloria Boileau is an internationally-recognized professional speakerspecializing in environmental enhancement, image andcommunications. For more details and contact information, see Page121.

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23SCRIPTING AND ROLE PLAY

byBill Main

Effective training builds sales. Scripts and roleplay are a great way to train service staff, greetersand bussers. Here are three good examples fromthe soon-to-be-world-famous NebraskaSmokehouse:

GreetersA new host is in training. It is his third night onduty, but his first alone at the front desk in themain entry. He practiced the correct telephoneanswering script repeatedly in training. In thiscase, the appropriate telephone response is:"Good evening, Nebraska Smokehouse, home ofhickory smoked Prime Rib! May I help you?"

Now the supervisor can observe the host actuallyanswering the telephone to be sure the trainee isfamiliar with how the words flow and that hisdelivery sounds natural. Three repetitions isusually enough to determine if more training isneeded.

BussersBussers are responsible for pouring water at tableside. It is late spring in Nebraska, so ice water isbeing requested more and more frequently.

At the pre-shift briefing, the managerdemonstrates and discusses the proper pouringtechniques:

s refill the glass only when the water level is 50% or lower s leave ½” at the top of the glass to avoid spillage s whenever possible, pour from the left of the guest

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These three points of water service can detractfrom the total dining experience if not executedcorrectly.

During the pre-shift meeting, each busser caneasily demonstrate his or her water-pouringtechnique in 1-2 minutes. Practice does indeedmake perfect.

ServersThe servers at the Nebraska Smokehouse want tobuild a devoted following of guests who ask forthem personally. Moreover, the restaurant'smarketing plan specifies a significant investmentin a frequency program, which builds loyaltybuying patterns and focuses on return business.

The pre-shift briefing is used for role-playing avery effective guest communication discipline –don't just thank the guests when the check is paidand the meal has ended, invite them to return.

The script could look like this: "Thank you verymuch. Please come back and see us, and ask forme personally." Servers should repeat thisphrase, or variations on this idea, aloud severaltimes until they are comfortable and the deliveryfeels natural.

Your goal is to create consistently, not robots, sogive your crew some latitude. If you do not giveyour staff direction, they will just make somethingup! Used properly, scripts and role-play help yourstaff better understand what you want and how todeliver it.


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24ZONE MERCHANDISING

byTom Feltenstein

To succeed in the foodservice marketing game,focus your efforts on consumers within a 10-minute drive time of your restaurant. Thesepeople make up 75% of your customer base. Anincredible 87% of quick-service diners travel onlythree to five minutes to eat.

What this means is that, if you are smart and donot have unlimited funds(!), you should spendyour marketing dollars within your four walls,inside your property line and in your immediateneighborhood.

The place to begin a productive marketingcampaign is right inside your restaurant – aconcept known as “four walls marketing” – with apowerful technique I call zone merchandising.

Divide your restaurant into merchandising zones –essentially message centers from which you cansend signals to your customers. Zonemerchandising will turn your restaurant into amedium within itself – one that is far moreeffective than radio, television or print.

Here are just a few examples of salesopportunities within your restaurant’smerchandising zones:

Lobby zone: decals, easel posters, suggestionboxes, danglers

Front counter zone: register toppers, brochures,matches


Bar zone: posters of dramatic drinks, point ofpurchase (point of persuasion) opportunities

Dining room zone: special boards, danglers, tabletop displays, menus, napkins, wine lists, after-dinnertreats

Bathroom zone: point of persuasion opportunities,newspapers, music

Employee zone: pre-shift meetings to encourageteam work, uniforms, selling suggestions

Kitchen zone: incentive contests

Valet zone: greeters, vacuuming card, thank youcards, windshield washing

Drive-thru zone: streamers, windshield washing,menus, handing out doggy bones

Delivery and carry-out zone: car signage, take-outmenus

Office zone: messages on hold, answering machine,telephone scripts

Parking lot zone: landscaping, cleanliness

Property line zone: banners, awnings, sandwichboards, marquees

When planning merchandising zones, rememberthat what the eye sees, it buys. To catch the eyeof your guests, make your displays colorful andcreative.

Effectively implementing neighborhood marketingmethods such as zone merchandising hasenabled many restaurants to increase sales asmuch as 10% within 120 days.


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25BUILD LOYALTY,

NOT THE CHECK AVERAGEby

Bill Marvin

Let's say your typical guest comes in twice amonth and your average check is ten dollars perperson. Let's also say that you would like a 50%sales increase (who wouldn't?) What are youroptions?

Option 1: Increase the Check AverageYou could try to increase your average check to $15 andhope that people would still come in as often as they didbefore. You might be able to pull this off but I would notwant to bet on it.

Most operators tell me their guests have a certain amountthey are comfortable spending in any given situation.Pressure to increase the per person expenditure couldresult in lowered guest counts. Raising the average checkis not likely to work.

Option 2: Invest in PromotionYou could invest heavily in promotion but promotion canalso be expensive. Every cost you add raises the salesrequired to net out a 50% increase. Besides, the odds ofcoming up with a campaign that would produce aconsistent 50% sales increase are also pretty slim.Promotion is usually not the answer.

Option 3: Increase FrequencyWhat are the odds that you could treat your guests in sucha way that instead of coming in twice a month, they wouldcome in three times a month? Pretty good, I'll bet.

Just one more visit a month would provide that50% sales increase ... without any increase inaverage check and without any increasedpressure on the guests or your service staff!

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If you can give your guests such a goodexperience that they come to you instead ofpatronizing your competition, you cannot help butincrease your volume.

The secret is frequencyYou see how it works? A 50% sales increaseseems impossible, but getting guests to comeback one more time a month seems prettyreasonable. And it is.

After all, your guests are eating somewhere, whyshouldn't it be with you?

Even if guests come in twice a week, one morevisit a month is still a 12½% sales increase, againwithout any pressure to increase the averagecheck.

Focus on delightSo the safest way to achieve sales growth is tohave your guests return more often. In this mode,your goal is to delight your guests, win their trustand earn their loyalty rather than simply trying toincrease the average per person sale.

Don’t get me wrong – if a guest wants to spendmore money, I have no problem in taking it withgratitude and a smile! But it is about time westopped having such a fixation on how much ourguests spend on each visit and started putting ourenergies toward increasing the number of timesthey visit!

Higher checks are OK, but ...Now the two are not necessarily incompatible – it

is possible to build both repeat patronage and thecheck average. However, I place the focus on thehuman side of the equation because foodserviceis a business based on personal relationships.

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I do not believe that success in building theaverage per person sale will guarantee guestloyalty or repeat patronage nor will it necessarilysustain long term sales growth.

On the other hand, I firmly believe that success inbuilding guest loyalty and repeat patronage willalways increase total revenue and sustain it overthe long term.

This article was adapted with permission from the book Guest-BasedMarketing by Bill Marvin, The Restaurant Doctor. For more details andcontact Information, see Page 130.

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Part 2

CONTROL COSTS


26BEAT THE CLOCK TO

RAISE PRODUCTIVITYby

Jim Laube

Many operators report a steady decline in thegeneral work ethic among workers. To light a fireunder newly hired workers, here is a techniquethat can help build time awareness and get newhires in particular more productive in less time.

Have new staff members wear a plastic stopwatch around their necks for the first few weeks oftraining. Whenever the trainee begins a task (likeprepping 20 pounds of shrimp or bussing andresetting a 6-top), start the watch. When the taskis completed, stop the watch. Compare theelapsed time to a standard for performing thetask. Each person can keep track of their owntimes so they can see their progress.

In any event, staff members "on the clock" knowthe watch is ticking and someone is going tonotice. It can also be motivating for workers tobeat their own – and their co-workers’ – besttimes.

Of course, you must monitor performance to besure that short-cuts are not taken at the expenseof quality. However, if applied properly, thisapproach can help your staff develop anappropriate sense of urgency and achieve higherproductivity in less time.

This idea is taken from the seminar “How to Improve Restaurant &Foodservice Profitability” by Jim Laube, CPA, founder of the Center forFoodservice Education. For more details and contact information, seePage 127.

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27POSITION DESCRIPTIONS

THAT IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITYby

Bill Marvin

Position descriptions are like a road map to yourorganization – properly constructed, they helpyour staff find their way and better understand thegame you are asking them to play.

The problem with most job descriptions is thatthey are little more than lists of activities (“do this,do this, do this”). I call these activity-based jobdescriptions since they focus on the activities thatwe want people to engage in.

I have worked in operations with activity-basedjob descriptions and had to conduct evaluationsfor workers who were performing poorly. Theyinvariably defended their behavior by showinghow they had, in fact, done every task on their jobdescriptions.

This is akin to claiming to be the world's greatestlover by virtue of having memorized the manual. Itis also about as effective!

Marvin's Law of Creative Laziness says that younever do any more work than is necessary toaccomplish the results you want. In this spirit, Isuggest that you (and your staff) will be better-

served if you define positions in terms of results

instead of activities.

Defining results allows people to interpret theirjobs in a way that works for them. The immediateadvantage is increased productivity, enhanced

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guest service, improved morale, reduced turnover... and more constructive performance appraisals!

A results-based position description has thefollowing four sections:

Position SummaryThis is a succinct statement of the reason the positionexists at all! For example, my server description (I callthem service managers) is summarized as “Delightsrestaurant patrons with responsive food and beverageservice.”

Essential Professional FunctionsThese are activities required in the successfulperformance of the position. A server’s professionalfunctions include selling and serving food andbeverages to guests in the dining room and bar,making change, clearing and resetting tables and soforth.

Results Upon Which Performance is

EvaluatedThis is the real meat of the approach – results bywhich successful performance will be measured. Fora server, these might include “guests regularly ask forthis person’s station, guests are acknowledged withinone minute of being seated, stories of this person’slegendary service abound and similar results.

Qualification StandardsThese are the basic physical requirements of theposition in compliance with ADA guidelines.

What makes results-oriented position descriptionsunique is the ability to define and measure resultsas the primary means of performance appraisal.They also make performance review more of acoaching exercise and less of a personalconfrontation.

Admittedly they take some time to refine and it isimportant to review them carefully before you usethem to be sure they do not call for standards youare not prepared to uphold.

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Better yet, review them with your staff and agreewhat is possible! For example, when a client inPortland, Oregon opened a new restaurant, hemade results-based position descriptions anintegral part of his staff training.

He spent two days with his new crew to reach aconsensus on their jobs. They discussed theresults needed from each job and agreed onmeasurements that would tell if they wereachieving those results. He said he was gratifiedto discover that his new staff had standards thatequaled or exceeded his own!

Managers tell me that managing results is easierand more fun than watching activities. They havefound easier ways to get the work done andimprove the flow of service to the guests. Best ofall, they tell me that staff productivity increases10-20%!

This material was adapted with permission from The Sure-Fire StaffSelection System by Bill Marvin, The Restaurant Doctor. For moredetails and contact information, see Page 130.

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http://www.restaurantdoctor.com/system.html

http://www.restaurantdoctor.com/system.html


28CHECKLIST FOR A PROFITABLE

PURVEYOR RELATIONSHIPby

Ron Yudd

Establishing a positive relationship with apurveyor will make your job easier and enhanceyour opportunities for profits. The followingchecklist will help you select the right vendor inthe first place, review existing purveyors andassist in evaluating new relationships.

q REPUTATIONHow is the purveyor viewed by other food servicebuyers?

q SERVICEWhat is the level of service that this purveyorprovides and how does he react when you needemergency service?

q PRODUCT PRICEAre this purveyor’s prices competitive in themarket? Do they buy in sufficient volume to keepprices low?

q QUALITYDoes this purveyor provide the quality level youdemand?

q CLEANLINESSAre you able to visit the purveyor's plant orwarehouse? What is the condition of the purveyorswarehouse and delivery vehicles?

q BID PRICE AND INVOICE PRICEDoes the purveyor charge on the invoice the pricethat was quoted in the bid?

q QUANTITY PURCHASED VS. DELIVEREDAre there discrepancies between what waspurchased and what was sent on a delivery?

q FREQUENCY OF DELIVERYDoes the purveyor's delivery and frequency meetyour needs and preferences?

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q PERSONNELAre you receiving the level of service that youdesire from the sales, ordering and deliverypersonnel?

q MARKETING/MERCHANDISING SUPPORTDoes the purveyor have a system to help youpromote the food you purchase? Are point-of-purchase and other merchandising materialsavailable? Are recipe materials available andprovided? Can they provide financial or otherassistance in producing menus? Do they havemarketing dollars to invest in promotion?

q PRODUCT CONDITIONIs the condition of the delivered product asrequested? Is the product delivered at safe andproper temperatures? What is the condition of theshipping container? Does any product appear tohave been repackaged? How frequently hasproduct had to be returned?

q CREDIT FOR RETURNED PRODUCTWhat is the response or the level of difficulty inreceiving credit for products that are returned to thepurveyor?

Select purveyors as carefully as you wouldchoose a business partner, for that is what theyare. Any good partnership is built on sharedexpectations and open, honest communication.

This material is adapted from Ron Yudd’s program, 200 Points of Profit.Ron is an experienced speaker, trainer and consultant. For more detailsand contact information, see Page 132.

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http://www.ronyudd.com/products.php


29GARBAGE - A BLINDING

FLASH OF THE OBVIOUSby

Bill Main

Food cost has a profound affect on profitability infull service restaurants. Solid systems areimportant to food cost control but the propertraining of the food preparation staff is equallycritical.

In my experience, as many as 10 points can liebetween the theoretical (ideal) food cost and theactual food cost generated from physicalinventory. For many restaurateurs, these dollarsmake the difference between success and failure(or between making the bank payment or not!)

A restaurant kitchen is a manufacturing plant.Raw materials are purchased, broken down,processed and fabricated for retail sale. If youbelieve your specifications and portions arecorrect, the next place to analyze is theprocedures used in preparation.

Don't look over the shoulders of prep cooks to seeif an 8-ounce fillet of fish really is 8 ounces anddon't personally check to see that raw carrots aretrimmed to ensure maximum yield. If you had thatkind of time, you would do the job yourself.

Instead, modify your employee's behavior. Youwant to ensure that prep cooks break down rawproducts correctly because, whether you are thereor not, they know their work will be checked.

How can this be done?

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Remove the garbage cans from your kitchen!

In their place, substitute plastic bus tubs andplace them strategically throughout the prep area.Instruct the prep crew to deposit all trimmings,cuttings and paper waste in the tubs.

Put a tub rack or baker's rack in a conspicuousplace and have employees place their filled tubsin the rack. At the end of the shift, you or yourkitchen supervisor personally checks the contentsof the tubs to ensure proper preparationprocedures are being followed and raw productsare being correctly trimmed.

This changes the psychological mind set of hourlypreparation workers. They can no longer throwfood waste into a garbage can, never to be seenagain. They become accountable for their work,because it can be monitored.

Showing a prep cook the amount of usable wastein their tub has a dramatic impact. This directfeedback positively affects behavior, work attitudeand morale. It is also an excellent tool forperformance evaluation.

The best result? I have found that this techniquecan lower food cost by 1-2% almost immediately.This proves it – there's gold in those garbagecans!

This article is adapted from Bill Main's top-rated seminar Profit Tools.For more details and contact information, see Page 128.

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30IMPROVE BEVERAGE

CONTROLSby

Howard Cutson

In our Beverage Controls Workshop, we spendover three hours honing in on the basic controlcycle in our efforts to improve beverage profits.

If we were to highlight the single most importantpoint in each step of the control cycle, they wouldbe the following:

Par stocksEstablish effective par stocks for your storeroomand each bar...and live by them.

ReceivingIf you do not have a true Receiver, have oneperson in charge of receiving all your beveragestocks. Train that person well in the items youcarry. Don’t forget, Robert Mondavi makes morethan one type of wine!

StorageThe last person who should have a key to theliquor storeroom is the bartender ... and a goodbartender does not want one anyway! Restrict keyaccess to no more than two managers.

Issuing No matter how small your operation, always userequisition forms to create a paper trail. Have themanager and the bartender sign off on thedelivery to the bar and always be sure to use anempty-for-full bottle exchange.

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Standardized recipesStandardized recipes are the basis for anyeffective control program. However, over half thepeople who attend our workshops do not havethem. Without recipes, all of your control effortsare wasted. Every bartender must make yourdrinks according to your recipe! The bonus is thatyour drinks will taste great, no matter who makesthem!

Receiving PaymentMake sure every item served from your bar isproperly rung on a check. Never allow “bunching”of drinks or “make-up” rings. Use a change boxwith a ten-dollar bank to eliminate the need for “nosale” rings.

This material is taken from a half-day workshop entitled Effective BarCost Controls offered by Cutson Associates. For more details andcontact information, see Page 124.

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31LOWER WORKER’S COMP

PREMIUMSby

Jim Laube

A safe working environment is not only the rightthing to do for your staff but it can also add moredollars to your bottom line. Fewer on-the-jobinjuries lead to lower premiums on your Worker’sCompensation coverage ... month after monthafter month.

Here are just two things that you can do to helpreduce your Worker’s Comp premiums:

Enforce a no-cut glove ruleMake a company policy that says when doingkitchen prep, anyone with a knife in one handmust have a nylon, no-cut glove on the otherhand. It is virtually impossible to cut yourself whenwearing a no-cut glove.

No-cut gloves can be purchased from mostdistributors. When purchased in bulk, you can getthe cost down as low as $3.00 each.

Your people can place a plastic glove over the no-cut glove when going from product to product toprevent cross-contamination.

Some operators report that no-cut gloves areeven more important in the dishroom where youoften have younger, less-experienced peopleconstantly cleaning large blades and heavy slicingequipment. Wearing no-cut gloves on both handscan prevent potentially serious cuts and injuries.

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Have a shoe policyInsist that everyone wears shoes with slip-resistant soles. Falls are the most commonaccident in foodservice. Back injuries resultingfrom these slips are among the most debilitatingin our industry. From an insurance standpoint theycan also be very expensive.

Require that the entire staff, including managers,wear shoes with a slip-resistant sole. Before andafter studies show dramatic declines in slips andfalls when people wear shoes with slip-resistantsoles.

These shoes come in a variety of styles andcolors and look just like any other type of shoe.They are, in fact, multi-functional, meaning thatyour people can wear them comfortably to moreplaces than just work.

This makes it possible to require that everyone onyour staff wear shoes with slip-resistant soles andnot have to pick up the cost as long as youprovide them with at least two sources topurchase the shoes. Some companies advancethe money for new staff members to purchasetheir first pair and get it back through payrolldeduction.

These shoes cost no more than comparableshoes. Look for manufacturers and distributors inindustry publications and check out discounterslike Wal-Mart and K Mart for the best prices.

These ideas are taken from the seminar How to Improve FinancialManagement & Controls presented by Jim Laube, CPA, founder of theCenter for Foodservice Education. For more details and contactinformation, see Page 127.

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32PURCHASING FOR PROFIT

byRon Yudd

There can be no assurance of profit at the end ofthe preparation and service steps of the mealwithout careful attention to the steps of profitablepurchasing. To be assured of purchasing thehighest quality at the very best price, you musttake a focused approach to the way you acquireproduct. Here are some ideas:

Specific SpecsPut every item you purchase through a reviewprocess to determine exactly what you need toproduce the final product for the guest. Write outthe specific use of each product.

Determine in what form it should be purchased(bulk, prepared, portioned). The more you knowabout exactly how the product will be used, thebetter buyer you will become. A detailed spec willalso help improve communication with yourvendors.

QualityDetermine the level of quality needed for eachitem you use. Buying only the highest qualitysounds like the right approach (generallyspeaking it is) but often, because of the way it willbe used, the highest quality is a waste of money.

For example, you do not need Grade A lemons tomake lemonade but they would be veryappropriate for lemon wedges to serve with thetrout. Buy broken tomatoes for the marinarasauce rather than breaking up whole tomatoes.Don’t buy more quality than you really need.

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Bid SystemYou must determine your standards regardingprice, quality and service but no matter how theyrank, it is important to solicit bids from variousvendors. Regularly bids will help you achieve thebest service, highest required quality and themost favorable price.

I recommend perishables (meat, seafood,produce) be bid weekly. Grocery and non-foodsupplies can be shopped less frequently, perhapsmonthly, quarterly or annually. Have a consistentbid system in place and gather price informationfrequently.

Par StocksOnly buy what you need to last betweendeliveries, a task made easier by establishing parstock levels. When a par is followed, items are inthe house for a minimum time so the quality doesnot have a chance to deteriorate. Lower quantitieson hand mean less chance for pilferage.

Par stocks assure that you only purchase theamount of each item that you will need forproduction, freeing up cash that would otherwisebe tied up in inventory. Determine par levels byreviewing your recipes and projecting the saleslevel and product mix between deliveries.

Buying builds inventories. Purchasing, on theother hand, builds profitable restaurants.

This material is adapted from Ron Yudd’s program, 200 Points of Profit.Ron is an experienced speaker, trainer and consultant. For more detailsand contact information, see Page 132.

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33CHANGE YOUR WORK WEEK

byBill Marvin

You could be creating inescapable overtime justby the way you structure your work week! Like somany problems in our industry, overtime can becaused by a common practice that you probablyhave never thought about.

Here is how the problem is created and what youcan do about it:

The situationIn most restaurants, the pay week runs fromMonday to Sunday. Friday and Saturday areclearly the busiest nights. It is understandablyeasier to deal with payroll after the weekend rushbut this structure can automatically raise yourpayroll costs.

The problemIf you are heavy on hours by the time you get toFriday, you are in trouble. You cannot reducelabor on the weekend because you needeverybody you can find to handle the crowd, soyou are forced into scheduling overtime.

It is easy to rationalize weekend overtimebecause you are making more money and canafford a few extra bucks in payroll. Still, I believeyou should never waste time solving a problemyou can eliminate! Why spend the money if youcan avoid it?

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The solutionThe answer is simply to change your work week!

If your pay week started on Wednesday orThursday, you would get your busiest sales periodout of the way when you have plenty of slack onhours.

After the busy weekend, if you found that youwere a little over budget on labor, you could moreeasily trim hours on those slower midweek dayswith less risk of reducing the level of service to theguests.

This article was adapted with permission from the Home Remediesnewsletter, part of the Management Coaching Program by Bill Marvin,The Restaurant Doctor with thanks to Mark Sneed at Phillips SeafoodRestaurants. For more details and contact Information, see Page 130.

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http://www.restaurantdoctor.com/coachinfo.html


34AVOID THE GREAT

BARTENDER RIP-OFFby

Howard Cutson

“There is no such thing as an honest bartender!”

I have heard this cry so often that I am tempted tobelieve it! In reality, I suspect most bartenders aretrustworthy but good systems are the best way tokeep honest people honest.

By having specific, enforced policies and by“working” your operation throughout yourbusiness day, you can prevent 90% of mostpotential problems. Here are a few ideas that areeffective and easy to implement:

Bottle marksUse bottle marks or stamps to ensure that allstock behind the bar is actually yours. One of theeasiest ways for bartenders to beat you is to bringin their own products to sell to your customers.

Tip jarsKeep tip jars at least 3 feet from your cashregister to prevent your bartender from confusingthe two!

Lunch breaksPull lunch breaks for the bartender yourself fromtime to time. It is a great way to keep up yourbartending skills and stay in touch with yourguests. It also gives you a leisurely half-hour tosee what is really going on behind the bar!

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Mid-shift auditsPull an occasional mid-shift audit. Read theregister and pull the drawer and closed-outchecks. Leave behind a partial bank. Do theseregularly for all your bartenders so they willunderstand it is a standard practice, not anaccusation.

No free drinks!... at least not from the bartenders! Only theowner or manager should buy drinks for guests.After all, it does come from “the house.” As a sidebenefit, it gives you a great reason to meet yourguests. Have your bartenders point out gueststhey feel deserve a special treat ... and make surethey tell you why.

Guard your guest checksTreat your guest checks – new and used – likecash. They should have your logo on them and beserially-numbered. Always use a lock box for usedchecks and chits. Re-using the same chit overand over is the easiest way to rip you off. Over a3-month period, our mystery shoppers witnessedthis practice in over 85% of our shops!

Many managers ignore the bar and loungeoperations because they mistakenly think they willsomehow manage themselves. A little time andattention on your part will yield results directly onyour bottom line.

Cutson Associates offers full and half-day bar management programsacross North America. For more details and contact information, seePage 124.

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35DEVELOP INVENTORY STATS

byJim Laube

Keeping inventory levels at a low, yet adequatelevel is a key element to control your food andbeverage costs. Problems like over-portioning,spoilage, theft, excessive trim. waste and generalcarelessness toward your costly products arecommon when you gain too much inventory.

All operators take inventories, but most just usethe figure to compute their food cost for theperiod. In so doing, they miss out on a valuabletool.

Get more bang for the buckA great way to get more value whenever you priceout a full inventory is to calculate the number ofdays’ sales represented by your stock level.

Let’s say you do a physical inventory of all yourfood products at the end of a 30-day month. Thedollar value of your ending inventory is $10,000and your overall food cost for the month is$30,000.

First, compute your average daily food cost for themonth. Take your food cost and divide it by thedays in the period ($30,000÷30 days=$1000). Inan average day that month you used $1000 infood.

Next, figure the number of days’ sales ininventory. Take your ending inventory value anddivide it by your average daily food cost($10,000÷$1000=10 days).

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In this case, you had 10 days worth of food onhand at the end of the period. To most operatorsthis would indicate excess inventory and be asignal to re-examine par levels product byproduct.

Rules of thumbFollowing are some general guidelines on howmuch inventory (in number of days’ sales) manyoperators find acceptable:

Full Service, Full Menu RestaurantsFood: 6-7 daysLiquor: 10-15 daysBeer: 7-10 daysWine: 25-45 days** may vary greatly depending on size and type of wine list

Quick Service, Fast Food RestaurantsFood: 3-5 days

Some operators figure the number of days’ saleson hand every week and use it as part of theincentive system for their chefs and orderingpersonnel. They have trimmed their inventories tothe lowest possible levels which frees up cash,assures fresher ingredients for their guests andlower food costs for them.

These ideas are taken from the seminar Ammunition to Win the FoodCost War presented by Jim Laube, CPA, founder of the Center forFoodservice Education. For more details and contact information, seePage 127.

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Part 3

ADOPT

PROFITABLE IDEAS


36SCREEN APPLICANTS,

NOT APPLICATIONS!by

Peter Good

With the challenges we have attracting andretaining good employees, it makes no sense toget people to fill out an application and then nevertalk to them! Why? Because when theirapplications are screened, they do not make thecut. This makes as much sense as spending afortune to attract guests to your restaurant thengiving them bad food and service.

RationaleThe reasons for screening applications soundgood

“I don’t have time to interview everyone who applies.” “Why interview someone who is not likely tosucceed?”

but if you are not talking with people because theirapplications are "questionable," you are probablymaking a big mistake. In fact, you might bethrowing away gems just because they have notbeen polished.

Here is a little self-evaluation exercise to help youcheck yourself:

Super sleuthDo you ever take out your magnifying glass andshout "Aha! Another red flag?" There are lots ofred flags in those applications – job gaps, shorttenure, cut in pay, going down instead of up theladder. So what? There might be goodexplanations, but you will never hear them unlessyou ask the person.

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English teacherDo you get out your red pen and start marking upthe application? [by the way, never write onsomeone's application ... it could be used againstyou in court.] "Just look at that poor grammar" youthink, "and the spelling is horrendous!" Stop it!These applicants are probably not Ph.D.candidates ... but how much academic prowessdoes it take to handle a five-table station on aSaturday night?

Check out your assumptionsIf you do not believe that there are good – evengreat – applicants behind those weakapplications, give it a test: give blank applicationsto your best three staff members and ask them tocomplete the forms. Explain what you have inmind or they will probably think you are nuts!

Take the completed applications back to youroffice and give them a good hard look. Are thereany red flags?? Do you see any errors, omissionsor other reasons not to interview these people? Probably, but these folks have proven to besuccessful and you would be lost without them!

Keep this experience in mind when you are in themidst of the selection process. The best workersdo not always look the best on paper. Be smart.Screen applicants, not applications.

Peter Good is founder and Principal of Peter Good Seminars, Inc., atraining company primarily serving the hospitality industry. For moredetails and contact information, see Page 126.

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37"WOW" YOUR STAFF: CREATE

PSYCHOLOGICAL OWNERSHIPby

Barry Cohen

At Old San Francisco, our success ultimatelydepended on the thousands of small decisionsour employees made everyday, not just theseveral big decisions handled by management.

We also realized that for employees to be trulyempowered to make the right decisions, we hadto provide them with an incentive to do the rightthing. In other words, they must own their jobs.This is what empowers them to make adifference, to "WOW" our guests (andthemselves) and make their jobs exciting.

We refer to this buy-in as psychologicalownership – an intangible investment in thecontinued success of our business. I can showthe power of psychological ownership with twocontrasting examples:

Recently, a diner complimented us for exceptionalservice. It seemed that at the end of the meal, herealized his wallet was still in the car. He left thetable and asked the valet for his keys so he couldretrieve his billfold.

The valet dropped what he was doing and quicklybrought the car to the entrance so the guestwould not have to walk. Then he re-parked the carclose to the front door – a lot of extra effort for noadditional tip.

Understandably, our customer was "WOWed.”

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Now a much different example: When renting acar one winter night, the clerk handed me an icescraper. I was impressed, thinking the scraperwas a courtesy for the following morning. When Igot to the car, however, I found that thewindshield was frozen over. The attendant wasnot anticipating my future needs, he was just toolazy to scrape the ice off himself!

Our valet operated differently from the car-rentalclerk because he had psychological ownership.He wanted to go the extra distance. He feltresponsible for his job and he knew that thequality of his work made a difference to otherpeople. It mattered to him.

How do you give your staff psychologicalownership of their jobs? Start by dealing withthem like they will be around tomorrow. Treatthem with respect. Get to know them as people.Listen to them and learn from them. Help themunderstand that the job is theirs, not yours. Havefaith in them and be a role model for the sort ofbehavior you expect.

Just as our valet "WOW"ed our guest that day, Iwant to always "WOW" him with my ownappreciation of his contributions and myunwavering faith in his ability to do a terrific job.What he sees is what I will get.

Barry Cohen is an award-winning chef, national speaker and formerCEO of Old San Francisco Steak House. For more details and contactinformation, see Page 123.

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38OPEN YOUR BOOKS TO

MAXIMIZE PERFORMANCE!by

Rudy Miick

If you want to maximize performance, take a giantleap and provide your play book to the team! That's right, open your books!

With apologies to those who may be offended bysports analogies, think about an NFL team wherethe only person in the game that holds the plays isthe owner. Not even the coach knows what ishappening. Some of the great players will have agood year based on natural talent – they mayeven make the Pro Bowl – but the team will neverget to the playoffs! So much for football. Let's talkrestaurants!

The bottom lineOperators who have implemented P&L training forthe staff (as well as for management) are showinga 200-250% improvement in bottom line results!At least, that is my experience based on my workwith dozens of restaurateurs. Here is why ithappens:

Short-sighted thinkingThe traditional rationale to not open the books issomething like, "If they find out how much I ammaking, they will demand a raise!" or “They willnever understand the numbers” or "They will ripme off!" In my experience exactly the opposite ishappening to those companies confident enoughto take the time to train their staff in this importantarea.

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A testIf you still need to be convinced, try this test: askyour staff what percentage of the typicalrestaurant dollar they think is bottom line profit.My guess is that most answers will be between25% and 50%!

This means that if you do not give them the facts,they think you are making 50 cents on the dollar!If you do not give them the facts, they cannot beof much help in improving profitability. If you donot give them the facts, you are standing in theway of their professional development and askingthem to win the game without a play book.

BenefitsFirst, the staff learns what it actually takes to run asuccessful restaurant. By sharing information oncosts and income, participants can see how thebusiness works and what it takes to make a profit.

Sales typically increase because once peoplelearn to read the numbers, they understand thatcost-cutting is only half the battle. Hourlyemployees start coming up with brilliant, insightfulideas of how to build sales and reduce costs ...and all you have to do is listen! (In my experience,the toughest part is getting you to listen, but thatis a topic for another time!)

Knowledge is power. The more your staff knowswhat it takes to win the game, the more valuablethey will be as players.

This material is an excerpt from Rudy Miick's Seminar: Change theGame to Maximize Performance! For more details and contactinformation, see Page 131.

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3924-HOUR RECRUITING

byPeter Good

In the late '70's, I never had a problem findinggood people to apply for a job. Unemploymentwas high, competition for staff was minimal andbodies were plentiful. The boomers were out indroves looking for jobs. People would offer bribesfor me to hire them!

In the 90s – and well into the first decade of thenext century – the reality is different. There arefewer young people in the workforce (1975 hadthe lowest US birth rate in the past 50 years) andthere are more employment opportunities. Now itis the employers who are paying the bribes ...when they can even find someone to whom theymight offer the money!

And in spite of the employment issues we allknow and feel, we still make a very costlyemployment mistake – we recruit and hire peoplereactively rather than proactively.

We scramble to place want ads, collectapplications, interview and hire people, all on thesame afternoon that an employee gives us thattwo-hour notice! More painful yet, we have to callhome to say we will have to watch our daughter’ssoccer game another day.

When we recruit and hire reactively, we neverrecruit the best. Wrong hires are not fair to ourguests, who deserve the very best we can givethem. They are not a nice thing to do to ourselves,either!

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We must fill jobs before they become vacant. Howcan you afford to do that? How can you afford notto? There are always vacancies – people get sick,take leaves of absence or just fail to show up. It isless costly to have an extra person on the payrollthan to reactively hire five in a row who wereincompetent!

This means you start recruiting before peoplegive notice! The best employers have continualads (both external and internal) and areconstantly soliciting for good employees with theircustomers, vendors ... even the health inspector.The successful manager has a mind set that thenext great employee is just around the corner –maybe at the dry cleaners, the gas station orperhaps sitting in a restaurant.

When you find one of these natural talents, givethem your card. Say, “I am impressed with theway you handle yourself. If you know someone

like yourself who might be looking for anopportunity, have them come and see me.” Bymaking the approach indirect, you keep theexchange comfortable. More often than not, thestar will show up, perhaps with a friend. Goodpeople tend to hang out with good people.

Superstar managers are 24-hour-a-day recruiters!And they are getting the best people. They arebeing selective, creative and having fun doing itbecause they do not have to work under pressureor duress. These managers go to the soccergames!


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40THE POWER OF PRESENCE

byBill Marvin

The secret to productivity and service is presence.Simply put, presence is a state of mind that is freefrom distraction. Your level of presence is theextent to which your mind is not occupied withthoughts unrelated to the project immediately athand.

Lack of presence is obvious. Have you ever beentalking to someone who was listening to you ...and then suddenly they weren't? Didn't you knowwhen their attention was elsewhere?

Have you talked on the phone with a person whowas doing something else as they spoke to you?Even though you couldn't see them, wasn't theirdistraction apparent?

A distracted state of mind creates irritation inother people. It is incredibly annoying to talk tosomeone whose mind has wandered, yet we do itourselves all the time. We think that the way to beefficient is to do several tasks at once. Wrong!

Presence and productivityThe truth is that you can only focus your attentionon one thing at a time. For example, when youare talking with a person, there is nothing you cando at that same moment about finishing theschedule or handling any other chore on your list.

The secret to productivity is to drop distractions,focus on the immediate task at hand then moveon to the next project. Presence (lack ofdistraction) will enable you to more accurately

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assess situations and deal with them efficiently ...the first time!

Presence and serviceOurs is a business based on personal connection.In my service seminars, I point out that the reasonguests tip 10% or 30% depends on the level ofpersonal connection servers create with theirguests. If a server is distracted (“in the weeds”),there will be no personal connection. The guestwill feel less served and tip accordingly.

Does this sound too easy? I watched a server gofrom making 11% and struggling to averagingover 25% and cruising the next night.

A pizzeria manager who attended one of myprograms called a few weeks later – over half his“people problems” had just disappeared! In bothcases, I asked what they were doing differently.Each replied, “I am just being with people when Iam with people.” This is the power of a clear mindwhen dealing with others.

Presence is a potent quality that enhances thefeeling of personal service and increasesmanagement effectiveness. As you drop straythoughts, you will naturally become more expertwith people, improve productivity, reduce stressand increase enjoyment of your life both on andoff the job.

This material was adapted with permission from the book FromTurnover to Teamwork by Bill Marvin, The Restaurant Doctor and is acomponent in several of his programs. For more details and contactinformation, see Page 130.

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41"WOW" YOUR COMMUNITY

byBarry Cohen

Community marketing is more than a strategy forincreasing sales, it is a definition of whererestaurants fit into today's changing world. At OldSan Francisco, we realized that it was no longerenough just to support those who asked for ourhelp – we needed to "WOW" our neighbors bytaking the initiative ourselves.

People have become more insulated and safewithin their homes. To be successful, we mustpenetrate those cocoons through our advertising,our concept, our employees and our actions.

The most potent opportunities inevitably occurwhen communities ask for our help, explicitly orimplicitly, in times of crisis.

For thirty years, our restaurants provided food,parties and even simple awareness when ourcommunities needed it. The crises – strandedkids, droughts, hurricanes, tornadoes – may havechanged, but our ability to help remained thesame. And it touched people where they live,creating a bond that was far more effective thanany advertisement.

Let me give you one example: In the summer of1996, a group of teenagers from the San Antonioarea were promised jobs at the Summer Olympicsin Atlanta. Off they went, many spending all oftheir savings on the one-way plane ticket or busfare. They were understandably excited, but whenthey arrived in Atlanta, there were no jobs.

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Since many of the teens expected the Olympics toprovide housing and were counting on theirwages to pay for the trip home, they weremarooned.

The community was outraged but, like theteenagers themselves, felt helpless. What theyneeded was a company with the resources to getthese kids home.

So one of the owners of our company arrangedfor Continental Airlines to bring the strandedyoungsters back. Once they arrived, we hosted abig “Welcome Home” party for them at Old SanFrancisco. The local American Heart Associationchapter created special "Heart" awardsrecognizing the wonderful spirit of these kids.

It was a big win for everyone! The community sawus as a hero and our efforts generated aninestimable amount of goodwill and publicity. Thetotal cost? Less than one large newspaper ad.

Traditional advertising no longer has much impactbecause people have become numbed tocommercial messages. To get through to ourneighbors and give them a reason to leave thecomfort of their homes to dine with us, we mustlearn more about them, listen to their needs andbe heroes whenever possible.

People still want to be touched; it just takes a littlemore work to create a "WOW" reaction.


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42HIRE YOUR WAY TO PROFIT!

byRudy Miick

"I can't find good help!" "My turnover is killingme!" Sound familiar?

We spend an inordinate amount of time fussingover our labor situation. Little surprise, it is usuallyour highest cost of doing business. To help easethe pain a bit, let me share a four-step hiringtechnique that can lower turnover, increaseperformance and improve your profit!

1. Let the applicants chooseAttach a cover sheet to your application thatdefines why you are in business and sets yourexpectations of your staff. Issue a challenge tothe applicant: "If this sounds like the place for you,fill out the application. If not, please checksomewhere else." This challenge will eliminate10-15% of job applicants before you ever seethem!

Have a sign up sheet for applicants to scheduletheir own interviews on dates and at times thatyou have established. This creates your firstability to see if the applicant shows up at a timethey personally selected! If they are late, theexcuse better be pretty good!

2. Cut to the chaseSpend your time with the applicants you want tohire rather than those you do not. Cut off aninterview if you have a sense this is not the rightperson for the position. Also do some role playingimmediately. Ask a server applicant to carry fourplates or describe a list of "evening specials" you

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have provided in writing. Have a kitchen applicantuse a French knife to dice an onion. Have abookkeeper run a list of numbers on a 10-keyadding machine. You will immediately get asense of the applicant and what they can do.

3. Ask better questionsHave the applicant provide information for you,not the other way around. Ask open-endedquestions rather than questions that can beanswered yes or no. Inquire about the applicant'sgoals. For example, "If you could do anything inworld for work, and there was nothing holding youback, what would you do?" This type questiongets to the person's motivation and aspiration.You will find it much more effective to hire peoplethat are already motivated, rather than motivatingsomeone that hasn't a clue.

4. Define expectationsDefine the specific expectations you have of eachapplicant as they join your team! Define yourtraining program. Define your role expectations foryourself. This means you will have to play at adifferent level, but so will everyone on your team.The effective owner/operator/manager of thefuture is a coach and a mentor. Walk your talkand the team will too.

Of course you will still have some turnover andthere will be some applicants that squeak through.But our clients have reduced annual turnover toless than 20% and in many cases to single-digitpercentages.

This material is taken from the hiring & retention seminars presented byRudy Miick, FCSI. For more details and contact information, see Page131.

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43JUST SAY CHARGE IT!

byJim Laube

Here is an innovative way to pay your vendorsquickly and get a bonus for doing it!

Charlie Trotter's in Chicago charges purchasesfrom some of their major vendors using a creditcard that rewards them with frequent flyer milesfor the dollars they charge.

The restaurant pays their card balance in fullevery month, so they avoid any interest charges.But best of all, they use the card to purchaseenough product and supplies to earn, on average,a free trip a week!

Everybody wins with this arrangement. Thevendors improve their cash flow because they arepaid at the time of delivery. The restaurant getsfree travel to attend food shows, charitable eventsor just to reward the staff!

I think many purveyors would find a plan like thisvery workable. Propose the idea to your majorsuppliers and see what sort of reaction you get.They may never have thought of it.

The point is that you are writing the checksanyway. Why not get a few “free” trips for yourefforts?

This idea is shared by Jim Laube with the permission of – and thanks to– the management of Charlie Trotter’s. For more details and contactinformation, see Page 127.

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44"WOW" MANAGEMENT:

JUST TEAM IT!by

Barry Cohen

One of the most important tasks of managementis motivating employees, yet restaurateurs haveone of the highest turnover rates of any industry.Why?

The most common reason is that we cannotafford to keep employees by paying higher wagesand bonuses. But when it costs nearly $2,000 tohire and train a new employee, we cannot affordto accept turnover as a fact of life! Clearly, themore we can motivate our people to stay with us,the more money we will save.

Our solution at Old San Francisco was to developself-directed TEAMs, a tool that allows us to payour people more, keep them longer and reducethe expensive turnover rate. Here are a fewexamples:

Recognition TEAMOur Recognition TEAM makes sure that no gooddeed, however small, goes unnoticed by fellowemployees. Whether handing out a "thank-you" orthrowing a surprise anniversary party for along-time employee, our recognition TEAM doesnot let any staff members slip through the cracks.

Business Development TEAMThe task of the Business Development TEAM isto go outside of the business to "WOW" pastcustomers and potential new guests. Althoughtheir budget is small, our Business Development

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TEAM has made us fairly famous among localbusinesses, which they visit often (with free wineand cheese!) It is great to "WOW" them in therestaurant but you must have people working onthe outside as well, pushing the envelope from theother direction.

Contest TEAMOur Contest TEAM has to motivate employees ona very tight budget, so the real reward of eachcontest is the fun and challenge of winning. Thatmeans using low-cost incentives like lotterytickets, and contests like bingo that everyone canunderstand.

Our Contest TEAM devises team activity as oftenas possible, pairing up the most and leastexperienced staff for a particular task. Thiscreates an automatic training effect, where theless-skilled employee learns to come up to thelevel of the more successful one.

Scheduling TEAMWe noticed that managers were spending toomuch time creating staff schedules that oftenunderwent dramatic changes during the weekanyway.

Now our scheduling is handled by a TEAM, usinga simple rule of thumb: we divide the number ofdinners we expect to serve by 20 to determinestaffing needs. This means that if we expect toserve 300 dinners on a Monday night, we need 15servers on the floor.

That number also determines how many busboyswe need, how many valets and so on. Ourmanager creates a simple chart and forecastsdaily sales – the scheduling TEAM fills in theblanks and does the rest.

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We also have TEAMs maintaining theappearance of our restaurants, hiring new staffmembers and doing other critical tasks. Workingtogether for a common purpose increasesmotivation because it makes their jobs far moreinteresting and fun ... and motivated employeesstay with us longer.

Our success in reducing turnover while increasingproductivity proves the equation:

TEAM = Together Everyone Achieves More


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45THE WRONG TRAINER

byPeter Good

Turnover is a huge factor in high labor costs andmost foodservice turnover occurs within the firstsix months of employment.

Some is the result of reactive hiring decisions,some may be due to mis-perceptions of the workand some can be traced to personality conflicts.My experience, however, is that turnover withinthe first three months of hire is likely caused bythe training program.

The problemEven in companies that value training and committhe time, money and staff to assure that trainingtakes place, it still fails. The problem is not withthe training program, it is with us. We hired theright employee but we selected the wrong trainer!

Usually, the boss selects the best performer in agiven position to train new employees in thatposition. This seems to make perfect sense ...except that your best performer may be yourworst trainer because they really don’t want totrain!

Think about itWhy would employees want to train, anyway?What's in it for them? Most of the time, nothing!They rarely get recognized or rewarded. Trainingwill slow them down in their own jobs, which maycause them to lose money, work harder or both.

The employee may feel threatened by newtrainees ("Are they here to replace me?"). Maybe

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the employee doesn't want a trainee to succeedfor fear of losing status or benefits (best server,best stations, best days off, etc.)

The solutionAs that famous swamp philosopher, Pogo, oncesaid, “We have met the enemy and he is us!” Tofind the right trainer, don’t ask the boss, ask thestaff!

A key trait of the right trainer is that they want totrain. Your staff can tell you who they go to foradvice, who gives them help when they need itand who has been most valuable in teaching themnew skills. In other words, they know whichpeople on your staff are natural trainers. Theymay not be your most stellar performers – oftenthey are not – but they love to train and they aregood at it!

Find out who that trainer is in your business – theone who loves to help others succeed, the onewith the patience of a saint, the great listener, theone with the smile, the courage and theconfidence. Offer them the opportunity to earnextra money by taking on that responsibility on amore formal basis.

If they jump at the chance, they will probablysucceed beyond your wildest expectations and inso doing, help you control turnover and runawaylabor costs.


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HELP WANTEDPsychiatric Counselor, Prestidigitator,

Stand-up Comic, Efficiency Expert, Ring

Master, Life-of-the-Party, Mr./Ms. Clean

and Super Salesperson...rolled into one!

46HIRING A BARTENDER

byHoward Cutson

That’s right! You need a new bartender – and youcannot afford to hire anyone but the best! If youhave been over this road before, you know thatthose who excel in a personality position likebartender are a different type of person from yourtypical service staff member. Here are some hintsto assure your success:

Role-playMake the interview as interactive and job-specificas you can. Put candidates in real-life guestsituations and check out their responses. Hereare some sample situations:

Your guest claims you short-changed him by$10.00. How do you handle it?

A couple of guests sit down at the bar and tell youthey want two beers. What do you say?

It is three in the afternoon when a neatly-dressed(and obviously intoxicated) woman in her 70s sitsdown and orders a double martini. What do you sayto her?

To avoid any possible charges of discrimination,be sure you ask the same questions of allapplicants for the position. It also helps toestablish some objective evaluation criteria tocompare their responses.

NOTES/ACTION ITEMS


Put ‘em to workSchedule your interview at a time when your baris slow. Put the candidate right behind the bar andcall a typical 4-5 drink order. You will find outmore in the next three minutes than you wouldlearn in a whole hour of interviewing!

Shop themMost bartenders are working somewhere whilethey look for a better job. Try to observe acandidate in his or her natural environment. Havea manager, owner or even one of your regularguests check out how the applicant conductsthemselves when they don’t know they are beingwatched. Do they keep the bar clean? Are theirhabits reassuring? Do they relate well with theguests? What you see is likely what you will get.

Know what you are looking forThere are specific qualities you should be lookingfor in that superstar bartender. Be sure yourselection process addresses each of these points:

• High energy level• Good speed• Neatness and accuracy• Crisp personal appearance• Good posture• Good personal hygiene• Comfort behind the bar• Smile – a big, natural one!

The atmosphere in your bar is particularlydependent on the personality of the bartender.Choose well.

Cutson Associates, offers a wide variety of bar management,management development and training workshops. For more detailsand contact information, see Page 124.

NOTES/ACTION ITEMS


47THE MENU GAUNTLET:

ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVEby

Ron Yudd

The sales and profitability of a restaurant hingeson a strong menu comprised of items with realpower in the market. Send every existing andproposed item through the following menugauntlet. Only the strong (profitable andattainable) will survive: 1. Needs and Wants of the Guestsw Concept compatibilityw What's hot and what's notw Needs of potential customersw Time constraint for guests – speed or leisure

2. Cost and Profitabilityw Cost of raw productw Related costs: s showmanship s service and production (labor) s presentation costs

3. Quality and Availability of Food Productsw Accessibilityw Understandable specificationsw Quality from holding to productionw Storing and handling new or unique foods

4. Production Capabilities and Limitationsw Equipment: cook/hold/servew Serving and display equipmentw Utensils – production and servicew Warming and holding devices

5. Expertise of Staffw Preparation knowledge of in-house personnelw Communication of ingredients/preparation methodsw Need to instruct staff on service

NOTES/ACTION ITEMS


6. Ability to Controlw Front and back of house supervisionw Items easily portionedw Pre-production controlw Post-production controlw Use of food as leftover – marriage of foods

7. Varietal Balance – Each Menu Categoryw Balance hot and coldw Color – contrast and complementw Shape and size of itemw Texturew Preparation methodw Numerical balance – category and menu

8. Nutritional Valuew Providing an optionw Adaptability for "special diners"w Recheck preparation methodsw Types of foods identified – fresh, frozen, processed

9. Holding Capabilitiesw Does product hold well prior to consumption?w Holding prior to service – how and where?w Holding during service – on line – how and where?

10. Ease of Servicew Ease of service – extended vs. solidw Are service personnel required to serve?

To keep your menu in top revenue-producingshape, perform this analysis whenever you addnew items to your menu. Do it for all menu itemsat least once a year even if you make no changesat all. Remember that today’s star can betomorrow’s dog. Be sure you identify the weakitems before your guests do.

This checklist was adapted with permission from Ron Yudd’sforthcoming book, Points of Profit. For more details and contactinformation, see Page 132.

NOTES/ACTION ITEMS



48EMPLOYEE EVALUATIONS

IN 10 MINUTES OR LESSby

Peter Good

Employee performance evaluations should be likechanging the oil in a car. Everyone needs their“oil” changed every 3,000 miles or every threemonths, whichever comes first. Unless otherrepairs are needed, it should only be a 10-minutetask.

Communicating with your crew will help maximizeretention, promote productivity and improvemorale, yet we fail to do it regularly. The longerbetween evaluations, the harder evaluationsbecome. If we do performance appraisalsannually, it is a confrontation that is dreaded byemployee and employer alike. It is not theconcept, it is the execution. Evaluations are afantastic tool, if they are used correctly.

FrequencyConduct evaluations every 3-6 months, notannually. Think of them like the oil change ... thelonger you wait, the more expensive it becomes.Four 10-minute evaluations a year are far moreeffective than an one 40-minute annual appraisal.

DocumentationKeep good records so you do not have toremember what you discussed the last time. Youmay conduct 50 evaluations, but for the staffmember, it is only one ... and employees alwaysremember every detail of their last performancereview.

NOTES/ACTION ITEMS


ListenIf you have ten minutes for an evaluation, spendthe first four minutes allowing the employee toevaluate their own performance. They can bepretty tough on themselves and it is better to haveemployees beat themselves up on their workrather than you doing it! While they are speaking,listen – really listen – to what they are saying andhow they feel about it.

Coach

Spend the next four minutes on your observationsof their performance and any areas you would liketo see improved. Be fair. Focus on performance,not personality. Remember to praise anyperformance improvements that occurred sincethe last evaluation. Everyone wants to do a goodjob and no one argues with a boss who reallywants to help them succeed.

Set goalsWrap up the evaluation by mutually agreeing ongoals that are specific and attainable. Agree howyou will measure progress. End the evaluation ona positive, supportive note. After all, an engineshould be running smoother, not rougher, after anoil change.

Why bother with the evaluations? Withoutdirection, guidance, support, challenge andfeedback, people – like cars – will burn out andbreak down.


NOTES/ACTION ITEMS


49HIGHER MOTIVATION = LOWER

TURNOVER + MORE PROFITby

Susan Clarke

Turnover costs money ... in recruiting costs, lowerproductivity and reduced service quality – moneyyou could keep if you could keep good peoplelonger.

People stay with you and perform at their bestwhen they are motivated. Motivation is that drivewithin people that incites them to action. It is aninternal process. You cannot motivate someone,

people motivate themselves. However, it ispossible to modify behavior with the right kind ofincentives.

Tangible incentivesMany operators think that money is the only wayto get someone to perform. While it is true thatmoney will motivate a good majority of yourpeople, it is short term because there is neverenough of it.

There are other tangible incentives likepromotions, health insurance, achievementawards, contests with prizes, educationalopportunities, tuition assistance, transportation,stock options, day care facilities or evenpercentage ownership. But all of these come offthe bottom line and that is not always easy to do.

Intangible incentivesIntangible incentives are just as motivating if notmore so and they only require the investment ofyour time. Here are three of the most powerful:

NOTES/ACTION ITEMS


Be appreciativePraise and recognition for a job well done is a greatbehavior modifier. How often do you reprimand orcorrect your staff as opposed to praising them? Catchyour people doing things right. Let them know howmuch you appreciate them and how you couldn't dowithout them. Tell your people how you feel and reapthe rewards.

Delegate responsibilityDelegation is not about giving up your power andcontrol – it is about giving yourself less stress, whichin turn will create a more positive environment.Leaders delegate responsibility and allow their staff tobe part of the decision-making process. People willmotivate themselves when they are valued and havea say in their jobs.

Have funIt is OK to have fun ... and make money! Your attitudeand behavior set the tone and have an impact oneveryone around you. When you are having fun inyour work, you allow your people to have fun in theirsas well! The more people enjoy their jobs, the betterthey will perform and the higher level of service theywill provide.

So in addition to supplying them with theknowledge and tools to do their jobs well, expressyour gratitude to your staff, get them involved andprovide them with the opportunity andencouragement to have fun.

They will be happier and more productive on thejob, stay with you longer and make you moremoney in the long run.


NOTES/ACTION ITEMS


50ART & SCIENCE

byRudy Miick

To create a guest service program with moreimpact and effectiveness, try a little Art & Science.This new training approach is achievingspectacular results for our clients and it can helpyou sharpen your service as well.

What is Art? What is Science?Art includes all the “soft skills” of service like howyou introduce yourself and the tone of voice youuse. Science covers all the mechanical pieces ofservice like serving from the left and clearing fromthe right.

Most service activities involve both art andscience. By defining the applicable art andscience in each step of service, you will be able totrain effectively in areas that were previouslydifficult.

Let’s look at how this would apply to a full-serviceserver position:

Art: smile, use a warm tone of voice, use adifferent introduction than you did at theadjacent table, use direct eye contact, standso you can see your section while you are atthe table, and similar skills.

Science: Greet the guest, introduce yourself,offer a specific beverage, suggest anappetizer selection as the guest reviews themenu, point out the specials listed on themenu, depart and place the beverage order,and so forth.

NOTES/ACTION ITEMS


Continue this process all the way throughpresenting the check, receiving payment, andbidding the guest adieu. Each step of servicemust be identified and both its art and sciencecomponents defined.

Implementing the approachThere are three preliminary steps:

Step 1: Define the expectations or needs ofthe guest within your restaurant concept. "Ourguests expect hot food, cleanliness,knowledgeable, smiling staff, pleasantattitudes and so forth. Hint: talk to your gueststo be sure you are in touch with what is reallyimportant to them.

Step 2: For each position, define the specificbehavior required by your staff to satisfy theguests needs and expectations in terms ofboth the art and the science involved. Involveas many people in the organization aspracticable and look for consensus.

Step 3: Monitor guest comments to determinehow well their expectations have been met. Ifyou are hearing feedback like, "The place isalways so clean!", "The servers are soknowledgeable." or "The staff here is alwaysso pleasant!", you are on the right track! If not,make the necessary course corrections.

The bad newsIt takes time to define the myriad of steps in theArt & Science approach. Reaching agreement onjust what needs to be done, what it should looklike and how you can measure it will test yourleadership skills and force you to open up to newideas and approaches from your managers andstaff. It is necessarily a slower process than “myway or the highway.”

NOTES/ACTION ITEMS


The good newsThe process will really make you appreciate theskills your team has or needs to have. Theprocess also sends a clear signal to your staff thatyou care about their knowledge and the guestexperience. The results we have seen areimproved staff retention, more specific detailabout exactly what is expected from the staff andmore clarity as to what is "right".

The proof of the pudding

Satisfied operators say it best. Mel Owens, CEOof Buck Owens Productions, said “We get nothingbut raves about our guest service! I attribute thisto our hiring process and the Art & Scienceapproach.”

My suggestion is to try it! Your guests are worththe effort and the results are worth the timeinvestment!

This material is condensed from The Art & Science of Quality Service©,a system and client presentation designed by Rudy Miick. For moreinformation and contact information, see Page 131.

NOTES/ACTION ITEMS

CONTRIBUTING

AUTHORS


Gloria BoileauQueen of Total Image

Gloria Boileau, playfully known as “The Queen of TotalImage” is an internationally-recognized professional speakerand expert in environmental enhancement, image andcommunications. She utilizes the art of placement whichenhances the flow of energy in a business. Gloria offersinsightful advice on furniture placement, color, room

positioning and much more. The outcome of these changes results in noticeablyimproved guest satisfaction and increased cash flow.

Gloria’s image and communications programs are based on the powerful effectsof subliminal and nonverbal communications. Implementing her proventechniques has a profoundly positive impact on her clients’ sales and profitability.

Gloria is an active member of the National Speakers Association and holds adegree in communications from the University of Wisconsin. She has over 20years experience in communication and image-related fields such as law,television, design and management. She has had numerous articles published innational magazines and trade journals.

Gloria presents enlightening, educational and entertaining seminarsinternationally on the following topics:

s Creating Wealth, Health and High Quality Relationships with Environmental Enhancement s Your Visual Impact: It Can Make or Break Your Career s Conflict Management Skills that Work s Powerful Presentations Plus ...

For more information, contact Gloria Boileau at:

BOILEAU & ASSOCIATES

8895 Towne Center Dr, PMB 129, Suite105

San Diego, CA 92122-5542

Voice: (800) 754-0150

FAX: (858) 550-0152

e-mail: [email protected]

website: www.GloriaBoileau.com

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.gloriaboileau.com


Susan Clarke, CPBA, CPVA

Susan Clarke's success in communicating positive customerservice traits is based on her life experiences. She startedworking in a customer service position at the age of 12 whenshe was hired as a “busboy” in a small family-ownedrestaurant. From then on, she has always been in "peoplecontact" jobs. In 1976, Susan started with Gilbert/Robinson,Inc., the operators of Houlihan's and other restaurantconcepts. Working as the corporate training coordinator, sheopened over 40 restaurants nationwide for Houlihan's.

As a speaker, Susan Clarke explodes with information and motivation guaranteedto entertain, inform and inspire. She has helped restaurant, hotel, private club andpublic contact service leaders plan and develop new customer service strategies,staff training programs and national personnel policies.

With over twenty years experience as a trainer, manager, consultant, author andspeaker, Susan's expertise in the field of guest service is truly unparalleled. Herno-nonsense approach to customer service helps service staff exceed guests’expectations by doing their jobs better and more efficiently.

Susan is the author of The Secrets of Service: The Story of Making Your

Customers Feel Good About Spending Their Money, designed to helpdevelop customer service skills and strengths. She shares the secrets of her ownsuccess in her book and in each of her customized presentations.

For more information, contact Susan Clarke at:

MOTIVATION UNLIMITED!

4822 Santa Monica Avenue, Suite 313

San Diego, CA 92107

Voice: (888) WE-MOTIVATE w (888) 936-6848

FAX: (888) 445-5193


website: www.MotivateU.com


http://www.MotivateU.com


Barry Cohen

Barry Cohen leads the food and beverage industry in cuttingedge marketing strategies and management techniques. Hisprograms on “WOW” marketing are drawing crowds all overthe country.

Barry has more than 20 years experience in the restaurantindustry and has managed multi-unit restaurant chains inFlorida and Texas. He joined the Old San Francisco SteakHouse Corporation as General Manager for the San Antonio

restaurant in 1989. Four years later he took the helm as CEO and bought thecompany in 2000.

Along with his consulting and speaking assignments, he is a frequent guest chefon local and national television programs and a regular guest host on local radiomorning shows. Barry is an innovative epicurean who has received numerousawards for his original recipes, including prizes from the National Egg Council,Dole Pineapple Company and the National Strawberry Council. He placed in the“Great Chefs of Texas” competition sponsored by the Texas Dept. of Agriculture.

Among his other honors, Barry received the coveted Pinnacle Award from theSales and Marketing Executives of San Antonio. He is an active volunteer innational and local civic organizations. Barry holds a degree in interdisciplinarybusiness and psychology from Southhampton College.

For more information, contact Barry Cohen at:

W.O.W. MARKETING AND CONSULTING

13207 Hunters View

San Antonio, TX 78230

Voice: (210) 492-2265

FAX: (210) 341-3585




Howard Cutson, FMP

Howard Cutson, FMP, is Principal of Cutson Associates, acustomer satisfaction-oriented consulting firm serving thehospitality industry. He has spent over 30 years working inall aspects of this industry - from bartender to maitre ‘d andfrom Assistant Manager to Director of Marketing - giving himhands-on knowledge of the daily challenges of his clients.

He is a former Vice President of Stouffer RestaurantCompany and faculty member at the University of Akron,

teaching hospitality management and beverage management courses. Heconsults in the commercial restaurant/hotel sector as well as with private clubs,

health care and B&I foodservice. Howard is the author of Hospitality Role-Play

Trainer®, a unique program to improve the effectiveness of daily waitstafftraining.

His available workshops and presentations include:

Full-Day Workshops s People Management 101 s Building Your Own All-Star Team s Managing Today’s Bar s Taking Control of Turnover

Half-Day and Show-Length Programs s Effective Bar Cost Controls s Building Your Bar Sales s Growing Lifetime Customers s Building Employee Loyalty s Doin’ the Old Soft Sell s Basics of Bar Hospitality s Professional Telephone Skills

For more information, contact Howard Cutson at:

CUTSON ASSOCIATES

257 Atterbury Blvd.

Hudson, OH 44236

Voice/FAX: (330) 656-3335


website: www.cutsonassociates.com


http://www.cutsonassociates.com


Tom Feltenstein

Tom is the CEO of Feltenstein Partners, a foodservice andhospitality consulting firm focused on building sales throughstrategic and neighborhood marketing. He has over twodecades of experience in the hospitality business and isgenerally acknowledged to be the industry’s leadingmarketing authority.

Tom began his foodservice career as a senior levelmarketing executive with McDonald’s and Burger KingCorporation. He served as Senior Vice President for an

internationally known billion-dollar advertising agency and later owned a chain of14 restaurants.

Tom is Chairman and founder of the Neighborhood Marketing Institute™, adivision of Feltenstein Partners. NMI sponsors the popular annual trainingconference, NMI Foodservice Marketing War College which has been hailed byRestaurants & Institutions magazine as “The best nitty-gritty conference on howto market a restaurant (of any kind).”

Tom is a sought-after speaker with an energetic and dynamic presentation styleand has been a featured presenter at major hospitality industry conferences inthe US, Canada and Europe. He is the author of several breakthroughpublications and has an acclaimed series of audio and video training programs(see Appendix B). Tom’s engaging wit wins over audiences around the world andhas led to guest appearances on The Financial News Network and The DavidLetterman Show.

For more information, contact Tom Feltenstein at:

FELTENSTEIN PARTNERS

400 Clematis Street , Suite 205West Palm Beach, FL 33401Voice: (561) 655-7822

FAX: (561-832-7502


website: www.feltenstein.com


http://www.feltenstein.com


Peter Good, FMP

Peter Good is founder and Principal of Peter GoodSeminars, Inc., a training company primarily serving thehospitality industry.

Peter combines his background as an educator and trainerwith more than 20 years of restaurant operations experiencein casual and fine dining settings. As Director of Educationfor the Illinois Restaurant Association, he designed and

conducted seminar programs addressing topics critical to foodservice successincluding customer service, employee supervision and motivation, food safety,recruitment and hiring.

He is author of the forthcoming book, The MAGIC of Hospitality and a highly-regarded speaker for both his information and his inspirational messages. Peter’shumorous and enthusiastic approach has earned him a reputation as one of theindustry's most dynamic, motivational speakers. A frequent speaker for theNational Restaurant Association's Educational Foundation, his audiences includeMcDonald's Corporation, Sysco Corporation, Divi Hotels & Resorts and TGIFriday's.

Peter is the recipient of the Distinguished Service award from the NationalInstitute for the Foodservice Industry. He has been designated a FoodserviceManagement Professional by the Educational Foundation of the NationalRestaurant Association and is a member of the Professional Speakers of Illinois.

For additional information, contact Peter Good at:

PETER GOOD SEMINARS, INC.

9933 Lawler Avenue, Suite 200Skokie, IL 60007

Voice: (800) 528-2190

FAX: (708) 352-6767


website: www.goodseminars.com


http://www.goodseminars.com


Jim Laube, CPA

Jim Laube is president of the Center for FoodserviceEducation in Houston, Texas. In his many seminars andworkshops, Jim integrates the financial and operational sidesof the business to provide practical, proven methods to helpfoodservice organizations operate more efficiently and moreprofitably.

Jim began his foodservice career at the age of 15 working fora quick-service restaurant and earned his way through

college as a server and bartender. After college, he spent 2 years with a nationalaccounting firm, then 5 years with a regional restaurant chain. He has heldresponsible positions in both the financial and operational sides of the business.

Since 1993, Jim has presented to thousands of foodservice professionalsnationwide. His clients include Walt Disney, Popeye's Chicken & Biscuits,Harrah's Hotels, Vail Resorts and the Society for Foodservice Management.

Full Day Programs s How To Improve Restaurant & Foodservice Profitability s What Every Foodservice Pro Should Know About Financial Management & Controls

Half Day and Show Programs s Profit or Loss: Are You Managing The Financial Side of Your Restaurant? s Food Cost Fitness s Building More Profitable Menus s Staff Selection and Retention

For more information, contact Jim Laube at:

CENTER FOR FOODSERVICE EDUCATION

9801 Westheimer, Suite 302

Houston, Texas 77042

Voice: (888) 233-3555

Fax: (888) 233-3777


website: www.RestaurantOwner.com


http://www.RestaurantOwner.com


Bill Main, FMP, FCSI, CSP

Bill Main has a restaurant management company. Hespeaks throughout the United States and Canada. Heconsults on restaurant strategic planning, profitability andmarketing. He writes regularly for national trade magazines.He is Past President of the California RestaurantAssociation and serves as a Director of the CaliforniaRestaurant Association Education Foundation. How does hefind the time?

A fifth generation Californian, he earned his bachelor's degree in economics atOregon State University. He was a three-year All-Pac-8 halfback and draft choicefor the Pittsburgh Steelers. After a brief stint as a pro, he moved from the gridironto the grill, starting at the famed Henry Africa's in San Francisco. After a year asfood and beverage director at the McKinley Park Hotel in Alaska, in 1974 heformed Oceanshore Restaurants, Inc., a restaurant management companyoffering a full range of services including financial and marketing consulting.

Bill has been designated a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) by the NationalSpeakers Association and gives over 80 presentations each year. Bill and hispartner Barbara Overhoff, have written three best-selling books on training andmanagement. He is also a foodservice management consultant specializing instrategic planning and profit improvement. He is a member of the FoodserviceConsultants Society International and has been a visiting instructor at Cal PolyPomona and the University of San Francisco.

For more information, contact Bill Main at:

BILL MAIN & ASSOCIATES

2220 St. George Lane, Suite 1

Chico, CA 95926

Voice: (800) 858-7876

FAX: (530) 345-0212


website: www.billmain.com


http://www.billmain.com


Phyllis Ann Marshall, FCSI

Phyllis Ann Marshall, Principal of FoodPower, has been afood industry consultant since 1978, involved with restaurantconcepting and operational analysis. Her company,FoodPower, specializes in growth strategies for quick-service and multi-unit operators

FoodPower provides seminars for shopping centermarketing directors, commercial property investors andrestaurant operators. Topics include Management and

Leadership Skills, Trends Review, Profitability, Team-Building, Profitability, MenuMarketing and Merchandising.

As co-owner and operator of Mr. Stox, one of Southern California’s most popularrestaurants, she helped create an innovative and highly-regarded dining facilitywhich has received top industry awards. She is a frequent contributor to nationalfood and restaurant trade publications and is the restaurant reviewer for OrangeCoast magazine. She is an advisor to the University of California at Irvine in thedevelopment of a Restaurant Management Certificate Program.

Phyllis Ann holds a degree in Food and Nutrition from Cornell University. Shetrained in Paris at La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine, in London at Le Cordon Bleu,with chefs in Hong Kong, Madrid, Florence and Nice and with Julia Child in theUS. Phyllis Ann is a member of Chaine des Rotisseurs and the FoodserviceConsultants Society International (FCSI). She is certified by the Association ofCulinary Professionals and is a founding member of the Association of WomenChefs and Restaurateurs.

For more information, contact Phyllis Ann Marshall at:

FOODPOWER

2463 Irvine Ave., Suite E-1

Costa Mesa, CA 92627

Voice: (714) 646-3206

FAX: (714) 646-1390


website: www.foodpower.com


http://www.foodpower.com


Bill MarvinThe Restaurant DoctorK

Bill Marvin, The Restaurant DoctorK, works with goodrestaurants that want to be great ... and with managers whowant to get their lives back!

He is an advisor to foodservice operators around the world. Bill is president of Effortless, Inc., founder of Prototype

Restaurants, a consulting and management group and managing editor ofHospitality Masters Press.

He began his foodservice career in a small Cape Cod restaurant, washing dishes(by hand!) when he was 14. He has had the keys in his hand, his name on theloans and the payrolls to meet. Bill’s hands-on management experience includeshotels, restaurants, clubs and institutions.

He has earned the designation of Certified Speaking Professional from the National Speakers Association. He is a long-time member of the Council of Hoteland Restaurant Trainers. Bill was one of the first to be certified as a FoodserviceManagement Professional by the National Restaurant Association and hasearned the designation of Certified Food Executive from the InternationalFoodservice Executives Association.

Bill is a prolific author, a thought-provoking speaker and a sought-after advisor inareas of concept development and operational effectiveness. In addition to hisprivate consulting practice, he conducts on-going management and staff trainingseminars in North America, Europe and the Pacific Rim.

For more information, contact Bill Marvin at:

EFFORTLESS, INC.

PO Box 280

Gig Harbor, WA 98335

Voice: (800) 767-1055 w (253) 858-9255

FAX: (888) 767-1055 w (253) 851-6887


website: www.restaurantdoctor.com


http://www.restaurantdoctor.com


Rudy M. Miick, FCSI

Rudy Miick is founder and President of Miick & Associatesbased in Boulder, Colorado. In business since 1978, hispractice is focused predominantly in the hospitality industryand deals with new project development and organizationaltransformation within chains and resorts. Clients includefamily run and corporate owned entities.

Miick & Associates is known for maximizing performance,profit and team spirit during what is usually considered traumatic change.

Rudy has balanced his entrepreneurial career with both practical experience andacademic support. He has worked in the hospitality industry since the age of 15and owned his first restaurant at age 24. He co-owns MiXX, a contemporaryAmerican Bistro, located in the wine country of Sonoma County, California.

He holds a Master's degree in Administration with emphasis in bothOrganizational Management, and Human Resources from Antioch and hascompleted the Organization & Systems Design Program in organizationalpsychology at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland.

Rudy is a Director of the Foodservice Consultants Society International, hasserved on the faculty at UCLA Extension in the Hospitality Management Programand is a featured speaker for the National Restaurant Association, the CaliforniaRestaurant Association, the National Ski Areas Association and FCSI. Rudy'spresentations are entertaining, relevant and challenging.

For more information, contact Rudy Miick at:

MIICK & ASSOCIATES

3855 Norwood Court

Boulder, CO 80304

Voice: (303) 413-0400

FAX: (303) 413-0500


website: www.miick.com


http://www.miick.com


Ron Yudd

Ron Yudd is an experienced speaker, trainer and motivatorwith over twenty-five years of operational experience in therestaurant industry. He is the former Director of FoodService for the United States Senate. In his duties at theSenate, he directed over 250 employees serving over12,000 meals per day in 14 different restaurants. Sixtypercent of the Senate’s $8 million in annual foodservicesales was generated from special events and catering,

Ron began teaching foodservice management courses in 1980 at local collegesand culinary schools. In 1986 he became an international instructor for theEducational Foundation of the National Restaurant Association. He continues totravel and teach a variety of profit and service-oriented courses.

As a keynote speaker, Ron has addressed prominent national and internationalgroups on profitability, passion for quality service, training the service employeeand service leadership. He combines a motivating style with practical take-homeideas that have immediate application on the job. Ron’s most requestedpresentations include:

w A Passion for Service: Managing for the Guest w Points of Profit: Cost-Effective Operations w Personal and Professional Success for the Foodservice Operator

Ron is author of Successful Buffet Management, a textbook used extensively

by chefs and catering managers, and is working on two exciting new books, A

Passion for Service to be followed by Points of Profit

For more information, contact Ron Yudd at:

POINTS OF PROFIT LEADERSHIP

10181 Nightingale Street

Gaithersburg, MD 20882

Voice: (301) 540-5791

FAX: (301) 253-4233


website: www.ronyudd.com


http://www.ronyudd.com

Tested ideas from the leading speakers andconsultants in the hospitality industry

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50 Proven Ways to Enhance Guest Service

50 Proven Ways to Build More Profitable Menus

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http://www.restaurantdoctor.com/books/50menus.html

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