A New Restaurant

Many times the difference between restaurant success and restaurant failure is in the small details.  Your restaurant can have a very talented chef that consistently puts out excellent meals, but if that meal is served on a dirty plate, your potential success becomes a failure in the eyes of your guests.

I’ll admit, one job I have never held in my food service career is dishwasher.  That doesn’t mean I haven’t washed my share of plates and scrubbed more pots and pans than I care to remember.  Even in management and chef positions I have always been willing to step in and work through a pile of dirty dishes.

In most operations the dishwasher is the lowest of low on the pecking order.  Every crap job that needs to be done seems to fall to them.  It is your basic entry-level, low skill position.

That being said, in many ways your restaurants success rides on the back of these kitchen drones.  (more…)

Many managers have the distinct privilege of being put in charge as manager of a restaurant after a previous manager has done their best to kill the business.  They drove away customers, and left the restaurant with a poor reputation and a dwindling customer base.  So what can you, as the new manager do to breathe life back into the business?

The first thing is to realize that you will not be able to revive the business overnight.  (more…)

One of the warnings that new restaurant owners hear when they talk about opening their own restaurant is that it will require long hours in order to earn the mount of money you would earn in a 9 to 5 job.  Sadly, for many restaurant owners, that is very true.  Everything they own is tied up in their restaurant, and it consumes nearly all of their time.  You can see this in almost any community with independent restaurants.  They are surviving, but are they are not what you would consider restaurant success stories.
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I heard a quote recently that was attributed to Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart: — “I was asked what I thought about the recession and decided that I did not want to take part in it.”

I thought the quote was interesting, because it really goes after the issue of attitude when your restaurant is faced with difficult times.  (more…)

For most restaurants, your year is really affected by the different seasons.  It’s how well you take advantage of the different seasons that determine whether your restaurant will be a success or a failure.  Restaurant owners that are successful realize that the money they earn at Christmas will have to get them through the remaining winter months.  Restaurant owners that fail to plan for the slower periods run out of cash, and end up with cash flow problems that could cost them their business.

While the seasonal slowdown is not good for the financial health of your restaurant, it does not have to be wasted time.  One of the big complaints in the restaurant business is that there isn’t enough time to do all of the things that need to be done.  during the sower season you can be doing things that you don’t have time to do when it’s busy that can contribute to your restaurants success. (more…)

As we head into the new year, you should think about what your brand is, or what you would like your brand to be.  If you want to be a successful restaurant in this volatile economy, you better know who you are, and be ready to let your customers know who you are.

If you think that building a brand isn’t important to building a successful restaurant business, you haven’t been paying attention to what has been going on on the restaurant world.  (more…)

OK.  So here’s a question for you; is your ego getting into the way of your restaurants success?  Are you directly causing your restaurants failure?

Let’s face it, restaurant owners do have ego issues.  Even soft-spoken, seemingly unassuming owners have to have something inside to lead them to believe they can succeed in a business where so many other restaurants failed.  Not that this is necessarily a bad thing.  If you don’t think you have what it takes you should find another way to spend your money.

Where an ego can become a problem is when you are so set on being right in  every area that you begin to grind down the people around you, and when you fail to admit mistakes, even when those mistakes are costing you your business.

If you have ever watched the show “Kitchen Nightnmares” you have seen how egos have gotten into the way of a restaurants success.  Every episode Chef Ramsey is forced to confront an owner who refuses to change the way they are doing business even when they are obviously failing with the way the are operating.  The majority of the time it isn’t just menu or service problems, it extends to the way the owner is treating the staff.

One of the greatest assets an owner has is the restaurants staff.  A good staff, when properly lead can not only make sure your food is properly prepared, they are the ones in front of the customer, putting a face on your business.  when an owners ego prevents that staff from feeling like they are making a contribution, or worse yet, that their contribution isn’t appreciated, you are on the road to disaster.

Keep your ego in check.  It may be your business, but chances are great that you are counting on a lot of other people to make it succeed.

One of the things I have found when making adjustments to the schedule is you find out how comfortable people have gotten.  Suddenly you’re requiring more work out of your employees without giving them extra time to do get the work done.  For many, the first reaction is, “I don’t have time to get it done.”

When you hear those words, there are two possibilities to consider.  The first is that you really did cut too deeply, and there is no way to accomplish all that needs to be done at the current staff levels.  The second possibility is the one I usually come up against; there is enough time to get things done, but the staff doesn’t really want to wok any harder.

If you’ve thought through the tasks at hand and have planned carefully,  then be assured that more can be accomplished than your worker may be willing to admit.  What they are looking for is to see if they can get you to back off and either give some of the work to someone else, or rehire someone to come in and do the work.  Once they see that you are sticking to your decision, the complaints soon stop, and surprisingly, all of the work gets done.

With all of the talk about how bad things are, and no clear sign of when it’s all going to end, it’s easy to lose sight of a very important point: it’s still very possible to be profitable in the restaurant business.

Case in point: Buffalo Wild Wings.

When BWW released their earning for the 3rd quarter, they reported that they were in fact making a profit.  Despite the constant barage of news about how bad things are across the board.  Buffalo Wild Wings showed that it is still possible to make a profit during tough times.  Economic experts credit the companies “differentiated brand.”

What does that mean?  It means BWW does not try to be like other restaurants.  They are different, and their customers recognize that difference.  More important than recognizing the difference, they see value in that difference, and are willing to continue to spend their money there.

It proves what I have been saying; you have to dare to be different.  You cannot afford to be like your competition.  You need to be different, and you need to do waht you do better.

This doesn’t necessarily mean there cannot be any similarities, but it does mean your customers need to be able to recognize that you are different.  This can be in menu offerings, price and portion, service, or any combination of these things.

Be different, and learn to turn that difference into profits.

How do you handle employees that have developed bad attitudes?

Sadly, even good workers can turn to the dark-side over time.  You don’t always see it happening.  It’s a slow change that happens over time.  Then one day you walk in, and you realize you have a problem.  So, what do you do?

One option is to fire the person.  A bad attitude can be like poison to the rest of your staff.  If left untreated, your entire crew is affected.  However, with the economy the way it is, cutting someone loose from your staff is a harsh thing to do.  Remember, the person you let go will need to be replaced.  You will need to recruit, hire, and train a replacement.  That takes time, and depending on the position, there can be a bit of a learning curve before the new personis really holding their own.  You need to determine whether or not the worker is salvagable.

Many times, the person is a good worker that has lost their will to be a part of the team.  When that happens, you can often turn their attitude around, and get them contributing to the restaurant’s operation.  If you catch the poblem before it becomes too advanced, it can be a quick and easy adjustment.

One way to do this is to sell him or her on your vision for the restaurant.  make sure they understand what it is you are trying to accomplish, and let them know how they fit into that picture.  Most of the time, if the pperson feels like they are important, they will step up and begin to take more pride in their work.