Evening Everyone..
Everyone needs people like them. They rub off on everyone. When YOU are filling out your roster and He/She's name is on it you know it is a guarantee. Your shift will flow perfectly and everyone of your bullet points that you have as goals will be achieved. You know this person, it may be your Heather or Josh or Jose and Amber. They have incredible instincts with people and situations. The entire staff knows who to ask when things need to get done. They are the building blocks to your unit. The work you put into them was difficult but well worth your time and energy. So why do we lose them? Is it Money? Or is it something a bit more? Below are suggestions that hopefully will inspire you to create a atmosphere of retenion. KEEP YOUR PEOPLE!
PERFORMANCE REVIEWS... A very powerful communicative tool that is very under utilized in our Industry. People always dred them because they are uninspiring to Managers and Line Staff alike. Remember this: Your top people need them! They need to understand where they stand. They want to know they are doing satisfactory and what they need to improve. You can attach a wage increase to it if that is what you custimarily do. Where they stand is more powerful than money. In my companies the Performance review is key to introducing the ROAD...
A CLEAR ROADMAP... Your top staff who mean the most to you leave in many instances because they have nothing else to do or worse yet anyplace to go. They have had there share of adulations and back slaps and at the end of the day they go home. It is human nature for people to expand and grow. Titles are sign posts to just that. Top Staff want to know...Is there anything else? They want to be a part of something bigger.. Where do I GROW from Here?
SUPPLY THE MAP... Your top people Crave more responsibility and posess a very important element in your organization, CREDIBILITY. Staff members look up to them and respect their work ethic. I have seen the energy in units go sky high when you are able to harness this energy. Their road map could be the Store Captain (Training). The store captain can be involved in all aspects in Human Relations.. Captains can give interviews, schedule orientations and have training classes. It has a major impact in your key staff members Physche. You recognize their commitment to you and the location. You give them a new task and guidance to continue to thrive. The boredom that they have felt is in the past..
WE NEED MANAGERS.. If you ask any top rated HR person in any major company they will always tell you, we are currently building our bench. Captains who continue to thrive could be entertaining a move into your MIT program. Most companies love the idea of being proactive in their hiring. It is fairly easy to move Solid Captains into MIT areas. Captains understand the Culture and the right ways to do things. Finally, this is the part of the map that continues individual growth and achievement.
Hopefully this quick post will help you retain your top folks! It is very simple to execute and should be a part of your single Restaurant or multiple locations. Give your top people a place to go.. Watch as your retention numbers go way up....
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Monday, August 1, 2011
The Recession Proof Restaurant "A Work Of Art"
Good Evening Everyone,
We all Know the Story.. The Real Estate Bubble was over valued and mortgages were given out like BOGO's in the mail. It didn't matter who was credit worthy or not. It doesnt even matter anymore who was to blame (Insert Theory Here)! It literally destroyed our financial institutions and jobs. Three and a Half years later with 10% Unemployment and a flatlined GDP you are still here. For some reason the Recession did not choose your place to close or lay you off. Congrats from me to you! I think you have made it through the worst of it. Rejoice in the fact that you have done something right! It is the purpose of this post to inspire you to become the operator you can be. Today let's talk being Basically Brilliant in the area of Smart Labor Staffing..
Two weeks ago on a Thursday I decided to go to my favorite mid level casual eating restaurant for a quick bite and a beer. It was 645 PM the restaurant was half full and had a healthy wait at the door. The servers were stressed no hostess was present. So I waited with another guest who was a shopper for the company. When asked why can't we sit where all those empty seats are we were met with a "Corporate wants us to watch our Labor"! Some of the Guests left I decided to stay and knew how it would end. The BOH guys who were grossly understaffed took 40 minutes for me to get a burger AND a salad.. The burger was Overcooked I choked it down anyway. The overwhelmed sweaty server thanked me as I left. THIS DOESN"T NEED TO HAPPEN..
The truth is that it shouldn't happen...It can NEVER happen again! If you are thinking you are saving money on your labor line you are crazy!! You just Lost Guests, Employees and food product because you do what alot of operators do..CUT..CUT.. "I don't care how you do it".. Here is your fix! Go back to your Aloha or Your Micros and print out: Sales per Hour (1 Month) (Average Wage) (Per Capita)..
SALES PER HOUR..Number don't Lie.Over the last month you have aquired statistics on how busy you are during the course of a day. You peak in (Number of) guests and sales every night at 630 PM..1230 During the day..
YOUR AVERAGE WAGE gives you the average of how much your employees make each night and by the hour. Kitchen folks make more than Servers and bartenders per hour. EXAMPLE 9.75$
PER CAPITA Is the average each guest spends on menu items. EXAMPLE 14.50$. Covers X's Per Cap= Sales..
Sales Per Hour will give you how many guests averaged on a Thursday Night X Per Capita will Give you Sales and Peak Times
You can calculate your labor dollars by multiplying Hours vs Average wage to come up with Dollars Spent. Divide into into sales for Labor %
What does all this Mean? It is a tool to help you Schedule Properly with out going over your budget! In my case I can schedule enough front of the house staff by staggering them in by knowing my sales per hour. I know how much my guests are going to spend and how many are coming. I know my Average wage for tonights shift.
When I was a Operator I used to run this scenario in my head all the time. As a Multi Unit Operator I would teach it. It is sound and applicable towards staffing and running great Labor numbers and keeping your guests and staff. The tools are in Your POS.. Remember this..If you are trying to run labor on the last day of the period you have already lost. You can tweak in times and out times as numbers will change.. Good Luck and Happy Hunting..
We all Know the Story.. The Real Estate Bubble was over valued and mortgages were given out like BOGO's in the mail. It didn't matter who was credit worthy or not. It doesnt even matter anymore who was to blame (Insert Theory Here)! It literally destroyed our financial institutions and jobs. Three and a Half years later with 10% Unemployment and a flatlined GDP you are still here. For some reason the Recession did not choose your place to close or lay you off. Congrats from me to you! I think you have made it through the worst of it. Rejoice in the fact that you have done something right! It is the purpose of this post to inspire you to become the operator you can be. Today let's talk being Basically Brilliant in the area of Smart Labor Staffing..
Two weeks ago on a Thursday I decided to go to my favorite mid level casual eating restaurant for a quick bite and a beer. It was 645 PM the restaurant was half full and had a healthy wait at the door. The servers were stressed no hostess was present. So I waited with another guest who was a shopper for the company. When asked why can't we sit where all those empty seats are we were met with a "Corporate wants us to watch our Labor"! Some of the Guests left I decided to stay and knew how it would end. The BOH guys who were grossly understaffed took 40 minutes for me to get a burger AND a salad.. The burger was Overcooked I choked it down anyway. The overwhelmed sweaty server thanked me as I left. THIS DOESN"T NEED TO HAPPEN..
The truth is that it shouldn't happen...It can NEVER happen again! If you are thinking you are saving money on your labor line you are crazy!! You just Lost Guests, Employees and food product because you do what alot of operators do..CUT..CUT.. "I don't care how you do it".. Here is your fix! Go back to your Aloha or Your Micros and print out: Sales per Hour (1 Month) (Average Wage) (Per Capita)..
SALES PER HOUR..Number don't Lie.Over the last month you have aquired statistics on how busy you are during the course of a day. You peak in (Number of) guests and sales every night at 630 PM..1230 During the day..
YOUR AVERAGE WAGE gives you the average of how much your employees make each night and by the hour. Kitchen folks make more than Servers and bartenders per hour. EXAMPLE 9.75$
PER CAPITA Is the average each guest spends on menu items. EXAMPLE 14.50$. Covers X's Per Cap= Sales..
Sales Per Hour will give you how many guests averaged on a Thursday Night X Per Capita will Give you Sales and Peak Times
You can calculate your labor dollars by multiplying Hours vs Average wage to come up with Dollars Spent. Divide into into sales for Labor %
What does all this Mean? It is a tool to help you Schedule Properly with out going over your budget! In my case I can schedule enough front of the house staff by staggering them in by knowing my sales per hour. I know how much my guests are going to spend and how many are coming. I know my Average wage for tonights shift.
When I was a Operator I used to run this scenario in my head all the time. As a Multi Unit Operator I would teach it. It is sound and applicable towards staffing and running great Labor numbers and keeping your guests and staff. The tools are in Your POS.. Remember this..If you are trying to run labor on the last day of the period you have already lost. You can tweak in times and out times as numbers will change.. Good Luck and Happy Hunting..
Friday, July 15, 2011
General Manager Must Have's
Hi Everybody,
As Vin Scully would say "Good is not good, when better is expected". In restaurants and in hospitality we are graded on daily basis and the awesome day you just had is forgotten as quickly as it arrived. We are a performance based, change on the fly segement of our ever changing economy. We as owners operators and chefs must do a better job of evaluating talent as we bring them into our cultures and organizations. Below are listed General Manager traits that are vital to your organizations moving forward. The GM is the most important part of your business because Leadership truly comes before guest services. For better or worse your staff emulates the GM on every level.. Think about that for a moment..
It has been my perception through years of experience that if staffs don't know or understand the day to day expectation set by your General Manager, THEY WILL MAKE UP THEIR OWN. Thats where we start to run into problems. Your GM is directly involved with developing JR manager's on staff. JR manager's develope the rest of your staff per department. They all take on the persona of the main character in your business, the General Manager. Below this paragraph are a list of must haves I have accumulated over a period of 20+ years in the field. If your GM's have these traits you will win every day. You will be able to step away and get other things accomplished. Never Settle for anything Less..
Executes Ideals of Brand (Core Values)
Exceptional in Food and Beverage or 90% Of (QSC)
Has Many Fans on Staff (Firm but Fair)
The energy in their Restaurants Differ from other restaurants (Positive)
The Team is smiling and they are never out of uniform
Tough on your standards, easy with people
They have full Ownership. Just Like its theirs
Addictive Consistency
Daily Team Training
Staffing Scheduling is optimal.. Never over budget
He/She sees what the guest sees
Expert at the basics
Shift is lead on purpose and guided with passion
Purposeful Hiring with a particular goal in mind
Accepts Accountability Quick to Change
Never Turns Over (Lifer)
Disciplined/Not ridged (Understands Gray Area)
Focus, Goal Sets, Follows up on Execution (P & L)
Loves the Community where they Manage
Communication with entire staff is Exceptional
Resolves Conflict with ease
Evaluates first then acts (Even Keel)
He/She is the Harbor in the Tempest
Crew very Loyal and Committed (No turnover)
Always motivating and planning
Pre-shift meetings are automatic and fun
Switch is always on..Incredibly Tuned In
Congrats if you have a GM who partially shows upon this list. Hopefullly while reading this post you will have a AHA moment on a Oprah like scale.. I invite you to leave comments..
As Vin Scully would say "Good is not good, when better is expected". In restaurants and in hospitality we are graded on daily basis and the awesome day you just had is forgotten as quickly as it arrived. We are a performance based, change on the fly segement of our ever changing economy. We as owners operators and chefs must do a better job of evaluating talent as we bring them into our cultures and organizations. Below are listed General Manager traits that are vital to your organizations moving forward. The GM is the most important part of your business because Leadership truly comes before guest services. For better or worse your staff emulates the GM on every level.. Think about that for a moment..
It has been my perception through years of experience that if staffs don't know or understand the day to day expectation set by your General Manager, THEY WILL MAKE UP THEIR OWN. Thats where we start to run into problems. Your GM is directly involved with developing JR manager's on staff. JR manager's develope the rest of your staff per department. They all take on the persona of the main character in your business, the General Manager. Below this paragraph are a list of must haves I have accumulated over a period of 20+ years in the field. If your GM's have these traits you will win every day. You will be able to step away and get other things accomplished. Never Settle for anything Less..
Executes Ideals of Brand (Core Values)
Exceptional in Food and Beverage or 90% Of (QSC)
Has Many Fans on Staff (Firm but Fair)
The energy in their Restaurants Differ from other restaurants (Positive)
The Team is smiling and they are never out of uniform
Tough on your standards, easy with people
They have full Ownership. Just Like its theirs
Addictive Consistency
Daily Team Training
Staffing Scheduling is optimal.. Never over budget
He/She sees what the guest sees
Expert at the basics
Shift is lead on purpose and guided with passion
Purposeful Hiring with a particular goal in mind
Accepts Accountability Quick to Change
Never Turns Over (Lifer)
Disciplined/Not ridged (Understands Gray Area)
Focus, Goal Sets, Follows up on Execution (P & L)
Loves the Community where they Manage
Communication with entire staff is Exceptional
Resolves Conflict with ease
Evaluates first then acts (Even Keel)
He/She is the Harbor in the Tempest
Crew very Loyal and Committed (No turnover)
Always motivating and planning
Pre-shift meetings are automatic and fun
Switch is always on..Incredibly Tuned In
Congrats if you have a GM who partially shows upon this list. Hopefullly while reading this post you will have a AHA moment on a Oprah like scale.. I invite you to leave comments..
Sunday, April 10, 2011
When It Hits The Fan It Wont Be Evenly Distributed!
I thought about writing how to say Servant Leadership in Latin as a way to show off my intellect and knowledge on the subject. Enough of that. I don't know how to say it in Latin but I do know how it works. Let me just say that this form of Leadership, when utilized in your restaurants, not only works but creates a culture in which people thrive. Usually young restaurateurs like writing their core values in which Integrity, Honesty and Passion become three out of five in importance. Rarely do you ever see going all out for your team and supporting operations where ever we operate in their core values. It should be. Lets face it, we see it all the time. Disgruntled team members wishing "I had a little help OUT here" or you cut the floor and then leave to go do whatever you do in the back. How about the Sous Chef who gets it done by deriding team members for ten hours a day and then comes back just to do it again the very next day. How about the busboy who steals tips because he/she doesn't feel there needs are not being met.
How about you? You know, the star of this little play. You want to run it and captain the pilots seat but you are buried under mounds of expectations reasonable or not by the Corporate support team who always manages to call you for something they need in the middle of your shift. So you play around with that masterful spreadsheet you created not really knowing that the real action is outside of the office where you are losing and degrading the business 360 days a year. We rapidly become the culture and are such creatures of habit that closing yourself off from the business becomes natural to you. Skating to where the puck is going is impossible. You are always dealing with turnover, constantly hiring and have a different management team yearly. You work yeoman's type hours trying to get ahead only to be carrying the load all by yourself. You never had the time to develop your managers because they don't stick around long enough to do so.
In the back ground you hear the phone ring and intuition tells you its another team member calling in because of car troubles that will miraculously be cured by tomorrow. Which means you only have five servers tonight. Within five minutes you will make a fateful decision to go with it because you have no time to make phone calls to willing employees who want to work and save the shift. At least Labor will be low! The shift as it turns out was a unmitigated disaster because a party of 40 came in. Unfortunately it was never recorded because your staff is not very good on the phone. The phone rings again and it is your Regional wanting an explanation while sitting on his couch in the comfort of his own home. He wants to meet with you today at 2:15 but calls and cancels until next week. He is your fourth Regional in two years.
You know you didn't last in this environment. It eventually took its toll. Hours of lost sleep, arguments with family and you started to care less. Now that you have had sometime off you feel passionate about the business again. You miss it and you start interviewing for positions. You are lucky enough to be sought after and you swear things will be different this time. You learned so many things from your last position.. Guess what? You are destined to do it again! On my my next post I will introduce you to Restaurant Leadership that not only works but empowers people to match your passion every day. Read on!
J Michael
How about you? You know, the star of this little play. You want to run it and captain the pilots seat but you are buried under mounds of expectations reasonable or not by the Corporate support team who always manages to call you for something they need in the middle of your shift. So you play around with that masterful spreadsheet you created not really knowing that the real action is outside of the office where you are losing and degrading the business 360 days a year. We rapidly become the culture and are such creatures of habit that closing yourself off from the business becomes natural to you. Skating to where the puck is going is impossible. You are always dealing with turnover, constantly hiring and have a different management team yearly. You work yeoman's type hours trying to get ahead only to be carrying the load all by yourself. You never had the time to develop your managers because they don't stick around long enough to do so.
In the back ground you hear the phone ring and intuition tells you its another team member calling in because of car troubles that will miraculously be cured by tomorrow. Which means you only have five servers tonight. Within five minutes you will make a fateful decision to go with it because you have no time to make phone calls to willing employees who want to work and save the shift. At least Labor will be low! The shift as it turns out was a unmitigated disaster because a party of 40 came in. Unfortunately it was never recorded because your staff is not very good on the phone. The phone rings again and it is your Regional wanting an explanation while sitting on his couch in the comfort of his own home. He wants to meet with you today at 2:15 but calls and cancels until next week. He is your fourth Regional in two years.
You know you didn't last in this environment. It eventually took its toll. Hours of lost sleep, arguments with family and you started to care less. Now that you have had sometime off you feel passionate about the business again. You miss it and you start interviewing for positions. You are lucky enough to be sought after and you swear things will be different this time. You learned so many things from your last position.. Guess what? You are destined to do it again! On my my next post I will introduce you to Restaurant Leadership that not only works but empowers people to match your passion every day. Read on!
J Michael
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