Why Restaurants Fail

Why Restaurants Fail

 Restaurant Operational audits are very important in pinpointing areas of opportunity and strengths. In my professional view these audits are important in recognizing and correcting issues throughout the restaurant which includes the back of the house, front of the house, outside surroundings, management records, profit and loss, prime cost, menu analysis, food cost and labor cost.

I am going to mention several areas of opportunities along with the fixes in the post.

One of the most important areas that management and staff members need to focus on is the initial greeting of your guest.

Why is this important?

The customers will form in their minds an opinion of the service that they are about receive. I have done dozens of operational audits which start with the greeting of the guest. There have been many times that I have walked into the greeting area of the restaurant and there was no one to greet me within an acceptable time frame. I have witnessed managers, servers, cooks and dishwashers in plain view, walking past me without acknowledging me. This tells me that they do not care and the service I am going to receive most likely will be mediocre. This sort of operational behavior is unacceptable and will affect repeat business.

Simply put, train your entire staff the meaning of greeting customers. The customers should be greeted immediately, if not within 10 seconds. The more the customer waits the more agitated they get, believe me this is bad for business. Install a bell, buzzer of chime at the front door to inform staff members when the guest arrives at your restaurant. This is a cheap fix to correct the issue. During the off peak time of your restaurant is where most issues occur because fewer employees are scheduled and the employees are too relaxed. If you can get the greeting done correctly, then you have successfully passed the first initial impression in your customer’s minds.

The other area that I want to touch base with in the post is the server service. The customers should be seated when a table is available immediately. Remember, when the guest sees open tables they expect to be seated. If a server is overwhelmed do not seat a customer in their section because they will receive bad service. Instead, seat the guest in a seasoned server section. These servers most likely can handle more tables than the newer employees of weaker employees. Next, the server needs to greet the table quickly or within 2 minutes.

Knowledge is the key to success. The server should start the initial greeting by stating their first name, for example, “hello my name is Judy and I am you server for this evening”. Next, the server needs to mention to the customer if they have visited the restaurant before, if they say no, then use this towards your advantage by notifying management and the cooks so they can treat the guest as if they were VIP’S. Top notch service, will impress the guest and will create repeat business.

The server should first mention the daily food and drink specials. Next, the server will mention appetizers by suggesting a specific appetizer to the customer. Make sure you correctly describe it to the guest. By describing it to the guest, it creates an awesome picture of the food item in their mind. This method will increase the check average and revenue for the restaurant. Both the server (tips) and the restaurant will benefit. Try to get the drink orders and food orders at once, the quicker the better for delivery time frames. Most of the time, the customer may not be ready to give you the food order at that time. Either way, enter those orders as quickly as possible into the (POS) system.

The manager needs to visit table’s as much as possible, ensuring top notch customer service. The server needs to run all drinks and food within the restaurants ticket standards. Most restaurant time frames are:

  •        Breakfast – 8 to 10 minutes or less
  •         Lunch – 10 to 12 minutes or less
  •        Dinner – 15 minutes or less. The exception is if a customer orders a well done steak that takes longer to cook. The server needs to advise the guest that the item may take longer to prepare due to the request. The other exception is if you are making a complicated dish from scratch.
  • Drinks, salads and soups – 4 minutes or less
  • Appetizers – 7 minutes of less
  • Desserts – 7 minutes or less

When delivering food to the guest check back within 2 bites or two minutes to ensure that the food was properly prepared and hot or cold. Also, do refills frequently when the glasses are half empty.

Make sure you are watching the tables frequently, when the customers are almost done with their entrees, ask the guest if they are ready for some awesome dessert. If they do not want the dessert drop off the check quickly, also, the server should write a quick note on the back of the check saying thank you for visiting us today and return soon. It also might be a great idea to have the server name on the back of the check. As the customers leave the restaurant train all employees to say to the guest thanks for visiting and have a great night. The table needs to be reset as soon as possible, 4 minutes or less. Remember, you don’t want customers to see unbussed trashy tables.

In the next series of post, I will go into more deeply about why restaurants fail.

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Consulting Services for Restaurants

 

Consulting Services for Restaurants

 

consulting services for restaurantsHi, I’m Jeff. I have been in the food service industry for over 25 years. I have worked in every restaurant job from busboy, dishwasher, cook, server to management and now as the owner of Workplace Wizards Restaurant Consulting.

In nearly every restaurant where I worked, I used my fact-finding skill and keen intuition to figure out where losses werecoming from. I earned my first management jobs when I figured out and reported who was stealing from the restaurant. I read the facts, I observe what is happening and I can find the problem and the solution.

My training came from various corporations and individuals. My experience taught me what works and what does not work. I received intensive management training and schooling at several of the corporate restaurants where I worked.

I know firsthand that it takes dedication, passion for your job and a desire to provide the best service to make your restaurant succeed. Previous co-workers will tell you that I am passionate about cleanliness and sanitation in the restaurants. All those years of experience, learning and fact-finding have helped me know the systems and procedures that will be beneficial in making your restaurant successful. I am very observant and wise in seeing what can improve your restaurant’s success.

One Day, one of the restaurants that I was managing closed all because the restaurant owner could not successfully negotiate the property rent. It was at that time that I decided to retire and to heavily think about what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.

My wife is a very wise women, she once told me if you want to own your own business and you’re not sure what type of business do what you love, do what you are knowledgeable in.

So, I decided that right there and then I wanted to be a restaurant consultant; I wanted to own my own restaurant consulting company.

Consulting Services for Restaurants – What makes me qualified to be a Restaurant Consultant?  

I have over thirty years’ experience in the restaurant industry. I was privileged enough to have worked alongside of the best and most knowledgeable people in the restaurant industry. The one thing I have learned is that passion, consistency and wanting to do the right thing for the right reasons is the best way to be successful. I was like a sponge, absorbing as much as I can to apply it to everyday situations.

So, came up with Workplace Wizards Restaurant Consulting as my business name. We are more than a consulting company, our services include, free initial restaurant consulting , manager and employee restaurant training, traditional restaurant assessments, restaurant undercover assessments, affordable restaurant forms, restaurant checklists, quick reference guides, restaurant spreadsheets, restaurant startup services and restaurant training manuals.

If you are interested in our services please visit us at:

https://www.workplacewizards.com/

https://www.workplacewizards.com/restaurant-forms/

https://www.workplacewizards.com/restaurant-services/

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