Archive for February, 2009
Creating Customer Service Excellence
Posted by: | CommentsIn a fast paced, dynamic environment like a customer facing group, there is potential for great wins and some losses as far as attracting, gaining and retaining customers go.
So who is responsible for customer service? Anyone who touches the customer, either directly or indirectly is providing a level of service. This includes the people in such varied roles as: product planners, IT staff, shippers, billing clerks, human resources and service team members. Bottom line: service is everybody’s responsibility. The service chain includes all people and functions that link up to final delivery to the customer. To find out who is in this chain begin at the end: who delivers the product to the customer? Then ask who provides a product or service to that person? Continue tracing it back to the originator. You now have your service chain.
It is critical that everyone in the service chain know the impact of their actions. Each person in the chain should focus on creating excellence in the following areas:
1. Create customer focused processes, not company focused processes. If what you are doing is done to make the internal processes work better and not better for the customer, how long will they be with you? Your customer wants to know that you put them above the inner workings of the company. Focus your efforts on your customers; then let the internal processes follow.
2. Respond to your customers inquiries quickly. Statistically the longer it takes to respond, the less likely your customer is to deal with you in the future. And remember, for every 1 customer that tells you they are dissatisfied there are 24 more out there that will never tell you something is wrong. But they will tell their colleagues and friends. And that hurts business, one way or the other.
3. Keep a positive service delivery attitude. It’s a moment by moment attitude choice: you can present yourself positively, or allow yourself to get caught in the stress of the day. Don’t be fooled: your customers hear what kind of day you are having.
4. Ask your customer how you are doing and Listen to the response. It’s important to stop and check in with your customer. Ask how you can serve them better or better meet their needs. And then Listen to what they tell you. Respond to what they say. (Did you notice the capital L in the word Listen? That word is so very important, as is the action that goes with it that we decided it deserved a capital.)
5. Treat your customers with respect and integrity. This goes for customers both within your organization and outside it. Imagine what it would be like if all the interactions you ever had were based on mutual respect and integrity…
So you get the point: focus your efforts on your customer; make them feel special by listening to them and solving their problems. Be their champion and treat them well. Customers see it, feel it, know it and want to share it. So go ahead, make their day. Show them how you feel about them. It will make both your day and theirs a better one!
Anne Rose has been a faculty member for Canadian Management Centre since 1990 years, leading public programs, in-house customized programs and providing coaching services. She runs CMC’s Customer Service public and on site programs, as well as Communications and Quality programs in-house. http://www.cmctraining.org/reg/category.asp?sid=0&cat_id=3
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Anne_Rose
Ideal or Real Food Cost in the Restaurant Business
Posted by: | CommentsMost culinary schools today are still teaching their students how to compute the wrong food cost. Granted the math is right, but the dollars involved are hurting the bottom line of our restaurants. The problem arises from the separation of percentage points and dollars.
Banks Use Dollars, not Percentage Points One thing I am quite sure of is that banks do not accept percentage points as deposits, believe me I’ve tried! For some reason the teller just looked at me dumbfounded then just started chuckling. Matter of fact she had so much fun with it she showed the teller next to her who responded in much the same manor. I didn’t find the humor in it since I had bills to pay, product to buy, and employees wanting their cash too. To rectify the situation I cowered to the pressure and made out a revised deposit slip using their required dollar standard.
So if you can’t deposit percentage points why do most restaurants use this as their key focus goal? Shouldn’t the establishments focus on dollars instead? Your darn right they should.
A Higher Food Cost Doesn’t Mean Theft or Waste It’s the end of your period and the accountant just brought in the p&l. A quick scan shows your food cost is 35%. What! The first thought that runs through most operators and managers minds is we have a theft or product waste problem. Well, that may be true, but before you go running to the staff and start ranting and raging you have to find out if that is the truth. You may very well have to eat those words after you get through this article. Matter of fact they may need to be praised instead.
What Is Ideal Food Cost Then? Well let’s take a look at what the real food cost value is and how it is divided. To compute real food cost you take the cost of the product you needed to produce the food and divide it by the sales revenue of that food. You can compute the food cost for an individual plate, or over a specific period of time. For example if it costs you $3.50 for the product and you sell the item for $12.00 your food cost is $3.50/$12.00=0.2916 or 29.16%
29% Food Cost, That’s Great Yes, 29% food cost isn’t bad, but is it the best thing for the restaurant? Let’s take a look at sample full service restaurant. Looking at a few of their menu selections we have a chicken dish which is on the menu for $15.00, steak for $19.00 and a steak and lobster dish for $28.00. When we look at the cost side the chicken is $4.00, the steak $7.00 and the steak and lobster $12.00. We do our food costs on these to come up with the chicken dish running a 27%, the steak 37% and the steak and lobster a 43% food cost.
It’s pretty clear, if you want to run below that magical 30% food cost number, ell chicken! But, as I said when we started the bank doesn’t like percentages on the deposit slips, so convert them to dollars. Okay, since they sold a chicken dish for $15.00 and it cost them $4.00 that’s easy, $15.00 – $4.00 = $11.00. Are they happy now? They have their 27% food cost, and banked $11.00. All great until someone tells them of their error. Sure they ran a nice food cost, but they could have banked more money. How? By selling either of the other dishes. The steak, which cost them $7.00 to produce and sold for $19.00 would have banked them $12.00 and the steak and lobster would have brought in a whopping $16.00.
If it were me going to the bank to make the deposit I would much rather be depositing $16.00 for the steak and lobster verses the $11.00 for the chicken and would take the associated 43% food cost with a smile. So, next time your actual food cost numbers come in run your ideal food cost numbers to compare before you fly off the handle with your staff. The difference between your real and actual food costs is where any associated problems can be found with respect to theft or product waste issues.
S. Hafez Food and Beverage Underground A food and beverage industry resource, information exchange and meeting place.
Restaurant Customer Service is Now Customer Care
Posted by: | Commentsby Richard Saporito
As I waited for an answer to my VCR inquiry from a stereo company, the recording stated a “customer care” representative would be available shortly. At that moment, I realized it’s finally catching on everywhere. With aging baby boomers, world events and additional pressures in today’s society; it is “customer care” that has evolved in our economy. We have moved from a manufacturing economy to a service economy and are currently leaning towards a “servicecare” economy. As we live in a high tech-high button touch environment, many personal contacts have been decreased making each customer interaction more important than ever to corporate imagery. For example, if you call for computer tech support, the representative often makes it a point to address you by first name. If it’s the bank credit card company, they may ask “How are you doing today?” This makes the customer feel less like a number and more like a human being.
The successful restauranteurs always took service one step further towards “care” because they understood restaurant customer service literally involves the immediate health of the patron– more so than any other industry (except for healthcare industry itself). A recent survey asked diners why they went out to eat and the main response was “to feel good.” (After all, the word “restaurant” has French origins meaning “to restore”). As a waiter for many years, I felt my job was to restore humanity, especially to diners arriving from a stressed out day. Read More→
Tips and Suggestions Of Ingredients For the Making of Perfect Steak Marinates
Posted by: | CommentsCuisines from all over the world rely on a diversity of steak marinades to prepare meat for cooking. Wine, vinegar, lime juice or other acid ingredients are used to tenderize the texture of red meats: pork, veal, beef, lamb and venison. However, tenderizing is not the only great advantage of steak marinades, they also add up to the taste richness and make the dish twice more savory. Furthermore, given the fact that the alternative for marinade is either meat pounding or cooking it for hours on end until it gets soft enough to be stabbed with the fork, marinating remains the least time-consuming solution.
Regardless of which combination of ingredients you choose for the steak marinades, the important part is to leave the meat covered in the solution for at least six hours; the most advisable thing to do under the circumstances is to actually let
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it marinate over night. Here are some further tips and suggestions of ingredients for the making of perfect steak marinates; yet, mention must be made first that very often, creativity can help you improvise some wonderful recipes too, therefore, personal contribution should not be ignored either.
Let’s start by saying that at the basis of all steak marinades lies an acid ingredient which prevails in the composition: the most commonly used are vinegar, wine and lime juice. When it comes to vinegar, the best suggestion is to use a balsamic type that has the most pleasant flavor of all; then, red wine always works best than white wine too. The former is indicated for red meats while the latter for poultry only. Steak marinades also rely on a little oil added to the composition, and there are free variations here too: vegetable oil would be the general solution, however olive oil or peanut oil are also valid options.
Spices are next on the list for cooking steak marinades, and here improvisation works at its best. There are certain ones that are an absolute must like pepper and chilly, but for some very special dishes variations include cinnamon powder, garlic powder, ginger and so on. Instead of garlic powder, it is often recommended to use fresh cloves, not only for the natural flavor, as for the fact that a lot from the powder form consists of additives and taste enhancers. Various steak marinades are also include soy sauce, mustard or Dijon sauce as well, but in small quantities no larger than two teaspoonfuls.
By: Muna wa Wanjiru
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Muna wa Wanjiru Has Been Researching and Reporting on Steak for Years. For More Information on Steak Marinades, Visit His Site at STEAK MARINADES
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I Love French Wine And Food – A White Beaujolais
Posted by: | CommentsIf you are looking for fine French wine and food, consider the Beaujolais region of southeastern France. You may find a bargain, and I hope that you’ll have fun on this fact-filled wine education tour in which we review a local white Beaujolais wine.
Among France’s eleven wine-growing regions Beaujolais perhaps surprisingly ranks number eight in total acreage devoted to the grape. However, it is one of the best-known wine regions to a large degree because of the enormously successful Beaujolais Nouveau marketing campaign. I review Beaujolais Nouveau wine in a companion article in this series.
Beaujolais wine is usually, but not always, red. Beaujolais white wine comes from a variety of grapes including Chardonnay as in the wine reviewed below, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, and Aligoté.
There are no cities in the entire region so tourists will have to be satisfied with the 14 mile (23 kilometer) Beaujolais wine route and its villages. Most of them are. This wine route is home to nine of the Beaujolais grands crus including Chiroubles, reviewed in a companion article.
Not far from the wine route is Villars-les-Dombes (population four thousand) with an excellent bird sanctuary, including four hundred species of birds. Continue south to the medieval walled town of Pérouges (population about one thousand) on a hilltop. This town was the setting for the movie The Three Musketeers.
Before reviewing the Beaujolais wine and imported cheeses that we were lucky enough to purchase at a local wine store and a local Italian food store, here are a few suggestions of what to eat with indigenous wines when touring this beautiful region. Start with Cuisses de Grenouilles (Frogs Legs). For your second course savor Quenelles de Brochet (Poached Fish Dumplings). And as dessert indulge yourself with Galettes de Pérouges (Pérouges Pancakes).
OUR WINE REVIEW POLICY All wines that we taste and review are purchased at the full retail price.
Wine Reviewed Pisse-Dru Beaujolais Blanc 2004 12.9% alcohol about $10.00
Let’s start by quoting the marketing materials. The name “Pisse-Dru” comes from an amusing French vintners expression: when an old vigneron says with a smile of satisfaction on his face, “ça pisse dru”, it means that the vintage he has just tasted is to his liking and that the fresh juice of the grape will grow into a perfect and delicious bottle of wine.
Yellow-green color with hints of gold. Fine and fruity on the nose, this wine shows aromas of quince and small yellow plum with some floral nuances. A very pleasant wine with a long finish. Serve chilled with hors d’oeuvres, grilled seafood, cold-cuts, poultry with light cream sauce and cold pasta salads. And now for the review.
My first meal consisted of barbecued chicken with potatoes cooked in chicken fat and green beans in tomato sauce. The wine had a nice tingling taste and was refreshingly acidic. It really cut the grease of this quite greasy meal.
My next pairing was with a commercial chicken pot pie perked up by a Chinese hot sauce. This Beaujolais Blanc was once again refreshingly acidic, light and fruity. But it was fairly short and overpowered by a hot sauce that wasn’t very hot. The wine had no such problem with poppy seed cake.
My final meal was an omelet with brown mushrooms, local provolone cheese, and the fixings. I was surprised and somewhat disappointed that the wine was quite light when paired with a mild-tasting omelet.
I next tried this wine with an Italian Bel Paese, a mild buttery cheese that people suggest to accompany fruity wines or to be eaten alone as a snack or a dessert. This pairing was a relative success; the cheese seemed to soften the wine’s acid and bring out its fruit.
My last tasting was with a French Saint-Aubin, a soft cow’s milk cheese traditionally packed in a wooden box. This cheese has a creamy brie-like texture and a stronger taste. The cheese was a little strong for the wine.
Final verdict. Like most people I know, I have a limited budget. This wine was fine for the price. It doesn’t go well with everything, most wines don’t. But it goes very well with food that I really like (barbecued chicken and greasy potatoes), and I am planning to buy it again.
Levi Reiss has authored or co-authored ten books on computers and the Internet, but to be honest, he would rather just drink fine Italian or other wine, accompanied by the right foods. He teaches classes in computers at an Ontario French-language community college. Presently his wine websites are http://www.theworldwidewine.com and http://www.theitalianwineconnection.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Levi_Reiss
