by Richard Saporito
Often times, I am contacted by people who are opening a new food service establishment interested about restaurant training services for their staff. They are eager
to get their new operation off to a fantastic start with superb restaurant customer service.
Yet, when it comes down to the wire with opening time around the corner, they will settle and pay for a manager only to set up the much needed restaurant service systems and perform the staff training.
Nowadays, of course, budget restrictions may detour an owner away from hiring a
restaurant consultant. But, the honest truth is that most managers do not have the expertise or past experience compared to what a restaurant service consultant can do.
Even though, when interviewed for the position, a manager can convince the owner that they are experienced in opening and running a restaurant. So, what often happens from day one is that there are very few systems, strategies or tools set into place for the dining room service staff to utilize. Plus, there is a lack of proper restaurant staff training— especially for the rookies.
The results are costly mistakes in the dining room, slowed down service resulting in underselling instead of upselling because the waitstaff has so little time. This dining room disorganization translates into a poor restaurant customer service reputation and unnecessary lost revenue—possibly putting a new operation out of business quickly.
I have seen this time and again where hundreds and thousands of dollars are spent on a new restaurant design, décor, kitchen set up etc. Then, when it comes to the crucial part of running the dining room service operations, there is complete breakdown because a lack of attention to front of the house details.
The reasons for hiring established restaurant service consultants are that they have the past start-up experience and knowledge to set up the most proper and productive dining room systems while conducting efficient restaurant service staff training.
An established restaurant service consultant will have all of the general template materials such as employee manuals, job descriptions ready to go plus a general restaurant training curriculum performed many times over from the many previous start-ups. These materials and curriculum need only to be tweaked according to each individual operation as each one is different in nature.
The consultant will need to work with the restaurant for brief time before opening and after opening to make sure all systems are in their proper place and that all staff are performing their job functions efficiently. The restaurant service consultant will need to work with the restaurant owner and/or manager to make sure that they understand and absorb everything that is being implemented so they can run operations effectively in the future.
In summary, if you are going into this highly competitive business where only one out of ten restaurants are successful, don’t be pennywise and dollar foolish by relying on a manager who does not have the past know how or start-up experience.
Remember, the customer is the point of sale for all of the restaurant’s revenue, and it is the utmost attention to detail in the front of the house that will make a restaurant highly successful.
About the Author:

Richard Saporito is the Founder of Topserve Restaurant Consulting, author of “How To Improve Dining Room Service.” If you’d like to improve your restaurants’ reputation and increase sales, contact Richard today for a Free Initial Restaurant Consultation by calling (888) 276-4808 or visiting his Contact Page.
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I find it’s a shame few restaurants take advantage of blogging as part of marketing a restaurant.
Marketing a restaurant with a blog serves several purposes such as:
- informing your prospective guests
- entertaining your prospective guests
- improving your search engine optimization (by publishing a lot of content – much of which is optimized for local searches).
Think beyond blogging about what’s happening in your restaurant. Start thinking about your town or city. Think about what might interest prospective guests.
Here are 11 Blogging Ideas and Topics for Restaurants:
1. Events – You can blog about events in your establishment, in your town/city/state/province, and in your industry. I particularly like the approach to blogging about events in your town because you’ll automatically optimize blog posts for local searches.
2. Food – You can have a ton of fun here. Write about the food you use – the history, where it’s from, why you use it, etc.
3. Wine, Beer, and Liquor – Like food, you could write extensively on wine, beer, and liquor in your blog. Don’t aim that your blog be to serve prospective diners. Instead blog to be acknowledged as an expert in the food and drink your serve.You could write about the brands you serve, how the drinks are made, how the alcohol is made, etc.
4. Places – Write about your town/city/state/province. These posts will help with your local search engine rankings. Every town has a ton of information to write about. Try to come up with interesting facts, events, happenings, etc.
5. Neighbourhood – This is related to places, but you can take this concept a step further by writing about your neighbourhood. Neighbourhoods can have an interesting history, events, and happenings as well
6. Profile Employe – Write interesting information abut your employees. Get their consent first. At the very least you could blog and profile the key players in your establishment such as your chef and/or general manager
7. History of your Restaurant – Some restaurants have a fascinating history. Even if your restaurant didn’t serve some famous person in the 19th century, there’s sure to be some form of story behind your establishment. Blog about this.
8. Cooking Techniques – Some very popular blogs are cooking and recipe blogs. Why not join the fray and blog about cooking techniques your chef and cooks use. You don’t have to give away all the secrets, but I bet some of your guests will enjoy you sharing some of your professional techniques.
9. Blog About Other Local Businesses – Here’s an opportunity for your restaurant to get some online publicity. Approach local businesses and offer a joint venture. You’ll profile them if they profile you. You each get links and more publicity.
10. Details About Your Restaurant – size, # of seats, etc. You’d be surprised how many people are interested in facts. Share some facts about your restaurant such as square footage, the number of seats, stereo system used, music played, how many forks you have, number of wine glasses, etc. Be creative with this. I suspect guests would be curious to find out all the details about your restaurant.
11. Deals and Discounts – Publicize your deals and discounts on your blog. Don’t forget to include expiration dates.
Get website visitors to sign up to your e-newsletter by promising exclusive deals. Having people on your e-newsletter list is a fantastic marketing a restaurant opportunity. You can communicate regularly. Be sure to send out the type of information your subscribers are interested in – which is deals. If you send out too much garbage, your subscribers will stop opening your e-mail messages.
Next, get this this Local Business Marketing Guide to learn how to radically ramp up your local restaurant marketing online.Peter Lawlor is a contributing author to B2Web blog.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_Lawlor
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by Richard Saporito
Recently, I performed a restaurant service consulting job for an interesting restaurant/bar/lounge operation here in NYC. The design was unique and artistic from every standpoint ranging from the wooded exterior to the inside walls to the bar, tables and lounged seating. It was a small operation though quite busy–and I mean wall to wall people between Thursday and Sunday nights.
From the outside walk-by and drive-by view, it made one want to get inside and have a great time drinking and dining. But once inside, the lack of functionality took hold and detracted from the total experience. Since the designer had no previous restaurant experience, he could not foresee the many restaurant service problems that would arise when the staff tried to create the products and get them delivered to the customer.
When I first entered the operation, I quickly noticed that the kitchen exit to the dining room floor, the service bar and the POS system were all within 3 feet of each other making for an annoying bottle neck. This traffic flow obstruction basically poured a substantial amount of service reputation and easy revenue down the drain.
How? Food was getting backed up in the kitchen because waitstaff could not get to the kitchen slide area. Waitstaff could not get through to the POS system to place orders. Waitstaff could not easily pass to and from the service bar to deliver drinks to the customers. The restaurant service was slowed down immeasurably to the point where I had to be called in to help remedy the situation. My conclusion? No matter how much waiter training, there would still be restaurant service problems because of this bottleneck.
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What was missing in the restaurant design? An even balance between the look and functionality of the business. The Restaurant/Bar business is one half an art form (look) and one-half a business form (functionality). One concept can rarely override the other concept for a successful operation.
If you are going to have a restaurant or bar designed and constructed, make sure that your designer has previous restaurant experience. If not, get someone who has previous restaurant experience to work alongside your restaurant designer or you may have to fiercely back peddle. In the meantime, restaurant service reputation and sales are seriously hurt, and you can be put out of business if the road has already closed behind you.
About the Author:

Richard Saporito is the Founder of Topserve Restaurant Consulting, author of “How To Improve Dining Room Service.” If you’d like to improve your restaurants’ reputation and increase sales, contact Richard today for a Free Initial Restaurant Consultation by calling (888) 276-4808 or visiting his Contact Page.
WAITER TRAINING DVD!!
Culinary Institute of America, Cornell University, NY
Highest Quality Waiter Training DVD (Exceeding Expectations)
$97 - Order Now - (888) 276-4808