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Archive for Restaurant Service Improvement

Jan

Reasons To Hire A Restaurant Service Consultant For A New Operation

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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:

Photo of Richard Saporito

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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Categories : Restaurant Business, Restaurant Consulting, Restaurant Service Improvement

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Dec

A Key To Restaurant and Bar Success: Balance The Look and Functionality Evenly

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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.

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Categories : Restaurant Business, Restaurant Consulting, Restaurant Service Improvement

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Nov

Restaurant Service Performance Review – #124

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by Richard Saporito

Below is my latest restaurant service performance review. I will be posting these types of reviews from time to time giving insight into today’s restaurant world.

Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to review your restaurant customer service. In these days of high stress, tough economic times, and decreased human interaction because of new technologies, paying strict attention to the “attitude and mechanics” of the restaurant dining service experience will truly set your business apart from the competitors— and keep it that way especially when there is expansion.

Your restaurant has an excellent theme and location. And as you already know, the basic idea of organic and eco-friendly is something you can truly run far with. Aside from my constructive criticisms, I believe all staff were putting an honest effort into trying hard to do their jobs well and please customers. Though there was room for much improvement.

In my review, I always try to be as petty and picky as possible, so as to catch everything.
I have offered some solutions in certain instances, but you can always delete items that you feel may not apply. Sometimes the old adage “if it aint broke don’t fix it” really does reign true in the restaurant business.

When the review is posted for all staff to read, you will notice an immediate
upgrade in service, and possibly higher check averages. Then, you can always wield me as
a weapon for when the restaurant service starts to sputter again in the future.

Here is the Review in its entirety:

Greeting:

We were greeted cheerfully by the Hostess and seated efficiently.
(Nice and interesting décor-great use of plants). The noise level (music as well) was rather high.

Table Approach:
We were greeted cheerfully, timely by the Waitress and she asked us if it was our first visit.
She did mention the menu items that were 86′d.

Drink order:
I asked the Waitress to describe a $14 glass of Cabernet, but was not given an enticing wine description to make a sale. The response was: “It is a new wine and the description on the wine list is very good.” The chance to upsell was somewhat lost at this moment.

My assistant asked about the ingredients in the Organic Vanilla Milkshake and the
response was: ” Vanilla Ice Cream and Milk”

**The word “Organic” ice cream and milk could have been emphasized since organic menu items are a major highlight and selling point of your restaurant. This happened again when we asked about a salad dressing.

Dinner Order:
The waitress took our order, but did not mention specials.
We asked for a Ceaser salad to be split. The food runner brought out the salad,
and asked us if we were splitting the appetizer. He subsequently brought out 2 small plates, but the plates were piping hot.

**The split should have been entered on the order going into the kitchen to facilitate.

App-Caesar Salad:

The lettuce was cut into thin strips instead of torn into small pieces making the salad hard to pick up with a fork. The Caesar dressing was a bit watery, heavy on the lemon with no anchovy flavor. The cheese was powdered (hard to swallow) instead of freshly grated cheese. The croutons were stale, a few croutons were actually dark green in color. In the future 1 or 2 big croutons can be placed at the side of the bowl, instead of mixed directly into the salad.

Entrees:

The entrees arrived before we finished the appetizer.
When the entrees were served, the runner placed the food items down correctly.
But, he did not announce each item that was being served such as “elk burger or buffalo burger”.

The “game” burgers are the major highlight of your restaurant and accentuating the type of meat enhances the dining experience. Also, after serving the entrees, the food runner did not say “enjoy your dinner” —or something similar to that effect. We had asked for bacon on the side, but did not receive it (was not entered on the ticket).

When we ordered the bacon again, it went to the wrong table first, and then it came to our table.
Since the bacon is a quality bacon, the word Applewood could have been emphasized.
Again, using descriptive adjectives when serving food to customers truly enhances the dining experience. We also noticed food being delivered to the wrong table a few times elsewhere in the dining room.

The Burger meat was high quality. Though, my assistants Burger (Medium) was over cooked a bit, and my Burger (Medium Rare) was Very Rare. My Burger had very little blue cheese on it where it could barely be tasted. It seemed the Burgers could be a bit flatter and wider where it is easier to get the temperature exact and easier to handle and eat. I noticed for myself and other tables, that after the Burger was cut in half the second half would always topple over to the side and fall apart.

The waitress came over and took my plate away without asking. Oddly, it took quite a while for my assistant’s entree to be cleared off the table as a line of new customers were waiting to be seated. We noticed this at other tables as well.

The waitress offered dessert, and we declined.

The waitress brought the check in a timely manner, and it was returned by a
runner or busser who did not say “thank you.”

**********************************************************************

Other restaurant issues:

Wine price: I believe the $14 price is bit too high in relation to the rest of the menu throwing things off balance a bit. There is excellent room for Wine growth and sales (especially for the new restaurants in Manhattan), but it must be done in a most careful and subtle manner.

Uniforms: We liked the waitress uniforms very much, but black pants as opposed to dungarees may be a better choice for the waiters. Black pants look cleaner and are easier to keep clean as well.

Menu look: The menu background color was a dark red/purple and the print was dark and a bit hard to read.

Scheduling: Just to reiterate from our past conversation, on the busier shifts, you may want to place an extra waitress or runner onto the schedule for 3-4 hours during the busiest time and give half a tip cut to that employee.

Note: It might be better to add an extra waitress as opposed to a runner for the short shift because the counter/kitchen may be too crowded to add an extra runner. This is your call.

Steps of Restaurant Service Issues:

It is better for the waitress to deliver the drinks as opposed to the busser, so she can subsequently take a food order after serving drinks to the table–while at the table.
It is better for the food runner to deliver dessert as opposed to the busser. The food runners are always going back and forth from the kitchen area and obviously have a much better handle on serving the food. Therefore, the food will be served more efficiently with more balance and consistency. And, the bussers will be more efficient as they will have fewer restaurant service tasks to focus on. They will not be thrown off balance by having to get involved in the kitchen— unless the food get heavily backed up. Again, this is your callas restaurant owner.

About the Author:

Improve Your Service Reputation and Increase Sales Immediately!
How to Improve Dining Room Service

Categories : General, Restaurant Business, Restaurant Consulting, Restaurant Service Improvement

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Oct

What Factors Make a Successful Restaurant?

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Back 1964 Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said about obscenity, “I know it when I see”, most of us who dine out on a regular basis offer a similar expression when asked about a restaurant being successful. And as the conversation continues you rapidly come to the understanding that the person you are talking with has no idea what they are talking about.

Some people automatically think that a restaurant must be successful if they have to wait for longer than forty-five minutes to get seated. What must be understood here is that just because a restaurant is on a wait that does not mean that the establishment is successful. The wait could be caused by a shortage of wait staff on any particular night. It could also be caused by any one of many problems that the kitchen is having. Please do not fall into the trap of equating a wait for a table as the restaurant being successful.

For a restaurant to be successful several key points must be addressed by ownership. First the quality of food prepared and served must be top-notch. Second the ability of a server to perform at a high level must be present. Thirdly the bar must be able to make satisfying drinks with speed and accuracy. Fourth there had better be a better than decent wine list offering some of the best quality wines at a fair price. And lastly, the desert menu should make your mouth water even before the first cocktail is served.

All food items should be fresh. Some foods can be flash frozen which means they are frozen in a very fast and quick manner after being harvested. One of the advantages to flash frozen food is that when the item is thawed it maintains the quality of being fresh. You find this in most seafood items except for restaurants on a coast line. Some meat products undergo this process as well but special care needs to utilized when freezing both red meat and pork.

It is also important that all kitchen workers be trained to the perform at the best and highest level. A line cook, while not being a chef, if trained properly should be able to prepare most food items to the same expertise of a chef. It is usually best that a chef does the training or at least someone who has worked in a test kitchen with chefs. Training is the key here, one of the best training methods out there is the, I tell I do, I tell you do, you tell you do method. This insures that the line cook not only knows how to prepare a certain dish but also understand why it is being prepared in the manner that it is.

One of the best ways to offer a dinner a wonderful night is to make sure you have only the best servers working. It has been said many times that a poor meal can be overlooked if the service is great. To make a great server training is the key. Your servers need to know that nothing is worse than for the customer to seated at a table and then made to wait for any time at all before being acknowledged. Even if the acknowledgement is only eye contact, most dinners will be comfortable. And one must remember that if you are forced to wait for three minutes it really feels like ten. So make sure your servers understand that greeting a guest is paramount to the evening. Also it is very important that a smile should always be what your guest sees. If this is missing then it is a good chance that the evening will no be anywhere near enjoyable.

After greeting the guest a server needs to be knowledgeable about all the drinks that are available from the bar. He or she should also know the wine list and should have been trained in both pairings and presentation of the wine selected. Here it is always good if the server can make a recommendation of a wine for any food ordered. To be able to accomplish this task the knowledge of the menu is vital. Simply knowing the price of a meal is least important. The ability to correctly explain the varied taste of a dish and how it is prepared is one of the keys. Also speed of service is very important. Here the server needs to have an excellent idea as to how long any order will take to be prepared and brought to the table. Knowing that it only takes six minutes for a rare steak but fifteen for a well done is important. If this is not known and the server says your meal will be out in ten minutes but it takes twenty then the guest will not be happy. And if you guest is not happy you must remember that a dissatisfied guest will tell at least ten people about the bad experience but a happy guest will only tell one or two.

Alcohol service plays an important role in the success of any restaurant. Whether it is a good variety of tap and bottled beer, good,better, or excellent liquors, and the wines, all of these will play the catch-all role of guest satisfaction. It is not good enough to have top of the line spirits and beers, if your bartender does not know how to make a requested drink, or makes them poorly or extremely slow your guest will again not be happy. Here it is important to make sure that your bar staff is well-trained and if necessary have a bar bible so that they can look up the recipe of any drink ordered.

If your restaurant is serving red meat, seafood, or any of the specialty foods like Italian, Cajun, or even Chinese your wine list needs to be top-notch. This does not mean that you need several bottles priced at over two hundred dollars but it does mean that your wines need to hold up to their pairings and be enjoyable to consume. Most restaurants can not afford to hire a wine steward but with the proper research and asking the right questions of your distributor you will be able to learn and therefore offer your guest good wines at a fair price.

Finally while a lot of your guest will decline dessert many will take the leap and enjoy the additional calories. To hook these guest you need to be offering something that they can not pick up at the local grocery store. Whether it is a variety of cheese-cakes, unusual pies, or even a flambe this final item needs to set your restaurant apart from any other in town. It could be a good idea to make all of your desert items extra-large so that your wait staff will be able to suggest one item to be shared. Most couples will like this idea and your ticket average has just gotten a nice bump. It is also good to be able to offer a few dessert wines and an excellent cup of coffee to go with the item selected.

The factors mention here are just a few of the items that play a large role in any restaurant being successful. The biggest problem is that even though these make perfect sense they are very easy to over look. If it is your true desire to own or manage a successful restaurant make sure that these four factors are understood and in place. For if only one is missing then people will talk, but the words that they share with friends or family will be anything but complementary.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dennis_McCurley

Improve Your Service Reputation and Increase Sales Immediately!
How to Improve Dining Room Service

Service That Sells!

Categories : General, Restaurant Business, Restaurant Consulting, Restaurant Service Improvement

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Oct

Restaurant Training – This is Show Business

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In our incredibly competitive hospitality industry, owners and managers are constantly seeking the answer to an important question- How do you recruit, retain, and motivate staff who are responsible for creating a “magical” experience which exceeds your guests’ expectations?

Some answers may be found by looking to successful companies that are consistently achieving these goals.

William Shakespeare wrote, ‘All the worlds a stage, and all the men and women merely players’. One company that has exemplified that quote is the Walt Disney World Co. based in Orlando, Florida.

Disney is recognised as one company which creates such “magical”experiences. The Disney challenge is to ensure that all of the 36,000 staff are playing a role in a show which exceeds all expectations.

The Disney approach to people management has helped gain them the reputation of providing a leading benchmark for quality and service in America.

Disney does not just “hire” people for jobs, they “cast” performers for a “role” in the show. The emphasis is in finding ‘people oriented’ cast members who are willing to adapt to the high standards established, and not necessarily on the skills an applicant may have.

Their ‘casting process’ introduces each applicant to the culture of the company, and the important role which they will play in the future success. This way there are no surprises, and it is this approach which helps to maintain turnover at approximately 20%.

Success on the “Restaurant Stage” requires the development and choreography of many different aspects, such as a great cast, script, support and direction.

Quality ‘Casting’ or recruitment, is critical to everything else in the production.

As an owner or manager, you are more director and choreographer of a performance. Your front of house staff, are the actors, and your customers are the audience for whom they must perform.

The supporting crew is responsible for ensuring the script and show is executed as planned. As director, you have to prepare your cast to recognize guest cues, deliver their lines and improvise when it will add to the enjoyment of the performance.

Think of a typical theatre performance- the audience files in, the curtain goes up, the actors make their entrances and speak their lines. If each and every cast member, not to mention the writer, director, stagehands, customers, makeup artists, and lighting technicians, have prepared themselves and the theatre well, the audience enjoys the show and tells others about it.

However, despite the proven talents of individual members of the cast or the presence of an award-winning director or the skills of the backstage crew, the whole thing can be a magnificent flop if just one person fails to do a job on which everyone else depends.

Filling out your service cast with people who can star in their roles is the key to success. But casting for a restaurant show is far more involved and difficult than hiring just anybody to answer a phone, or take orders and deliver food.

The next article, ‘The casting call’ is about how to attract the right cast members.

For previous articles please visit the Archives section on our website.

My company, Lexington Interactive, provides eLearning courses specifically for the Restaurant & Hotel Industry. For a free trial of our wait staff eLearning course, visit http://www.lexingtoninteractive.com.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_Duprey

Improve Your Service Reputation and Increase Sales Immediately!
How to Improve Dining Room Service

Service That Sells!

Categories : Restaurant Service Improvement

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