Both scenarios can create barriers to success and will hurt the reputation of the restaurant.

Success is certainly not about rules but without a set of standards, large groups of people will dishonor themselves, their families and the company they work for. There is not a deliberate or purposeful attempt to do harm; it is more based on Hardin’s tragedy of the commons where the consequences are poor when groups of people are left to their own device.

Thus we think of rules as a defensive measure to control the events to avoid the calamities that are so common in an ever fluctuating environment. The problem with most rules is they are not offensive in nature but defensive. “Protect the assets” is certainly a high priority but when lopsided to only protect, there is little time or energy left to go on offense and create sales.

Banks finally learned of this years ago. Once upon a time bank tellers were required to stay as long as it took after hours to balance their banks to zero (While on the clock). The amount of variance was not relevant and if it took three hours to balance a till that was $3.00 off, then so be it. Fortunately, someone had a brain child and changed the rules.

The old rule kept the tills balanced but the cost to do so was more than the benefit.

If you work for a larger company and unable to change the rules; how you approach the rules, the degree of intensity and the frequency of follow up is just as important.

If you are a restaurant owner and find having rules more of a burden because there is no time to follow up (Or you don’t have the guts), then it may be time to approach making rules differently.

Rules to consider:

-Management will not be in the office between 6 AM – 9AM, Noon – 2PM or 6PM – 9PM.

-Inventory will not be conducted during peak times.

-Training staff brand new staff members will not occur during peak times.

-Orientating staff members will not occur during peak times.

-Interviews will not occur during peak times.

-Management will introduce themselves by name to guests upon arrival and departure.

-Not limit it to: “Hi, how is everything?”

-Staff interactions to each other will only be positive in nature at all times.

-Cooperation is also seen and heard by guests and impacts restaurant marketing.

-Everyone helps everyone. No exceptions. This becomes apparent to guests and is again part of restaurant marketing inside the four walls.

-Every guest will have eye contact with staff which includes a positive remark when a connection happens. (The rule needs to be “Hire those who do this automatically”)

-“Thank you” responses in the form of a greeting card, email or phone call will be done by the management each day. (A minimum of 20? 50?)

-“No questions asked” when a guest begins to talk about their dissatisfaction with food or service. Immediate gratification first is the rule.

-Every guest is asked up front: Are there any dietary restrictions we should be aware of?

-Every guest is asked up front: Is there a celebration, special event or recognition today?

-Most guests will say no but it leaves the door open and you will be surprised at how many change their minds and think of something.

Staff must have one thing they can offer immediately without chasing down one of the management team. The speed of taking care of issues is often times are the most important aspect of a solution. Dessert, coffee, drink and appetizers are all good. $10 Gift Card can be an option. Work both ways.

This is a rule for 100 years but needs constant monitoring and includes ALL staff. This will increase productivity and improve service. Watch the hands, you will be surprised how many times they are empty.

Congratulate three staff members each day with a recognition, award, or reward. This is a rule, not an option.

Don’t walk by the guest and talk at the same time while buzzing by. STOP for a moment and then hustle away.

Huddle with team members at the beginning of every shift. Goals, barriers, cheer and frustrations are shared. (Don’t just say ‘hi’)

Huddle with team members at the end of every shift. Goals, barriers, cheer and frustrations are shared. (Don’t ask; ‘Did John already go home?)

The rule in my restaurant was that EVERYONE had to say ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ to me personally. That ensured contact at a critical time. (No escape)

Everyone is on time. — Important enough to repeat. Everyone is on time.

Which takes us directly to the next rule.

Everyone on the team follows the rules; there are not exceptions – not even the owner/manager.

There is no such thing as a schedule god.

Checklists done before peak periods.

Firm, fair and consistency in every decision.

In reality, these can be considered principles to follow vs. rules and are focused on teamwork, guest satisfaction and restaurant marketing opportunities. They impact the operation, sales, morale and will even lower staff turnover.

How to come up with your own rules:

Stay in touch with reality when making your own restaurant management rules. To come up with your own rules, carry 3X5 index cards in your pocket. Every time you see or hear something happen that you “hate to see” or believe it will have a negative impact on the restaurant, write it down on your index cards. The index cards you use for this will be:

“I hate it when that happens” cards.

The idea is simple to execute as you see something that risks business, you write it down. It is now on your “list” and you carry it daily in your pocket. Once something is on your “list”, it is only a matter of time before you and your team find a solution. It may take a day or even a month but everything on your “list” has a solution.

By writing it down each time, you see the list again and again.

By writing it down, it takes away stress of remembering because it is “on your list”.

As your list grows and forms a pattern, your new rules will develop as the core issues become more apparent. You will begin to treat the issues at the very core vs. the symptoms.

The 3X5 index cards are not high tech. They will change how you look at each problem and the new rules will shape the culture of a team.

Do it Faster:

Give 10 people on the team index cards and ask them to write down “I hate it when that happens” relative to what they see in the operation, guest service, waste, teamwork.

Rule books are helpful for defense but when the team develops principles under which to operate, magic happens.

Rules are necessary but not usually motivating.

How much of the day is spent on principles and how much on rules?

Michael Hartzell –Writer, speaker, restaurant marketing coach, Inbound Marketing Certified Professional,  Member of the American Marketing Association. Read more at: www.michaelhartzell.com/restaurant-marketing-ideas-blog

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The first step in taking you and your business to the next level, is to know exactly where you stand today and what you must do to achieve the level of success you deserve.

The OnsiteReview™ Operational Audit is an extremely detailed, diagnostic analysis of your management teams abilities, as well as the need for additional tools, systems, and infrastructure to increase sales and profitability. All operating systems are evaluated.

To learn more about the OnsiteReview™ Operational Audit click here!

Daily Tip: It’s still about service.

When was the last time you went into a restaurant on Main Street and had a bad meal,  literally a bad meal?  Where something was undercooked, overcooked, prepared incorrectly, or not served correctly?

It doesn’t happen as often as you think. Having good (or decent) food is expected in this day and age. Everything up and down Main Street is pretty much the same. Sure, some restaurants do something a little different than their neighbors, but at the end of the day it’s all mostly the same.

Serving good (or great) food is a given today and is the cost of admission. It’s just expected by the consumer today.

Now ask yourself the last time you walked into a restaurant and experienced what you would call bad service? What really sets a restaurant apart is its service.

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Today’s tip is brought to you by Inside Hospitality™, a comprehensive and innovative guest experience management and measurement company whose integrated suite of hospitality business solutions from restaurant focused mystery shopping to online reputation management achieves tangible results in the marketplace and is the choice for restaurant and hotels worldwide.

Contact us today and learn how Inside Hospitality™ can create a custom solution for your organization. We can be reached anytime @ (888) 260- 0380.

Click the “RingMe” button and we’ll call you back within 1 minute.

Restaurant Marketing is Inbound Marketing

OR should I say instead:  Inbound Marketing is Restaurant Marketing?

To train a restaurant owner or manager how to be the best inbound marketer on the planet, I believe you put a manager in a marginal restaurant with low sales and tell them:  “You have $50 a month marketing budget, low staff, bad operations and sales are down.  Turn it around yesterday.”

Yes.  This is a part of my past.  More than once.  More than twice.  In fact…   let me count – - -   Too many to remember.

Inbound marketing in my mind starts a bit like this:

Ignasius wakes up in the morning.  He is already hungry.  It is in fact part of the human condition that he must eat to stay comfortable through the day.  You could say that he is … well, addicted to food.  In other words, he will not go a day without taking action to reduce his personal craving.  Ignasius woke up this very morning and as usual he is already pining for a double tall latte with just a bit of sugar.

Will he have time to make a latte for himself?  Is he feeling up to it?  Of course he knows that caffeine alone will not be enough and he must also have something called breakfast.  Soon after that there will be lunch and how lucky is Ignasius, because he gets to have dinner just a few hours after that!

Food stays at the edge of his mind all day long.  It is part of his passion.  Eat or die.

Now comes the best part.  A restaurant serves food.  Restaurant owners have a ready and willing audience.  There is already a top of mind passion and need in place.  This is what Inbound Marketing is about.  Finding a passionate audience already looking to fill their needs and wants.

Ignasius might ask during the day about 15 minutes before lunch, “Hey, do you know any good barbecue restaurants around here?”  Someone will refer Ignasius to a location they feel will not only meet his need but also a place they can proudly show off. (They know the best place to go, after all.)

For Inbound Marketing, someone will type their passion or interest into the Google search box online.  They already know what they are interested in.  The world is a giant database.  GoogleFriend (my new name for Google by the way)  refers the searcher to the point of interest. (Along with a million options.)

Inbound marketing is about getting found at the right time by the person searching.  A website can get found by having links to a website or a referral via email, Facebook or Twitter.

Restaurant marketing is about getting found at the right time by the person who is hungry and has a pang for a specific flavor.  A restaurant can get found by having a referral which could also be in the form of a link on Facebook, email or Twitter.

Inbound marketing is about “converting”.   The person coming to a website page must be impressed, have trust, find it easy to use, and definitely believe there is value.

Restaurant marketing relies on every aspect of what a visitor sees online and offline.  Even the flowers that die, the broken tiles, the dark exterior, the smelly bathrooms, the 20 year old menu can add up to, “We heard good things but let’s go across the street.  That restaurant looks better.”

Inbound marketing is about measuring results and eliminating the bad while doing more of what makes people glad.  Measuring Inbound Marketing can be done with Hubspot software (I’m Hubspot Certified so I had to mention it) or a variety of other tools such as Google Analytics.

Restaurant marketing is about measuring results and eliminating the bad while doing more of what makes people glad.  GuestPulse is not the only tool Inside Hospitality provides.  Every business will have its own Point of Sale computer system that breaks down every aspect into measurements.  What were people interested in?

When restaurant owners hears about “social media” and the various tools, they should shout with glee.  Social media tools are key to Inbound Marketing.  If the purpose is to “get found”, “convert” and “measure results” and social media tools help to make this happen more quickly, then why the heck wouldn’t a restaurant owner say, “I am going to Vegas!”

If you could double your marketing speed and reduce the time to test and measure by half, would you take the time to learn how?  That is your next move:  “Learn how to leverage the social media tools to my best advantage.”   (I hear there is a Restaurant & Hospitality Social Media BootCamp in Las Vegas)

Will you think about how to listen better and connect better?

I hope so.  Ignasius wants to eat at your restaurant but he does not know where you are or what you serve.  The buzz has not yet reached his ears.  Don’t worry.  There are thousands of other restaurants that will take care of Ignasius.  You keep working hard and maybe he will find you.  Maybe.

P.S.

Remember last week?  All about HTFCSM Labeling?

See the snapshots below.  Notice how people will talk.  You don’t even know they are.   Sure, you can save time and have everything delivered to your inbox.  www.guestpulse.com (free trial)

PPSS

I know.  It sounds a bit like a commercial doesn’t it?  Sorry.

I have learned bucket loads over the years.  It starts with a spark.  These came from events, workshops, college classes and people on the street in the community.  There was one common rule for the best ideas:  “Go outside the normal path.”  Restaurant ownership can make a person feel trapped (and indispensable.)  At least twice a year, go where you can get fresh thoughts and think about the path you are on.  You will double business just as I have.

Michael Hartzell –, Inbound Marketing Certified Professional, entrepreneur, writer, speaker, restaurant marketing coach.  Member of the American Marketing. Read more at www.michaelhartzell.com/restaurant-marketing

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Today’s tip is brought to you by Inside Hospitality™, a comprehensive and innovative guest experience management and measurement company whose integrated suite of hospitality business solutions from restaurant focused mystery shopping to online reputation management achieves tangible results in the marketplace and is the choice for restaurant and hotels worldwide.

Contact us today and learn how Inside Hospitality™ can create a custom solution for your organization. We can be reached anytime @ (888) 260- 0380.

Click the “RingMe” button and we’ll call you back within 1 minute.

Inside Hospitality is excited to welcome them as a strategic partner.

One menu to maintain, in one location, shared everywhere.

Open Menu has created a standard that will change the way restaurants store and share their menus over the internet by standardizing the menus’ structure and format.

By providing a single, controlled specification for restaurant menus Open Menu™ will ensure that restaurant menus can be easily shared and used by others. From Restaurant Locators based on a menu items to tools for finding restaraunts based on what you’re looking to spend, Open Menu™ will provide the foundation for such tools.

Visit Open Menu by clicking here!

To visit our Partnership page please click here!

We get alot of call on a weekly basis from  all over the world looking for operational consulting solutions- that actually get results. Our strategic partner RestaurantWorx shares the same philosophy on service, value and client satisfaction.

We would invite you to reach out the RestaurantWorx and see how they can assist you in building a better business.

1. UNWAVERING COURAGE – This attribute is based upon your knowledge of your abilities, and of your function within the restaurant. No staff member wishes to be dominated by a manager who lacks self-confidence and courage. No intelligent employee will be dominated by such a leader very long.

2. SELF-CONTROL – The manager who cannot control himself/herself, particularly under pressure, can never control others. Self-control sets a mighty example for your crew, which the more intelligent will emulate, resulting in “grace under pressure“.

3. CONSISTENT JUSTICE – Without a sense of fairness and justice, no manager can command and retain the respect of his staff. Your restaurant’s policy handbook should be your first point of reference for maintaining a consistent consequence for specified infractions. Remember, consistency is the key. An effective leader cannot play favorites.

4. DECISION MAKING – The manager who wavers in decision-making shows that he is not sure of himself. He cannot lead others successfully.

5. EFFECTIVE PLANNING – The successful leader must plan his work, and work his plan. A manager who moves by guesswork, without practical, definite plans, is comparable to a ship without a rudder. Sooner or later he will land on the rocks. Every restaurant should have Systems in Place which aid in this regard.

6. DOING MORE THAN EXPECTED – One of the burdens a leader must bear is the necessity of willingness to do more than he requires of his followers. Not only must you be able to manage the training of your staff, you must also be able to perform all functions in your restaurant yourself, at least adequately, in order to help where needed.

7. PLEASANT PERSONALITY – No rude, overbearing, careless manager can become a successful leader. Leadership calls for respect, of others and of self. Followers will not respect a leader who does not exhibit a Pleasant Personality.

8. SYMPATHY AND UNDERSTANDING – The successful restaurant manager must be in sympathy with his staff. Their performance affects the success of the restaurant’s operations. Therefore, a leader must understand them and their problems and come to their rescue when necessary. The guest is always right, except when they’re WRONG. There are times when you as their leader must defend your staff from certain situations. A great leader recognizes those situations.

9. EYE FOR DETAIL – Successful restaurant leadership calls for an eye for detail. See the restaurant through both the guest’s eyes as well as the staff’s. Vigilantly seek ways to improve the guest’s experience as well as ways to make the job functions of your staff more easily executed.

10. ASSUME FULL RESPONSIBILITY – The successful restaurant manager must be willing to assume responsibility for the mistakes and the shortcomings of his staff. If he tries to shift this responsibility, he will not remain the leader. If one of his followers makes a mistake, and shows himself incompetent, the leader must consider that it is he who failed and take steps to prevent the situation from happening again.

11. COOPERATION – The successful restaurant leader must understand and apply the principle of cooperation and be able to cause his followers to willingly do the same.

While this list by no means is intended to be exhaustive, it does contain a foundation upon which a restaurant manager can successfully develop a style of leadership that his/her staff will respect and follow. Without the ability to lead, a manager will find there are no followers. And if you’re leading and nobody is following, you’re only taking a walk.

What the discussion boils down to is both the value of a happy guest and the value of an unhappy guest because both have equally important values.

Let’s assume you have a $20 per-person-average (PPA) and that for every happy guest they will tell five people within a month of their great experience.  Those five people then visit your restaurant and have a great experience and each of them tell five m0re people and so on. It will look something like this:

Happy Guest #1 is worth $240 to you a year if he visits you just once per month at the $20 PPA level. Do you have happy guests who just visit you once a month? Perhaps but most visit you much more.

So by the end of the fifth month, the initial guest has told enough people about his great experience to garner you over $15,000 worth of business – not bad for just getting it right – and after a full year of positive word-of-mouth, the initial guest has helped create over $128,000 worth of business for you simply by communicating to the people in his close community about how great an experience he had at your restaurant.

Now contrast this with the understanding we all have that when you “get it wrong”, people have a tendency to tell more people about the bad experience than the positive one. Then assume the $20 PPA again and multiple these amounts by a factor of 2 or 3 or 4 (whichever you understand to be the case about the flow of conversations about bad experiences) and you can see how much money is potentially lost from the negative word-of-mouth generated by bad experiences.

Now consider the amplification of the bad experience and subsequent communication about it by people engaged with social media and you see a whole bunch of potential for lost sales as well as erosion of your brand reputation.

Finally, add in the lost opportunity cost of getting the marketing wrong or not listening to your guests and understanding their level of dissatisfaction with your experience.

So the lessons of situations like this are what I rant and rave about to restaurant and hospitality operators on a daily basis. Those being:

• The reason most operators fail is not for lack of capitalization, it’s from bad marketing.
• The reason most operators continue to fail, even when they see how bad things are is because they can’t admit they need help.
• No marketing strategy is more effective or powerful than those which work to leverage positive word-of-mouth strategies and tactics.
• Failing to implement a serious Voice-of-the-Guest program to measure guest expectations is suicidal.
• The potential for success is too great to dilute by using any discounting strategy when what you should be doing is adding value to support and enhance each guest experience.
• Social Media can serve to amplify a great experience or a negative one more so than any other and underscores why you have to be listening, engaging and facilitating with those conversations.

What do you think?

Post by Jeffrey Summers of RestaurantWorx.com

This Guest Charter is worth reading and remembering. As business owners and managers we need to remember the reason for being in business: The Guest

You often accuse me of carrying a chip on my shoulder, but I suspect this is because you do not entirely understand me. Isn’t it normal to expect satisfaction for one’s money spent? Ignore my wants and I will no longer appear in your restaurant. Satisfy those wants and I will become increasingly loyal. Add a little extra personal attention and a friendly touch and I will become a walking advertisement for you.

When I criticize your food and service to anyone who will listen, which I may do whenever I am displeased, take heed. I am not dreaming up displeasure. It lies in something I perceive you have failed to do to make my eating experience as enjoyable as I have anticipated. Eliminate that perception or you will lose my friends and me as well. I insist on the right to dine leisurely or eat in haste according to my mood.

I refuse to be rushed as much as I abhor waiting. This is an important privilege that my money buys. If I am not spending big money this particular time, just remember, if you treat me right I will return with a larger appetite, more money and probably with my friends.

I am much more sophisticated these days than I was just a few years ago. I’ve grown accustomed to better things and my needs are more complex. I’m perfectly willing to spend, but I insist on quality to match prices. I am above all, a human being. I am especially sensitive when I am spending money. I can’t stand to be snubbed, ignored or looked down upon.

Whatever my personal habits may be, you can be sure that I’m a real nut on cleanliness in restaurants. Where food is concerned I demand the strictest sanitation measures. I want my meals handled and served by the neatest of people and in sparkling clean dishes. If I see dirty fingernails, cracked dishes or soiled table clothes you won’t see me again.

You must prove to me again and again that I have made a wise choice in selecting your restaurant above others. You must convince me repeatedly that being a restaurant guest is a desirable thing in the first place. I can, after all, eat at home. So, you must provide something extra in food and service. Something so superior it will beckon me from my own table to yours. Do we understand each other?”

Barry Chandler is The Bar Blogger and has been working with bars, restaurant and hotels for the past 15 years to help grow their profits and reduce operating costs. He blogs daily at TheBarBlogger.com and his toolkit of management resources can be found at ManageYourBar.com

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Today’s Pick: ShiftNote

ShitNote is a hosted application (SaaS) that is designed to replace paper manager communication log books. We are big fans of this service and invite you to check them out today.

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