Daily Tip for Monday July 5th. – Ultimate Hospitality People

Posted on 05. Jul, 2010 by Michael Hartzell in Daily Tip

Ultimate Hospitality People on Your Restaurant Marketing Team

blog post by resident blogger Michael Hartzell

How can you be sure someone returns if you are simply an assembly line for meals?  Restaurant marketing is not a push button task nor is it something you can just order from a central location 1000 miles away in a home office.  Restaurant marketing starts at the very core of the restaurant.  It is the culture and belief of the restaurant team.  Restaurant marketing is not what you do, it is who you are.  Restaurant marketing is not an activity.  Restaurant marketing activities are a symptom of the essence of belief.  Belief turns into thoughts and thoughts into action.  Every day there are new opportunities for a person who is restaurant marketing, so have a calendar and clipboard ready.

Just as this blog is hosted on Inside Hospitality, those who hope to be successful in the restaurant business must have a heart for hospitality.  A restaurant business must be a place where every guest knows they are experiencing ultimate hospitality.  (There you go.  That is the name of your new program:  Ultimate Hospitality People – UHP for short.)

I can hear it now:  Are you UHP?  I want to hear a yes!

Who is on your restaurant marketing team?  If you say there is one, two or even three, I challenge you to think about the structure of your business one more time.

Survey for restaurant owner or manager.  How many times do you participate in the following each day?

• Wash the windows.
• Sweep the floor.
• Send out thank you cards to guests who visited yesterday.
• Verify cash.
• Personally thank a guest as they leave with a handshake.
• Check the temperatures of refrigeration.
• Inventory critical food items.
• Cook in the kitchen.
• Vacuum the floor.
• Monitor plates on the way to the dining room.
• Check the status of sales vs. historical and vs. projected.
• Monitor what is being said via social media.
• Share via social media valuable and helpful to one or many.
• Say thank you to a team member.
• Do a random act of kindness to someone on the team.
• Wash dishes.
• Do a random act of kindness for a guest.
• Verify the status of labor costs for the day.
• Verify the status of “up-selling” for the day.
• Verify hand washing is being done.
• Inspect restrooms personally.
• Talk on the phone to a consultant or advisor.
• Talk on the phone to an associate.
• Order food products.
• Invite a local leader or volunteer to lunch or dinner.
• Guerrilla Marketing Squad calls to local community to recognize and celebrate.  (Google “Guerrilla Marketing Squad” for secret weapon to dominate in your community.)
• Search online for new products, services, equipment or vendors.
• Learn and practice with new software or push button tech tools.
• Give special instructions to team member(s).
• Make comments on website review sites.  (Including special secret offers.)
• Role play with team member(s).
• Bus tables.
• Role play with team member(s) with how to get a better connection with guest to the point of having contact information. (Such as address, email, twitter, facebook, LinkedIn, cell phone numbers, etc.)
• Motivate guests to say something via online review sites. (While mentioning the name of the person who might have WOW’d them.)
• Act as cashier.
• Inspect garbage to determine waste, guests’ happiness with products and staff training levels.
• Do prep.
• Audit guest checks to verify accuracy, trends and patterns, satisfaction, speed of service and that all guest expectations were exceeded.
• Walk a guest out in the rain holding the umbrella.
• Walk a guest into the building when it rains holding an umbrella.
• Give out samples of brand new menu items to create smiles and hear feedback.
• Look for and read the advertisements in the local newspaper with the question: “Who can be collaborated with?”
• Review Jay Conrad Levinson’s book “Guerrilla Marketing” with team members and possible options to apply today.
• Help a guest celebrate something great to give a reason for a photo, email and/or greeting card.
• Stop people in the community and invite them for lunch or dinner.

These are but a small few of the activities you may be engaged in.  You may be one who snickers at this.  That is fine but when I recently was greeted at the front door of a restaurant by the owner who said:  “I don’t have everything done yet and I am short staffed so I will be opening an hour late today for lunch,” it was very apparent he is not an Ultimate Hospitality Person.  He was too busy cooking to provide hospitality.

Here is the question:

Which activities ensure that you connect with the guest?  Which are you personally involved in more as a restaurant owner or manager?  Which activities are defense and which are offense?  (Defense keeps business while Offense creates business.)

Create reasons for listening, interaction, education and inspiration.  There is more than food in the restaurant business even though it is one of the few businesses which will stimulate all five senses.

What is on your checklist of daily activities that is reflective of your true nature?  Do you  manage things, do you lead people or are you a restaurant marketer?  Who is on your restaurant marketing team?  I say:  double the number and boost sales.

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