ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - June 2, 2006

Five months of the year gone already. Only one month more and we are halfway to 2007. How are you doing on this year's goals? Are you on target? If not, what adjustments have you made to be able to meet your targets?

Monday I am back on the road for programs in northern Virginia and Baltimore. The topic is "Five Great Ways to Build Sales ... and One Really Lousy One!" In case you are interested, this program is available on CD. Check my website under "Library."

INVISIBLE SERVICE
I recently received a note from long-time subscriber Bill Vronsky, owner of The Mill Restaurant & Pub in Cobourg, Ontario, Canada. He wrote:

There are times when you think or become complacent with how well your doing, and then you go to another restaurant and become enlightened by how much more efficient someone else is taking care of customers.

We just back from a quick trip to Boston, while we were there we had an opportunity to have lunch at Blue Ginger owned and operated by celebrity chef Ming Tsai of Food Channel fame. I am always looking at how other places perform and was not the least disappointed with anything I saw on this visit.

I expected that the restaurant would be fairly upscale, but it really wasn't ... or at least it wasn't pretentious. They made us feel very comfortable from the start. Ming Tsai was there so we bought a couple of his books. He took time to sign the books as well as signing a copy of the daily menu. Nice touch.

Their staff is quite large and every one of them knew exactly how to perform their job. They were not in your face like a lot of places that continually come to the table to “see how you are doing” yet they had every table under control.

The most impressive thing for me though was the small detail stuff that they do for their customers – things that you don't even know are going on around you unless you are watching for it. Water glasses were filled by one server, another made sure the bread was filled. When my friend went to the washroom, someone refolded her napkin and I never even noticed them doing it.

There were nice touches like orchids and monogrammed hand towels in the washrooms. The staff all wore well-pressed Blue Ginger shirts and moved about in a totally relaxed way. The servers were outstanding and the food was magnificent. In short, we had a real experience.

It showed me there is always lots of room for improvement in our business, and you should never stop looking for ways to make customers feel like we did there. I have some work to do.

A Note From the Doc:
Good service is nearly invisible. As you can see, it is also so rare that it can WOW even a veteran operator like Bill Vronsky. His letter makes a case for training as the ultimate competitive advantage.

One trick to becoming "invisible" is to train your staff to move with the speed of the room. If the room is fast-paced, someone moving slowly stands out. If the pace is very relaxed, someone rushing around is a distraction. My catering staff got so good at it that they could break down the food tables in a room full of people and hardly anyone would even notice.

GREEN RESTAURANTS
With all the bad press the industry is getting around the obesity issue, wouldn't it be nice to have something positive for your local media to write about restaurant ... particularly if they were writing about YOU?

Well, that article could very easily be about what you are doing to operate in an environmentally friendly way. Too much trouble, you say? Not if you are hooked up with the Green Restaurant Association, a group who has done all the heavy lifting and makes it easy for operators to do the right thing.

If you have wanted to take a stand for the environment (and actually reduce your operating costs by doing it) you need to know more about this group.

Note: My Management Insight and Gold Group subscribers will receive a copy of the interview I just did with Michael Oshman, the head of this forward-thinking group.

100,000 MILE TUNE-UP
How Long Do You Expect Your Car to Last?

Most of today’s cars can run efficiently for 250,000 miles or more. Yet most of them are rusting away in salvage yards long before that.

What does it take to keep a car on the road three times longer? Experts say that the key is good gas, regular maintenance and the willingness to invest in keeping the car tuned up ... even when it seems to be running OK.

Keeping A Restaurant Performing at Its Peak Is No Different

Just as your car needs a major tune-up from time to time, your restaurant periodically needs some detailed diagnostic attention to continue to perform to its full potential. When a concept has enjoyed success in the market over time, it is easy to start taking it for granted. The concept gradually – almost invisibly – gets stale ... and staleness is like rust under the paint of your car, weakening the integrity of the vehicle before you ever see it.

Super Summit 2006: Your 100,000-Mile Tune-Up is a tightly focused program that will provide you with specific skills, ideas and plans to make your operation more competitive and let it draws from an ever-expanding market with an appeal that never dies.

The 2006 Super Summit is a hands-on, practical program that will rekindle your passion for your work and reposition your restaurant for success over the long term. If you have 100,000 miles on your present operation and would like it to run smoothly for another 100,000, you definitely want to look into Super Summit 2006.

Click here for a sneak preview of what we have in mind for a select group of operators next September in Charleston, South Carolina.

THE JUNE SURVEY
"If we build it, they will come" may work in the movies but it is a lousy way to staff a restaurant. You can't pick the right people unless they apply and the good people are not wandering the streets looking for work.

This month we look at what operators are doing to take charge of their staffing and attract the right sort of applicants. This should be eye-opening information for anyone who sees their staff as a competitive advantage.

As usual, I will provide a compilation of all the responses to everyone who contributes to this project. Just click on the link below to participate in the June survey. You can download copies of all past EHC surveys (http://www.restaurantdoctor.com/surveys.html) including the massive WOW Ideas collection.

Click here to add your thoughts to the June survey.

THE PERPETUAL QUESTION
What did you learn from your staff today?

I learned that although we feel we have an open door policy and listen to our staff members, they may still feel intimidated by us. We lost a very good cook the other day. We had repeatedly told him how great he was and were about to give him a raise. Then he quit and won’t return our phone calls.

There is obviously more than meets the eye to this situation, but we don't know what. We are baffled by his behavior and want to make sure this does not happen with others. We are a new restaurant, and are making changes daily to better things for the crew and the customers. This cook, as well as others on the staff, has talked with us about their issues and we have always welcomed their input. We are having a meeting with ALL staff members and will hopefully find out if any of the others have issues we need to address. -- name withheld by request

Not all listening is the same. You can listen to form a rebuttal or listen to learn. You can even listen to be moved. If they are honest with themselves, most managers listen to find the flaws in the other person's position. This seems to be particularly true when dealing with those they deem to be subordinates.

Listening at this level leaves people feeling unheard and misunderstood. Rather than making things better, it usually causes irritation in the person you think you are listening to. They usually won't say anything because ... well ... you don't really listen.

When you listen to learn you try to understand the way the other person has things wired up. You ask probing questions that occur to you in the moment. You encourage and explore differences. You do not inject your own ideas of right and wrong into the exchange but rather look for a deeper logic and wisdom.

(NOTE: If you want to enhance your listening skills, it is one of the things we help you to learn in the annual Leadership From the Inside Out Program. We still have some seats available for the next one in Nashville in about ten days -- short notice to be sure but a life-changing experience if you can make it.)

Never doubt that the most critical -- and perhaps profitable -- management skill you can develop is your ability to truly listen.

I will continue to collect your answers to this important question ... and you can add comments as often as you want. Just click on the link below and contribute your insights for the common good (and your own as well!)

What did YOU learn from YOUR staff today?

WHERE’S WALDO?
Since people often ask, here are some upcoming public events where you can attend a seminar or an event with the Doc:

* June 6-7, SYSCO Maryland, Baltimore & northern Virginia
* June 12-13, Leadership From the Inside Out, Nashville, TN
* June 14-15, CEO Project Alumni Retreat, Nashville, TN
* June 20-22, Pizza Insight SuperConference, Las Vegas, NV
* Sept 13-14, Northeast Pizza Expo, Atlantic City, NJ
* Sept 20-21, Maryland Restaurant Expo, Baltimore, MD
* Sept 25-26, Super Summit 2006, Charleston, SC
* October 17, New Hampshire Hospitality Expo, Manchester, NH

Contact me for more details.

© 2006 Restaurant Doctor