The Restaurant Doctor - Electronic House Call

ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - June 18, 1999

DESSERT FIRST
Want to increase dessert sales? What would happen if you offered dessert at the beginning of the meal? As I write this, I am on a plane back from Orlando. On Wednesday evening, I had dinner at Le Coq au Vin, a delightful country French restaurant that has become a favorite stop when I am in Mouseville. Among other things, they do superb souffles which they ask you to order at the same time you order your meal. (At $5 they are a bargain but that is another topic.)

Because of the preparation time for a souffle, you really need to place the order that far in advance, but I noticed that the early introduction of the dessert idea had me thinking about it all through the meal. (I had passed on the souffle but did, in fact, order a dessert, something I don't usually do when dining alone.) Perhaps it is just a low-key, subliminal sales technique. In the right kind of operation, it seems to me that offering dessert first could also be a lot of fun.

Server: "How would you like to start off with dessert tonight? We've got a chocolate raspberry bash that is too decadent for words. Have you ever tried it?"
Guest: "Can't say that I have . . . but dessert first? What a strange idea."
Server: "Well, what fun is being a grown-up if you can't have dessert whenever you want it?"
Guest: "True . . . but I don't know if I'm ready for dessert right now."
Server: "OK, we can do it the regular way too . . . but be sure to save some room for the bash."

QUESTION OF THE WEEK
I got an inquiry from Megan who works in the Food & Beverage Department of the Alyeska Resort in Girdwood, Alaska. <food@alyeskaresort.com> She writes:

I am interested in buying reservation software for our fine dining restaurant. Currently, everything is hand written in a reservation "binder". This does not make it very easy to track guests (visits, b-days/anniv, special requests, etc). Also, looking for "lost" reservations is rather time-consuming, having to page through day-by-day rather than simply pulling the guest's name.

I have info on 2 programs -- ReServe and RoboHost. Do you have any info on these programs that you could pass on? Have you done any research/articles on this subject? Have you received any feedback from your subscribers? Anything you could tell me would be greatly appreciated.

A note from the Doc
As always, if you have any suggestions for Megan, please send them directly to her with a copy to me. I will collect them and pass the collected wisdom along in a future issue of EHC.

Y'ALL COME
I will be presenting programs at the Southwest Foodservice Expo in Dallas on June 27th and 29th. If you are attending the show, please drop by to say hello.

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