The Restaurant Doctor - Electronic House Call

ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - January 28, 2000

WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?
For those who may be waiting for the January issue of Home Remedies . . . it will get there in February! It's a long story. However, in the best tradition of "No Unhappy Guests" it will contain an offer to make up for the wait.

LET THEM EAT CAKE
Jerry Mistretta of Jerry's Cajun Cafe <jerry@pcola.gulf.net> writes
I was wondering what other restaurants do regarding "employee meals"? We are an independent restaurant with about 50 employees and have given our staff incentives with free meals or discounted prices for their meals. We have had lots of problems in this area and I am curious as to what other restaurants do. I would love to hear some comments or policies currently used in this situation. What is the common practice in the industry? All ideas will be deeply appreciated.

SHOW ME THE MONEY
Marv Hunt, Food & Beverage Manager of the Doubletree Hotel in Spokane <quantum@icehouse.net> shared this cash scam that happened to them recently:

A man walked up to our restaurant cashier, busy time, 5 people in line to pay behind him. He wanted to change a $100 bill for two $50 dollar bills, saying he had some birthday cards he wanted to give out. Our cashier took his $100 and gave him two $50's. He turned away and then turned back immediately, showing that he had only received a $50 and a $20. Our cashier, under pressure from the line of people (and armed with the knowledge "the customer is always right") took back the $20 and gave him another $50. He then walked up to the front desk of the hotel and did the same thing. Our net profit? Minus $60 bucks. His time to do it? Less than two minutes! He was very slick.

I have heard these scam folks do a circuit, so it is very important to always train proper money handling procedures:
- keep the $bill you are given in plain view
- recite the bill denomination when you accept it
- recite the denominations of the bills you are giving back to the customer
- if any discrepancy comes up, have your cashier get a manager
- say "we will have to wait until tomorrow morning and have our accountant count our till to find out if the cash drawer shows an overage. Or we can get the police involved." This will usually discourage the real criminals.

This happened months ago, and of course our people were trained about this. Guess what? We have new people now!

A note from the Doc:
The real wake-up call in this for me, aside from the scam itself, is how quickly time slips away. It occurs to me that it would be a good idea to keep a training log -- who received what training and when. It is too easy to think "we just went over that" when, in fact, it was 15 months ago and there are twelve new (untrained) staff members running around. It can also flag you when it is time for a refresher course. While you are thinking about it, it wouldn't be a bad idea to lay out a training schedule for the next year (and stick to it!) to help stay ahead of the problems.

CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SERVICE STAFF?
Finally, Gary Fontaine <footballguy03@hotmail.com> sends this note along:

I've been involved in the bar and restaurant business for the past 30+ years and for now I'm taking a long deserved rest. I am sending this request to you and your readers (if you will include it in your weekly report) to ask for some unusual stories. I am trying to write a book called "The Waiter & Waitresses Handbook: a practical guide to becoming a great server."

At the end of every chapter I am telling funny or unusual stories of things that have happened to servers. This is where your readers come in if they would email me any funny or unusual stories that have happen in their establishment that they would like to share. I will not use the names of the establishment or servers I change the names to protect everyone. Stories about the customer from Hell or the great scam any thing will do. If I ever get this book published I will gladly send you and anyone's story that I've used a free copy.

BY THE WAY . . .
LOTS of great feedback on the Outback "sit down at the table" service style I mentioned last week. When I get back from this trip (I am on the east coast until mid-week) I will compile it all and let you know where to find it.

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