ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - July 9, 2004

Be patient. This date will be here soon enough!

I am back after a short consulting trip to Colorado Springs, my home before I moved to Washington State eleven years ago. The project involves doubling the volume of a restaurant that is already doing decent sales and there are some very interesting cost/benefit judgements to make. Stay tuned for lessons learned.

Increase Your Occupancy, Part II
On June 18, I started exploring the idea of occupancy. Here is another way to get your occupancy percentage up -- speed up the turn. If you can get people in and out more quickly, you can serve more meals on a busy weekend night, right?

One of the easiest ways to shave a few minutes off the meal time without making the guest feel rushed is to be sure that all waiting guests receive a menu and an explanation of the evening's specials. This will allow them to study the menu and make their choices while they are waiting. They will have something to do which will make the wait seem shorter and they will be ready to order as soon as they are seated which should shave at least five minutes off their meal time.

If you really want to pick up some time, serve them drinks and appetizers while they are waiting -- in essence, start the meal experience in the bar. If you really, really want to increase the turn, actually take their entree orders while they are waiting. Explain that when you see that they are about to be seated, you will put the order into the kitchen. This way, when they are seated, their salads will already be on the table and their entrees will be fired in the kitchen.

This should shave 20 minutes off their dining time. You will get the table back faster, the guest will not feel rushed ... and you may pick up an extra turn on Friday and Saturday nights. Will this require more labor? Most likely ... but if it gets you an extra turn, I suspect the numbers will work out in your favor. Will an approach like this take more work? Of course. Do the work.

The Cassettes are History
The Great Cassette Clean-Out is over. My thanks to all of you who took me up on my offer. I didn't get rid of them all ... but I sure made a major dent in the pile.

I want to donate the remaining tapes to worthy causes. If any of you are affiliated with local hospitality education programs, please drop me a line. I would love to send you some tapes for your professional library.

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