ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - October 15, 2004

It's getting busy again. I am off to Buffalo to present a program for the Western NY Chapter of the NY State Restaurant Association on Monday. Then I am only home for a week before Margene and I head to Peru for ten days. I am not sure what sort of Internet access I will have in the Andes, but I will work something out to keep the EHC coming your way on schedule.

The time is also getting short to sign up for the Las Vegas Birthday Bash at no charge. The free offer expires next Wednesday, October 20th and we are pleased to have over 90 people already on the list. If you have put off the decision "until later" .... well, later is here.

Speed Sells
I had some very pleasant meals while I was in Florida ... but perhaps because I was eating alone, I noticed something that I hadn't really paid that much attention to before.

On two different evenings at two different restaurants, the servers seemed to lose track of me, resulting in a long delay before they took my order. In both cases I was ready to order at least two glasses of wine, an appetizer and an entree when I sat down.

Because of the delay, however, the first night I ended up ordering only one glass of wine and the entree. The second night I got by with two glasses of wine and the appetizer. (Probably better for me and my waistline, but definitely worse for the restaurants ... and the servers ... involved.)

Am I typical? I really don't know ... but I can tell you that if the servers were more attentive, if they made more suggestions to help me decide sooner rather than later, it would have meant about twice the money to the house ... and likely three times the tip for them. How are you doing in this area?

Disaster Planning
You don't have to be in South Florida very long to see how much damage was done by the four hurricanes that ripped through the area last month. The club I was speaking at on Tuesday lost 2000 trees on their golf courses and their 45 guest rooms are out of commission for the season. There is no way of knowing how much food had to be tossed out ... and the list goes on.

The folks in Florida seem to be taking it all in stride although you can tell that the economic hit was severe. Seeing the devastation first-hand reminds me that you cannot wait until disaster strikes to figure out how you are going to deal with it.

No matter where you are in the world, there are some local calamities that you are likely to see at some point, whether that is hurricane, tornado, blizzard, fire, earthquake or the plague of locusts. In the same ways that fire drills help control panic in the event of a real fire, advance planning of how you would deal with a catastrophic event will help you weather the storm with less trauma ... and less financial loss.

Will you close? Who makes the call? When do you send the staff home? Will they be paid? What needs to be done to secure the building? What do you do about perishable supplies? Who has keys to the building? Is emergency contact information posted where first responders can easily find it? What services could you offer to help others in the community? Will you do anything special for first responders (police, fire, EMT, etc.)? What emergency supplies should you have on hand? And so on ... and so on ... and so on.

Bear in mind that you may not be anywhere around when disaster strikes and one of your staff members may have to take charge. Spending a little time now to discuss possibilities, set priorities and establish policies can save you thousands of dollars ... and perhaps your business ... if the unthinkable comes to pass.

Birthday Bash
How much more volume could you be doing? How much more profitable could you be?

If you do not attend Bill and Joel's Most Excellent Restaurant Marketing Birthday Bash in Las Vegas next month, you may never know!

If two days of proven tricks, tips and insider secrets -- at no cost -- doesn't move you, what better offer we can make? The Bash promises to be our biggest program ever and you will kick yourself if you miss it ... particularly if your competitors are there!

There are only a few more days to sign up without a charge. Our no-cost offer expires this Wednesday, October 20th. After that, it will cost $100 a person to attend, a fee that will increase to $200 on November 3rd. This is still a fraction of what we should be charging ... but if you can attend for nothing by acting now, why wait?

Click on the link below and sign up today while we still have seats available ... and while the cost is still irresistible!

Click here to get the whole story on the Birthday Bash.

The Perpetual Question
What did you learn from your staff today?

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