ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - September 15, 2006
I started writing this week’s EHC at 36,000 feet ... at midnight ... on a flight to Seattle from Newark that loaded on time but didn’t leave the ground until two hours later. It was not the best day for weather.
By the time I finally got to bed it was the equivalent of 5am on the east coast. You will have to forgive me for not staying up to finish this before I turned in!
Next week I will be in Baltimore for the Mid-Atlantic Hospitality Expo and a program for a group of distributor sales reps.
BREAK ALL THE RULES
I was just in Atlantic City to present a couple of seminars at the Northeast Pizza Expo – always a fun crowd that is eager to learn. The show was great, but the real highlight this time was dinner.
Jay Siff, owner of Moving Targets (http://www.movingtargets.com), took a group of us out to a restaurant called Chef Vola that was definitely “none of the above.”
(If they ever find out that I told you the name of the place, I will probably never allow me back in there again ... because Chef Vola is an unlisted restaurant and they like it that way.)
Name an industry “norm” and Chef Vola breaks it. It is located in the basement of an old house. It is in a bad neighborhood. It has no sign. The ceiling is low, the decor is early fraternity house party room, it is hot, noisy and poorly lit. The tables are so jammed together that once you manage to get seated you have to be surgically removed after dinner!
They have no liquor license (although you can bring your own wine). When you try to make a reservation (and you need one at least a month in advance), they interrogate you about how you know about the place before they will consent to put you on the list. They only take cash. They have no website and they have never advertised in the 85 years they have been there. Oh, and did I mention that they are full every night?
This is a family-operated place that serves what I would call “home style Italian” food – large portions of the sort of things you imagine an Italian grandmother would make for Sunday dinner. The menu is extensive and the food is well-prepared, ranging from tasty to delicious but certainly nothing fancy.
The prices are on the upper end of reasonable (it averaged $60 per person for our party without any wine) and the service is friendly and casual but very unstructured. It was more like being part of a rowdy Italian family reunion than going to a restaurant.
So why do I bring all this up? Simply because I find myself compelled to tell you about the place ... and I am doing that because they break all the rules and have thereby given me a great story to tell. I didn’t just have a meal, I had a one-of-a-kind experience – one that I will repeat in a heartbeat the next time I am in Atlantic City (if they will let me back in!)
The coolest part about it – and one of the reasons that I would love to take other people to Chef Vola’s – is that now I know a secret that most other visitors to AC don’t know and it would make me look like a well-informed insider to turn somebody else on to it. Because of that, I am much more likely to do it.
That is how they have stayed busy for 85 years with no advertising, no sign, no location, no seating, no liquor, no corkage charge, no credit cards, no decor, no ambience and no walk-in business.
How about you? Are you offering an experience ... or just a plate of food? Are you giving people something unusual to talk about? What rules are you prepared to break to create an experience that people feel compelled to share?
WE FOUND THE SILVER BULLET!
Joel Cohen and I have discovered The Silver Bullet -- the simple secret to achieving massive increases in sales volume that leave competitors stunned, fighting over the leftovers!
You have been searching for the "silver bullet" for years. You know what we mean by the silver bullet:
Admit it. You have always hoped there was a silver bullet out there somewhere. You must have thought that anyone who worked as hard as you do shouldn’t be hurting for business.
Surely you thought that there must be some little trick that you had overlooked, some magical knob you could twist to suddenly bring everything into focus. We are pleased to report that you are right.
On November 13 & 14, 2006, at Bill and Joel’s Third Annual Most Excellent Restaurant Marketing Birthday Bash in Las Vegas, we will reveal the secret of THE SILVER BULLET to a select group of restaurant operators and show them how to use this potent insight to dominate their markets and crush their competition.
If you would like to be one of those operators, click here to to find out more about this event.
THE SEPTEMBER SURVEY
This month we are looking at how people are planning to maintain their sales in the face of what appears to be another economic slowdown.
The trade press is full of reports from the chains on how sales have slipped and how they are trying to fight back. Gas prices are down a bit but still high, the situation in Iraq continues to deteriorate and instilling a constant state of fear seems to be a campaign strategy that has ripples into the general thinking about everything (but don't get me started!) Some pundits even predict another recession.
Nobody ever moved ahead of the herd by sticking their head in the sand so I am interested to know what you are seeing in your business and what, if anything, you are doing about it. The best defense is always a good offense. Add your thoughts to the September survey.
BTW, you can download copies of all past EHC surveys – including the massive WOW Ideas collection.
THE PERPETUAL QUESTION
What did you learn from your staff today?
I have been in business for over forty years and cannot even think of trying to manage a business without asking my crew for input on how the operations are going. Talking to crew members takes on even more importance as we grow from one restaurant to many around the country.
As I visit our locations around the country I spend as much time talking to the servers as I do the management. Why not? They are the ones talking to the guests. I have learned a great deal by asking questions and then just listening.
I have also added many successful menu items just by listening to my servers. I feel our success is directly related to the great ideas I get from my employees. -- Ken Higginbotham, 5 & Diner Franchise Corp., Mesa, AZ
What more can I add to that? In most cases the staff is the great untapped resource that most operators seldom discover. If Ken can grow a more successful multi-unit, multi-state organization just by becoming a better listener, just imagine what you can do in a single unit restaurant.
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?
© 2006 Restaurant Doctor