ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - August 24, 2007

It feels wonderful to be back in the cool green of the Pacific Northwest. I had a great reception in St. Louis ... but it was muggy and beastly hot and I've never done hot and sticky very well. Now I get to stay home until I head to Atlantic City ... on September 11th! (Oops!)

I hope you planned a massive "Last Great Party of the Summer" event or something like that. In marketing, all you need is a plausible excuse to invite guests to return. It's easier to invite them to a special happening than to say, "Why don't you come in on Tuesday night because it's really slow and we need the business!"

KILLING ENTHUSIASM
Words of Wisdom From The Doc
We deal in a business of perishables. I am sure you have had the pain of tossing out hundreds of dollars worth of product that had spoiled because of poor handling.

We are sensitized to the perishable nature of raw ingredients, but there is a more precious commodity that we often toss away that can be a more devastating loss -- the enthusiasm of our staff.

Have you ever had a staff member come to you with an idea ... and shot them down because you knew it wouldn't work?

Have you ever thought an employee was "stupid" because their way of seeing things didn't match your own ideas of right and wrong?

Have you ever resisted ideas from your staff because you didn't think of them first?

Do you think the manager's job is to have all the answers?

(Reflect on these questions before answering. If you are really feeling brave, ask your staff if they have ever observed these behaviors in you.) If you can answer "yes" to any of these, you are probably guilty of killing enthusiasm.

When it happens, your operation loses, your bottom line loses ... and you frequently lose a good worker along with it. Can you afford any of these costs?

I previously suggested that the real job of management is not to run the joint, but rather to teach the staff how to run the joint! Your job as a coach is to develop the talent of your players, not to prove what a great talent you are yourself.

When someone on your crew gets excited about an idea that they think can make things work better, your job is to embrace that enthusiasm and help channel it in a productive direction.

This does not mean that every idea that comes along is workable, but you will get farther by encouraging and directing their excitement than you will by bursting their bubble.

The valuable commodity is enthusiasm itself, not necessarily the idea they are enthused about.

Whenever you can, give them an opportunity to try their ideas out. If the notion is truly unworkable, they will find out when it doesn't work ... and they will have learned something. But you might be surprised at how many times they can make something work where you couldn't.

People are more invested in their own ideas than they are in someone else's. You got to where you are today because of all your "great experience," most of which is probably derived from lessons learned in past disasters!

If you do not give your staff the ability and support to test their ideas -- on their own, without a net -- they will never find out how good they are.

The more you help your staff discover their own unique excellence, the more you can harness their enthusiasm and use it to the good of your operation, the less time you will have to spend on the job, and the more profit you will see.

Never kill enthusiasm. It is your most perishable commodity.

RAISING PRICES IN A COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT
Raising prices is a sensitive issue and with more and more competitors in the market, one that needs to be done with care.

One easy move is to have your prices end in .99 rather than .95. You will make an extra 4¢ margin and your guests will not even perceive the change as a price increase.

The best way to avoid the need for an across-the-board price increase (that will set your guests off!) is to reprint your menu frequently and make minor adjustments each time.

This is easy to do if you are printing your own menus on a laser quality printer, a practice I encourage you to consider if the look fits with your operating style.

You can buy decent color laser printers for a few hundred dollars now and set yourself up as a full color print shop!

Another idea: take an item (whose price you want to increase) off the menu and run it as a special with different prices and different presentations. Keep notes on what sells the best. Once you find the "sweet spot," put it back on the menu at the increased price.

KEEPING YOUR HEAD ABOVE WATER
Grocery prices have increased substantially over the past several months and many areas have seen increases in minimum wage.

This forces operators to face some tough decisions. Do you absorb the extra cost? Do you raise prices? Can you tighten up your cost controls enough to compensate? What to do?

This month we look at how operators are responding to this double-whammy ... and how their changes are working for them.

As usual, I will send copies of the survey results to everyone who participates. In the meantime, you can download copies of all past EHC surveys -- including the massive WOW Ideas collections.

Add your thoughts to this month's survey.

THE PERPETUAL QUESTION
"What did you learn from your staff today?"
The restaurant management team had been discussing new menu specials for several weeks and were frustrated with the lack of action by the GM to implement their ideas. While the GM was on vacation, the assistant manager led the team meeting and renewed their commitment to have a new special ready for the next day.

They asked for my opinion and assistance in pricing the special. I thought this would be a good opportunity to "teach" them how we calculate the menu item cost and its' contribution to the net profit. I observed their enthusiasm wane as I explained the process.

At this point, I realized they wanted me to give them the answer as they saw any delay as another roadblock to action. I set the teaching moment aside and asked them to recommend the menu price. Surprisingly, their suggested price was higher than mine.

The kitchen manager cooked a sample, the shift supervisors suggested plate presentations, I entered the item into the POS system and took digital pictures for the menu. The next day, we sold 14 specials during lunch. The managers' enthusiasm was contagious and they were proud to have moved their idea forward.

I realized there are different types of teaching moments. This time it was critical for me to be a catalyst and teach by action rather than a roadblock by teaching procedure. -- Lorraine Salazar, Sal's Mexican Restaurants, Fresno, CA

There's not a lot to add to what Lorraine has shared except to underscore the importance of reading your audience. It is really another form of listening, but it is only possible when you quiet your mind, stay in the moment with those you are with and trust your instincts to know what is needed next.

I commend her for having the courage to shift her approach as soon as she sensed that her audience needed something different than what she first had in mind. This is really a great example of keeping her focus on the purpose of what she was doing, getting her ego out of the way and having the courage to make a course correction on the fly.

By having the wisdom to do that, she was able to salvage the enthusiasm of her management team and move her entire operation forward.

Never doubt that the most important (and profitable!) skill you can develop is your ability to truly listen.

What did you learn from YOUR staff today?

I will continue to collect your answers to this important question until they put me in the ground. Just click on the link above and contribute your insights for the common good ... and your own as well!

LIGHTEN UP!
The Noble Experiment Continues
Here is the weekly report on my personal project to lighten up:

Goal: -50 Last Week: +3 Total: -8

I can see I'm going to have to pay more attention to what I eat when I am out of town. I also suspect that lack of exercise over the past couple of weeks is finally starting to show. Time to head back to the woods!

Several people have agreed to join me in this audacious venture and I applaud their courage in "going public" like this ...

Cindy Casady -- Goal: -30 Last Week: ? Total: -5?
Trice Micheals -- Goal: -50 Last Week: -2 Total -3
Mary Jo Beniger -- Goal: -25 Last Week: -1.5 Total: -1.5
Steve Ulrey -- Goal: 12 Last Week: ? Total: ?

What do you say? Do you have the courage to put yourself on record? We all work better when there is someone or something to hold us accountable.

If you are interested in how it's going, scroll down to the bottom of the EHC each week and check out the progress. If you could care less, don't!

© 2007 Restaurant Doctor