ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - December 28, 2007

Well we've pretty much flown through yet another year. It seems like it was over almost before it started. Life is still in holiday mode so my final issue of the year will once again be relatively brief.

We'll get back into more typical EHC content next week. For now, please accept my thanks for being part of this wonderful industry, for putting up with my rants and ramblings and, hopefully, for continuing to look for ways to be a better host, a better boss, a better employee, a better mate, a better parent and a better person.

I hope that EHC has contributed to your well-being in some small measure and I promise to keep stretching your thinking in 2008.

NEW YEAR WISHES
Fifty-two weeks a year I am deliriously content to chronicle the possibilities and pitfalls of life in the hospitality business. It is my job, my passion, my duty and, I freely admit, a comforting crease in the fabric of my own life on the road.

But this is the last column of the year and, just this once, I want to write about what I wish the restaurant business was about.

I wish more operators would learn that you do not have to sell your soul, abandon your family or give up your health to have a successful restaurant. The difficulties and stresses that most operators face are not inherent problems of the restaurant business, they are very predictable symptoms of the way they understand the business. Change your thinking and you change your life.

I wish managers would learn to slow down, know less and learn more. When you get speeded up you lose the willingness to listen. When you do not listen, you stop learning. When you stop learning, you stop growing. When you stop growing, you are dead. All of which brings me to ask, "What did you learn from your staff today?"

I wish everyone who operates a boring restaurant would stop it! The world does not need one more place to eat. While boring restaurants make ideal competitors, they do not force you to be better and they only educate the public that dining out is no big thing. Give me a highly competitive marketplace populated by great operators who absolutely force me to excel or perish ... and watch how good I can become!

I wish every operator would realize that by discounting their basic products, they undermine their entire pricing structure. Pizza people are the worst in this regard. Rampant discounting has made their products into commodities and educated the public not to buy a pizza without a coupon. I am not against offering special deals, but in my book, deals should be value-added not dollars-off. If you must drop a price, do it for a specific reason and only for a very limited time.

I wish every staff member (including you) was as excited about coming into the restaurant every day as your guests (hopefully) are. When work is fun it doesn't seem like work. You can do a good job and have fun at the same time. Lighten up! (And if you are having fun ... notify your face!)

I wish everyone who makes their living in this business, even for a few weeks, approached their work with a passion to serve, an eagerness to learn and a desire to do a great job. The work you do does not define who you are, it is just what you do for a living. HOW you do your job, whatever it may be, is what defines who you are. You can be great at a job, even if you do not plan on keeping it forever.

I wish that every cook and manager in the country could spend a few hours with Phyllis Ann Marshall. If that were to happen, the culinary consciousness in every commercial kitchen would reach new heights! Too often, I see restaurants put out uninspiring food just because they can sell it, not because they are proud of it or because it helps to set them apart from their competitors. A few more WOWs at the table would help make dining out a true delight ... and raise the energy level of the kitchen crew as well. Do the work.

I wish that "the government" would stop using businesses as unpaid bookkeepers. The ever-increasing load of taxes and other regulatory requirements is causing many good operators to abandon their plans for another restaurant, or worse yet, to leave the industry altogether.

I wish these same local, state and federal governing bodies appreciated the role of restaurants in creating quality of life in the community ... and made it easier for us to open and operate. Major urban renewal projects have stalled until an influx of interesting restaurants caused them to take off. Life in small town America often revolves around local dining spots. Deals are made, lives are changed and rifts are healed when people break bread together.

I wish our guests were more tolerant of our missteps, more appreciative of our efforts, and more honest with their feedback. There is no act of hospitality that isn't improved by being acknowledged with gratitude and no problem we cannot solve if we learn about it quickly from a guest who loves us and who understands that occasional lapses are inevitable but are never acceptable.

I wish guests truly tipped based on the quality of the service they received. When diners leave 20% for indifferent service and never return, it does not help the server -- or the restaurant -- to "get it." I think a few more 10%-ers ... and a few more 30%-ers would do wonders all around.

Finally, I wish 2008 turns out to be your best year ever -- that you will take a few calculated risks, invest more time and money in your own professional development, spend more quality time with your family, trust your staff to carry more of the load, make the time for relaxation, reflection and rejuvenation -- in short, that you will live each day of your life and enjoy it to the fullest. Happy New Year!

© 2007 Restaurant Doctor