Points of Profit NewsÓ

 

Points of Profit News-the newsletter that promotes service excellence, leadership building and enhanced profits in the restaurant and hospitality industry. This monthly resource provides quick tips, tools and solutions you can use right away to instill a passion for service in your business, build real and lasting profits and help develop your managers into leaders. 

December 31, 2001

Issue 20

Ron Yudd, Editor, www.ronyudd.com

Please feel free to tell a friend or associate about our newsletter and website. They’ll appreciate it and so will we. They can register for this free newsletter by subscribing at www.ronyudd.com/newsletter.shtml.

To be removed from our list, click reply and type the word “remove” in the message box or go to www.ronyudd.com and unsubscribe.

Welcome back to Points of Profit News. We hope you had an opportunity during this busy holiday period to take a few moments and reflect on some of the thoughts in our last issue. I really appreciate the response we got to our thanks to the “behind the scenes, unsung heroes” serving on military bases all over the world. The power of email got our message around the world very quickly and many new readers decided to become subscribers.       

Thought of the Month. This month’s thought is about the owner/operator of Nino’s Restaurant in the heart of lower Manhattan. Here is a restaurateur that embodies what our industry is all about. Nino Vendome, who has owned his small place for 30 years, has been serving food non-stop 24/7 since September 11th to volunteers and workers at ground zero. All for free! To see the buffet tables set up in his small dining area manned by his staff and volunteers-re-energizes those that have watched reports of this on TV. Here is a guy that turned the key in his door the morning of the 11th as he had done for many years and a couple of hours later his business would be forever changed. The most interesting thing about this story is that he never hesitated, he didn’t think of himself or his business. He immediately went into action. Nino did what his heart told him and the rest is an amazing story of compassion, giving to others and total selflessness. Recently in an interview he said he didn’t want or expect anything in return, he said, “we will be open around the clock until this is all re-built”. -------------- I now have a very simple personal goal for 2002—I would like to shake this guy’s hand and say thank you for giving us another food industry hero to look up to!

For those of you that are just joining us-previous issues of the Points of Profit NewsÓ can be found on our website on the resources page at www.ronyudd.com.

New Tool Is Now Available! We have released our newest audio tool-“50 Points of Profit” –The Fifty Steps to Build Lasting Profitability in Your Business. This audio album explores 25 Points of Profit in the Back of the House and 25 Points of Profit in the Front of the House.

Keep in mind that the sales from all our audio tools go to support our Leadership Cares Foundation’s initiatives. Go to www.leadershipcares.org and see the two new press releases about our recent activities. Thank you, to all that purchased tapes over the last two months. The proceeds helped us to serve 134 needy families (623 people) through our Thanksgiving Cares initiative. 

Learn about our full line of audio tools by clicking on www.ronyudd.com/products.php

On the Front Lines of Service

Last month our focus was on building the staff’s skills in the area of product knowledge. This is one of the keys to guest comfort and also to building check averages. The more the staff knows about your offerings the more they can directly pass on to their guests. Guests love a guided tour of your menu. It doesn’t matter if you serve in a tableside setting, over a quick serve counter or from a cafeteria line—guests want to understand the flavors and preparation methods for all your offerings. 

This month we take a brief look at the top five things customers really want. We call them the Five C’s of Customer Service. Each month we’ll explore one of the C’s in greater detail. What is most interesting is that these five C’s are universal. They should be a major part of any business-no matter the product or service.

The Five Things Customers Really Want:

Comfort-They want to feel at home, relaxed, not pressured. They want to feel safe and looked after. They want you to care!

Consistency-They want to see the same plate presentation, experience the same flavors each time they visit.

Confidence-They need to feel confident that they will receive the same level of service each time they visit you.

Convenience-They simply want to have it their way. Take a look to see if your policies are guest driven or house driven.

Courtesy-They want someone to look them in the eye with respect and treat them with genuine kindness and concern.

Building Leadership Skills

Last month’s leadership recipe ingredient was---Give to Get. This simply was a way of saying that we get better at what we do when we teach someone else.  By showing or training someone else we actually perfect the skills for ourselves. We actually are practicing the task or skill as we demonstrate it for others. Look at this concept as the reward you as the leader receive when you teach or coach someone else. The equation for success is Give a Skill=Improve a Skill.

This month’s leadership recipe ingredient is Building Relationships.  A genuine leader is one that sees and understands the value of being a builder of relationships. The leader that builds relationships between and among his/her staff does three specific things. They encourage and involve others, they act as engineers to construct roads and bridges to bring people together and they seek out synergistic opportunities. We will explore these three specific skills in our next issue!

Profitability Plus

Last month we zeroed in on how we are handling products in production. Critical areas that we recommended you explore included:

  1. Timing-Is food prepped on a timely basis? Is it finished as close to service as possible?
  2. Who is accountable at this juncture? Line cook-expeditor-service staff etc.
  3. Who is checking quality at this juncture of the flow of food?
  4. Is yield matching expectations?

This month’s point of profit is to take a look at how we are handling things after the product leaves the kitchen. Take a look at the following no matter what you style of service is:

            -Plate presentation to the guest. Are the fundamentals in place?

            -How quickly are we doing our “Check Backs” with the guest?

            -How do we relay comments, suggestions, or complaints? What is the follow up?

            -Do we talk about these at our line up meeting?

We’ll look at each one of these points of profit in our next issue.

Do you have a Coach? Take a look at our One-on-One Success Coaching Programs. Start the New Year by increasing the chances that you will reach your personal and professional goals. Check out this popular way to stay on course for building personal and professional success. Click on www.ronyudd.com/1on1.php. We have three levels of personal coaching services available. Email for information and to schedule a free ½ hour tele-coaching session that will help you get to the next level in your career and improve your effectiveness in your business. coachron@ronyudd.com.

Take Home Idea of the Month-The Year of Mentoring

The “take home” idea of the month this time around is going to be a little different, although we do guarantee it will have a direct impact on the profitability and efficiency of your business. January 2002 is National Mentoring Month and the Leadership Cares Foundation is kicking off it’s mentoring initiative by training high school students and adults in mentoring and coaching skills. We would like to see professionals at all levels in our industry reaching out to young people that may have an interest in a restaurant and hospitality career. We would like to challenge our subscribers and readers to pick one person in their business or operation to mentor over the next twelve months. Remember the concept of “give to get”---mentoring will make you better at what you do. People that mentor also develop coaching skills that become very handy in the workplace. On top of what the mentor gains in the area of leadership skills we will also hopefully retain the best and the brightest for our industry. An added bonus that your business will reap is the benefit of having the mentee feel as if they are an important part of the operation’s growth and success. When a person feels that they are really a part of the business they usually stick around—Interesting equation----Mentoring = Lower Turnover! Let us know what you think on our “Year of Mentoring” goal by emailing your thoughts to ron@leadershipcares.org.

Web Site of the Month-This month we have two web sites for you to explore. The first is www.chefsatwork.com. This is a great resource for job hunters and also has a funny kitchen humor section. There are some corny “why did the chicken cross the road” jokes that will make you smile. The second site is www.hospitalitynet.com, which is filled with resource information and interesting articles to explore. Enjoy! 

Points of Profit Leadership Inc. helps companies develop their managers into leaders. We are a “one stop shop” for resources and tools for enhancing customer service levels, increasing profitability and developing leadership within your operation.

Points of Profit News is an online means of sharing information of interest to the restaurant and hospitality community. You are encouraged to send questions, make observations and share items of interest. E-mail your ideas, thoughts and contributions along with your name, address and phone number to: ron@ronyudd.com

Ron Yudd is a recognized expert on developing profit strategies and customer service solutions. Ron provides his clients with the tools for their success. He accomplishes this through keynotes, seminars, workshops, facilitation, consulting and personal coaching. His keynotes and seminars- Leadership Legacy, Leadership for the Bottom Line, No One Escapes Customer Service and Mentoring Today for Leaders Tomorrow have helped business operators focus in on building leadership skills, improve customer service and enhance the profitability of their operations. He combines a motivating style with practical “take home” ideas. You can reach him at www.ronyudd.com or email him at ron@ronyudd.com. His office number is 301-540-5791. Copyright 2001 by Ron Yudd.