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. 

January 30, 2002

Issue 21

Ron Yudd, Editor, www.ronyudd.com

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Welcome to our first issue of the New Year. Thank you for your response to our story on Nino Vendome of Nino’s restaurant in New York City and to our mentoring challenge. We heard from many of you about your current commitment to mentoring and the value you received from those that mentored you. We as an industry have to tell these stories so others learn about the special gifts that mentors provide. Remember, it’s still National Mentoring Month—but we are treating 2002 as the Year of Mentoring.       

Thought of the Month. This month’s thought is about what we are really marketing in this business. It turns out that what we are really marketing to our guests is ourselves.  The menu has to be spectacular, the facilities spotless, service exceptional---but in the end they visit your business because of you. You and your staff have to deliver on the Five C’s (see below) but when all is said and done those that are truly successful have developed a genuine relationship with their guests. Reflect for a moment on how you have been marketing yourself to your guests. Check the amount of time you have personally spent with your guests and then look at how your staff is marketing themselves to their guests. 

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.

Points of Profit 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.  

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

On the Front Lines of Service

Last month we started to explore the Five C’s of customer service. We discovered that these five C’s were universal and that they should be a major part of every 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 and every time they visit. Confidence-They need to feel confident and assured that they will receive the same level of service each time they visit. Convenience-They simply want to have it their way and when they want it. See if your policies are guest driven or house driven.   Courtesy-They want someone to look them in the eye and treat them with genuine kindness and concern.

Let’s spend some time on the first one-Comfort. Walk the operation as if you were the guest. Check the comfort levels in the lobby, while being seated, while waiting for service etc. Walk the whole process and see where more comfort may need to be created. Keep in mind the concepts of feeling at home, safety and caring. Comfort runs the gamut from room temperature, volume of the music and comfort of the seat cushion to attitude of staff, cleanliness of restrooms and presentation of the check. Measure the comfort level at each juncture of the meal process.

Next month we’ll take a look at consistency.

 

Building Leadership Skills

Last month’s leadership recipe ingredient was 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. Let’s take a look at each one of these skills:

Encourages and involves others-The leader acts as the magnet that draws (sometimes pushes) others to get involved and then provides encouragement about their participation and performance.

Builds roads and bridges to bring people together-This is the construction manager aspect of being a leader. The leader here is always seeking ways to overcome roadblocks, or obstacles that keep people apart. The leader as master builder is always looking for exactly where to place the bridge between people or departments so they can come together to be more effective.

Seeks out synergistic opportunities-This leader is always listening. Their ears are attuned to what people say, what people want, how people feel. They are focused on the “listen to learn” aspect of leadership. In this mode the leader looks for opportunities to join members of the team with like vision or those that share the same values. For example—“I heard that Katie likes to volunteer to read to kids at the elementary school-that sound like something you would like to do—why don’t you have a chat with her”. 

Building relationships is a key ingredient in leadership success. This month pretend you are a construction manager working on roads and bridges that bring your people together to create a more effective work team.

Profitability Plus

Last month we started to look at how we were handling things after the product left the kitchen. Here was the checklist we started:

            -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?

  1. Plate presentation-how do we present? Do we perform the fundamentals of serving and removing? Is there a specific order to the process of serving? Take up position in your dining room and observe a little. Remember-The fundamentals are key to consistency.
  2. Check backs-Do we have them built in to our service standards? At what point and after what item is served do we approach the guest to see if everything is going well? We find that many operations have this built in—but it’s the first to be dropped when staff gets busy. Check backs can save the day in customer satisfaction. See how your team is performing.
  3. Comments, suggestions and complaints-Review how these are handled during the heat of the rush. The best practice is to allow front liners to respond and correct problems on the spot. Afterwards, there should be in place a system to talk about problems and ensure that they don’t happen again. We should measure these to see if patterns are starting to show up.
  4. Line-up meeting-This is not just about the “special of the day”. The mission of the meeting should be to quickly discuss and solve one operational problem each time out. Sometimes it’s as simple as issuing enough teaspoons. It’s the little things that we solve at the line-up that can create the bigger efficiencies for the whole operation!

Do you have a Coach? Take a look at our One-on-One Success Coaching Programs. Increase 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. coach@ronyudd.com.

Take Home Idea of the Month

This month’s take home idea has to do with the concept of “uniqueness”. What is it about your business, your club, your dining room, or your menu that separates you from the rest of the pack in your market? Customers love to be the ones that tell others about what they have discovered and enjoyed. What is it that is unique to your operation that your customers love to brag about? What is it that your customers have discovered? Is it your tremendous freshly baked bread, the way you prepare fresh seafood, your one of a kind quadruple decker club sandwich or the secret ingredients in your house salad dressing? Take a moment this month to identify those items that are really unique to your operation and then map out a plan for showcasing them for your customers. Help them uncover what makes you unique---they’ll reward you with the best advertising of all---word of mouth to all their friends and potential guests of yours.

Web Site of the Month-This month’s we have two web sites for you to explore. The first is www.escoffier.com. George Cook, the Webmaster, has done an incredible job with this new and improved site. His site is one of the very best for information on foodservice employment, education and links to other foodservice sites. It is a great site to send your young mentee to as they explore culinary and hospitality management schools. The second website of the month is www.kitchenlink.com. You can get lost for hours in their recipe archive. They also have great links to newspaper food sections, hunger relief sites and one of my favorites—kitchen gadgets. Have fun exploring this month.   

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 2002 by Ron Yudd.