Success begins and ends with a strategy, in this case a battle plan.  This plan differs from your business plan.  Think of it more as a simplified 2 pager.  Purpose being, to stop the immediate financial, emotional and visible hemorrhaging from your business or job.   Such a plan is best created collaboratively between everyone involved.    That means from the ground up, not the top down! The most important thing to keep forefront in this tumultuous economy, is to serve the paying customer the way THEY wish and deserve to be served.   This may require some redirection of both your current mindset and protocol.

~  Cut back on your labor, material and supplies till it screams.   Now, make it scream some more!  

~  Never forfeit higher quality products in lieu of cheaper products!!!   Customers are not stupid! 

    Consider smaller but tastier portions as Chef Rick Whorf suggests. (see above)  Be more

    creative without sacrificing the best ingredients.

~  Attempt to renegotiate terms (lower rents) with landlords.  

~  Renegotiate those blood sucking service charges with your provider on guest credit cards being run

    through your register.    Shop! Shop! Shop! for better prices.  

~  Extend vendor payment terms to 60, 90 or even 120-140 days.  Yes, it is possible and done by many

    as standard practice.  Leverage with “reason” when dealing with a vendor.

~  Request a vendor discount for COD delivery orders.

~  Request a discount for 30 day prompt payments.  Don’t laugh, it works!

~  Purchase in bulk whenever possible, especially disposables and anything made of paper.

~  Cross-train your crew.

~  Train, train and train your front of house (FOH) crew relentlessly!  Yet, no matter how clever or

    creative restaurants become, one important factor continues to escape many of them.  Retraining,

    retrenching and revitalizing “the best of the best” food servers, is the only way to retain customer

    loyalty. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, “No matter how superb your food may be, it is

    all for naught, if the service stinks, your customer loyalty shrinks!”

~  Put off “until further notice” employee performance reviews.  If you're going to raise their wages,

    speak to your employees on a one to one basis and tell them HOW each of them needs to be more

    productive. Employee reviews are one of the worst, most destructive and universally despised shams

    in the workplace. They are fraudulent in not truly measuring employee performance, and in causing

    unnecessary emotional havoc on their psyche in the middle of an epic economic meltdown. 

~  Insurance... practically impossible, but what the heck!  It’s only one more phone call.  When you

    call your agent, ask him to listen, while you play “Only The Lonely.”  Tell him what it means. It will

    help put him in a more benevolent mood. If it’s no dice on his part... shop around for better!  Vendors

    are supposed to be your partners in business. 

~  Equipment Maintenance Agreements:  Renegotiate for lower pricing in return for extended months.  

    Longer but cheaper.

~  Invite more vendors to competitively bid for your business needs on all fronts.  Remember it’s a

    buyer’s market, not a seller’s!

~  Shop at local farmers/markets.  Fresh produce and honey!  They will bend over backwards for your

    business and will enjoy teaching you, as well as your staff, about their products.  I caveat that you

    validate delivery dependability.

~  Hugged your neighbor lately?  Form a Band of Brothers cooperative with your neighborhood

    eateries. Deliveries made on the same street, saves time, fuel and money.  If you coordinate orders

    from the same vendors you are apt to have more leverage with pricing. One good turn deserves

    another. 

~  Ramp up your “Take Out” service... An article written by Kare Anderson / May 5th, 2009, is an exceptional example of creative innovation, entitled “Coddle and Keep Customers – Even in a Cold Economy". Quote: "Poggio opens onto the main street of my village-by-the-bay, Sausalito. It doesn’t serve breakfast. Recently this upscale restaurant started offering fresh-baked Italian pastries and coffee as a drive-by service for the morning commuters heading into S.F. With famously great food, a prominent location and just one new, part-time “running waiter” the restaurant has gained a new profit stream. Plus the activity has drawn more stay-at-homes to drop by for a takeout breakfast." Poggio, is but one glistenine example of creative innovation.”

~  Don't allow yourself to be seduced into spending  money that you don't have... by ANYONE!

The Culinary Butler

The company is dedicated to the Culinary Professional.  Sandra will take care of getting you just about anything you need. The Culinary Butler specializes in Social Media Networking, Flavor Consulting, TV & Demonstration Chef Casting and more.

                       

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(trials & tribulations of restaurant wine professionals in other restaurants)

I have the pleasure of sharing...   When Service is Spelled Stupid

We knew things would get rough early in 2009 when we read about the poor slobs on Wall Street taking 50% cuts in their million dollar bonuses. Which meant the working stiffs on Main Street making $50 to $150 grand a year – no matter how you slice it, the real bread and butter of our industry – would be the ones to actually eat it.

Here at Sommelier Journal, it made sense for us to weave the old fashioned concept of service into our 2009 editorial calendar. Why? Because in times of recession, improving service is not just the most effective way of differentiating ourselves from competition, it is also the cheapest: all it takes is an attitude adjustment.

Adjusting attitude, however, is also the hard part. In the fall of 2009, a piece called 100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do blogged in the New York Times elicited some 10,000 heart-felt consumer responses? (also featured on our blog  of 27 Dec 09, http://ptsaldari.posterous.com/burnt-toast-for-anyone-who-serves-even-water)   For many restaurants, the response was: duck soup. Sure, our staffs know they aren’t supposed to stack plates at the table, and run over guests as they go charging through the room. We teach that everyday. Why, then, are the details so hard to execute, even in our most successful restaurants? It’s that attitude thing; a culture, basically, of not giving a damn.

True story: last summer I found myself with a free night in Portland, and so I researched the hottest new restaurants. I find one, and call for the only opening (5 PM reservations at the chef’s counter). Shown to my stool, I peruse the wine list and find a delicious sounding red Burgundy for a relatively good price of $80. I’m practically clapping with anticipation as the waiter presents, opens and pours, but horror of horrors… the bottle is corked!

A few minutes after politely sending back the bottle, I start to feel the fear and trepidation I’m sure every guest must experience when a managerial looking person approaches, wine list in hand. She’s looks nice, the way Glenn Close did in the beginning of That Movie, and she regrets to inform: “Sir, we’ll need to ask you to order a different wine because we tasted the bottle you sent back, and we feel that there’s nothing wrong with it.”

Of course, this has happened to me before. With my slack jaw, brown skin and bad hair, I know I look more like a trouble maker than a wine "expert" to restaurant managers. But unlike 99% of restaurant managers, I can tell a corked wine from a side of a barn... and so, overcoming my non-confrontational instincts, I flashed my business cards, explained who I am and what I do for a living, and demanded that second bottle: I really, really wanted to enjoy that $80 bottle of Burgundy.

“O-kaay,” comes the managerial person’s reply, and cutting to a fairly happy ending: the second bottle turns out to be perfectly delicious (full of wild cherry and dancing girls tossing fresh flowers). I poured a generous portion for the manager to taste in the back, and she came back a few minutes later to say, “yes, you were right!” Although not with (duly noted) an actual apology, much less something in exchange for all my trouble, nor for giving up nearly a fifth of my bottle to magnanimously make a point (I can dream can't I?).

Point being: yes, we should teach our managers and staffs what a corked wine is, and maybe some humility and grace as well; but that’s not the issue. We should be teaching ourselves, by looking at the real source of those nasty attitudes seeping through our windows and damaging our guests’ psyches. Don’t look at the bad hats you may have mistakenly hired – look at your policies, or the hurdles you may have set up in your own standards and procedures that discourage your staff from providing the kind of caring, stress-free environment every guest undoubtedly prefers.

A longtime chef/friend recently opened a place of his own in Denver: his first, and a well capitalized labor of love; his dishes, exquisite meditations on fifteen years of culinary travels, from Hong Kong to New York. Within a month, the restaurant was creamed in the local major daily. The offense? One guest (unfortunately, the anonymous critic) who had walked in and asked the bartender for change to feed the parking meter: he was given the thumb, and told to go next door for his change.

Another true tale of woe: across the street from that same friend’s place, a charming sidewalk French brasserie, where I recently brought a party of five. First-thing, I order $265 worth of wine; including two bottles of $65 grand cru Beaujolais. Our waiter brings smallish, tulip shaped wine glasses to the table for our Beaujolais, prompting me to politely request large Burgundy glasses instead.

I am told: “I’m sorry, sir, but our Burgundy glasses are reserved only for bottles with a minimum price of $75.” Of course, I respond logically: “We just finished a $135 bottle of Champagne, and now we’re drinking two bottles of Beaujolais worth $130… surely, there is room for some common sense here.” Alas, there was none, even after our waiter did us the favor of conferring with his manager on duty. What could we do – walk out as the entrées hit the table? We drank our Beaujolais in those stubby tulips.

Oh, I have been through This Movie, too: five years earlier, in fact, in a tony South Beach restaurant decked out in oversized Buddhas and grass growing on the wall; where a wine professional/friend and I were thrown out after ordering a $150 Champagne, and about the same sum in multiple appetizers. Our crime? We didn’t order entrées, as required by house policy.

It is not so much the stupidity to which guests are subjected on a daily basis, but the culture that invariably grows out of this approach: asking our guests not what we can do for them, but rather what they can do for us – to help us run our restaurants with more efficiency and cost effectiveness. A little less stress, a lot less bother. This odd reversal of roles is not just in many of our manuals, it is often on our menus (no substitutions… no split dishes!), our wine lists (if you need to ask about any of these wines, you don’t belong…), and our pricing (if you’d like a glass of something not found in every supermarket in the land, that will be $16 please…).

Needless to say, most of us get what we deserve: waiters who place following orders above taking orders sensibly, bartenders with quick-draw thumbs, and managers who assume the worst in guests, judging them wrong long past the point where right or wrong matter.

If here, in 2010, you find yourself still suffering, and wondering when you’ll get yours: maybe it’s time to check yourself, and work harder to redefine what it is you’re calling service.  Posted by Randy Caparoso on March 26, 2010,  (originally published in Sommelier Journal (Dec. 2009) as Bottom Line column called Gotta Serve Somebody:      

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“If restaurant comment cards had ears, they’d be deaf”...  Penelope Tsaldari

Do they work?          Usually not. 

Are they meaningless?   Pretty much so.

Do they really, truly, “honest-to-God”, measure performance?   Not really.

My sixth grade dance card received more attention than any restaurant comment card could possibly ever hope for.  Cards may sit silently for weeks on end, waning like a wallflower.  Waiting.  Waiting and yearning only to be read.

We’ve all completed a comment card at one time or another, most always with the best of intentions, hoping the powers that be will read them.  We are secretly hopeful that our written words to managers, hold some sort of magical persuasive powers, earning our devoted server  the bestowing of a garland laurel wreath upon their little head;  as minstrel lutes play, as virgins romp up and down, as rose peddles rain down upon them from the heavenly skies, showering them with management’s adulations.  Or maybe they will be repaid for their evil deeds with a well-warranted set of boxed ears, for doling out lousy service.

Let’s stop right here!  If comment cards held value, wouldn’t management respond to each and every one of them?  They most often capture our email and contact information, right?  We bloggers are a fanatically unforgiving bunch of protocol junkies when it comes to simply implementing good manners.  “I took the time and made the effort to comment.  Now you respond back with the same level of effort.” Comments are the super highway to engagement.  Be it a customer, blogger, or social networking buddy, only fools underscore and impertinently ignore the value of comments.  Even with responses, we follow an unwritten code; that being, the quality of the comment dictates the quality of the response. 

Feedback in any business is the ultimate quintessence of showing how we listen to those we serve.  It distinguishes us.  Be it the receipt of constructive criticism or suggestions, comments are much like a Geiger counter that detects, measures and many times, guides or realigns our direction and performance.  As of today, my take is they are simply a “nicety”; a fictional politeness.  If not responded to, they are bogus.  Anyone involved in sales and marketing will tell you point-blank; the art of providing great service is all in the listening. 

Last Sunday, my friend and fellow blogger, Elijah and I arrived around 3 p.m. - ahead of the dinner crowd.  We were seated outside, where I noted only two other tables being occupied.   It took “Dancing Eyes”, that’s what he called her, along with a spinning dove-tailed “sweetie”.  Dancing Eyes, not being Native American Indian, was bleached blonde, blue eyed, possessing a fetchingly impetuous smile, carrying far more importantly the accentuating perky nipples.  It took her exactly twenty-two minutes (I timed it) to acknowledge our existence and grace our table with her bursting enthusiasm.  As a sidebar notation, I had noticed her dawdling in deep conversation with another server as we entered.  

Nicely, mind you, I immediately requested the table be wiped down, since it was very sticky.  I handed her my set of dirty cutlery, since it had someone else’s food was still stuck to it, along with two cracked water glasses.  She allowed us to give her our drink order, disappeared and returning with a wet towel.  The moment I touched it, I realized it had been dunked in ice water and was sopping wet, (not hot so as to help with the stickness) and was sopping wet (having not been rung out), meaning the table would require time to dry, leaving us only our laps to rest our hands.  Reading my reaction to the wet towel (clever girl), immediately justified herself by saying, “It has sanitation solution on it.”  

Elijah was beginning to make his discomfort for my interaction with Dancing Eyes, known to me.  “Lighten up, Penelope, she’s so sweet.  At least she’s trying.”   Normally, I make a point of being extremely compassionate with servers.  Somehow this one really irked me. We completed our meal.  The check arrived along with a rather large green comment card.  I slid the comment card over to him.  Number 1, being the lowest score and 10 the highest.  He, undeservingly scored her with 8’s and 9’s.  Well above average.  Can you imagine?  Dancing Eyes received an eighteen and-a-half percent tip for the lousy service she provided.  Once she was paid, we never heard back from her even though we lingered on for another 45 minutes, since there was no one else sitting outside.

This reminded me of the old adage:  “Pretty is as pretty does.”  Dancing Eyes, may have had a pretty face, but pretty is as pretty does.  The way she behaved wasn’t pretty at all. 

I think what I resented most about Dancing Eyes was her deliberate use of her “femme fatale” to gain something she didn’t rightfully deserve.  The only thing missing on her T-shirt, were the words, “Hey, I’m stupid, but not as dumb as you.” I consider it a cheap form of female manipulation.  On second thought, wasn’t she being... clever?  Maybe, I should be applauding her instead. 

Here is what I walked away thinking:

• Comment Cards are not a true indicator of good service performance.   They can be manipulated depending upon interpretation, mood and gender.

• Do attractive, good-looking servers get better tips and scores?  I think so! (Kind of a stupid question, but I had to ask it anyway.)

• The whole comment card issue is riddled with ambiguities.

• Management should make sure customer feedback policies are in place, ensuring the entire staff understands their importance and makes sure the information flows timely, to the top echelons and decision makers.

• Management needs to identify the person responsible for reading and addressing the necessary action to be taken on cards.

Electronic scoring gadgetry is being introduced and will begin appearing in restaurants for customer feedback.  Could you help us out by completing moi's very own comment card?    

Our Electronic Feedback Request:

1)    If presented with an electronic gadget after completing your meal, would you use it?         

2)    Do you prefer the electronic gadgetry to a card?                          

3)    Do you expect a response back from the management?                         

4)    How many questions would you be prepared to answer?

5)    Are you prepared to release your a) Name, b) Email c) Cell Number d) Everything?

6)    Have you ever received a response from a comment card?

7)    Do you feel your opinion counts?

We sincerely thank you for your help,

Penelope & Gabriella

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Most of us know what we like and what we don’t.  I know what I like to read and most ardently, what I don’t.   There are blogs that I read faithfully and without fail, mostly because they nourish me intellectually.  They feed my eyes and fill me up.  Thoughts and ideas bounce off each word.  That’s when I know I’m into a really good read. Words that have lovingly been kneaded, like a soft, warm dough.  When it feels just right, when it’s warm from all our rolling and punching (ever so tenderly of course), only then do we let it rise - and publish.  Their words, “Spoil Me”,  They make me feel good and I hunger to read more. 

Karen Resta "Postcards from the dinner table" wrote, “Fact is, we live in a Viagra-soaked society where dulled appetites are prodded at by daily food porn and prescribed pharmaceuticals.  There’s a hunger for even a sense of hunger, and a sense of pride when it is found.  “You made me hungry,” they cry with joy.  “Have another cream puff, baby.”

Karen’s background as an Executive Chef in a high profile NYC private fine dining environment, followed by a move into the field of management as VP of Operations of all food services at Goldman Sachs, has built a sturdy platform of knowledge and personal experience which she now brings to writing about food, art, and culture.  Published clips include online food websites and a national newspaper. 

One has to be a really good writer to write this way.  This is no rookie.  Karen’s a heavyweight.  What we all secretly pine for is to be spoiled with a reward (our cream puff)!  When we venture to spend our coin, we want to enjoy it.  We want to relish and bask in the spectacular delight of it all, and possibly get more than we bargained for.   Can’t get more personal or emotional than that.  Well maybe a little! 

Let’s flip it: Have you spoiled anyone lately?  With possibly an unexpected smile, a squeeze, a hug to those we live and work with, or better still, with guests who are total strangers?  Does it count as a “bonified spoil” by simply giving of our “time”?  That one is really cheeky.  True, the genre of our blog is customer satisfaction and I’m not swaying from my focus, just taking a more scenic route around the bend, making it more of a philosophical symposium. Karen, has me pondering about our dulled appetites and a "hunger for even a sense of hunger".   When you think about it, it’s true.   That’s exactly what drives us;  a “hunger”.  But we all know we’re not really talking about food.  Or are we?   Then, she nail’s it with, “...and a sense of pride when it is found.”  Ah, Pride.  Another reward!

When you spoil someone, they often remark, “I love it when you spoil me.” Maybe we should all consider doing it more often, since it feels soooooooo good.  Is it time to yank ourselves up by the bootstraps and examine our hunger, by examining what we hunger for?  Is it to please someone else’s hunger?  Do we do it so we can feel appreciated?  For acknowledgement, pride, satisfaction, or is it just about the money, or it looks good?  Do we want something in return for it?  

Why am I asking you to do this?  Because this little “mind exercise” may result in personal enlightenment that unselfishly, may also result in providing betterment in our daily lives and work!   It may sound kind of weird, but re-examining our “hunger” and whom we spoil, can be a wonderful journey.  

Who have you spoiled lately and how?  Write me, I’ve put a fresh briki of Greek coffee on, and I’m waiting for my cream puff comments.

Come on! Don’t dawdle, I’m hungry!

(c) 2010 ptsaldari.posterous.com : PTsaldari Group Inc. | The Art of Serving Well | Serve Me Well Inc. All rights reserved. This article originally appeared on ptsaldari.posterous.com blog authored by PTsaldari.  This article may be shared and reprinted as long as this entire copyright message accompanies it. Email: ptsaldari@gmail.com

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