Restaurant Consulting NYC | Happy Holidays! | 4Q Consulting, LLC

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for  a New Year filled with  Health, Peace and Spectacular Success

follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | follow our Blog Noelle E. Ifshin President Copyright © 2013-2014 4Q Consulting, LLC, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 4Q Consulting, LLC 244 5th Avenue, Suite 1430 New York, NY 10001 Add us to your address book

Restaurant Consulting NYC | Consistency is King | 4Q Consulting, LLC

Consistency is King 

Customers should not have to spin the roulette wheel each time they visit your restaurant; they should experience the same quality of food and service every time.  It should not matter which chef or server is working on any given day, the customer experience should never be a surprise.  It is one of the reasons McDonald’s is the number one restaurant in the world – you know what you’re going to get whether in New York, Los Angeles or Chicago.

Consistency is the key to establishing regular clientele, and regular clients are the most important customers to have.    Maintaining regular clientele is a critical factor in establishing a solid reputation that will attract newcomers.  

Assuming you have hired the right employees and trained them properly, here are 4 points to focus on to ensure consistency:

Consistent Messaging - Your food isn't the only thing you provide your guests; you also give them an experience.  A lack of consistent messaging can turn customers off and stop them from coming back. Your brand’s message has to extend to every single aspect of your restaurant, from the persona of your servers, uniforms, type of music playing in the dining room to the logo on your napkins.  Also, all of your advertising, marketing and social media campaigns must be aligned to accurately depict what your restaurant is.  Customers trust you to deliver on your promise and they want to know what to expect.

Consistent Food – Beyond reducing waste, as referenced in Measure by Measure, consistency produces the same appetizer, entrée and cocktail every time.  For this reason, written recipes and standardized kitchen and bar procedures are essential.   You want your signature Salmon entrée to taste the same on Monday night as it does on Friday night.  Additionally, establishing correct production levels ensures menu items are available when your guests want them.

Consistent Service - Whether you are fine dining, casual table service, or a neighborhood dive bar, guests have certain expectations as to the service they want to receive. How guests are greeted at the door and at the table, when and how their orders are taken, how they are served and treated, are all essential “Steps of Service”.  By having these service steps codified, and adhered to, in conjunction with your brand image, ensures a uniform delivery of your product. Great service is achieved by knowing the basic steps of service that guests expect and being able to repeat them time and time again.

Consistent Vigilance – You and your manager’s daily vigilance to the standards you set are crucial in order to ward off possible problems. This can be done by getting ahead of any potential issues through proper planning, training, and constant communication. All employees must know their roles, how to execute them and what to do should they run into problems.  As discussed in our previous Blog, Are Your Pre-Service Meetings a Waste of Time?, pre service meetings are the appropriate time to reinforce your expectations and standards with your staff. 

As an owner, you should know what’s really going on in your restaurant from the guests’ point of view.  Consider using trained mystery shoppers from firms specializing in this service, or recruit your own shopper from your pool of friends, acquaintances and even regular customers. 

Monitor and engage in on line review and social media sites, such as Yelp, Trip Advisor and Facebook to see what your guests are saying about you.  These observations can serve as a way to identify where improvements need to be made and can be used to retrain, tweak and change as needed.

Great dining experiences can be easily cancelled out by one bad experience and one bad experience will cause a customer serious hesitation when deciding whether or not to return to an establishment. You have thoughtfully created a product and image for your restaurant.  It is imperative that you preserve that identity.   Consistently providing the same quality product can determine the success or failure of your restaurant. This does not mean that your product must be high end or gourmet; it just has to be the same product day in and day out.

Don’t know where to begin?  4Q Consulting can develop customized business and operational guidelines to help you start and run your business.  Email us today for a free business consultation at www.4qconsult.com.

All original content copyright Noelle E. Ifshin, 2013-2014. 

Restaurant Consulting, NYC | Harassment – It’s Not Just For Supervisors Anymore! | 4Q Consulting, LLC

Harassment – It’s Not Just For Supervisors Anymore!

From time immemorial, the restaurateur has held to the adage that the customer is always right. But what if the customer is wrong by grossly misbehaving toward your employees?  Employees always have to be polite and helpful to customers, but they don’t have to tolerate unwelcome flirtation, verbal abuse or physical injury.  Most business owners are familiar with the idea of eliminating harassment between supervisors and subordinates in the workplace; however, it is important to protect your employees from harassment in all its forms, which can come from anyone with whom they interact while performing their work duties. In a restaurant setting, once you throw alcohol into the mix with harassing customers, difficult situations can escalate quickly.

Deciding when a particular customer’s behavior crosses the line and makes for a hostile work environment may be a judgment call; however: "Once an employer is put on notice that any of its employees are being subjected to sexual harassment, it must take prompt corrective action to stop it," according to Lynette A. Barnes, regional attorney of the EEOC's Charlotte District Office, whose jurisdiction includes the state of Virginia.  "This is true regardless of whether the harasser is a co-worker, there [sic] supervisor or a third party.”1   Ms. Barnes made this comment summarizing the 2012 ruling of EEOC v. Southwest Virginia Community Health System, under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which awarded $30,000 to a receptionist who complained of sexual harassment by a patient.

Other EEOC lawsuits have been decided that all forms of harassment (sex, race, religion, sexual orientation, etc.) in the workplace can be committed not just by supervisors and coworkers, but by third parties such as customers, vendors, delivery people, or repair workers, and the employer can be held liable. Harassment can even happen outside the workplace while work duties are being performed – think about your delivery people.

These lawsuits can be costly to defend and the awarded damages can be a huge financial burden, enough to put you out of business.

Here are 4 ways to keep your employees safe from the threat of third party harassment and protect you from lawsuits:

Formal Written Policy – As discussed in 4 Reasons Why Your Restaurant Needs an Employee Handbook, “having a well written manual in place can protect your business from potential labor disputes and costly legal fees, which can destroy your business.”  Your manual must have a section that addresses harassment, both within the organization and from third parties, and how to deal with it.  It must include clear guidelines outlining: how an employee can escalate a situation to a manager, supervisor and/or the owner; what steps will be take once a complaint is made; and a non-retaliation clause.

Train Employees on How to Handle Situation – Once you have a written policy, this policy must be included in your employee training for all positions.  Train your staff on how to stay safe from aggressive or harassing customers. Often situations get out of control quickly and your staff must be able to remain calm throughout.  Have safety systems and protocols in place should these situations escalate. Additionally, your managers and supervisors need a higher level of training than your front-line staff to be able to deal with these types of complaints. Managers should be sensitive to situations that they can diffuse before they become reportable problems, or aware of situations that employees do not report.

Safety Systems and Protocols Protecting Employees – Have safety systems and protocols in place should these situations escalate. Regardless of how management learns about the harassment, you should immediately re-assign an upset employee, so as not to have to deal with or talk to a particular offending individual.  Then the manager must address this with the offending person. This can be a difficult conversation, but no customer, vendor or repair person is more important than the legal rights of your employees. 

Consider these additional steps: having an employee buddy system for closing, so no one person closes alone late at night; putting notification of unacceptable employee behavior on your website, on POS computer ‘pop up’ messages; and including a term in all contracts with third party vendors and service suppliers notifying them of your policy on harassment and requiring them to adhere to it.

Remove or Ban the Individual from your Establishment - If the behavior doesn't stop, the owner or manager needs to take such action as removing and possibly banning a customer, vendor or repair person from the restaurant. Many Restaurant owners do not want to take such a drastic step and lose a customer, but the cost of losing a customer is much less than the cost of an EEOC lawsuit.

Like many other issues we have addressed in our blogs, the keys to protecting your employees are: training, communication and vigilance.  It is important that your employees can feel safe in reporting a situation to management and know that you and your team “have their back”. Keeping a comfortable work environment allows your employees to do their best, provide the best service and keep your customers happy. 

The people whom you hire can be your biggest asset. It is easy to forget that Employees are Your First Customers, if you do not take care of their well-being, they will not be beneficial to your business.

Don’t know where to begin?  4Q Consulting can develop customized business and operational guidelines to help you start and run your business.  Email us today for a free business consultation at www.4qconsult.com.

Footnotes:
1.   http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/9-6-12b.cfm


All original content copyright Noelle E. Ifshin, 2013-2014. 

Restaurant Consulting NYC | Between the Lines - Operational Challenges That Can Make or Break Your Restaurant | 4Q Consulting, LLC

Between the Lines - Operational Challenges 

That Can Make or Break Your Restaurant

Today’s restaurants face many challenges: intense competition; rising cost of goods and real estate; and the slow U.S. economy - just to name a few. Restaurants average profit rates of 3-5% of sales* - thin margins by any measure. However, poor management can make those margins evaporate faster than a sauté pan of boiling water. It is no wonder that 60% of all restaurants fail within the first three years **

As a restaurant owner, you oversee all areas of your business.  These can be separated into three basics: Finance, Sales and Marketing, and Operations. Yet with only so many hours in a day, many owners neglect the breadth of their responsibilities, and only watch their revenue.  Sales and marketing is important in getting customers into your restaurant, and we covered this at length in Attracting Customers.  However, it is what happens within your operation, between top-line sales and bottom-line profits, which makes or breaks your business.

Here are the 4 biggest challenges that can make or break your restaurant:

Poor Financial Controls – Owners often watch their sales daily, while not watching their costs and expenses as diligently.  Common sense points out that if your profit margin is zero it will always be zero, regardless of sales level, unless you change something. Restaurants should measure costs in relation to sales on a weekly basis, as discussed in both Why a Weekly Food and Beverage Inventory is Crucial to your Small Business and Does your Restaurant Compile a Weekly P&L Statement.  Reviewing weekly statements allows you to spot problems and make operational adjustments much sooner than waiting until the full P&L at month’s end: improper product ordering and handling, waste, cash management and employee theft can be significant drains on your business, every day.  

As revealed in How Much of your Profits are Being Eaten by Employee Theft, many employees steal because they can get away with it, and few restaurants have the right controls in place to prevent it. Further, Measure by Measure and 4 Simple Ways Your Restaurant Employees Can Help You Be More Profitable showed how not controlling spoilage, waste and improper portioning can decimate your small margins. 

Poor Staff Training – As we stated in our Blog:  A Well Trained Staff is Your Secret Weapon, “People run your business and your business is only as good as your people. An effective training program is an owner’s key tool to ensure consistency in product and customer service, which is a basic tenet of running a restaurant.”  This is true for all staff, at all levels.  

With a properly trained staff you have less waste in your restaurant.  A short list of why this is includes: Training mangers on proper inventory and ordering avoids excess product; stewards on proper product storage and handling avoids spoilage; cooks and bartenders on proper recipe execution and production levels maintains portion controls; and servers on proper use of the POS system minimizes incorrect orders, misfires and voids.

Poor Quality Control – Quality Control is all about consistency. In our experience, consistency is best achieved by adhering to standard operating procedures that are codified in writing. As outlined in 4 Reasons Why Your Restaurant Needs an Employee Handbook, recipe books, job-specific handbooks, and training manuals standardize tasks and clearly communicate to employees your expectations and the standard to which they will be held. These procedures should cover, in detail, every process in your establishment, from purchasing guidelines to how to deal with an unhappy customer. As boring and unsexy as it sounds, excellence comes from consistency, which can only come from diligence and attention to detail. If customers know what to expect every time they walk in your door, they will keep coming back.

Poor Leadership – Whether it is you, as the owner, or an outside hire running your restaurant, there is a big difference between being a manager and being a leader. As discussed at length in Follow the Leader, “In order to lead rather than just manage, which is vital in today’s diverse, fast-paced world, one must be able to be more than a day-to-day task master. While a manager deals with the technical dimension in an organization or the job content, a leader marshals resources, human and otherwise, for the best possible results.”  Leaders communicate vision, build relationships and trust, train, coach and mentor, and encourage change and risk-taking.

Often, managers who come up through the ranks are not properly trained as managers and make common mistakes.  In the Top 4 Mistakes Managers Make in Managing People, we discuss how “Managers are the front line representation of your business and must effectively work with a diverse group of people. They must live and breathe your company core values and practices.”

Restaurant success depends on many things, but it can all boil down to one question: Where does the money go? Having a handle on your operations is a key to answering this question. Have processes and procedures to reduce economic drains, train your staff to follow them, hold them accountable and have trustworthy leaders in your organization. Additionally, you must be vigilant that your standards are upheld, and make changes as needed. It doesn’t hurt to get an outside, objective opinion from time to time as a gut check whether it is a consultant or mystery shopper

Don’t know where to begin?  4Q Consulting can develop customized business and operational guidelines to help you start and run your business.  Email us today for a free business consultation at www.4qconsult.com.

All original content copyright Noelle E. Ifshin, 2013-2014. 
   
Footnotes:
* 2005 Cornell Hotel and Administration Quarterly, http://cqx.sagepub.com/content/by/year
** NRA’s Restaurant Industry Operations Report 2013

Restaurant Consulting NYC | The Family Owned Restaurant | 4Q Consulting, LLC

The Family Owned Restaurant

Family businesses are the bedrock of the U.S. economy.  “Family owned businesses contribute 57% of the U.S. GDP, employ 63% of the U.S. workforce (FEUSA, 2011), and are responsible for 78% of all new U.S. job creation. (Astrachan & Shanker, 2003).” * Business schools have entire courses dedicated to examining the dynamics of family businesses.   According to Rocki-Lee DeWitt, Professor of Management at the University of Vermont’s School of Business Administration:

                   “When family and business are ingredients in a restaurant 
                    business, be ready for some tasty treats and momentous
                    flops. The family must ask themselves ‘What would this 
                    business look like, and how would it run, if my family wasn't 
                    involved in the business?’'"

Psychologically, families tend to be driven by a deep concern for both the well-being of individual family members and the family legacy.  When a family works together, normal family goals may come into conflict with the economic goals of the business.  

With proper planning, many of these challenges and conflicts can be avoided.  Here are four “must-haves” if you are considering owning or currently running a family-owned restaurant:

Have a Written Partnership Agreement – Many families assume they do not need to formalize their partnerships with family members.  By the time they realize they need an agreement, due to a dispute, it is often too late.  You must have a written agreement that should include: the division on ownership; an outline of the amount of, and stipulations for, taking salaries; and how to handle any profits or losses.  Additionally, and possibly most importantly, family partnerships must have defined job roles – who is going to do what?  Just as a corporation would have specific written job descriptions and job roles for executives, so should a family-run restaurant.  Do not assume how the responsibilities and work load will be divided up. If you are formally registering your company as an LLC, a Corporation or a Partnership, some of these factors will impact how you structure your business.

Have Written Standardized Procedures and Strict Internal Controls – The challenge of any family owned business is how not to run it as the family unit.  Standard operating procedures (SOP’s) should be followed by all employees, whether or not they are family members.  Having written manuals outlining SOP’s for all procedures in the restaurant, ensures that all employees are held to the same standard. For example, the owners or family members should not be doing their personal grocery shopping intertwined with the restaurant’s food ordering.

Furthermore, if a family member has always been great with money, you still need internal cash controls in place.  Ensure that your policies and procedures are just as stringent as they would be if an outsider was doing the work, and have your cash and internal controls reviewed by your CPA.

Have a Higher Level of Professionalism – Just as family members must be held to standardized procedures, at minimum, in their duties, they must be held to a level of professionalism to keep personal matters out of the business.  Family members typically have insight into each other's personality and thought process that non-related business partners wouldn't have, making crossing the professional line into personal terrain tempting.  While lashing out at a co-worker would not be acceptable in most corporate positions, it's easier to lose your cool when there's a personal relationship involved.  I hear from many of my clients in family-owned restaurants “you say things to your relatives that you wouldn't say to anyone else, or you would land in court".  Leave your emotions at the door and remember your family members are your co-workers when you're at the office.

Have a Succession Plan – A comprehensive written succession plan is crucial for all businesses, especially family-owned restaurants, to avoid disputes and misunderstandings.  First and foremost, have a plan should one of the partners or family executives decide to leave the business: how will their role be covered and how will ownership be re-allocated?  Consider including estate planning in your partnership agreement for an older partner to protect the family and restaurant from estate taxes and probate costs.  Further, don’t assume younger generations will want to come into the business or that they will know how to run it when they do; start grooming your successor several years before you plan to retire.  Lastly, if no family member wants to run the business and you don't want to bring in an outsider, start to put together a detailed plan, sooner rather than later, to sell or merge.

Whether a restaurant is family-owned and operated, it is still a business and must be set up properly with clear, well-defined goals and objectives and be operated with the same standardized procedures as any other business.

Don’t know where to begin?  4Q Consulting can develop customized business and operational guidelines to help you start and run your business.  Email us today for a free business consultation at www.4qconsult.com.

Footnote:
* University of Vermont School of Business Administration, Family Business Facts             http://www.uvm.edu/business/vfbi/?Page=facts.html

All original content copyright Noelle E. Ifshin, 2012-2013. 

Restaurant Consulting NYC | Seasonal Restaurants - Preparing for the Off Season, Part Two - Marketing | 4Q Consulting, LLC

Seasonal Restaurants - Preparing for the Off Season

 Part Two Marketing

In our last Blog: Seasonal Restaurants - Preparing for the Off Season, Part One, we looked at what businesses can do, focusing on their operations, to survive through their off season.  Just as seasonal businesses need a long-term plan for their year-round operations, so do they for their marketing. Beyond marketing to the local client base, as we discussed, the off season is valuable time to market to in-season customers as well.

Whether you own a seasonal clam shack on the shores of New England or are the General Manager of a ski resort in Colorado, you have experienced the challenges of a seasonal business. The old adage “out of sight, out of mind” is the scourge of your year-round marketing: though you are out of sight you want to stay on their minds.

Here are four things you should be doing to keep your business on people's minds year round:

Grow Customer Database – A robust database of customer contact information is an important tool in marketing. Capture guests’ information in the height of the busy season, when you have the most foot traffic.  Getting a strong list of past customers and people who've expressed interest in your business will enable you to maintain contact and stay top-of-mind during the off season, as well as convert new leads into customers during for next season.
Further, Open Table or other cloud-based reservation systems are great tools to grow your database, while driving foot traffic to your restaurant. 

Call to Action – Use calls-to-action (CTA’s) on your website and in your social media that reward customers for interacting with you. This serves two purposes: collection of customer data and creation of content. For example, offer a free glass of wine on their next visit to customers who subscribe to an email list or blog, or a free t-shirt to customers who write a review on a linked site. Even when you are closed for the season, new reviews are a way to get your seasonal guests thinking about you and elicit feelings of nostalgia for your restaurant during the off-season. This new content can easily be leveraged in your off-season email marketing, website, and social media updates, making customers eager to return.

Stay Social – As mentioned above, out of sight is out of mind.  You want your customers and tourists thinking about your restaurant even after they have left town, or to know about you before they arrive.  Consider social media your virtual, year-round storefront. Even if your customers or potential customers aren't in your seaside town or visiting your website, you can reach them through social media. Posting consistently to all of your social media feeds such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, is a great way to offer special discounts, gather and publish reviews and testimonials, share new content, run contests and polls, and generate hype for the next season.

Generate Hype – Generating excitement for your business throughout the year is a great way to stay top-of-mind for your guests.  If you are a seaside restaurant, why not engage in the dead of winter when it is 5°F outside?  Content showing a beautiful beach and ocean, with an offer for holiday gift certificates, is a great way to have your customers daydreaming about the excellent times they had in your restaurant.  If your content plays upon the nostalgia of good times and the excitement of things to come, you'll have an audience engaged in planning for when they can enjoy your restaurant again.

Maintaining a seasonal business has unique challenges beyond those faced by other restaurants and food service operations. By properly planning a year-round marketing calendar, you will be well positioned for the next busy season, with customers anticipating their return to their favorite restaurant.

Don’t know where to begin?  4Q Consulting can develop customized operational and marketing guidelines to help you grow your business.  Email us today for a free business consultation at www.4qconsult.com.

All original content copyright Noelle E. Ifshin, 2012-2013. 

Noelle E. Ifshin, President, 4Q Consulting, LLC        
244 5th Avenue, Suite 1430, NY, NY 10001 
noelle@4qconsult.com

Restaurant Consulting NYC | Seasonal Restaurants - Preparing for the Off Season | 4Q Consulting, LLC

Seasonal Restaurants - Preparing for the Off Season 

Part One - Operations

Whether you own a seasonal clam shack on the shores of New England or are the General Manager of a ski resort in Colorado, you have experienced the challenges of a seasonal business.  Many seasonal businesses only have a three to four month “busy” season, when there is more than enough business to be profitable; it is what happens in the “off” season that often determines whether or not these businesses make it until their next busy season.

It is crucial to have a plan in place to handle off-season challenges, ensuring that customers have their favorite local restaurant to come back to.  It may not be possible to be profitable in the slower months, but with the correct operating procedures, you can survive the off-season’s inevitable downturn in revenue.  

Here are four operating procedures to focus on:

Manage Your Cash Flow - The single most important step for survival of your seasonal business is rigorously managing your cash.  This takes discipline.  Calculate what your cash flow needs will be based on both your fixed and estimated variable expenses.  Know what your break even point is, as sometimes a viable cash management strategy is to close the business for the slowest portion of the off season. During the busy season, set aside a certain percentage of revenue to create a reserve that will help carry you through the off-season, so as not to go deeply into debt, if at all. Get to know your banker, and establish a line of credit to tap into, as it is important to stay current with your bills.

Adjust Your Offerings – Changing your menu can impact both food and labor costs. Consider replacing some menu items with less expensive, seasonal and local ingredients. Cooking with what is locally in season is always less costly than using out-of-season imported items.  Also, reducing the overall number of items on your menu and increasing product cross-utilization allows you to carry a smaller inventory (see Manage Your Cash Flow, above), thus reducing the amount of possible waste.  Furthermore, less labor-intensive preparations allows you to work with less staff.  An example that combines these concepts:  In the winter months, a menu built around stews, casseroles and braises allows you to use less expensive cuts of meat, seasonal root vegetables and less labor.  

Hire, Train and Schedule Wisely – Having a core staff from the local population can be crucial to your success; you will easily be able to supplement your staff for the busy season, and will not find yourself short-staffed when your seasonal hires leave. It is important to cross train your staff, as it will allow you to schedule fewer people during slow times, cutting down your labor costs – a server who can mix drinks saves also scheduling a bartender for a slow lunch shift.  In these ways, you will always have well-trained people available who can handle a wide array of jobs in a thinly staffed environment. However, staff and schedule judiciously, as under-staffing can lead to burn out, more waste due to error from stress and distraction, and a negative guest experience.

Attract the Locals – In seasonal communities, the local population becomes the core of your customer base in the off-season.  Cater to them and actively attract them to your restaurant. A good way to increase off-season sales is to offer locals discounts: deeply-discounted wedding receptions, special weekday prix fixe menus and/ or corporate meetings and events. An appropriately engineered menu will allow you to do this without severely eroding your profit margin. It is important to curry favor with the locals, because their great experiences at your restaurant will turn them into your best marketing tool, as we wrote in our blog Attracting Customers.   They are likely to recommend you to other locals in the off-season, as well as the in-season visitors who may not know about you.

Maintaining a seasonal business has unique challenges beyond those faced by other restaurants and food service operations. By properly planning ahead to ride out the slower season which you know is coming, you will be able to make it through to the next busy season in good financial shape.

Don’t know where to begin?  4Q Consulting can develop customized operational guidelines to help you grow your business.  Email us today for a free business consultation at www.4qconsult.com.

All original content copyright Noelle E. Ifshin, 2012-2013. 
Noelle E. Ifshin, 
President
4Q Consulting, LLC        
244 5th Avenue, Suite 1430, NY, NY 10001   

Restaurant Consulting NYC | Attracting Customers | 4Q Consulting, LLC

Attracting Customers

We have often been asked, “What is the best way to attract customers to my restaurant”? That is a difficult question to answer, because there is no single best way. Spending money on advertising, mailing flyers and promoting dining specials can be a good start and may get people in your door – once, especially if you’re the new place in town. However, the real trick is getting customers to come back – that is the key to a successful restaurant.

In our opinion, it is the customer experience at your establishment that drives repeat business, which will attract new business, as you will read below. Even if your publicity and marketing program is nothing more than an easel on the sidewalk in front if your sandwich shop, there are broader concepts that you can apply to bring people to your door again and again.

Here are 4 basic things all restaurants should be doing to attract customers:

Be The Best, Consistently – Seems easy enough: Strive to offer the best food and the best service. However, you should also be the best boss to your staff; hire only the best employees (with the right attitude) and enable them to be awesome through excellent training, to give the best customer service; have the highest possible sanitation standards; buy only the freshest ingredients; get involved and give back to your community.  Be mindful of being consistent in all these things so that customers have the same good experience time and time again. This will pay off, as you will read below.

Manage Your Reputation – These days reputation management needs to take place both on-line and off.  On-line reputation management is a frequent topic of debate, with review sites like Yelp and Tripadvisor providing near-real time feedback from unhappy customers. Complaining about or simply ignoring poor on-line reviews will not make them go away, they are a reality of doing business today; they require timely, professional responses that address problems, quell issues and regain customers. Using customer reviews as a training tool can actually help to improve your operating procedures; see our Blog on how to use: Customer Feedback in your Pre-Service Meetings. However, restaurant owners must also manage their reputation off-line, meaning in person at their restaurant. Additionally, training your managers and front-line staff to resolve customer issues effectively will go a long way in guarding your good reputation. See our blog: Bad Experiences Can Make Loyal Customers.

Social Media – Traditional advertising is static and communicates in one direction. Social media is dynamic and can be to be a powerful sales tool. It allows you to engage customers directly like never before, encouraging a dialogue with you, as well as between customers and their friends, to discuss your restaurant. The key to enhancing your restaurant sales through sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest is to use them actively - daily postings of food photos, promotions, upcoming events, specials, video instruction of how to make your recipes -  all work to drive engagement, which in-turn drives traffic to your restaurant. The most important thing that a good social media program gives you is feedback from your customers, which we noted above can help improve your operations.

Everyone is a Sales Person – Traditional marketing tells us it is easier and cheaper to have repeat customers than to attract new customers. However, that adage doesn't remind us that happy customers are the easiest and cheapest way to get new customers.  You may remember the commercial: “I told two friends, and they told two friends, and so on, and so on.” If every customer you serve has an excellent experience, from the food, to the service, to the cleanliness, to how a problem is handled, they might sing your praises to others, both on-line and off. You start to create “Raving Fans”, who will tell two friends off-line; on a social media website, that could be 2000 “friends” – they have become your salespeople.

Similarly, as we discussed in our Blog: Employees are Your First Customers, happy employees, who believe in your brand, are proud of where they work, and will give the effort needed to achieve the level of service you require.  Also, away from work, they will speak positively of your restaurant and become brand ambassadors out in the world.

A satisfied customer is the most valuable form of advertising and marketing. You can’t buy it, you can only earn it through good customer experiences, fortified by staying top of their mind. By focusing on what happens during customers’ interactions with your restaurant, in all forms, you will have a much more successful and sustainable business – And people will come to your door.

Don’t know where to begin?  4Q Consulting can develop customized Sales and Marketing plans, and operational guidelines to help you grow your business. Email us today for a free business consultation at www.4qconsult.com.

All original content copyright Noelle E. Ifshin, 2012-2013. 
   

Restaurant Consulting, LLC | Location, Location, Location... | 4Q Consulting, LLC

Location, Location, Location...

Everyone has heard the expression: “Location, Location, Location”. A restaurant's site selection is as crucial to its success as great food and service. However, many restaurants that open in “great locations”, fail because they don’t adjust their business model to the particularities of that location.  

Choosing a location involves more than picking a place and signing a lease. Your location selection will influence many parts of your business plans and operations. 

It is highly recommended to work with a licensed real estate broker who knows your local market. They will best be able to guide you to appropriate properties, and to negotiate the best possible deal on your behalf; be patient as this process takes time.  If you already have a certain location in mind, you shouldn't become too attached until you know it meets your needs.

Before you create a business plan, write a menu, or dash off to the bank to apply for a loan, here are 4 essential elements of a location to consider:

Population Base/ Demographics – There need to be enough people who live or work in, or pass through, the area on a regular basis to keep your restaurant busy.  The population base and the different types of traffic will dictate some of your operating procedures.  For example, if you are in a thriving downtown commercial area, you might only open for breakfast and lunch but close for dinner, as there is not enough foot traffic to stay open. Your location, and its demographics, may influence your menu design, as well.

To analyze the population base of a particular area fully, you can commission a site study. A reputable local real estate broker or the local chamber of commerce can also provide some of this basic information. 

Financial Realities – Rent is usually your largest fixed expense, and you will probably have significant capital investment to prepare the space to be operational, therefore your business plan must account for covering and recuperating these expenses.  In building your business plan, you will have to budget several scenarios to determine how many guests you will have to serve, at a specific check average to be profitable at a given rent; you will also need to determine if the plan is sustainable over time, to meet your financial obligations.

Accessibility – There is a reason that major restaurant chains are often located near main intersections or highway and freeway exits. Most successful restaurants, whether in urban or suburban areas, are easy to find.  Your restaurant should be street-facing and not tucked away in a building or set back. 

How your customers get to you is also a consideration. A parking lot, easy public or street parking, and nearby public transit all improve accessibility; alternately you might offer valet service. The bottom line is that your customers need to be able to find you, and should be able to get to you - make it easy for them!

Operational Needs – A space that does not immediately accommodate your operational needs is not a bad space, it may in fact be a very good space; it just changes your financial calculations. A few examples of items that can affect the capital investment or the targeted cash flow of your business:  Many office buildings do not allow cooking in the attached retail spaces, as they do not want smells permeating the building; if they do allow it, you may have to build out proper ventilation.   Ensure the space is ADA compliant, and meets local public safety codes; if it is not, you will have to alter the space to adhere to regulations. The zoning of a location is vital; some municipalities may limit sidewalk or outside seating, or may not issue liquor licenses if you are located near a school or house of worship. 

Do your due diligence. By understanding each of these elements, and how they may affect your business plan, you can better choose the right location for your new restaurant.

4Q can provide restaurant site selection consulting services and works with New York’s best commercial real estate brokers to find a location that meets your every need. 

Don’t know where to begin?  Ask yourself, do you have the proper business plan in place to help you be as profitable as possible?  4Q Consulting can develop customized business plans, and operational guidelines to meet your needs.  Email us today for a free business consultation at www.4qconsult.com

All original content copyright Noelle E. Ifshin, 2012-2013. 

Noelle E. Ifshin, President, 4Q Consulting, LLC        

244 5th Avenue, Suite 1430, NY, NY 10001   

Restaurant Consulting NYC | We’re Having a Heat Wave, A Tropical Heat Wave… | 4Q Consulting, LLC

We’re Having a Heat Wave, A Tropical Heat Wave…

Just as Irving Berlin wrote, “The temperature’s rising/ It isn’t surprising”.

This week’s heat wave has been forecasted and we tend to have one or two every summer.  Restaurant owners should be prepared to take some proactive steps to keep both their guests and employees safe when the mercury rises.

Here are 4 areas to keep in mind to keep guests and employees safe in a heat wave:

Keeping People Safe – 

• Keep guests and workers cool, comfortable and hydrated – make sure everyone is drinking plenty of water
• Either provide both shade and air circulation or close outside seating during the hottest part of the day – to ensure the safety of both your guests and employees.
• Provide water and food for your staff – hydration is vital, but so is maintaining blood sugar levels.
• Monitor staff and guests for signs of distress or heat stroke.
• Lighten the uniforms of the dining room staff – think about a summer weight uniform, with light colors clothing and short sleeves.  
• Monitor patron’s alcohol consumption as over consumption in extreme heat can be accurately dangerous.

Maintaining Your Equipment –

• Service all refrigeration and AC units prior to summer so they don’t breakdown in a heat wave.
• Instruct your staff to keep the AC at a consistent level.  Turning the AC or refrigeration units down too far will overload and freeze up your cooling system, rendering them useless.
• Ensure kitchens are properly ventilated and have fans
• If your ice machine is air cooled and struggling to keep up, consider purchasing cubed ice for drinking; similarly, if your refrigerators and walk-ins are struggling, consider purchasing dry ice.

Monitoring Food Safety –

• Monitor refrigerator and product temperatures closely and take corrective action immediately. Remember all foods must be stored at or below 40°F.  If your walk-in is above 40°F, your food is not properly stored and can be a health hazard.
• To keep cold food cold – 
• Keep walk in and fridge doors closed as much as possible.
• Do not overload refrigerators – if the fan unit in the fridge is blocked, this will cause poor air flow and will inhibit the unit’s cooling ability.
• Do not block refrigerator’s external condensing unit with debris and storage items; which would inhibit the units cooling ability.
• Prepare food in small batches to reduce the amount of time food is out of refrigeration and in a very hot kitchen.
• Use proper thawing and cooling techniques: do not leave food out on counters to thaw; thaw all food under running cool water (water should be below 70°F).

Modifying Menu Offerings – 

• Offer lighter menu items for the summer – heavy sauces, stews and roasts are can be unappealing when the mercury rises.  These could include cold options such as salads, sandwiches and cold soups.
• Add more small plate and appetizer options as people not only eat lighter food, but they tend to eat smaller portions when it is very hot outside.
• Add frozen non-alcoholic drinks, chillers and fruit flavored waters to menus.

As Cole Porter said in song: “It’s too Darn Hot!”  A few proactive easy fixes can help you get through these periodic heat waves while keeping your guests and employees safe. Also, keep in mind for next year’s planning.

Don’t know where to begin?  Ask yourself, do you have the proper written procedures and operational guidelines in place to help you be as successful as possible?  4Q Consulting can develop customized operational guidelines and training programs to meet your needs. Email us today for a free business consultation at www.4qconsult.com.

All original content copyright Noelle E. Ifshin, 2012-2013.

Restaurant Consulting NYC | 4 Warning Signs That Your Operational Procedures are Impacting Your Bottom Line | 4Q Consulting, LLC

4 Warning Signs That Your Operational Procedures are
Impacting Your Bottom Line –
Mid-Year Review

As we enter the second half of 2013, now is the time to take stock of your business’ operational inefficiencies. Whether you are restauranteur, caterer or food service provider, examine which procedures are currently working and get rid of those that are not.

Here are 4 warning signs that indicate that you have a problem with some of your operating procedures that may impact your bottom line:

High Employee Turnover - This is an indication of a larger human resource issue.  Exit interviews can uncover a pattern of something amiss in your organization. For example, are your managers adhering to the guidelines of your employee handbook?  Our Blog,  4 Reasons Why Your Restaurant Needs an Employee Handbook,  takes a look at this.  High employee turnover becomes expensive due to the cost of recruiting, hiring and training new staff.  High turnover can also make it hard to maintain your desired level of product and service quality, as it pulls management away from running the business to train new staff and by always having novice front-line staff.

Theft - If you think you don’t have any, you are wrong; and if you are aware of some theft, the problem is larger than you think it is. Re-examine the obvious places where theft occurs to ensure your controls are in place and being used.  But also look at the less obvious places.  In our previous blog we discussed, how theft is a major drain on your bottom line. Our Blog entitled: How Much of your Profits are Being Eaten by Employee Theft? Four Basic Ways to Prevent Employee Theft in your Establishment, examines this more in depth.  Holding your staff accountable with strict controls, checks and guidelines can help you to maintain your bottom line profits.

Safety and Sanitation – Poor safety and sanitation can lead to waste, unnecessary health department fines, and a PR nightmare. Now is the time to review your food safety and sanitation training program.  As discussed in our blog entitled  4 Reasons why it is Vital that All Employees are Trained in Food Safety,  having dirty bathrooms, employee accidents, fruit flies at the bar, or violations from the health department can hurt your quality, effect employee morale and lead to a loss of business.

Quality –There are many components to quality.  They all lead back to proper training and execution of operating procedures by your staff.  Seeing an increase in improper order taking, plates being returned to the kitchen and general complaints about service and cleanliness are often red flags, as are negative on-line reviews. A positive customer experience is the ultimate goal. Turning poor customer experiences into positive ones can be a valuable training tool and learning experience, and can lead to customer loyalty.  Our blog Bad Experiences Can Make Loyal Customers explores this.

The issues above can erode your profit margin quickly and lead to your business’ demise. If procedures are not working now, they won’t work in the future and need to be changed. Improving upon your guidelines and procedures can ensure that 2013 is your most profitable year yet.

Don’t know where to begin?  Ask yourself, do you have the proper written procedures and operational guidelines in place so you can be as profitable as possible?  4Q Consulting can develop customized operational guidelines and training programs to meet your needs.  Call or email us today for a free business consultation!

All original content copyright Noelle E. Ifshin, 2012-2013.

Restaurant Consulting NYC | Happy July 4th! | 4Q Consulting, LLC

Happy July 4th!

Restaurant Consulting NYC | Risks and Responsibility of Owning and/or Operating a Restaurant Series: Accident Prevention | 4Q Consulting, LLC

Risks and Responsibility of Owning and/or Operating a Restaurant Series:  

Accident Prevention

When you decide to own or operate a restaurant there are inherent risks and responsibilities that you are undertaking.  It is important that you take every measure to minimize these to protect yourself and your employees from possible injury, harm, litigation and financial loss.

As a restaurant owner, it is your responsibility to keep both your guests and employees safe, while they are in your establishment.  Restaurants are full of hazards and can be dangerous places, if safety is not top of mind.  Injuries from accidents in your restaurant of either a guest or employee create a no-win situation for everyone involved.  The injured party experiences pain, suffering and incapacitation while the company suffers from the loss of the injured person's contributions, possible litigation and financial loss.

Here are four basic steps to help prevent accidents in your restaurant:

Cleanliness & Maintenance – Slips, trips and falls are the most common types of accidents in restaurants and these are most often caused by wet, greasy or unclean floors; uneven, improperly secured and/or frayed flooring or carpeting can also be the culprits.  Spills and wet floors should be cleaned up as soon as they occur, and trip hazards should be fixed as soon as they become apparent. Additionally, handrails should be properly secured, outside walkways should be well lit and all stairways should be kept clear.  Another common cause of injury is poorly maintained or broken equipment: This could be as small as chipped glasses in the dining room or as large as frayed electrical wires on the Robot Coupe. Ensure that all equipment is routinely inspected, serviced or replaced for the safety of your employees and guests. 

Safety Tools for the Job – Proper clothing on your employees can be one of the most valuable safety tools in your restaurant.  Starting from the bottom up, all employees should wear sturdy leather, anti-slip shoes specifically designed for hospitality workers.  Moving upwards, legs, arms and heads should be covered in kitchens to prevent cuts and burns; in the dining rooms, uniforms should fit properly to avoid trips on pant legs and sleeves getting caught on service items or in machinery.  Additional types of supplies for safety include, but are not limited to: “caution when wet” signs, knife guards and gloves, proper eye protection, and guards on slicers.

Safety Protocols – Written guidelines for safety procedures must be developed, communicated to all employees and adhered to.  These procedures should become part of the routine, with managers and supervisors integrating them into their daily activities: training, pre-service uniform line ups, and regular facilities inspections. Job-specific protocols should be included in position-specific written manuals, and general safety protocols should distributed to all employees in writing.  Never assume that your employees know even the most basic safety protocols, and always put them in writing.

Train, Train and Train Again – Safety training should be a major focus when on-boarding new employees, however training should not stop there. Accidents often happen when employees become complacent; incorporate safety procedures into employees’ daily job responsibilities and reinforce these protocols with refresher training.  Pre-service staff meetings are a convenient time to discuss safety issues and keep them top-of-mind. It is also helpful to have reminders of safety protocols throughout the work areas: For example, in the delivery receiving area posters reminding proper lifting technique, or signs near large kitchen equipment reminding proper use of safety guards.

The points above are employee training issues at their core.  Properly educating your staff in all manner of restaurant safety is crucial in preventing accidental injury of employees and guests and protecting your business from potential litigation.

Don’t know where to begin?  Ask yourself, do you have the proper procedures and operational guidelines in place to help you be as profitable as possible?  4Q Consulting can develop customized operational guidelines and training programs to meet your needs.  Email us today for a free business consultation at www.4qconsult.com.    

All original content copyright Noelle E. Ifshin, 2012-2013. 

Restaurant Consulting NYC | Risks and Responsibility of Owning and/or Operating a Restaurant Series: Responsibly Selling Alcohol | 4Q Consulting, LLC

Risks and Responsibility of Owning and/or Operating a Restaurant Series:  

Responsibly Selling Alcohol

When you decide to own or operate a restaurant there are inherent risks and responsibilities that you are undertaking.  It is important that you take every measure to minimize these to protect yourself and your employees from possible injury, harm, litigation and financial loss
.
One of the first decisions you make in planning a restaurant is if you want to apply for a liquor license. The sale of liquor is controlled differently in each state in the US, and often at the local level, under laws referred to as “Dram Shop” law. The process of obtaining a liquor license, and the types of licenses available, differ as well. Your local and state law may influence your decision on the type of liquor service you will have in your restaurant – beer and wine only, full bar, bottle service, or “bring your own”.  It is imperative that you know the laws regarding your legal responsibility in each of these situations.

Your bartenders, and anyone else on your staff that handles and serves alcohol, must be properly trained in how to limit your liability. In some states even, individual servers need to obtain permits to be able to serve alcohol.  

Here are four basic ways to ensure the responsible sale of alcohol:

Check Identification – The first step in serving alcohol responsibly is to eliminate underage drinking; to do so, you must verify age by checking Identification.  It is essential to train your staff on how to check, and what are acceptable forms of ID.

Do Not Over Serve – It is never a good idea to continue to serve inebriated patrons.  It is your right to refuse service to guests who are drunk, whether they arrive drunk or become so at your restaurant.  It seems simple enough to figure out when someone has had one too many, however, some people can hold their liquor very well. If your staff is not properly trained, they may not realize the patron is drunk until it is too late.

Offer Options – Cutting a customer off is never any easy task.  When having to say “no” to alcohol, offering other options such as food and non-alcoholic beverages softens the blow.  This allows the customer to still be served in your restaurant.  Be aware that food and coffee will not sober someone up; the only proven method is time, and keeping the customer in your restaurant allows time to pass. 

Ensure Safe Transit – Do not allow the guest to leave your restaurant drunk if they are driving.  Either be certain another member of their party is able to drive, or offer to call a cab or another ride home for them.  In many instances, by permitting an inebriated customer to leave your establishment, you, your bartenders and servers could be held liable should that individual cause harm in an accident.

A restaurant’s liability in serving alcohol is a very complex matter and these points are only the beginning. Two of the top nationally recognized training programs in this area in the US are TIPS® (Training for Intervention ProcedureS) and ServSafe Alcohol®. Having members of your staff properly trained in this area can prevent situations where you might have potentially significant liability. Additionally you may be able to receive credit on your insurance premiums by having members of your staff certified in these programs. 

The points above, though crucial in protecting your business from potential litigation, are customer service issues at their core. Properly training all of your staff in how to handle difficult situations so that they are not embarrassing for the customers involved has tremendous value in customer loyalty.

Don’t know where to begin?  Ask yourself, do you have the proper procedures and operational guidelines in place to help you be as profitable as possible?  4Q Consulting can develop customized operational guidelines and training programs to meet your needs.  Email us today for a free business consultation at www.4qconsult.com.


All original content copyright Noelle E. Ifshin, 2012-2013.

Restaurant Consulting NYC | A Well Trained Staff is Your Secret Weapon | 4Q Consulting, LLC

A Well Trained Staff is Your Secret Weapon

Restaurant owners are often frustrated by not achieving their goals in relation to quality, customer satisfaction and financial benchmarks, yet many times they have not given themselves the appropriate tools to do so. Tools for your restaurant such as the newest, most integrated POS system, the most expensive kitchen and bar equipment, and even the best operating systems and procedures do not mean anything without a well-trained staff. 

People run your business and your business is only as good as your people.  An effective training program is an owner’s key tool to ensure consistency in product and customer service, which is a basic tenent of running a restaurant.  

Here are four key elements of such a program:

Proper Training Materials – Codifying operating procedures so they make sense to you is easy, however organizing and presenting the materials in a way that your staff will understand them may not be. Your staff probably comprises a diverse combination of people from different socioeconomic backgrounds and cultures with varying levels of education; additionally, research shows that people learn in three very distinct ways: visually, auditorily or tactilely. A training program that takes all of these factors into consideration should include: job specific written manuals (perhaps in more than one language), demonstrations and/or illustrated step-by-step procedure instructions, and hands-on or role-playing exercises.

Validate & Reinforce Your Training – To validate the efficacy of your training you must quiz, test and confirm that the information has been learned and absorbed. It is also important for managers to reward and reinforce the “good behaviors” done on the job - those that follow operating procedures as trained, as we discussed in our blog Keeping Employees Happy at Work – Happy Employees Part 2. Through reinforcement, you will discover who needs more training, how effective your training is, and perhaps what changes need to be made to your program.

Train your Trainers – Many restaurants often make the mistake of assigning their best employees the task of training new staff without taking the time to instruct them on proper training techniques and methods. Just because an employee is good at what he or she does, does not mean that he or she can teach someone else how to do it. Your trainers must be fully inoculated with company culture including policies, procedures and daily work tasks, as well as customer service values; they must have a complete understanding of the written manual for the job they are training; and they must be taught how to impart information in the way you want, so that training is consistent.

ABT – Always Be Training! – Training should be ongoing, not limited to the initial on-boarding process, and incorporated into the daily routine of your operations. As we wrote in our blog Are Your Pre-Service Meetings a Waste of Time?, there is an opportunity every day to share new information and keep your staff’s knowledge up-to-date. Work closely with your managers on what needs to be retrained, as they should be most aware of how policies and procedures are being followed by their direct reports.

A well-run restaurant can survive without the newest technology or the latest equipment. However, it cannot succeed without people trained to execute your vision, product and service ideals.  If you do not invest the time and energy to have a full training program, hitting your business targets becomes increasingly difficult.  As an owner or operator, a well-trained staff – from your Executive Chef to your Bussers – is your primary and most valuable tool.

Don’t know where to begin?  Ask yourself, do you have operational guidelines in place so you can be as profitable as possible?  4Q Consulting can develop customized operational guidelines and training programs to meet your needs. 
Email us today for a free business consultation!

All original content copyright Noelle E. Ifshin, 2012-2013.