4Q Consulting LLC | Restaurant Consulting NYC | 4 Simple Ways Your Restaurant Employees Can Help You Be More Profitable

4 Simple Ways Your Restaurant Employees Can

Help You Be More Profitable

As a restaurant or food service provider you have a million things to tend to in an average day.  Ensuring that your staff is trained properly will help to alleviate some of this stress and help to make you more profitable in the long run.

1 - Follow recipes and portion control guidelines -
Recipes have two purposes: a) to ensure consistency, b) to control costs. Teach your staff members these two basic principles.  This is especially true for center-of-the plate food items and bar pours. Also, make sure that the correct portioning utensils are being provided and used.  For example, you cannot expect a bartender to execute a perfect measured pour without having a measure or a jigger.

2 - Do it right the first time -
When staff members make mistakes your restaurant takes a double hit financially. First, your investment in products, equipment, and supplies is lost. Second, labor dollars are wasted. Make sure all employees are capable of completing assigned tasks prior to going "solo", and when mistakes are made, coach or retrain them until you are confident they can do the job properly.

3 - Train your wait staff to be sales people –
First, make sure that your wait staff is selling the items you want sold: the most profitable menu items not the necessarily the most expensive ones. Second, make sure they are up selling as much as possible.  Are your servers selling appetizers and desserts to everyone at the table, and are they up selling alcohol with every drink?  Your staff should be knowledgeable on all products in order to be able to effectively sell them.

4- Value your staff’s knowledge –
Your staff has the most direct contact with your guests and insights on the function and flow of your restaurant that you might not have.  Let your staff know just how much you value their ideas to help your restaurant improve.  Ensure a culture of inclusion where all ideas are welcome. The key is to create an environment whereby the staff can come to you with their feedback and ideas; both positive and negative.

Properly training your staff to adhere to operational guidelines reduces waste, lost effort and cost overruns.  Continue to follow up to be sure they understand, execute and live by your guidelines. Listen to the feedback you are receiving from your staff and act when necessary. Reward you employees when they consistently meet or exceed your standards. 

Ask yourself, do you have the proper operational guidelines and training programs so your staff can help you be as profitable as possible? 4Q Consulting can develop customized operational guidelines and training programs to meet your needs.  Call us today for a free business consultation!

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

4Q Consulting | Restaurant Consulting NYC | Bad Experiences Can Make Loyal Customers

Bad Experiences Can Make Loyal Customers

Customers have complained since long before there was the Internet. However, in today’s hyper-digital world, unhappy guests often immediately go to the internet to report their bad customer service  experiences on Facebook, Twitter, Yelp and a slew of other websites.  On-line complaints are very public, and can be damaging to your business reputation to a point that is hard to overcome. 

Even in the best establishments, not every guest will be satisfied with the product and services rendered, and unhappy guests do not always complain in person, waiting instead to tell the World Wide Web. You must train your staff to be aware of when their guests are not happy, and how to address issues, voiced or not.

Here are 4 important steps by which properly trained staff can not only address and rectify a problem appropriately, but can pre-empt an on-line tirade and make a positive lasting impression.

1. Be Quiet and Listen
As simple as it sounds, the first – and most important – step to take when dealing with a complaining guest is to be quiet and listen. Train your staff to not get emotional with an upset guest.  Sometimes the person just wants to be heard, and having an employee acknowledge the issue calmly is all it takes to settle the problem.

It is an employee’s job to listen attentively. Often guests feel the need to vent their frustrations completely before even considering a solution. The employee should take the time to hear out the issue before determining what can be done.

Your employees should be empowered to resolve certain issues on their own. However, serious matters should be brought to the manager’s attention immediately.

2. Admit and Apologize
This seems easy, but employees often do not want to admit a mistake or apologize, and they are quick to pass the blame. Complaints are not personal (even if heated); your staff should simply apologize and accept the responsibility for the entire team. Admitting an error and apologizing will set the guest’s mind at ease and help to dissipate the negativity. Then the complaint can be addressed directly, in a manner that has meaning for the guest.

EXAMPLE: saying, “I am sorry you’re waiting a long time for your food, but our kitchen is really slammed tonight” is not effective.  Guests do not care, nor need to know, why they do not have their food; they want to know when they will get their food.  Much more effective is saying, “I am sorry for the delay with your entrees, let me find out what the hold-up is.  In the meantime, please let me bring you a complimentary round of drinks.” This tells the guests that you are now going to be their advocate and you are already working to rectify the situation for them.

3. Fix the Problem and Thank the Guest
Now that the problem has been identified, a solution must be enacted. This can take many forms, and is often a simple fix - depending on the complaint.

In the example above, simply returning to the table to deliver the complimentary drinks, assuring the guests that the server has checked that the food will arrive in a few minutes and thanking them for their patience, can go quite far in quelling the situation.

For a bigger issue, engaging the guest in coming up with a mutually agreeable solution is often effective. If you ask the customer to propose a "fair and reasonable" solution, acting as a partnership with you to find a resolution, chances are it will consist of less than what you would have thought to offer.
  

The goal is to go above and beyond the expectation so that the guest’s distaste is transformed into enjoyment.

Finally, it is important to thank the guest for giving you the opportunity to fix the problem.

4. Keep your Word
Above all else: Keep your word. Be sure to promptly follow through with your promises.

Again referring to our example: A server who does not return to the table to report on the status of the awaited food is only making a matter worse.

If you agreed to send guests a coupon in the mail or via email, make sure you follow through in the agreed upon amount of time. If you promised to have the guests come back for a meal on the house, make sure this happens. If you promised to cover a dry cleaning bill, send the check without delay.

After the incident is over, analyze what happened.  You will want to take steps to ensure that it does not happen again. Learning from a problem can actually help improve your business if you make sure that the problem is avoided in the future. Don’t make the same mistake twice.

Making guests happy must be an attitude that all employees understand and practice daily. In being able to quickly turn a poor situation into a positive experience, you have the chance to create a loyal customer for life.  However, this is no substitute for top-notch customer service.

In the long run, it is easier and cheaper to maintain happy returning customers than to replace unhappy one who don’t return.  Not only will good service keep your customers loyally coming back, but their on-line reports of your customer service will attract new guests for you to impress.

Ask yourself, do you have the proper training programs in place to foster this culture of guest satisfaction in your establishment?  4Q Consulting can help you develop training and programs to foster a guest focused culture. 

Call us today for a free consultation!

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

4Q Consulting | Restaurant Consulting NYC | Restaurant Consultant | How Much of your Profits are Being Eaten by Employee Theft?

How Much of your Profits are Being Eaten by Employee Theft?
Four Basic Ways to Prevent Employee Theft in your Establishment
 

 

As profitable as restaurants can be, often restaurants are losing money due to employee theft.  Loss to theft can be overwhelming; if you are a smaller business owner, this difference can make or break your profit margins.  If you are a larger establishment, think of how much more profitable you would be if you could recover 5% of your bottom-line profits!

 

There is an entire field of study dedicated to loss prevention in restaurants. It has been estimated that in the US about $52 billion a year is lost due to employee theft and that approximately 95% of all businesses experience employee theft. 

 

So, what are what you doing to protect your business and your money? Here are 4 basic procedures that can help you limit employee theft in your establishment:

Pre-Employment Background Checks – Proper screening in the recruiting process can lower your risk of being subject to theft. A background check searches for criminal records, as well as verifying information on an application or resume. Studies show that theft is a pattern of behavior that is often repeated: If a candidate steals before they are hired, they are prone to steal (from you, other employees and even customers) once they are hired. The cost of these checks is relatively low compared to the potential loss due to theft in your establishment by hiring the wrong empoyee.

Strict Controls and Procedures – As discussed in our last blog on inventory controls and accountability, many employees steal because they can get away with it. There are countless methods and controls that can be enacted to curtail this: implement and hold employees accountable to, internal security measures such as strict cash controls, and inventory checks; maintain surveillance on the premises and limit employee access to the building to their scheduled work hours, through key and code authorizations.  Above all, make employees aware of the penalty of not adhering to procedures, as well as the likelihood and consequences of getting caught stealing.  Contact us today for more information on how to design and implement strict controls and procedures to protect your bottom line profits!
 

Time Clock Controls – An often-overlooked theft is time card fraud, when employees are not clocking actual hours worked.  First, ensure that you have clear, written clocking in and out procedures in your employee handbook or manual.  Secondly, have some form of time clock - whether an old-fashion punch type or a computerized POS System.  Hand-written time cards should be avoided, as they are not reliable and pose a liability in many states. Lastly, your clocking station should be under camera surveillance. This promotes accurate clock-in/out and prevents employees clocking in/out for their friends. Think about this: a $15/ hour employee that clocks in 20 minutes early and 20 minutes late on each shift in a week is earning an extra $50 per week or $2500 per year.  If all your employees are doing this, it starts to add up!

Secret or Mystery Shopper Programs –  Although you may normally think of mystery shoppers as focusing on customer service and food quality, shoppers can design programs to look at employee theft. Shoppers can observe employee adherence to policies (e.g. whether the sales are rung up properly or whether items are being given away).  You should have your establishment secretly shopped at least once per quarter.  Let your staff know that you use secret shoppers for this purpose, as this helps promote your culture of accountability. The reports can be a valuable tool in training staff, and rewarding employees who do uphold your policies.

These are just a few ways to start to ensure that you reduce theft in your establishment.

Remember the 4 basics: 
 1. Hire the right people;
 2. Hold your staff accountable through strict controls;
 3. Watch your payroll:
 4. Get an objective opinion from time to time. 

As an owner, you want to make sure that you do not have an environment where it is easy to be stolen from. These practices will discourage your employees from stealing.

 

Let 4Q help you get these procedures and practices into place
while helping you to grow your profits!

4Q Consulting, LLC | Restaurant Consulting NYC | Why a Weekly Food & Beverage Inventory is Crucial to your Small Business

 

 

Why a Weekly Food & Beverage Inventory is Crucial
to your Small Business 

Uncover 4 Drains on your Business!

 



Most independent restaurants calculate their food cost only once a month. Yet, virtually all the major chain restaurants calculate their food cost each week. According to industry averages, chain restaurants (before corporate expenses) are two to three times as profitable as independent restaurants.  While weekly food and beverage costing isn’t the entire reason, it’s a large part of it.

A weekly inventory is an important tool in controlling costs and cash flow. Here are four potential problems that could have a strong negative financial impact and that a weekly inventory can help you to uncover:

Waste -   It happens in every restaurant: A server accidentally spills a plate of food, or a kitchen worker burns several pieces of steak. No matter how it happens, all restaurant staff should get into the habit of recording all wasted items. Often the best defense against lost inventory is simply recording any raw product that is wasted and any complimentary items that are given away. If you don’t have a POS system that can handle this, an easy alternative is to handwrite the item, the amount wasted, and the reason it happened on a clipboard sheet. This way, all inventories is accounted for when analyzing usage.

Food Handling and Spoilage – Akin to waste, poor food handling that makes product unusable is one of the biggest contributors to depleted inventory. Commercial kitchen operators would do well to implement a mantra of "label, date, rotate and consolidate" with kitchen staff. When food is properly labeled and correctly dated, workers know what to use and when. Proper First-In, First-Out (FIFO) rotation is essential for reducing food spoilage, and proper consolidation from large, unwieldy containers to small, manageable ones will keep food fresher and more visible for use.

Theft - Employee theft is an unfortunate reality in many restaurants, and can be a reason for lost inventory. Theft involves anything from stealing full bottles of alcohol to eating restaurant food outside of employee meals. Keep an eye out for behavior that may point to restaurant employee theft and make sure you have the proper controls in place to prevent it.

Proper Product Ordering – Keeping excess inventory is expensive and proper product ordering, in frequency and amount, in accordance with your usage, is crucial to your success. This helps to prevent waste, promote proper handling and deter theft.  An excess of product might signal to employees that wasting food (as in making repeated mistakes) is acceptable, or that one bottle won’t be missed.  Invariably more food ends up burned, in the garbage or given away.  With less product to work with, food and beverages are handled more responsibly and less ends up wasted or stolen.

By taking a weekly inventory, you will have a full report on the current state of your business, and will be able to address issues before they become problems: Is food being wasted because employees are working irresponsibly, or the kitchen staff is not properly trained? Are managers ordering appropriately for the level of usage or is an over-order of staple items sitting unused? Are there proper procedures to account for the top-shelf liquor that seems to evaporate, and do you need to keep two cases of it on hand?

You will be able to foster a “culture of accountability” where managers and staff are held accountable for their work, producing a more effective workforce in your establishment.

Knowing your business in “real time” will allow you and your managers to be more nimble in responding to issues and better utilize your resources.

Let 4Q Consulting, LLC help you develop proper inventory and reporting procedures, to increase your efficiency and bottom line profits!

4Q Consulting, LLC | Restaurant Consulting NYC | Late Summer Heirloom Tomato Gratin

Late Summer Heirloom Tomato Gratin – grab a hold of the end of summer with this simple easy side dish.

This is an exquisite dish and very easy to pull together. In fact, you can prepare it ahead of time and warm it just before serving. Although they can overlap slightly, the tomatoes should essentially bake in a single layer, so make sure you have a large shallow dish, or use 2 small ones. If you have access to heirloom tomatoes, use them. The visual impact is a WOW, not to mention the flavor is amazing.  In the Restaurant, these can be made individually as side dishes.

• 3 Large Ripe Tomatoes, Preferably Heirloom, Cored and Sliced 1/2" thick
• 3 Garlic Cloves, minced
• 3 TBSP EVOO, plus extra for greasing pan
• 1 Cup Coarse, Fresh Bread Crumbs
• Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 1/3 Cup Finely Grated Good Parmesan Cheese
• 1/4 Cup Roughly Clipped Basil

Place the tomato slices between 2 paper towels and let stand for 45 minutes to an hour. This will remove some of the liquid and keep the gratin from being soggy. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F with a rack in the center position.  Brush a large, shallow gratin dish or earthenware casserole with a little olive oil.  Arrange the tomato slices only just slightly overlapping in the dish. Season lightly with salt and pepper and scatter half the basil over the top.  Heat the olive oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and sauté only until the aroma is released, about 45 seconds. Remove from the heat and stir in the bread crumbs and a pinch more salt and pepper. Scatter the bread crumb mixture over the tomatoes and top with the Parmesan cheese.  Bake for about 15 minutes, until the crumbs are golden. If desired, let stand for up to 1 hour, and reheat in a low oven for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Just before serving, garnish with the remaining 2 tablespoons of basil.

Enjoy!

 Let us show you how the 4Q Consulting Approach can work for you!

4Q Consulting, LLC leverages in-depth expertise in all aspects of restaurant consulting and hospitality operations; we create client-specific solutions that drive measurable business improvement.

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

4Q Consulting | Restaurant Consulting NYC | What to Skip When Writing Your Restaurant Menu

Things to steer clear of on Restaurant Menus

 

Just Say No to clip art on your restaurant menu

As we head into fall and restaurants starting rolling out their new menus, it is a great time to analyze what your menu says about your business.
 
Menus are the heart of any restaurant; they are your customers’ introduction to their experience at your establishment, and showcase everything you have to offer for food and drink. While menus can be as diverse and varied as the restaurants they represent, a menu should be:

• Easy to Read;
• Easy to Understand;
• Make your dishes sound appealing.

There are also certain things you should avoid when designing your restaurant menu. Read on for things to skip before you go to the printer.

Here are 5 things to steer clear of when writing your menus:  

Hard to Read Fonts – Fonts are fun to play around with, but when it comes to writing your restaurant menu, simple is best. Make sure your font ties into the restaurant’s overall marketing and branding. Stay away from cursive, all bold or all capitalized text. Make sure you choose a font and font size that can be easily read during dinner hours – when the lighting tends to be darker.

Too Much Technical Jargon – Just because you keep a copy of Food Lover’s Companion on your desk, don’t assume your patrons do. Before you start throwing around a lot of culinary terms the masses may not understand, consider your audience. Even if your restaurant is an upscale, fine dining establishment, your menu descriptions should still be understandable. A few well-placed terms like sauté or mole (pronounced MOL-lay), will add just enough flavor to your menu, without frustrating customers. Of course, always make sure you staff is trained to answer any and all questions about the menu.

Itemized Menus – Avoid saying exactly how many pieces of food come in a dish. For example, don’t say “six jumbo shrimp” when describing shrimp cocktail. Simply saying “jumbo shrimp” will suffice. This way you can adjust portion control to keep your food costs in line. If you have to cut back to five shrimp instead of the advertised six, customers will notice and will feel cheated when they only get five.

Menu Disclaimers – Most menus will have a disclaimer or two in fine print on the bottom; some are required by law. Common disclaimers include: “gratuity will be added to parties of six or more” , “there is a health risk of consuming undercooked or raw shellfish and animal protein” or “Kids menu available only for those 12 and under.” Those are all fine but don’t go crazy with the disclaimers - Customers eat out to enjoy, not be told what you won’t do for them.

Clip Art – Believe it or not, I have seen clip art on menus in all types of restaurants! Most word processing and publishing programs come with a wide assortment of clip art for both business and personal use. It is tempting to use clip art in your menu – it is easy to add, with a wide variety of images. But clip art inevitably makes a menu look like it was done on a home computer. It lacks the polish of professional photographs or graphic designs featuring your restaurant’s logo. A graphic designer can help you design something that will make your restaurant menu stand out.

More Tips for Writing Your Restaurant Menu

Don’t laminate your menu. Professional laminating (because we agree that do-it-yourself laminating looks cheap and tacky) will quickly get expensive if you have to reprint your menus every six months, which is not uncommon. Instead, invest in menu jackets or covers that have clear sleeves. These allow you to update with new items or price changes, or replace because of wear and tear. Cost then is not a factor to make a change, and you can change as often as you need or want, which is a good business strategy overall.

Proof Read! And have others read it too! There is nothing worse than having spelling mistakes on your menus! Hire a professional copywriter, if need be. Have a sample audience read your menu and give you feedback. And don’t just give it to family and friends. Give it to people who you know will give you an honest opinion. Ask them: 
 

• Is easy to read?
• Do they understand the descriptions?
• Does it make your dishes sound appealing?

Let us show you how the 4Q Consulting Approach can work for you!

 

4Q Consulting, LLC leverages in-depth expertise in all aspects of restaurant consulting and hospitality operations; we create client-specific solutions that drive measurable business improvement.

 

4Q Consulting | Restaurant Consulting NYC | Dessert Sales to Increase Profits

Making a living as a small business/restaurant owner is challenging in the best of times, and during economic downturns, it can feel downright impossible. However, slower times also give you an opportunity (time) to rework your menus and procedures to ensure that you make as much profit as possible off of each and every guest. 

It takes far more money to make additional sales by attracting new customers than it does to rework procedures that might get existing customers to spend a little more on each visit. 

A great way to increase your guest check average and decrease food cost is by selling more add-on items such as desserts and increasing the sales of these add-ons doesn’t need to cost you much, if anything at all! 

So double your dessert sales and see how much healthier your bottom line starts looking! 

5 Ideas for Increasing Dessert Sales in Your Restaurant 

It is likely that you have heard these ideas before - the wheel is not being reinvented here! These are just a few low cost ideas to help spark your own creativity and get you thinking about how you can make a little more on your own dessert sales program. 

1. The dessert cart 

Bring back the old fashioned dessert cart. Give your customers an enticing real-life visual display of their dessert offerings and you should see an increase in orders. 

2. The dessert card 

This one is a no-brainer for a casual restaurant, but really, every restaurant should think hard before dismissing the suggestive selling power of the nicely photographed dessert card positioned on the table.

3. Set the table for dessert before presenting the dessert menu 

This does not work well at a family style or very casual restaurant but is effective for more formal establishments. Setting a dessert place setting before giving the guests a dessert menu puts them in a very dessert-friendly state of mind…making the order of a dessert a very natural thing to do! 

4. Don't over-stuff your guests during dinner 

This one is tricky, and reducing portion sizes can easily backfire on you – but you can't expect many dessert orders from guests who have just consumed "super sized" foods! 

5. Tableside dessert displays 

Anything you can do to get your guests thinking about dessert should increase your check averages – and tableside cooking always attracts interest. Do a tableside flambé (well and safely!) and you will attract the favorable attention of nearby tables. 

So there you have it, 5 easy ideas to boost your dessert sales, increase average check sizes and help bring profit to your bottom line. 

Let us show you how the 4Q Consulting Approach can 

work for you! 

4Q Consulting, LLC leverages in-depth expertise in all aspects of restaurant consulting and hospitality operations; we create client-specific solutions that drive measurable business improvement.