Exceptional customer service even more important with today's economy

As the 2009 Southwest Foodservice Expo kicks off, I have to admire the comment from Mark Brezinski, the owner of Bengal Coast Restaurant concerning the restaurant industry.

"We're in a business where you have to create reasons for people to come in," Brezinski said in the Monday edition of the Dallas Morning News.Even when the economy is rolling along, restaurant owners have to constantly stress the importance of customer service.

As a longtime restaurant manager, I believe training on customer service starts on the first day and continues every time there's a chance to coach someone. Shift managers can encourage exceptional performance and customer care with their own performance.

By welcoming guests and helping their staff when there's a rush, a restaurant manager can demostrate to his staff the importance of exceptional customer service. When it comes to monitoring the performance of shift leaders and managers, it's important for general managers and restaurant owners to manage high expectations for their leaders on this area.

Restaurant patrons are questioning the need to eat as much as they did two years ago, so a focus on providing customer service is even more important.

With minimum wage increases, restaurants will have to streamline their processes

Now that the minimum wage is going up July 24, restaurants managers and owners will have to deal with the increase in their labor costs.
The 11-percent increase for minimum wage will probably mean a combination of price increases or workforce consolidation.
As a restaurant consultant, I believe that businesses should not drop costs for training or customer service. Instead, they should realize that their customers will expect that their staff will want a well-trained staff at their establishment and will be willing to absorb the 11-percent increase in their food for great service.
With a month to go, there's time for restaurant owners to look at their costs, especially from their food vendors. By asking a vendor for the best rates, they can offset the additional cost for labor.
Restaurant managers who look at these costs and begin a strategic review of their labor costs can ensure that the change in minimum wages won't truly impact their bottom line.

So what are you doing to promote your business?

It should be a perfect location.
Located on the second floor of a major business center, one would think that the restaurant would capture a large number of workers who need a quick bite.
So, why were there only four customers durng the lunch hour rush?
It's a question I would ask if I owned that restaurant.
The food was good, and the service was excellent. However, perhaps what was missing was the marketing effort for this restaurant.
I couldn't help but notice that there was a catering menu available by the register. Nor was there a frequent lunch patron program.
It's these simple little marketing things that help a business compete, even when they have a prime location. As a business owner, it's important to keep track of trends and look at reasons why people aren't buying.
As a consultant, it's my job to help restaurant owners look at trends and reasons for the lack of business. Yet, the most important element for any successful restaurant is to look at what brings repeat customers back again and again. By understanding this element, a restaurant operator can make his or her busienss profitable.

In wake of publicity concerning restaurant skimming, it's time for all restaurant owners to review their security systems

When the Washington Post reported that eight servers from three restaurants were arrested for credit card skimming, it created a publicity nightmare for them.

Imagine, if you will, what longtime customers would think if they read that one of their favorite restaurants had servers had stolen their credit card. That's why restaurant owners should pay extra attention to the credit card processing system.

As most restaurant owners have contracts locking them into credit card processing systems, it's best for them to review the security features of their program with their sales representative before purchasing or upgrading one.

A system that isolates each staff member typically costs more than a regular system. So is the addition of security cameras in a restaurant that monitor credit payment systems. However, the extra cost is well justified if it prevents theft of a patron's credit card.

Is your restaurant ready when that bus of people show up for lunch or dinner?

It's a quiet Tuesday at your restaurant, and a bus of high school students and their parents pull up. Is your restaurant ready to serve them?

While there are fast-food franchises on the local interstate that cater to these groups and pay bus drivers a stipend for pulling over at their locale, others could use a little training in this area.

As someone who started years ago as a delivery boy and then a manager at one of the original Pizza Hut restaurants in San Antonio, here's my thoughts concerning training for handling that unexpected bus of people:

1) Can everyone double up on duties? For example, could the busser serve food when it's ready?

2) Is the shift leader capable of filling in where needed to keep the food and drink flowing?

3) Who is the quickest person to run the cash register to accept payment? And, if there are two or more terminals, who else can accept payment to expedite every customer?

4) Is everyone friendly to the customers? Do they thank them at the end of the meal for their business?

I would recommend that a restaurant owner look at his "bus" training at least every 60 days as some restaurants frequently change staff. After all, the extra influx of cash from repeat bus-type business is something every establishment wants in their operations.

Why restaurants should embrace the use of Twitter into their marketing mix

An article in the Charlotte Observer notes that many restaurants are slow to adopt the use of social media in their marketing efforts, but as someone who has just began to understand its capabilities, I wonder why. One of the biggest problems that Craig Utt, a restaurant consultant, noted in the article was restaurants had with social media was because of the time issue. While there is no charge (yet) to use Twitter as a way to communicate to customers, there is a labor charge. Someone has to take the time to complete all of those tweets and blogs.



As a longtime restaurant consultant, I think it's best to have a restaurant manager designate a younger person on the staff who is into social media to manage the campaign. For older restaurant managers, there's a longer learning curve in adding social media tools to your daily marketing mix.

As a source of inspiration, I want to list these restaurants that have effective Twitter sites:

http://twitter.com/BrasseriePavil: Not only does this San Antonio restaurant list specials, it also acknowledges guest and special parties with tweets like: rt @Facelogic Enjoyed brunch @brasseriepavil w/ @catharines@alessiomiceli @midsandhighs. Turned out to be group date instead of girl time.

http://twitter.com/mortons_cle: The Cleveland location of this venerable chain restaurant does an excellent job of promoting specials, the personality of the chef and personalities in the restaurant.

twitter.com/ChurchsChicken: This fast food franchise is using "Its Random Acts of Goodness" to bring in more customers. By combining traditional media, public relations and social media, it could show the trend for other restaurant chains and independent operations.

Consistency or innovation? Restaurant changes need a balance between both....

When someone goes to McDonalds or Starbucks, they know they will get a consistent meal or cup of coffee.   Yet, many smaller restaurant chains have issues with consistency.   

As a restaurant consultant, I have found the biggest issue with these small restaurant chains is that their management doesn't stress it with their training program.   When a new cook or manager comes to work, the restaurant ownership doesn't stress the need for using an approved book of recipes.

It's hard for many owners to tell a professional chef or cook that they should adapt their apporach to preparing meals to the approved menu.  Some owners don't want to make waves with their cooks, but their customers pay the price.   After all, they expect their meal to be the same at every location.

However, restaurant owners shouldn't discourage innovation in their kitchens.  If a new cook has a better way to prepare an item, I would suggest that they test its popularity by adding it as a special menu item for one restaurant.  If customers embrace the change of the new item, then they should consider a change to their standardized book of recipes and food prep.