Restaurants find that offering ownership cuts turnover
Kansas City Business Journal
After 30 years as a general manager in the restaurant business, Larry Kime decided to take some time off -- sort of. He tried his hand in sales for a few years but never took his eye off the restaurant industry. He was waiting for an opportunity for ownership -- to have a piece of the pie, he said.
Read Article
Friday, June 30, 2006
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Help!
Hey, I need some material to write about!
Do you have questions you need the answers to right now? Email them to me and I’ll answer them in the blog.
I am sure there are a lot of others who are going through the same situation and would appreciate the response also. Naturally I will keep your name and information confidential.
Send them to Jeffrey@GetGame.Biz
Do you have questions you need the answers to right now? Email them to me and I’ll answer them in the blog.
I am sure there are a lot of others who are going through the same situation and would appreciate the response also. Naturally I will keep your name and information confidential.
Send them to Jeffrey@GetGame.Biz
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Bars and restaurants with regular staff meetings are less likely to sell alcohol to drunk patrons
EurekAlert!
Despite its illegality, alcohol establishments continue to sell alcohol to intoxicated persons.
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/search/restaurants/SIG=124emehur/*http%3A//www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-06/ace-bar061806.php
Despite its illegality, alcohol establishments continue to sell alcohol to intoxicated persons.
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/search/restaurants/SIG=124emehur/*http%3A//www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-06/ace-bar061806.php
Friday, June 23, 2006
That sound you just heard was me cringing again!
What do you think works best? Inspiration or coercion?
Of course it is inspiration! I cringe when I hear a manager ask, “We need to have a contest! Got any ideas?”
A few things we need to get straight when we talk about employee morale:
- You cannot motivate anyone to behave any certain way. Motivation comes from within.
- You can only attempt to create a working environment that inspires them to action.
- There is no "climate" when it comes to your business. Climate is a meteorological term. It denotes fast and frequent changes in the environment.
- Culture on the other hand does not change as fast, nor as frequent.
- Culture is defined as what behaviors take place in the absence of policy or direct supervision.
- Employee contests are a form of coercion and add no substantive value to your culture and in fact erode teamwork.
If you want inspired employees:
- Be inspired yourself. Why would an inspired and motivated person want to work with slugs?
- Provide daily inspiration. Walk the talk! Random acts of inspired rewards!
- Hire only people who walk, talk, think as inspired people. Not that hard to tell!
- Surround your inspired staff with more inspired staff. "A" & "B" players only please!
- Rid yourself of uninspired clods who drain energy from the rest of your staff.
- Reward the inspired constantly for great work. Value for value!
Have Fun Today!
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
2 days that could just change your life!
I always ask the question; "What are you willing to do today to become more successful tomorrow?"
So next month, on July 17th & 18th you and I will get the opportunity to work on your restaurant together and create a GamePlan for moving it to the next level! I will be conducting my first "whiteboard session"! A "no holds barred" chance for you to get together with a couple of whiteboards, 14 other owners and operators along with myself here in Dallas to create a GamePlan for moving your business forward.
There will be no agenda other than the one you create from the areas of your operation you want to discuss over the two days. Also, since small groups accomplish more in a shorter timeframe, I am limiting it to only the first 15 people who respond. It can be you and your GM, spouse, partner, whomever. But I will only accept 15 people.
The price for the two day sesion is $299 per person. If you're a coaching client your price is only $199 I have had so many requests for this that I seriously expect the slots to be filled by the end of today. Right now, I have no plans for another one any time soon. I am just way too busy traveling the country coaching clients.
Visit the link for the sessions here!
So next month, on July 17th & 18th you and I will get the opportunity to work on your restaurant together and create a GamePlan for moving it to the next level! I will be conducting my first "whiteboard session"! A "no holds barred" chance for you to get together with a couple of whiteboards, 14 other owners and operators along with myself here in Dallas to create a GamePlan for moving your business forward.
There will be no agenda other than the one you create from the areas of your operation you want to discuss over the two days. Also, since small groups accomplish more in a shorter timeframe, I am limiting it to only the first 15 people who respond. It can be you and your GM, spouse, partner, whomever. But I will only accept 15 people.
The price for the two day sesion is $299 per person. If you're a coaching client your price is only $199 I have had so many requests for this that I seriously expect the slots to be filled by the end of today. Right now, I have no plans for another one any time soon. I am just way too busy traveling the country coaching clients.
Visit the link for the sessions here!
Monday, June 19, 2006
Five Tips to Improve the Cohesiveness in Your Management Team
By Dr. Rick Johnson
A cohesive management team is the most important ingredient to your company's success. The management team needs to function as a team to maximize their accomplishments. To quote an over used phrase, teamwork is really key to an effective management team. This sounds like a simple concept but it is more complicated than you might think. It just isn't a natural act for people to come together and immediately become effective by addressing common objectives, common issues and common problems.
A management team can often become overwhelmed by day to day events which effectively prohibits strategic thinking. Thinking outside the box becomes difficult because they are too busy trying to control what's going on inside the box. The sharing of common visions and long term goals becomes extremely difficult.
Individual personalities, values and personal goals often become roadblocks to functioning well as a team. Getting your management team to focus on common strategic goals is not easy but it is absolutely essential if you are going to maintain competitive advantage and get things done.
Five tips to get your management team to function as a unit.
1. Take complex plans and strategies and assign accountability and ownership. This creates more efficiency and leverages creativity. Assign responsibility according to individual passions.
2. Brainstorming must be encouraged to release team innovation. Bouncing ideas off one another stimulates creative thinking which leads to creative solutions. This in itself bonds individuals into a common purpose.
3. Ask for solutions assigning both responsibility and empowerment. Ownership of ideas and initiatives builds commitment. Involving the team in creating direction and solutions through empowerment generates commitment to the tasks necessary to meet objectives.
4. Challenge your management team. Reliance on team effectiveness minimizes risk by being more flexible and adaptive than relying on a single individual. No one individual alone can jeopardize success. The loss of one team member can be overcome without losing sight of the objectives.
5. Create a 'Night of the Long Knives
• The 'Night of the Long Knives' is a terminology used when the Elephant is too big to eat and you have to chop it up into pieces.
• It is the coming together of a competent team to address common issues & challenges that need to be resolved in the best interest of the entire group.
Document current and future challenges, projects, initiatives and issues. Ask your management team to review them, add their thoughts and comment on any issues that may have been overlooked. Lastly, ask them to prioritize the list based on the impact to the success of the organization over the next twelve to eighteen months. Arrange for a two day 'Night of the Long Knives' workshop utilizing the following agenda.
• Defining the hurdles to both short term and long term success
• Identification of critical constraints
• Re-Prioritization• Scenario planning and brain storming
• Action planning both short and long term (12 months)
• Presentation for call to action and resources required
A cohesive management team is the most important ingredient to your company's success. The management team needs to function as a team to maximize their accomplishments. To quote an over used phrase, teamwork is really key to an effective management team. This sounds like a simple concept but it is more complicated than you might think. It just isn't a natural act for people to come together and immediately become effective by addressing common objectives, common issues and common problems.
A management team can often become overwhelmed by day to day events which effectively prohibits strategic thinking. Thinking outside the box becomes difficult because they are too busy trying to control what's going on inside the box. The sharing of common visions and long term goals becomes extremely difficult.
Individual personalities, values and personal goals often become roadblocks to functioning well as a team. Getting your management team to focus on common strategic goals is not easy but it is absolutely essential if you are going to maintain competitive advantage and get things done.
Five tips to get your management team to function as a unit.
1. Take complex plans and strategies and assign accountability and ownership. This creates more efficiency and leverages creativity. Assign responsibility according to individual passions.
2. Brainstorming must be encouraged to release team innovation. Bouncing ideas off one another stimulates creative thinking which leads to creative solutions. This in itself bonds individuals into a common purpose.
3. Ask for solutions assigning both responsibility and empowerment. Ownership of ideas and initiatives builds commitment. Involving the team in creating direction and solutions through empowerment generates commitment to the tasks necessary to meet objectives.
4. Challenge your management team. Reliance on team effectiveness minimizes risk by being more flexible and adaptive than relying on a single individual. No one individual alone can jeopardize success. The loss of one team member can be overcome without losing sight of the objectives.
5. Create a 'Night of the Long Knives
• The 'Night of the Long Knives' is a terminology used when the Elephant is too big to eat and you have to chop it up into pieces.
• It is the coming together of a competent team to address common issues & challenges that need to be resolved in the best interest of the entire group.
Document current and future challenges, projects, initiatives and issues. Ask your management team to review them, add their thoughts and comment on any issues that may have been overlooked. Lastly, ask them to prioritize the list based on the impact to the success of the organization over the next twelve to eighteen months. Arrange for a two day 'Night of the Long Knives' workshop utilizing the following agenda.
• Defining the hurdles to both short term and long term success
• Identification of critical constraints
• Re-Prioritization• Scenario planning and brain storming
• Action planning both short and long term (12 months)
• Presentation for call to action and resources required
10 Keys to Training Success
Training never just happens - it is the result of a conscious effort on the part of the trainer and the trainee. Too often trainers say things like, "I can't understand why he can't perform; I told him; I even showed him how!" Showing is not training; telling is not training; testing is not training. These functions imply activity that is one-way and instructor-oriented.Job training is the processes of helping an employee acquire the necessary knowledge, skill, and work habits to perform a specific job.
Failure to help employees get started properly results in needless expense, high levels of employee frustration, and increased turnover rates.Planned training saves time and cost much less than letting people learn "the hard way". It reduces waste. It helps to insure safe work habits. It reduces employee frustration. It prevents the learning of incorrect work habits, which will have to be unlearned later. It helps to insure guest satisfaction.
Read article here.
Failure to help employees get started properly results in needless expense, high levels of employee frustration, and increased turnover rates.Planned training saves time and cost much less than letting people learn "the hard way". It reduces waste. It helps to insure safe work habits. It reduces employee frustration. It prevents the learning of incorrect work habits, which will have to be unlearned later. It helps to insure guest satisfaction.
Read article here.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Three new forms for you to use in evaluating staff!
For the full FOH evaluation:
For the occasional one-on-one:
http://www.getgame.biz/Articles/Employee_Positive_Performance_Report.doc
For the Manager:
Delivering High Level Service
Lee Cockerell, Executive VP at Walt Disney World, said, "You can't deliver a higher level of service than you have experienced." It's an interesting point. If you haven't seen it, how are you going to model it? How can you even begin to understand what I mean when I try to explain it to you?
What is the highest level of service that you regularly experience? Are you always checking out operations comparable to yours or are you visiting folks who are performing at a higher level? How can you get better without a clear idea of what better looks like?
What do you suppose is the highest level of service the members of your staff have experienced? If you want to see material improvements in guest service, they are going to have to visit restaurants that operate at a higher level of than yours and get a first-hand experience of what is possible.
What operations in your market might serve as that sort of model for your crew? What should you be doing to promote (or even subsidize) their learning process in this regard? Just a point to ponder.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Tipping Versus Service Charges
Although voluntary tipping seems to be the rule for service businesses, several operators have shaken up their industries by dropping voluntary tipping. For instance, the restaurant business took notice last year when Thomas Keller instituted an automatic 20-percent service charge at his Per Se restaurant in New York. One year earlier, Holland America rocked the boat by eliminating its longstanding tipping policy in favor of daily service charges.
“The lesson from those decisions is that tipping should not automatically be the default policy for service businesses,” suggests Michael Lynn, a professor at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration. In a new report from the Center for Hospitality Research, Lynn compares the advantages and disadvantages of voluntary tipping with those of service charges and service-inclusive pricing.
The report is available at no charge at http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/chr/research/centerreports.html.
“Tipping may not be as advantageous as managers seem to believe,” Lynn said. “What I’ve done is to identify nine factors to consider in determining what is the best way to cover the cost of service employees. I cannot advise an operator which policy is best, but I can frame the analysis.”
The report suggests that the principal benefits to hospitality firms of voluntary tipping are that it lowers nominal prices, increases profits through price discrimination, motivates up-selling and service, and lowers FICA tax payments. However, tipping also motivates discrimination in service delivery, gives servers surplus income that could go to the firms’ bottom line, increases the risk of income-tax audits, and opens firms up to adverse-impact lawsuits. The alternatives to tipping (i.e., service charges and service-inclusive pricing) have their own sets of costs and benefits.
Lynn suggests that the decision of whether to permit tipping or not is worthy of reconsideration, contrary to what hospitality operators might believe. “Consumers say that they prefer guaranteed server wages over tipping, and that they prefer tipping over added mandatory service charges,” he said. “But those preferences do not always seem to translate into actions. In other words, operators should not worry that their customers will end their patronage due to one policy or another. Instead, they can base their tipping policies on considerations of the issues discussed in this report.”
“The lesson from those decisions is that tipping should not automatically be the default policy for service businesses,” suggests Michael Lynn, a professor at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration. In a new report from the Center for Hospitality Research, Lynn compares the advantages and disadvantages of voluntary tipping with those of service charges and service-inclusive pricing.
The report is available at no charge at http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/chr/research/centerreports.html.
“Tipping may not be as advantageous as managers seem to believe,” Lynn said. “What I’ve done is to identify nine factors to consider in determining what is the best way to cover the cost of service employees. I cannot advise an operator which policy is best, but I can frame the analysis.”
The report suggests that the principal benefits to hospitality firms of voluntary tipping are that it lowers nominal prices, increases profits through price discrimination, motivates up-selling and service, and lowers FICA tax payments. However, tipping also motivates discrimination in service delivery, gives servers surplus income that could go to the firms’ bottom line, increases the risk of income-tax audits, and opens firms up to adverse-impact lawsuits. The alternatives to tipping (i.e., service charges and service-inclusive pricing) have their own sets of costs and benefits.
Lynn suggests that the decision of whether to permit tipping or not is worthy of reconsideration, contrary to what hospitality operators might believe. “Consumers say that they prefer guaranteed server wages over tipping, and that they prefer tipping over added mandatory service charges,” he said. “But those preferences do not always seem to translate into actions. In other words, operators should not worry that their customers will end their patronage due to one policy or another. Instead, they can base their tipping policies on considerations of the issues discussed in this report.”
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Thursday, June 08, 2006
I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!
Hey Friends!
Just a note to let you know that we are back from our first vacation in 2 years and you will start to once again see my postings about every issue concerning our businesses on the website as well as each blog.
I have a ton of articles, information and downloads to share with you so check back daily – or better yet sign up to receive my posts via email!
I hope you are all enjoying increasing success!
Jeffrey
Just a note to let you know that we are back from our first vacation in 2 years and you will start to once again see my postings about every issue concerning our businesses on the website as well as each blog.
I have a ton of articles, information and downloads to share with you so check back daily – or better yet sign up to receive my posts via email!
I hope you are all enjoying increasing success!
Jeffrey
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