Video Blog: What to have in Your Restaurant & Catering Operating System

Video Blog

This video is part of a series of videos where I, Jonathan Munsell, answer questions and offer hard hitting comments that you can use to improve your restaurant immediately!

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What to have in Your Restaurant & Catering Operating System

Hey it’s me, Jonathan Munsell, the founder and creator of Restaurant Success Systems.  I want to talk about systems as a whole and all the little, itty, bitty things that go into a system for a restaurant.

The Restaurant & Catering Assessment is one of the tools that we use.  This actually is available to you online if you go to http://restaurantsuccessmonthly.com/restaurant-start-up-members-only and you can see that it’s up a big checklist that’s got about 50 different items on it; everything from your people to your systems in general and how you handle quality, marketing, service, safety and sanitation, your financials, and your management.

When I started out in this business I didn’t start out with this.  I wasn’t fortunate enough to be able to go to a website and download it.  It’s actually free here: http://restaurantsuccessmonthly.com/restaurant-start-up-members-only and you can download it and you can even fill it out and send it to me and I’ll happily talk to you and talk through what you need to focus on maybe first because that’s an important thing is that you make sure you focus on the first things first and the things that are going to help you get ahead.

But with this, you can create your own systems.  Even without this, if I had to give you a piece of advice to build your own systems in your restaurant, the thing you want to do is start with maybe the most frustrating thing or maybe the most important thing.

I’ll give you an example:  Maybe you’re having trouble getting the deposit to the bank.  All you need to do is take the time – and you can do this from everything from answering the telephones to how food is prepared; just sit down and write out line by line exactly how you want it to go.

We go to the safe and we open up the safe and we take out the money; we write that we took the money out.  They money goes to the bank.  Once the bank gives us back our receipt, we bring the receipt back and we staple it with our paperwork.

Just write all that stuff down and do that for everything in your restaurant.  Start with the things that are the most frustrating or the most challenging or the things that you’re having difficulty with and then work your way backward to the things that are very simple.

You’ll find if you do this and even if you did just one system a day, at the end of the year you’d have 365 of them.  So keep in mind that whenever you’re writing a system to make it very simple.  So it’s the KISS principle:  Keep It Super-Simple and just write down exactly what you want to happen.

Then the thing you can do is you can share this with the people in your organization and you can ask them, “How are you handling this?  Here’s the deposit procedures; is this exactly what happens?”  Let them respond and give you some feedback and then you’re getting buy-in on how this stuff is created.

Let your people know that you’re going to start the process and do it and just get all this stuff documented because you’re going to find at the end of the day that if you can keep getting these things off of you and if you can keep getting other people to understand what you’re doing, your restaurant is going to run a lot better and it’s going to run smoother and you’re going to have better days and you’re not going to feel like you’re fighting it out.

Then you can start really delegating things and then there’s no reason that they don’t do them the way that you expect.  You have a piece of paper; what part of that didn’t they understand?  So start documenting the systems in your restaurant even if they’re very specific to your restaurant.  Other than that, grab this Restaurant Success Assessment and go through it and figure out exactly what you do need to put into place.

That’s my tip for you today.  If you enjoyed this and you’d like to receive 20 more of the top questions that people ask me about the restaurant business, and you can also get a copy of my free report, How to Make any Restaurant into a Super-Powerful Cash Machine, which has ten secrets not included in any of the videos about the characteristics of a successful restaurant owner, go to www.restaurantgoldmine.com.

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Expert Interview: Jonathan Munsell & Brian Calderone talk Mystery Shopper Programs

A Mystery Shopper Program Is Far More Effective Than Any Other Any Other Evaluation To Keep Your Restaurant Operating at Peak Performance …

…Even If You Are Not There

Brian Calderone of Goodwin & Associates Shares All The Details Of A Proper Mystery Shopping Program

If you’ve ever wondered how your restaurant really comes across to everyone who visits, you need to check out this Expert Interview with Brian Calderone of Goodwin & Associates.  Jonathan is all about having great Systems in place, from Operations to Marketing.

Your restaurant needs to be tip top in order to keep up with and surpass the competition.  Through this interview, you’ll see how you can find out:

• How do my employees really answer the phone?
• Are my guests pleased with the service of my employees?
• Is my bar pouring profits away?
• What is the initial impression that the guest receives?
• Is the food being delivered properly and are the deliveries always on time?
• Is the quality of my food as superb for each guest as it is for me?
• Are the employees always upbeat, friendly, helpful and actually working?  Even when I’m not around?
• Is my catering crew really taking care of the clients we have in the manner I expect?
• Are we consistently doing the ‘right’ things for our guests?
• Is the restaurant clean?
• Are my employees taking away some of my profits?
• Is the food being presented well, including catering presentations and packaging?
• How do the guests feel about the overall experience and value?
• Is the food always fresh?

Jonathan and Brian will talk about the best way to maintain quality in your food, staff, atmosphere – every aspect of your restaurant.  You’ll see that every level of the restaurant needs to have a system like the guest feedback and mystery shoppers as well as having it be affordable!  So much of it can be done online and you’ll have reports where you can check on trends and be able to make changes to the template yourself.

You’ll want to say “Check … PLEASE!”

Goodwin & Associates offers a variety of services that “check” on things for you such as managing recruiting, staff feedbacks, safety food audits, exit interviews and mystery shopping.  They are trained professionals who will give you more accurate reporting than your friends could possibly do for you.  Having immediate follow up with your guests and giving them some sort of bounce back will really work!  Having a third party involved helps the guests, or employees, feel more able to share and you’ll have honest feedback.  By changing your focus, you’ll be able to see what needs to be done to make a difference in your revenue.

Keeping your focus sharp,

Jonathan

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Rough Economy Brings Down Restaurant Locals, Celeb Chefs

I recently read this article:

Rough Economy Brings Down Restaurant Locals, Celeb Chefs

and wanted to share it with our members.  I have spoken to many Restaurant Owners over the years and it seems that going too fast or growing sooner than maybe you should causes the most troubles for restaurants.

Over the years I have bought and sold restaurants and my own desires for massive expansion have had to be kept in check for the ultimate success of the whole.  take a look at this article it is worth the read.

It even sheds some light on Gordon Ramsey and his own Kitchen Nightmare.

Enjoy~

You can find it on NRA Blog >>>Daily Blender<<<

Jonathan

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Test Results: How Long Should Your FROM Line Be?

Maybe you’ve never thought about it.

Typically length is a concern that comes up when discussing subject lines – how many characters you can fit in a subject before your subscribers’ email programs cut it off.

But the same thing applies to your “from” line; if it’s too long, subscribers won’t be able to read all of it while viewing their list of emails.

Here’s what I mean:

Emails From My Inbox With Long “From” Lines

Within the last 48 hours, I’ve received messages from these long-named senders:

See how the “from” lines all cut off right around the same point? They’re longer than Gmail is willing to show me all at once.

What About Other Email Programs?

I wanted to find out if other email programs did this, and if so, at what point they did so.

So I ran a test: emailing different addresses of mine at the various webmail providers as well as in MS Outlook, with “John Jacob Jinglehiemier Schmidt” set as the “from” name.

Here are the results:

Email Client/OS	“From” Line Displayed	# Characters
Yahoo! (Windows XP)	John Jacob Jinglehiemi	22
Yahoo! (Mac OSX)	John Jacob Jinglehiemi	22
Gmail (XP)	John Jacob Jinglehiemier.	24
Gmail (OSX)	John Jacob Jinglehiemier.	24
Windows Live Hotmail (XP)	John Jacob Jinglehiemie	23
Windows Live Hotmail (OSX)	John Jacob Jinglehiem	21
AOL Webmail (XP)	justinsawebertest@yahoo.	24
AOL Webmail (OSX)	justinsawebertest@yahoo.	24
Microsoft Outlook 2007 (XP)	John Jacob Jinglehiemier Schmidt	32 (all)
Mozilla Thunderbird (XP)	John Jacob Jinglehiemier Schmidt	32 (all)
iPhone Mail	John Jacob Jinglehie…	20 (then the …)
Gmail (Android mobile phone)	John Jacob Jinglehiemier	24

Observations

• In most webmail programs, it didn’t matter what operating system you were on. Hotmail was the exception in that it cuts off the “from” line a couple characters earlier if you’re on a Mac.
• All my tests were in Firefox, so I can’t say whether the various browsers (IE, Chrome, Safari, Opera) would affect these figures.
• Where the width of the “Sender” column could be adjusted (notably Mozilla Thunderbird), I used the default width.

Users can obviously change this and so there’s no way to guarantee that the results of this test will hold true for every user.

• These email clients don’t all necessarily look at character counts for the cutoff; some may cut off after a certain number of pixels.

Individual recipients may set different settings that cause more or fewer characters to appear in the space provided (example: whether a recipient uses fixed-width or variable-width fonts can affect how many characters display).

I include these observations to give you an idea of why your results might vary from these; however, I’d categorize most of these as relatively minor issues and/or edge cases that shouldn’t affect how you use this information.

So Your From Line Should Always Be 20 Characters Or Fewer?

Not necessarily. Just like when you look at subject line length, there’s no one universally right answer here.

Short isn’t always better – not if keeping it short cuts down on your ability to achieve your email campaign’s goals.

Take a look back at the screenshot from my inbox. Some of them – like “Ebates Top Picks Newslet” – are easily recognizable even though they’ve been truncated. Others don’t fare so well. Who is “Maggie L. Fox, Alliance”? I had no idea when I got that email.

• Recognition is a determining factor here. If a long “from” line makes it harder to recognize who you are, then shorten it.
• Position is another factor. If your “from” line is going to run long, get the most important and recognizable parts at the beginning.For example, MarketingProfs’ small business newsletter is called Get to the Point. Their “from” line is really long, but they make sure I see the branded part even when Gmail cuts off the rest – “Get to the Point: Small .”

Your “From” Line Suggestions?

What have you learned about creating effective “from” lines? Done any testing of them?

How did you determine what to use for your own?

Share your thoughts below!

About the Author ~Who Is AWeber?

Posted by Justin Premick with AWeber

Founded in 1998, we create email marketing software to help small businesses automate email follow up and email newsletter delivery.

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An in-depth look at H1N1 flu

An in-depth look at H1N1 flu

Since the H1N1 flu was first identified in the spring of 2009, restaurants and small businesses around the world have sought to minimize the risks of the flu for their customers and their employees. The World Health Organization has declared a pandemic, and the U.S. government has issued guidelines to help businesses and consumers alike. Although H1N1 flu cannot be transmitted through food, the restaurant industry is tackling the pandemic full on. Many restaurants are offering hand sanitizer, providing more lenient leave schedules for employees and posting best practices. This H1N1 Flu Special Report offers information on what H1N1 is and what restaurants, consumers and the government are doing to protect against the pandemic. Part 1, published Tuesday, Sept. 29, offered an H1N1 overview, examples of how restaurants are responding and best practices ideas. Part 2, below, focuses on the government’s role, how consumers are responding and risk-management tactics.

Government

• Government issues H1N1 flu tips to small businesses
  After issuing H1N1 flu guidelines for larger businesses, the Obama administration offered similar advice to small businesses. New guidelines suggest that small-business owners consider telecommuting and lax leave policies as viable ways to ward off potential outbreaks at work. The Wall Street Journal/Washington Wire blog (9/14)
• Check out the guide for small businesses.
• Homeland Security: Send sick employees home
  The U.S. Department of Homeland Security advised businesses to send sick workers home to prevent the possible spread of H1N1 flu. “If an employee does become sick while at work, place the employee in a separate room or area until they can go home, away from other workers,” the federal H1N1 flu guidebook said. American City Business Journals/Phoenix (9/14)
• Find out what else the government is doing to combat H1N1 flu.

	Prepare for H1N1 with a Toolkit from NRA and Ecolab The National Restaurant Association and Ecolab have developed a toolkit to help restaurants fight H1N1 flu and help prevent spread of influenza among employees and guests. The toolkit provides information and guidelines to help prepare for and prevent a flu outbreak. BE PROACTIVE. Download the toolkit at www.restaurant.org/fluinfo/toolkit.cfm.

Consumer Response

• More adults worried about getting H1N1 flu, poll says
  A USA Today/Gallup poll of 1,007 U.S. adults found that more people were worried about H1N1 flu, with one in three saying they or a family member probably would get the flu, up from one in five in a May survey. About 17% of those polled said they were worried they would get the flu, up from 8% in June, and 55% now say they will get vaccinated, an increase of 9%. USA TODAY (9/1)
• Clinics tell flu patients to call before coming in
  Some clinics are trying to keep flu patients from spreading the virus by asking them to call first and not come in unless their illness turns severe. Clinics also are passing out face masks to staff and to all patients who show up with H1N1 symptoms, and HealthPartners hot-line nurses are prescribing antivirals for high-risk patients so they can go directly to the pharmacy. Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.) (9/24)

Risk Management

• Disinfecting hands, surfaces can help stem spread of H1N1 flu
  Disinfecting bathroom fixtures, doorknobs and handrails in public places can go a long way in preventing the spread of H1N1 flu, writes Chris Wiant, CEO of Caring for Colorado Foundation in Denver. Also helpful is washing hands with hand sanitizers. USA TODAY (8/31)
• Strategies for coping with an H1N1 flu outbreak
  Many small-business owners worry how they will be able to keep their doors open if an H1N1 flu outbreak affects large numbers of their staff. Experts suggest they disinfect surfaces frequently, pay for employees’ flu shots and train workers to do one another’s jobs. The Wall Street Journal/The Associated Press (9/16)

NRA Resources

NRA offers H1N1 flu info center
The National Restaurant Association and Ecolab have developed a toolkit to help the restaurant industry fight H1N1 flu and prevent the spread of influenza viruses in restaurants. The toolkit includes information to help prepare for and prevent an influenza outbreak at your location. Listen to our webinar, H1N1: What You Need to Know About the Influenza Pandemic, and visit H1N1 Flu: Resources for Restaurateurs for more

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Turn Problems Inside Out When Seeking Solutions

Some problems require fresh, innovative thinking. One way to search for creative solutions is to remember the acronym SCAMPER:

• Substitute. Replace an element that’s part of the problem. Use a   different material, ingredient, or person and see what happens.
• Combine. Put elements together. If you can’t decide whether to use salt or pepper in a recipe, try both.
• Adapt. Look outside the problem for someone you can use to address it. Velcro was invented by someone who looked closely at how burrs stuck to clothing and adapted the idea.
• Minimize or maximize. Make something smaller or larger. Instead of targeting the mass market with a new product, for example, maybe you can find a small niche to sell it to.
• Put things to a different purpose. Look for a different application. Instead of an entrée, maybe what you’ve cooked could be an appetizer or dessert.
• Eliminate. Look for elements you don’t need. Often we include steps in a process out of habit, for example, whether they still serve the original purpose or not.
• Rearrange. Put the elements in a different order or reverse them completely. You spot what’s missing more easily in a new arrangement.

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What Aaron Goldman Learned About Marketing He Learned From Google

This is a guest post from by Aaron Goldman , Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Great insight into how the monster we know as Google works.

Jonathan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Everything I Need to Know About Marketing I Learned From Google

1.  Relevance rules. The reason Google became so popular is simply because its search engine displayed the most relevant results. For marketers looking to leapfrog to the top of Google or have your product earn Google-like market share, the key is make your brand relevant. Apple is one company that manages to stay relevant — read: build a cult-like following — by continually releasing products that operate best when used with other Apple products, or simply work better than previous versions. It also aligns itself with its audience’s passion points like music and design.

2.  Tap the wisdom of the crowds. How does Google achieve the most relevant results? Its proprietary algorithm looks at the number and quality of inbound links for every Web site it indexes — essentially tallying votes cast by other webmasters. Similarly, it ranks paid search advertisers not just on CPC but on click rate, among other factors — essentially tallying votes cast by its users. One marketer successfully leveraging the wisdom of crowds is Doritos, with Super Bowl spots created and voted on by consumers. Threadless is another company that gets the power of the community — printing T-shirts suggested and voted on by consumers

Meet Aaron Goldman at OMMA Global New York NYC!

Aaron Goldman will be there moderating a panel on “Beyond The Click: Using Search Beyond SEM” on September 21 at 11:15 AM. It’s just one of many innovative, can’t-miss segments at the show.
Register today and save.

3.  Keep it simple, stupid. Some people — namely MediaPost publisher, Ken Fadner — assert that Google’s dominance from a usage standpoint is due not so much to relevance as simplicity. During a time when the trend was towards cluttered portals, Google stood out with its clean white page and clear call-to-search. So, too, must marketers use simple and overt calls-to-action (e.g., tell a friend, buy now, ask your doctor) and de-clutter the environment to which they drive people (e.g., store, Web site, phone). Although it’s not as easy as, say, Ford just telling people to “ Drive One.”

4.  Mindset matters. Google’s been so successful because it allows advertisers to reach people when they’re in a commercial mindset — that’s commercial as in looking to spend money, not watch commercials. Sure, sometimes searchers are just looking to be entertained or conduct academic research — but many are looking to find a place to eat, shop, or otherwise transact. Marketers take heed! The reason your ads on social networks don’t drive direct ROI is because people aren’t thinking about buying stuff when they’re stalking their high school classmates or poking their friends. Although the same could be said for airport security — but Zappos made it work, so it just goes to show that strong contextual relevance can sometimes change the mindset.

5.  Be where your audience is. Toolbars, desktops, third-party sites, docs, spreadsheets, email — you name it, if you’re online, Google’s watching… I mean, available. For marketers, the lesson here is that you can’t just “build it and they will come.” You have to get guerilla and seed your brand into the conversation wherever it’s happening — blogs, social networks, coffee shops, bathrooms, etc. This was something the Obama campaign did brilliantly.

6.  Don’t interrupt. Even though Google is as omnipresent as that other Big G, it very rarely interrupts people from what they were doing to push a message for one of its products or one of its advertisers. Google, and search in general, is very much a pull-marketing channel. For marketers, it’s important to remember that there’s a fine line between seeding the conversation and disrupting it. Best Buy is one company that’s showing signs of understanding the difference.

7.  Act like content. Part of not interrupting is not acting like advertising. Acting like content — which is, ironically, a phrase I cribbed from Brian Morrissey’s blog post making a case for interruptive advertising — is what search engine optimization is all about. And Google certainly rewards it. Create compelling content — and, by compelling, I mean relevant and link-worthy — and you’ll stand out not only in the Google index but by winning over customers. Make people feel like you’re giving them what they want and not selling them, and you’ll earn their business. American Express does this well, with its Open Forum initiative acting as a resource for small businesses.

8.  Test everything. If there’s one thing that Google’s obsessive about, it’s testing. This is a company that tries 41 different shades of blue on its toolbar to see which drives the most clicks. And as any search marketer can tell you, testing — new keywords, new copy, new landing pages, you name it — is part of the daily SEM protocol. The ramifications for broader marketers are clear — take nothing for granted. A little thing like the background color on the last frame of your TV spot can be the difference between recall and relapse. Malcom Gladwell wrote the book on this, citing brands like Airwalk and institutions like “Sesame Street” and “Blue’s Clues” for their attention to detail.

9.  Track everything. Of course, the yin of the testing-yang is tracking. There’s no question Google gets how important tracking is to marketers. That’s why is bought DoubleClick and Urchin — or is it? The bottom line for marketers is that as more and more media is delivered digitally, it’s inherently trackable. These days, it’s a sin to not know which half of your advertising is working. The classic examples here are your direct marketing advertisers like Kaplan who tack unique identifiers — unfortunately sometimes a bit clumsily — onto their TV spots to track response.

10. Let the data decide. This could easily roll up into either of the last two points, but it’s worthy of its own spot on this list. Too often, marketers use testing or tracking merely to prove an idea to which they were already married. In other words, they — or their agencies — come up with a concept that sounds spectacular and “just feels right” and then set up some experiments — read: focus groups — and manipulate the data to help push their idea through. Not Google. Per Marissa Mayer, Google “let(s) the math and the data govern how things look and feel” — some would say to a fault. There’s certainly a spectrum from “going with your gut” to letting data decide, but when it comes to being accountable to your boss — or your shareholders– doing what the numbers tell you is certainly the most defensible position — especially if that data is highly targeted.

FYI, I’ve got another 20 lessons up my sleeve and may continue this series in my next column. I’d love to hear thoughts from the community, though. What have you learned from Google that’s made you a smarter marketer? Let’s see how much wisdom there is in the Search Insider crowd.

Meet Aaron Goldman at OMMA Global New York NYC!

Aaron Goldman will be there moderating a panel on “Beyond The Click: Using Search Beyond SEM” on September 21 at 11:15 AM. It’s just one of many innovative, can’t-miss segments at the show.
Register today and save.

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WE ARE WAIVING OUR SIGN UP FEE, until the end of this month, so for JUST $47 you get access to everything listed below and the Most Comprehensive Downloadable Restaurant Systems and Marketing Content Library on the PLANET!!!

Inner Circle – Online Membership includes a lot more than just a membership site including:

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• 1 Tele-coaching call or Webcasts call every other month
• Live industry expert interview on current topic and area of expertise.
• My personal coaching tips sent by Email or Fax
• Members Only Operations & Marketing Newsletter, packed with information and promotions for immediate use
• Members only call in days where you get to speak to me directly about anything you choose, done like a radio show first come first served. These are done on posted days.
• Inner Circle Members 20% discount on all future product purchases and live events.

To Access Private Members only content,
please choose the Inner Circle Membership option below:

Inner Circle Membership $47.00/month.

please click on the”Add to Cart” button to register through our secure shopping cart.

FREE Membership

• online access to our industry specific blog posts, articles and even some paid member content

You may upgrade your membership at anytime.

Please understand that you will have a bit limited access but you will be able to take a peek around and see all that is available to the Inner Circle Members and above. You will have full access to all blog posts and articles and some Restaurant Success System Paid Member content. (I set it up so everyone should at least sign up and take advantage of FREE Membership~Jonathan Munsell)

Free Membership Registration.

To complete your registration, please fill in the form below to add you to our Member Registration System. There is no charge for the Free Membership.

Once this form is complete you will be directed
to a page to create your User Name and Password

Member Information
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Last Name *
Email *
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I affirm that the name and personal information provided on this form are true and correct. Restaurant Success System will never sell, rent, or trade your information.

There is absolutely no charge and never will be for your FREE membership. You can choose at anytime to move up to Inner Circle Membership and get further access and complete member benefits listed above.

No matter what membership level you choose I guarantee your satisfaction and look forward to your success!

Respectfully yours

Jonathan Munsell
Founder / Creator
Restaurant Success System

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