This is a “Don’t Miss” event. This Thursday, February 25th at 4pm

Click Here To Register Now!

How To Successfully Use Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, And Other Online Social Media For Practical, Profitable Purposes

You can listen in and and ask your most burning questions about Social

Media Marketing for your restaurant or catering company.  We will
holding a live Q&A session at the end, so don’t miss out!

Here are some details on Cynthia and the information we are going to cover:

Guest Expert~Cynthia Richards

Do you know how to use Social Media as marketing media without running afoul and wasting your valuable time? – I do and I will show you How you can do it in as little as 10 Minutes a day!

Cynthia recently presented at the Restaurant & Catering Super Conference and was a smash hit, I could not resist the opportunity to share her insight with all of you!

Cynthia is one of those few who really know – from actual
experience -how to make all this free media pay. It is mandatory that you discover how to effectively leverage this new form of word-of-mouth marketing..

Cynthia is going to show you exactly how to take advantage of all the low cost and even NO-cost ways of reaching out to new customers, more frequently communicating with present customers, and getting prospects and customers involved in dialogue and interaction rather than just static, “push” selling by you.

If you are serious about succeeding, about high income, about longevity in the restaurant industry,

this expert interview with Cynthia is NOT A LUXURY; IT IS NECESSITY!

*********************************

Call Details:

Thursday, February 25th 4pm EST

Click Here To Register Now!

********************************

Only 50 Spots Available – They will be gone quick!

Don’t Procrastinate- Sign up now!

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Talk to you then!

Jonathan Munsell
Founder & Creator

Restaurant Success System
Restaurant Success Monthly
Restaurant Marketing Planner

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Best Practices for Restaurant Owners and Industry Professionals Monthly Benchmarking and Money-making Teleseminar:

How To Insure You Have The Best Restaurant Supply, Parts and Equipment Company For Your Start-up and Existing Restaurant

Jonathan Interviews Lenny Douglas with Tundra Specialties.

Opening and maintaining a restaurant is always a challenge.  This conversation will help you on your way to building a success from the start.

• We talk about the very basics (The Restaurant Development Process) of starting with a drawing, mapping out the plan in order to get a good understanding of the goal.
• We talk about understanding the options from big equipment, to counter equipment and storage, all the way to small ware.
• We even talk about what to look for in an equipment vendor.

About your Hosts:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jonathan Munsell owns two restaurant brands and a catering company. Jonathan Munsell works with current and aspiring restaurant owners specializing in restaurant startup and growth. In 2007, Jonathan launched Restaurant Success System conducting national seminars and professionally speaking on restaurant startup, restaurant operations, restaurant marketing and finance. Learn more about Jonathan by visiting www.RestaurantSuccessMonthly.com

Lenny Douglas is the Sales Manager for Tundra Specialties, which is a company that specializes in restaurant parts, supplies and equipment.   Lenny grew up in Tampa Florida.  He moved to Colorado in 1997, waited tables and was bartender for several locations.  Lenny attended University Colorado in 1999 for Computer Science, then made a change in direction and left engineering school.  Lenny then worked for a foodservice sales position with Old Timer Foods working with Regional Restaurants selling a variety of food products.  He met Rob Fenton, part owner and Sales Manager with Tundra, and has been working for Tundra Specialties since January 1, 2003, starting in the Outside Sales Team.

You can find out more about equipment and connect with Tundra Specialties by visiting their website www.etundra.com or check out their blog  “The Back Burner”

Their blogs about the foodservice industry at The Back Burner, which is written by the employees of Tundra Specialties, a company specializing in restaurant equipment and food service supplies.

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Jonathan Munsell Interviews Hiring and Performance Expert Jay Henderson
In our conversation Jay reveals the 7 biggest hiring mistakes restaurant make and how to avoid them.  Plus Jay and Jonathan dive into the 9 Secrets to Great Hiring for Your Restaurant .  This is a don’t miss audio.  Have a pad and pen available because Jay gives it all away and if you are there to grab it you it you certainly will reap the rewards.

download to your MP3 or Ipod Right Click Here : How To Avoid Hiring Mistakes FOREVER

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You Must Take Action on the Right Activities.

There are two parts to this.  Taking action is one thing.  Lots of people, especially in the restaurant business, are very good – they’re not lazy people – they work hard, long hours, so they’re doing lots of things.  But… You need to put all your effort and energy into the right activities.

You have to recognize that success is based on action, not ideas.  There’s no money in ideas, no money in the collection of them.  “You need to take the ideas and put them into action.  You need to take action on the ideas and get going on them.”  Pick one thing and focus on it and get that up and running and then move onto the next.

The more action you take, the more results that will come.  If you want massive success, you need to take massive action.  With massive action come mistakes and problems and even chaos.  You need to be all right with that – with lots of success comes chaos.

Don’t dwell on the failures.  Learn from them.  Recognize that there’s something that you did or didn’t do that got that result so you need to make a change or move on to the next thing.

You need to focus and figure out what you are spending your time on.  What are the right activities that are going to get me where I want to be the quickest?  Is being in my kitchen dicing carrots going to make me more money?  You need to look at what you’re doing and ask yourself if those are the activities that are going to lead to success.

It goes back to a comfort level in being busy, dealing with one crisis after another, thinking that’s your job.  It’s busy work.  Take a step back and say to yourself, are these the things – the things that I’m working on now – the things that are going to take me to where I want to go?  Are you the best person working on them?  How can you get yourself away from that so you can be working on the right activities?

Remember, there is chaos involved in great, successful businesses – controlled chaos.

Schwarzkopf said that, “A bad decision is better than no decision.  A bad decision gets you into action.  A bad decision can be fixed.  No decision leaves you immobile.  You can’t fix or improve a non-decision and inaction.”  At least you’re moving forward.  When you’re not doing anything, nothing happens.

Don’t be afraid of making decisions and moving forward, you can always adjust; but doing nothing can usually be the worst thing that you can do.

Without having a foundation, a desire to change, a willingness to confront the situation head on and being open-minded and willing to learn, and taking action on the right activities – the other stuff doesn’t matter.

These success clues are fundamental and part of a foundation that individuals can build upon to really have that success.

Side Note:
As we continue through these secrets you are going to find the actions “The Right Activities”. If there is anything that I can do for you it is provide you with step by step the right actions at the right time.  Whether it is through my extensive in depth done for you systems and checklists or the step by step promotions and the background to implement them quickly and effectively simply by changing “your restaurant” name and address and printing off the hundreds of done for you promotions… the right activities will lead you to success.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the topics I present and their link to True Restaurant Success. Please do not hesitate to share -  Leave a Comment

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You Must Be Open-minded and Willing to Learn.

Many people come with preconceived notions and ideas that things have to be a certain way.      I have to price my menu a certain way.  I have to market like all the other restaurant owners.  I have to do things in a professional manner because my restaurant has lawyers as clients.  This really doesn’t matter.  You need to have an open-mind.  You need to open your mind to new ideas.

Consultants will tell you, for example, that you need to keep your food cost at such and such percentage.  The reality is there’s no link to having a 30% food cost and huge success in the restaurant business.  What you really need to think about is how much can I charge.  It’s not necessarily a multiple of what your costs are.

There are tons of preconceived notions – some from the restaurant industry, some we grew up with that we really need to open our mind and test.

Many entrepreneurs have this unquenchable desire to understand things.  We need to understand why and if someone can give us evidence why then we need to test it and move forward with it.  Don’t let your ideas or preconceived notions get in the way.

Success is an ongoing process.  You need to seek out sources and people and ideas to keep yourself moving forward and keep yourself fresh.

Opening your mind up to ideas and testing those assumptions is a huge part of one’s success.

Sometimes when we’re faced with great adversity we’re looking for help, and in turn we’re more humble.  When we turn things around and we’re making money, we become less open-minded, less humble, less willing to learn.  Don’t lose touch with what brought you to where you are.

You can never have too many ideas for your business.  You just need to select which ones are relevant for you.  You always need a constant flow of information and ideas to improve.  If you stop, your competition will catch up to you.

Be open-minded, willing to learn, prepared to challenge your preconceived myths and notions that you have about this business.

Side Note:
I experienced real success when I opened my mind to the ideas of others and when I finally reached out for help.  Once I got over the fact that I do not have all the answers and started talking to other restaurant owners is when it came together.  I invested in myself, I got a hold of the best materials at the time, spared no expense since at the end of the day I was investing to improve myself, my business and my family’s future.

I often like to say that I have earned the equivalent of a Harvard degree for the restaurant industry; my wife likes to point out that I have also paid for it.  At the end of the day, I still don’t have all the answers but most consider me to be an expert in restaurant start-up and growth.  I pride myself with having a ton of answers and the due diligence to research to always find the right answer.  When it comes to doing the hard work I have done it and will provide you with all the details of my experience so you can take the shortcuts and the easy road to success.

I am happy to share my experience and let you leapfrog everyone by applying what you learn.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the topics I present and their link to True Restaurant Success. Please do not hesitate to share - Leave a Comment

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Responsibility and Accountability for Where You Are

There’s a big link between responsibility and success.  You can’t have great success without responsibility.  If you don’t take responsibility for your actions and where you are in your life, you can’t have success.  There’s a link.  The more successful you want to be, the more responsibility you have to take on.

What are individuals saying to themselves when they aren’t taking responsibility?  They’re blaming anything and everything.  They are providing excuses.  As an example, “My situation is different”, “I have this kind of a restaurant so none of this works for this kind of restaurant”, “The economy is bad”, “My cook left to go to the Kid Rock concert and never came back”, “The food prices have gone up”, “I can’t raise my prices”, “Applebee’s moved in next door”.

When you take responsibility it is a very important step to actually making a change.  It’s almost like a requirement.

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You can’t be successful without accepting responsibility.  Don’t give up.  Know there is a way.  You need that belief.

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

You need to confront and recognize the way you’ve been doing things has gotten you to where you are, and if you want to get from there to the next level you need different actions, different thoughts, different resources, different tools.

The past is the past.  You can’t worry about it.  You can’t change it.  Right now – that’s where you’ve got to start.

Responsibility, a desire for change, and recognizing that you’ve got to do things and challenge some of your beliefs that you think about – your business, yourself, your life – what’s keeping you back from where you need to go?

The past does not equal the future.  Why not turn it around today?  Why not go ahead and achieve the success?

I would love to hear your thoughts on the topics I present and their link to True Restaurant Success. Please do not hesitate to share Leave a Comment

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You Must Have the Desire to change and willingness to confront your situation head on.

If you want to improve your business and increase the rate of success, it really needs to start with wanting to do something about it.

Some don’t want to do something about it; they’re content or don’t want to confront the situation — even if they’re not doing as well as they want.  They don’t want to peel back the skins of the onion and find out what it is they’re doing because it makes them uncomfortable to confront the situation of why they’re not getting the results that they want.

There are all sorts of fears around that.  There’s kind of a fear of success, even fear of change.  Even if they don’t like where they are, they don’t want to make any changes.

The first step has to be “I want to make a change.”  A lot of people aren’t prepared to confront their reality head on and open up their mind and make the changes that they want – that they need to make.

It affects their ability to accept the reality and the information.

There are so many myths about how and what you should be doing to be successful.  Some of them come from the way we’re brought up.  There are things that are brought into our life and our thought process over years and years and, unless we’re prepared to confront some of these assumptions head on, we’re not going to have any breakthroughs in our success.

The only thing that goes with this is “taking responsibility for where you are”.  A lot of people have “excuses” about why they are where they are.  The reality is, we are where we are as a result of the decisions we’ve made in our life.

The world is neutral.  It’s not out to get anyone.  Good things and bad things happen to everybody.  We make decisions.  As a result of those decisions, there’s results.  When you do something, there’s a reaction as a result of that.  If you don’t like the reaction that you get or you don’t like the results that you’re getting from the action that you’re taking, then you have to change the action to get a different result.

Change Your Actions and Your Results Will Change!

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Don’t be afraid to hit up your vendors. Work with your vendors on dual-promotion events and see the success. Robert, one of our mastermind participants, has a very prominent appetizer company hosting his FREE Half Time Appetizer Buffet. It’s free for the guests but also free for Robert and his restaurant; a win-win situation for all!

Is rent reduction in the cards for you? A lawyer friend said he has a client that is in commercial real estate. He said his client is getting hit by many folks to get rent reductions. Times are tough and if money is an issue start the dialogue now and you never know what will happen…you just might be able to save a ton of money

Proper planning is not just about communication, it can SAVE you a TON of MONEY!

Make your operations and marketing more effective. Proper planning is not just about communication, it’s about having an action plan in place.  One of my mastermind members is using an annual calendar figured already to the end of the year for all his regular maintenance. He had a thermostat go bad on Wednesday, instead of calling in a service call for a minimum of $100; he looked at his calendar and saw his HVAC maintenance was coming that Friday. When the guy came through the door he met him discussed his needs and not only did it not cost him a trip charge the repairman fixed as part of his regular PM – Total Savings estimated to be at least $350.

How about rushing your marketing to the finish line – pricey right? I have seen people doing last minute print jobs at Kinko’s which cost them double what it would to send it to an online printer with just a few more days preparedness.

Have you ever had to overnight something because you missed a deadline? We have all been there, now is the time to draw the line in the sand and commit to removing that waste from your business.

Bang for your Buck. Is now the time to cut marketing or increase your marketing efforts? I say now is the time to lose anything that is questionable on delivering results and put a little extra into those programs that are working. The timing is right for a couple of reasons:

1. you can buy media cheaper than you could six months ago.

2. If others are cutting marketing spending as most do when times are tough they have just cleared the way for your message to get through. Your message comes through louder and clearer to those customers that aren’t hearing from everyone!

What new ideas have you used to market successful in this current financial climate?

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Make Commitments, Not Resolutions

Commitment means to duty or pledge to something or someone, and can refer to:

• Personal commitment, interaction dominated by obligations, which is often a pledge or promise to ones’ self for personal growth. *
• Brand commitment refers to the strength of the relationship between consumers (or customers) and a particular brand (or service). *

Both are important and have a base in positive forward thinking.

Resolution – something that is resolved, resolve – to deal with successfully; clear up **

Resolution is very much like looking in the rear view mirror, it is also very one person- you.  I think of it as the old baggage we all carry around with us… every year we make a resolution to fix it. I say forget about it.  Don’t go back and fix anything. Make a commitment of change and a statement of positive action that you will complete and get those that it effects, if not just you, to commit also. Granted in many cases it is going to fix something that has not been right from the past, but it is a different focus.

Making a detailed commitment is going to fix the illness not the symptoms. When you make your commitments make them to encompass more than a single item. Example: This year I commit to building a stronger team with my management staff. A resolution might have been something like this…we don’t have enough management meetings to get everyone on the same page…I resolve to have one management meeting every week. The first week you miss one – Resolution negated…put it back on the list for next year.

Now look at the commitment aspect -”This year I commit to building a stronger team with my management staff. “Now, what actions are you going to take to ensure this? What can the other members of the team do as their part? What actions can the group take to foster this strength? What fun can we have in the process?

Do you see how a good commitment pushes the whole thing forward with positive momentum?

Words to live by: Make less commitments and keep more of them.

Not a sermon, just a thought- I hope you Enjoyed!

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About the author Jonathan Munsell

Jonathan Munsell truly practices what he preaches. As Founder of Amazing Brands, a North Carolina based company, with two restaurant brands and a catering company he specializes in restaurant startup and growth. Jonathan is a professional speaker and conducts restaurant startup, operations, marketing and financial seminars nationwide.

His current responsibilities include Principal Operating Partner of Amazing Brands, serving on the Board of Directors for the NCRLA, and fostering industry advancement with the support of restaurant operators through his Restaurant Success System.

To get a copy of his FREE REPORT ìDouble Your Restaurants Profits – How To Turn Any Restaurant Into A Cash Generating Machineî go to www.RestaurantGoldMine.com or check out www.restaurantsuccesssystem.com

**Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary†† *wikipedia.org

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It is real important for every business person to set parameters for those that work for him or her to follow. I call them rules of engagement. Every owner needs to set parameters around how you will deal with others. For many this seems harsh but guarding your time and limiting your interruptions is the key to productivity.

Check out this model, if you want to see why you want to avoid interruptions:

The average Restaurant Owner is interrupted 5 times in an hour.

Each interruption takes 5 minutes and 3 minutes to get back into what you were working on.

So if you work 10 hours a day then this is how really productive you are:

• 5 interruptions x 5 minutes each x 10 hours = 250 minutes lost to interruption

• Each interruption takes 3 minutes to get back on track (5 interruptions per hour x10 hours x 3 minutes to get back) = 150 minutes lost on refocusing

• 250+150 = 400 Minutes (6.66 Hours per day lost)

Ok, now let’s think about the time you spend each day in Operations fixing problems, how about Human Resources? What about with your guests?

2 basic rules I follow to keep things moving and protect the time that is the most valuable “The time you spend working on your business as opposed to in it.”

1. Time Block: Set time aside that is uninterrupted. This is the time each and every day you work on your restaurant to push it ahead.† Even if the toughest time you can only take so much negativity… you have to limit it and at some point you need to work on getting ahead.Maybe even more important in a tough time I suggest you carve out time that your people know you are off limits. In the past I have even gone to the local library to get the time I need to propel my business forward. Set this time up as far in advance as possible and do not change it for any reason what so ever.† This sometimes is the most important thing you can do for everyone, ESPECIALLY YOU.
   
2. The 24 hour rule:
   *** Don’t let yourself slow down the process***
   This is verbatim my rule to my people. I believe in empowerment and responsibility and this allows them to ask the question but does not allow them to use a delay in response as a responsibility negator. The 24 hour rule – If you are working on something and are looking for approval or review for something you know is right for our business and have worked it through, especially when time is of the essence, if you believe it is quality and represents us as we would all expect then YOU MUST MOVE FORWARD, Make the call and go for it!. At least give ‘em 24 hours to respond. We can all agree that we can all get busy and that “busy” may slow us from doing the right thing as a company.

This 24 hour rule mentality is designed, usually when you are on a timeline (which as a company we are focusing on getting everything to be time based commitments) when you may have sent something to a superior and are waiting to hear input. If they say/email to hold until further comment then hold – if they are non-responsive you have to do the right thing for the business.

“I recognize that I can slow things and this is designed to empower people to do their jobs more independently, ultimately growing our business exponentially.”

- Jonathan W Munsell\

Both of these tools will create more freedom in your own work life.† Use this extra time to step back and figure out more ways just like this that can improve your business with actually less work from you and definitely less personal involvement. Think about it for a few seconds… if you can figure out just a couple more of these you will continue to figure out ways to get more done in less time and ultimately you could even have a 4 day work week.† Imaging this even for a brief moment… if you limit access to you and you figure out a couple more systems to avoid you in the chain of command… COMPROMISING NOTHING from a quality of operations perspective. The real improvement comes from empowering your people and your working less… worse case scenario you don’t work any less but you are far more productive and your company moves forward faster than ever before.

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