Effectively Manage Your Restaurant and Your Life.

Effectively Manage Your Restaurant and Your Life.

If you’re like most restaurant owners, you have more to do than
time to do it.

But too many Restaurant Owners get so wrapped up in their business, they forget to take care of the other aspects of their lives. And the results can be devastating! Families are neglected, friends are lost, and the physical and mental health of the restaurant owner declines. (Just to name a few.)

So here are some tips for being able to successfully manage your company and your life:

• Put systems into place- mistakes are made when processes are not systematized. When processes are consistent, fewer mistakes are made and there are fewer fires to put out.
• Take a day off- despite the temptation to work a 7-day week, take at least one day for yourself. You will see your productivity and your health improve. (Not to mention how happy your family will be to see you.)
• Go home- set a time schedule for yourself. Schedule the number of hours you will work and stick to that plan.
• Set your priorities- there’s always another crisis to solve. So be sure to make special occasions with friends and family a top priority. Don’t allow a restaurant “emergency” to hold you back. After all, there’s bound to be another one tomorrow.
• Automate your business- this is sometimes  an odd topic for restaurant owners, but there are many places to automate your restaurant and I am not just talking about the POS System. If you haven’t taken the time to realize the value of automation, do so soon. Places you can automate – Any recurring task like weekly emails or marketing mailers, costing your food, paying your bills can even be automated and save you a ton of time. With your business on auto-pilot you have more time for other things.

None of the stuff in this email is new to you. You know it all. But unless you are willing to take these suggestions to heart, you will never be able to effectively manage your life.

And remember, nobody ever lay on their deathbed wishing they had spent more time at the Restaurant!

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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Goal Setting – Part 1

Goal Setting – Part 1

This time of year you hear a lot about resolutions and then a ton more about goal setting. In an earlier article I spoke about making commitments as opposed to resolutions. Another key to success is to set clear well defined goals. I am a goal setter. Twice a year I set goals for myself and conduct goal setting workshops and reviews with my managers and the members of Restaurant Success System. The goal setting we all do is detailed and personal. Sure there are business implications and goals but it is not just about a list of “To-Do” items.

What Exactly Is a Goal?

A goal is a desired end toward which you direct specific effort. In this context, the goal is an exact and tangible result you want for which you are willing to invest is sweat equity in order to achieve. The amount and intensity of effort expended is always dependent on the individual, the organization, and the overall importance of the goal.

The three key elements of a goal are:
1. An accomplishment to be achieved.
2. A measurable outcome.
3. A specific date and time by which to accomplish the goal.

Therefore, a goal is a specific, measurable accomplishment to be achieved within a specific time frame. Without these elements, all you have are dreams, hopes, and good intentions that undoubtedly will remain unrealized.

Why do goals work?

• If you develop a consistent and impassioned focus on something, you’ll experience it.
• Setting a goal is acknowledging to your mind that where you are is not where you want to be. Having a goal creates positive pressure, which is necessary to move you forward.

Before you set your goals think through “the why” for each of your goals. “The why” is important – you really have to spend a good bit of time on them but also get out the costs of not achieving them. If you ever have trouble coming up with meaningful goals here are some good tactics to do before you actually narrow down your goals.

• List the specific areas of your life that are not what you want them to be
• Write down all you will gain from achieving your goals  – why you’re committed to making it a reality (press your mind to produce your own achievement).
• Write down what it will cost you not to achieve the goal (make the pain of not achieving it real).
• Write down what you would have to believe to not just set the goal but to truly achieve it.
• What would you have to believe to create the life you deserve?

“You need to set big goals, goals that inspire you and push you forward.” ~ Jonathan Munsell

Spend some time with what I have laid out above and get your mind around where you are and where you want to go and in the next day or so it will cover the construction of meaningful goals. Be sure to check back often to get the real meat of Goal Setting. Click Here for RSS Feeds

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About the author Jonathan Munsell

Jonathan Munsell truly practices what he preaches. As Founder of Amazing Brands, a North Carolina 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 his support of restaurant operators through his Restaurant Success System.

To get a copy of his FREE REPORT – Double Your Restaurants Profits – How To Turn Any Restaurant Into A Cash Generating Machine – go to www.RestaurantGoldMine.com or go to www.RestaurantSuccessSystem.com

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Make Commitments, Not Resolutions!

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!

==================================================
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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How the Restaurant Business is like Running a Marathon

I was speaking to a guest and they compared us to a person running a marathon, not a sprint, a marathon. They gave me the same advice that they would give a world-class runner, and I want to share it with you:

1. Don’t waste energy – to make the long haul we have take the right actions and not waste energy foolishly.

2. Look down the road and what is coming – like any good runner we should have our heads up looking at the road ahead.  The idea here is that we can avoid any obstacles and take corrective action before we hit any bumps that might slow us down.

3. Focus on the positive - I personally have never run a marathon but I get this on the most.  A Marathon is long and hard. The reference was on staying upbeat. If you are negative and always complaining, you only get more of that. If you’re positive and look on the brighter side you will only get more of that. What you focus on expands! We all need to focus on the good.

Even though a lot of us may not be runners, I think we can take a lot away from this.

This article provided by Jonathan Munsell, Restaurant Success System

www.restaurantsuccesssystems.com
Telephone: 919.334.6800

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Remembering You Are Your Company To Its Public

In our last TOS, Totally Outrageous Service, topic I introduced to you the five simple success guidelines for your contact with your guests.

How do you deliver TOS?

There are probably hundreds of ideas that could fit, here are just a few.

• Making sure callers do not remain on hold or ignored.
• Offering waiting guests water, coffee or juice.
• Answering questions patiently and thoughtfully.
• Guiding people through your restaurant instead of giving directions “Right this way”
• Helping the guest or caller get through to the proper person.
• Saying thank you.
• Acquiring extra knowledge that may be helpful to customers.

Now, I want to talk with you more about why and how to deliver Totally Outrageous Service, so let me introduce one of my favorite authors… Napoleon Hill and an incredibly successful book, “Think and Grow Rich.”

Think and Grow Rich was first published in 1937 after twenty years research and it continues to periodically hit the best sellers list yet today, over sixty years later. That alone tells us that this is an unusually important book. In the book Dr. Hill presents proven success principles shared and used by hundreds of history’s greatest achievers. One of those principles is the idea of going the extra mile. Dr. Hill once related a marvelous story about a little old lady entering a furniture store on a rainy day. Quickly judged by all the sales people on the floor as a non prospect, just someone escaping the rain, but one dumb, wet-behind-the ears rookie salesman, went out of his way to be courteous and helpful to the lady. Of course he failed to make a sale and was the brunt of much kidding by the seasoned old pros.

Not long after the incident billionaire Andrew Carnegie contacted the store and insisted that this particular salesman be sent to Scotland to take orders for new furnishings for the Carnegie family castle. The little old lady had been Carnegie’s mother. By going the extra mile and extending true customer service diplomacy even to a non customer this salesman became an overnight superstar.

Sure such a miracle is not all that likely to occur in your place of business. However, the habit of going the extra mile does seem to pay off in some way more often than not. It is soundly based on universal laws and concepts of success including the familiar do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

When we cross over and become clients or guests we certainly appreciate the person who goes the extra mile for us so it only makes good sense to extend that same appreciated courtesy to others.

This article provided by Jonathan Munsell, Restaurant Success System www.restaurantsuccesssystems.com
Telephone: 919.334.6800

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