Build Your Restaurant Systems

Build systems for even the littlest repetitive actions.  It is as easy as writing down the things that happen as part of a process. Example: if you are always the opener and you know it inside out and backwards then simply make a chronological list of what you do.

5:55    Pull into parking lot (look around for anything out of the norm)

6          Enter building and deactivate the alarm

6:05    Read Managers Log from the close

6:10    Walk Restaurant and review the close from the night before (make Notes)

Etc

Imagine You Had a Detailed List of Everything You Do

If you did it you would have a pretty strong “How to Guide” for your restaurant or what we refer to as an Operations Manual.  Granted this takes time, but as the old saying goes “How do you eat an elephant? …One bite at a time”  Start with the basics and work to more detailed items later.  I suggest start with Opening Checklist and Closing Checklist.  It makes the most sense to enlist someone to help with one of these because you cannot be there all the time.  So if you can’t be there but “Your List” is there for them to follow and sign off when done then you should get pretty close results to what you would do.  They will miss stuff at first or not do it with as much detail but that is why you delegate not abdicate.  Delegation has the one major difference – You Must Follow-up!

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Expert Interview: Jonathan Munsell Interviews Equipment Specialist Lenny Douglas from Tundra Specialties

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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How Automating Your Restaurant Marketing Changes Everything!

Jonathan Munsell, Founder & Creator of Restaurant Success System and Restaurant Success Monthly, discusses with Susan Roseman how to take the bits and pieces of restaurant marketing done every month and roll them into a well crafted well oiled machine through automation.  Specifically they discuss the hugely positive impact that RepeatRewards has had on systematizing and organizing the majority of the monthly marketing tasks.  (this is the advanced preview of the  audio portion of a webinar which is being produced into a DVD and is still in the production phase)
>>>Click Here To Download Enrollment Forms<<<

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download to your MP3 or Ipod Right Click Here : Automate Your Restaurant Marketing

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The 8 Critical Characteristics Found In The Most Successful Restaurant Operations and Marketing Systems

These are proven hard hitting tactics that every truly successful Restaurant Owner lives by, in today’s economic times and ANY time!

It’s time for a change!  Would you agree?  Change can be a difficult thing for most everyone, including restaurant owners, especially during economically challenging times.  Yet, if you are not seeing the results that you want to be seeing from the things you are doing… change is what you need to do.  Just a bit of change can make a lot of difference.  A lot of people make excuses for where they are, but in order to overcome the struggles, you need to climb over the hurdles and take responsibility for your actions.  It’s imperative in order to have success.  In order to make changes, you need different actions, different thoughts, different resources and different tools.  You want fresh food in your restaurant… you need fresh ideas too.  Make a fresh start!

TAKE ACTION ON THE RIGHT ACTIVITIES.  A great idea without action is just still a an idea.  It can not make money for you.  Choose one idea to start with and start moving forward with the action.  Don’t worry about making a decision; you can always make adjustments.  But doing nothing is the usually the worst thing you can do.  Learn from your mistakes and make changes.  By taking actions on the right activities, you will see success!

INVEST IN, CREATE AND USE SYSTEMS TO REPEAT PROCESSES Don’t do everything yourself.  You can delegate duties and measure responses.  Make a list of all the things that you spend your time on that recur day-to-day or month-to-month.  Pick the ones that use up the most amount of your valuable time.  Develop a system and delegate or outsource these things.  Base it on how much you want to earn in a year.  If someone else can do it at a lesser cost, use that resource.  You can’t focus on minimum wage activities (slicing, dicing, chopping) and expect to make big money on the other end.  You should be managing the system, not being so wrapped up in the restaurants system that you’re a key part of it.

GUESTS, NOT CUSTOMERS At our restaurants, we want people to feel like family or friends visiting our home and to receive that extreme special warmth of hospitality while there.  Stop looking at folks who dine at your restaurant as a one-time transaction, and instead start building an ongoing relationship.  When guests have a WOW experience at your restaurant, they will tell at least 5 other people and at least one of them will become a loyal guest.  Just that bit of a change from customer to guest can make a huge difference in the way people visiting your restaurant will feel.  Your employees will feel the difference as well.  Developing this on-going relationship and history keeps your guests wanting to come back to your restaurant.

KNOW YOUR NUMBERS This means for every important part of your business.  Your restaurants operations numbers, financials and marketing as well as having a way to measure your guests’ experience will help you know how your restaurant rates.  Keep a customer database so you can market to your existing, loyal guests.  Reward them for their loyalty and have a feedback system in place to see what your guests are thinking.  Let your marketing numbers speak for themselves.  Cost can become irrelevant if it brings in more than you’re shelling out!

THE MASTER OF MEMORABLE DINING EXPERIENCES If you are working in the operations of your restaurant to be sure everything flows smoothly, then you are placing yourself into the payroll as another employee.  You may have many roles that you do, but you certainly can not make the money that you were expecting to make if you are doing a job that you shouldn’t be doing.  You must work ON your business instead of IN your business.  Once you are doing that well, you need to create a memorable dining experience.  This is more than just experiencing dining. What is a memorable dining experience you may ask?  Most likely you yourself have been on the receiving side of this once or twice in your life. It’s when you get that Totally Outrageous Service, that over the top every detail taken care of and the connection with the restaurant and/or their staff.  Maybe they toured your children through the restaurant when you and your spouse were dining, maybe it was the spot on service, or the way they made you feel when you were leaving and all you thought about was “I don’t want to go”.  It comes in many forms and when you have created a memorable dining experience for your guests, you have created raving fans which will drive the income that you expect to receive.

THE IMPORTANCE OF DIRECT RESPONSE MARKETING TO YOUR GUESTS Much of your time, energy, resources and focus need to be put into becoming a better restaurant marketer by creating systematized, measurable marketing.  Figure out what you would say to convince someone to dine at your restaurant rather than any other option… and put it in print.  Having your guests return and refer friends is the way you can see some of your marketing strategies start to work.  Direct response marketing, the type of marketing that makes people take action and respond, needs to be employed in every marketing piece you create.  Using the direct response techniques that I use will easily double, triple or even quadruple the average response to any marketing or advertisement. You should figure out ways to make sure your messages evoke a response. Marketing to your restaurant guests creates a relationship that will help you succeed… growing that relationship will grow your success too.

GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE! Become part of a mastermind group where you network with forward thinkers and share ideas regularly, where you can ask questions,  get opinions and move forward.  Get your staff involved also.  When they see the increases in sales and their own personal profit, they too will want to become more involved because it impacts them as well.  Constantly look and listen for what your guests want.  Keep in touch with what’s happening in the industry locally and in other parts of the country.  Trade publications and discussion forums can both be a great source.  If you feel stuck in a rut, look at your surroundings and join a group of others who will help you move forward. Virtually all top achievers know that to really get ahead…you’ve got to have a coach.  Seek out someone that is advanced in the areas you want to excel and engage them to help you succeed as well.

PROFIT THINKING can often lead to change.  The people that are most successful are the ones that will change with the times.  If you are still thinking of your restaurant in the same way that you did 5, 10 or 20 years ago, you need to stop limiting yourself, your restaurant and your guests!  There are many ways to think about, in which your guests want to purchase food and experience a wonderful dining experience.  Think big and your profits will meet you there.

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