Bar Operations

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Bar Concepts w/ Sensory Experiences

Developing a Bar Concept w/ Sensory Experiences

By Doug Radkey – 09/23/2019

Once your idea has been researched and the market, location, technical, business, and financial viability of the idea has passed a series of reviews throughout a feasibility study, a concept development plan can then be started.

Remember, outside of being scalable, you want to build a concept that is sustainable, profitable, memorable, and consistent.

Bar concepts over the years have gone from being tame (or lame) or overplayed, like tiki bars or sports bars, to concepts that push the boundaries of what a bar can be. One of the best ways to build a customer base is to go off the beaten path to create a bold and fresh new bar concept.

A concept plan will focus on ‘chapters’ and visual storyboards that include an overall:

  • Concept Summary (a one page summarization similar to that of an Executive Summary)
  • Statement Overview (Value, Vision, Mission, Culture)
  • Architectural Design (characteristics, features, costs)
  • Bar/Kitchen Production (your equipment specs)
  • Entertainment & Guest Experience Summary
  • Menu Design Attributes (food & beverage)

Owning a bar is a dream for most that must be met with the right research, planning, and mind-set.

One’s market will, and must, define the concept. To be successful, you must be open to building a venue the market both wants and needs.

Concept development is giving your ‘idea’, both soul and character. A bar’s concept is the lifeline of its brand and longevity in the market. It makes your venue stand apart from the competition, and it’s ultimately your bar’s unique selling proposition.

Have you ever walked into a bar and been confused about its identity? The interior doesn’t match the beverage offerings, the social media experience doesn’t reflect the actual experience, and even the music doesn’t seem to match the vibe of the bar.

This is what happens when there isn’t a clear and detailed concept development plan in place, and it is a sure fire way to be just average at best.

It’s More Than Just a Drink

Most conceptual ideas start at the food & beverage level. A bar however, needs to remember that they don’t just sell food & beverage; they sell experiences through the enhancement of guest emotions.

When planning a concept, it’s imperative to have a focus on the style of menu and niche of entertainment – but a winning concept will elevate a guest’s variety of senses. Here’s how:

Visual: Use the mindset of a traditional bar meeting on-trend beverage effects. Consider the style of beverage vessels, the use of unique ice cubes or even dry ice, the garnishes used, and potentially a variety of ‘smoking’ techniques within a variety of your signature cocktails, providing a visual effect that grabs every guest’s attention.

Plus, it will be hard to find a guest who is not taking a photo and sharing it on social media – an easy promotional tool to make each of their individual networks feel as if they’re missing out (FOMO) on the best experience in town.

Auditory: Music, drinks, and food share an intimate connection. From the beginning, this should be a focus. Every day, every weeknight, and every weekend must be filled with strategic decisions around sound.

From your day-part strategies, to the sound of cocktail shakers, to live music calendars and even proper speaker placement – your venue must see why 76 percent of bar customers surveyed believe they stay longer due to the sound of the environment.

Olfactory (smell) System: Like sound, a pleasant and subtle fragrance can lead to an improved perceived quality of the environment and can enhance the mood of guests, causing them to stay longer. Our sense of smell is after all, directly linked to the part of the brain responsible for memory and emotion – two things bars need to strive for.

For example; consider a Smoked Cedar Plank Whiskey around the Christmas season. The scent of the smoked cedar will fill the bar area with a subtle Christmas tree aroma, prompting the guests attention and need to spend more money.

Gustatory (taste) System: Food & beverage pairings have never been more important, and it isn’t just for wine. Consider appetizers (snacks) within your food & beverage program that pair with miniature versions of your signature beverages (beers, wines, and even cocktails) that could be served on flight boards; elevating all flavor profiles.

Your remaining food & beverage menu should be small, balanced, and targeted around flavor profiles that your ideal guests desire.

Summary; When you combine these efforts, it’s easy to see how a successful brand can build a community around thousands of fans – within 30 days of opening.

This is something you can easily replicate if you focus your decisions on layout, design, food, beverage, training, and events around the above sensories.

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Enhancing Your Bartenders Experience

Enhancing Your Bartenders Experience

By Doug Radkey – 09/17/2019

We Have a Problem – There’s No Team Spirit in Many Bars

Within the industry, we always talk about ‘experiences’ – and rightfully so. At the end of the day, experiences are what bars and restaurants sell to customers. All of the emphasis however, is on customer or guest experiences; but what about staff experiences?

Do your staff show up, do their job, and go home? Is there any sense of ‘family’ in your establishment? Is there laughter, or just silence, or even worse…complaining?

Time to Hit the Reset Button!

Desirable experiences shouldn’t stop with just your customers – your team craves experiences too! As owners, operators, and managers, it is up to you to make your concept more than just a ‘job’ or way for staff to ‘pay their bills’.

Implementing the right culture statement and team-based strategy, will assist in controlling your labor costs and reduce turnover – resulting in not only stronger consistency within your operations, but a positive environment that will flow to your customers and help amplify word-of-mouth marketing.

Here are some #BarHacks to help you get started:

Web Presence & Social Media

Bar enthusiasts are seeking to learn and understand the culture of a bar when deciding on their eating, drinking, patio, or party destination.

This is a great opportunity to showcase your team on your social media channels and on your website. Create a bio for your staff noting something unique about them, take a photo (or better yet, a video) of them and share this content to your ‘community’.

This will equally make your staff feel like they’re a part of a team and the business development process.

Create That Stay Interview

Many of you have likely heard the term ‘exit interview’, but what about a ‘stay interview’? Take video to the next level by interviewing your staff and developing a series of testimonials as to why they love working for your bar.

This tactic will create a sense of place and family among your team and also assist in your hiring process; positioning you to attain higher quality candidates who seek a positive working environment.

Continuous Education

A great team member is one who craves learning and one who brings the same set of values as you do to the table. Keep in mind …

“A bar is only as good as its worst bartender”

Every bartender must be of the same quality at your bar. If not, guests may become a fan of one bartender (and not the bar itself) – leading them to follow the bartender if he/she were to leave for another bar.

Take the time to invest in further training and education for your entire team.

Depending on your overall bar concept and financial model, consider developing an educational program for your team.

Think outside the box and create culinary/hospitality scholarships and/or consider sending your team to farms, breweries, wineries etc. to learn about specific products you offer and their development processes.

Continuous education will create a sense of appreciation, enticing your team to stay loyal to your establishment while benefiting not only their experience, but your customers’ experience as well.

Profit Sharing Programs

It’s safe to say, everyone enjoys working towards a common goal. Consider creating a realistic monthly revenue goal (slightly above your current average) for your bar. Now share this goal with your staff and create a SMART plan for the month on how to collectively obtain that goal.

If you surpassed that goal (congratulations), distribute a percentage (5% for example) of the monetary difference among your team.

Repeating this process each month will not only increase your revenue and profit, but will develop a team working environment, reduce turnover, and make your team feel important to the business and its success.

SMART Staff Reviews

Speaking of goals, there should be team oriented goals (profit sharing) and also personal goals developed within an overall action plan.

You should sit down with each individual teammate at least once every three months.

During this meeting and using SMART (Specific. Measureable. Attainable. Realistic. Timely) objectives, give each teammate something to work on over the next three months.

This could be increasing revenue per transaction averages, providing accurate inventory counts, reducing waste levels, or having accurate end-of-day cash out reports.

Of course, reaching objectives should be rewarded; therefore create a reward program that works for your concept and financial model.

Creative Mindset

Don’t let your staff get complacent behind the bar by having the same menu month-after-month and year-after-year.

This will lead to boredom, which will eventually lead to turnover. Allow your team to be creative by ‘creating’ food or beverage options that fit within the confines of your concept.

Consider holding an in-house contest each month to choose one featured food and one featured beverage option created by a staff member.

Highlight this on your social media and in-house marketing (effectively creating a story) while rewarding that individual with a commission on sales from that item for the remainder of the month.

If the product sells really well, consider adding that item to your everyday menu the next time you re-engineer your food & beverage menu.

In summary, execute a marketing plan approach to your staff recruitment and staff development program.

The time, resources, and effort spent on this will be well worth it in the long-run.

Just ask your staff!

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Building a Sustainable Cocktail Program

Building a Sustainable Cocktail Program

By Doug Radkey – 04/05/2019

Let’s be honest, the traditional bar setting serving cocktails is an environmental nightmare.

Let’s think about it; there is high use of energy within ice machines, refrigeration, and glass cleaning appliances. There is enormous waste in garnishes, straws, bottles, and napkins (to name a few). And finally, there are corporate wineries, distilleries, and breweries producing a large carbon footprint delivering spirits to the bar.

When it comes to bars; (or any other food & beverage service provider) the producers, manufacturers, delivery drivers, owners, managers, and servers ultimately share the responsibility to create an enjoyable guest experience within ones concept. As we have seen with restaurant kitchens over the past 3-5 years, there is now also a ‘movement’ towards eco-friendly and sustainable bars, something many guests are seeking as part of their desired experience.

On the surface, it may sound like an easy change, but creating cocktails in particular that are ‘sustainable’ (zero waste), is in-fact difficult to produce while maintaining the required quality, speed, and profit margins both operators and guests, look for.

So how can independent bars make a simple impact within this craft-cocktail ‘movement’? Let’s begin to have a look at some strategies (#barhacks) that one can implement starting today:

Re-Purposed Ingredients – How can you use 100% of an ingredient? Start by looking at the beverage menu. How large is it? Does it have focus? What ingredients are used in each and every drink that’s made? Which ones are used for infused flavour versus visual appeal? Which ingredients are only partially used with the remaining components discarded into compost, for example fruit scraps? Review each drink and look for ways to re-purpose ingredients and their counter-parts, within both the bar and/or kitchen.

Edible Garnishes – Obviously, cocktail garnishes are decorative ‘ornaments’ that often add character or style to a cocktail. They are often used to complement and enhance the flavours in a drink by stimulating the special nerve cells in our nose and mouth. The days of plastic straws, festive umbrellas, plastic skewers, and other non-edibles however, need to stop. Instead, use fresh fruits, flavour infused salts, edible stir sticks, edible flowers, house-made flavor-infused lollipops on candy sticks (yes), and steel skewers for olives and other edible garnishes, if so desired.

Energy Conservation – Take a close look at your glassware and how it is washed. Are you using over-sized glasses (ie. martini glasses) that are taking up too much space on the wash-rack, leading to unnecessary additional washes (which costs money and uses more detergents)? How many glasses could you fit if you changed glassware sizes?

How much ice are you using in each drink? Does the beverage really need ice or could the glass be simply pre-chilled? Take a look at your menu, glassware, fridge space, freezer space, and use of ice machine. Is there a way to reduce used energy within the bar itself to help create sustainable cocktails?

Supply Chain Management – Transparency, traceability, and accountability must be a top concern when deciding on vendors to ensure all products (both food and beverage) entering your bar or other food service business, are not only safe & sustainable for your customers, but for your community. Work with beer, wine, and spirit makers who are equally trying to make a difference. With the growth of local distilleries, breweries, wineries, and produce suppliers; supporting local and reducing the carbon footprint within a bar, is so much easier! Collaborate and work together to make a difference.

In summary, don’t start a goal of 100% zero waste or sustainability – it’s likely not going to happen overnight. Instead, set SMART realistic goals to reduce waste by 15 or 30% over the next 6 to 12 months to begin building a sustainable cocktail and/or bar venue. Once that goal is obtained – double down on that goal for the next 6 to 12 months. You and your customers will notice a positive difference!

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Should Restaurants Ditch 3rd Party Delivery?

Should Restaurants Ditch 3rd Party Delivery

By Doug Radkey – 11/12/18

Should restaurants ditch third party delivery apps and create their own in-house off-premise strategy? I recently took part in a few online conversations surrounding third party delivery apps – from both the consumer and the restaurant operator point-of-view.

If you follow along – I am not a fan of these services (at all). I’ve never used them nor suggested a brand to use them.

While I embrace technology in the restaurant space (and off-premise dining options) – I feel the business model surrounding these apps (in particular UberEats and Skip the Dishes during these most recent discussions) are lacking in both customer service and transparency while further killing overall restaurant profits (like operators today need anymore of that).

Let’s look at a recent transaction. I recently saw a screenshot from a consumer using a third party delivery application. After a delivery fee, a busy area fee, a peak delivery time fee, and the delivery fee taxes, a meal that was listed as $8.89 on the menu ended up costing them $30.36.

Of that, the restaurant earned a mediocre $6.67 of that order.

It’s not exactly a traditional breakdown of revenue that we see in restaurants, and operators today are struggling to adapt to this ever-changing restaurant landscape. I feel it came at them much too fast and many have jumped on board because they felt they had to.

But I have a question – why are we not doing a better job to get guests to spend that $30.36 they were willing to spend – in the restaurant or at least through our own off-premise dining program?

With a little effort – it can happen!

Here is what we know. Delivery and off-premise dining has disrupted the restaurant industry more in the last five years than anything else. Digital ordering paired with the outsourcing of delivery has impacted restaurant traffic, revenue, profit and overall restaurant operations like no other piece of industry-wide technology.

Based on the conversations this past weekend it seemed liked the only party benefiting from the use of these apps – was the third party. However, if you ask them, they’re apparently not making ‘huge profits’ either.

Here are a few notable quotes from the public chat that took place on Facebook – again from both consumer & operators:

“I’ve deleted the app – every time I’ve ordered, something goes wrong and a lot of times it’s the drivers fault not paying attention” – Consumer

—

“If you’re doing takeout, pick it up from your local business. Other than that you’re rolling the dice” – Operator

—

“Their chat-bot told me ‘we are deeply disappointed that we have failed to provide you with optimum service during your orders and for this reason we have decided that it is best to remove ourselves from this relationship’” – Consumer

—

“Best thing to do is get out and support your local restaurants, leave these rip off merchants congeal back in the gutter where they belong” – Operator

—

“I had no idea these apps take such a percentage from the restaurant on top of the delivery fee. I will no longer order through an app. I thought I was supporting my favorite restaurant, but apparently I wasn’t” – Consumer

—

Not much of anything positive.

Here’s the thing; recent stats are showing staggering numbers such as 60% of consumers ordering delivery in the past 30 days. Based on trend reports, this is ‘unfortunately’ only going to climb – even though I personally wish more people would visit restaurants, engage in the experience, get out of their home, and socialize with others away from their smart-phone.

But out of those that do order delivery through these third parties, 30% are experiencing poor customer experiences – with either the app or the restaurant – or both.

That is significantly higher than the number of complaints one would receive at the restaurant level without a third party being involved.

Here’s the next problem; according to a study by Steritech, consumers are placing over 80% of the problems on the restaurant through the use of these apps (even if most problems are not their fault).

Due to the third party app, a gap in communication immediately happens between the consumer and the restaurant. This leads to the restaurant not being able to often resolve the problem in a timely manner before that consumer blasts them for something on social media.

Not a pleasant situation.

This is because they’re sending their complaints directly to the third party app (the platform that ultimately placed the order for them) – which I suppose makes sense from a consumer point-of-view. This however leads to over 25% saying they would not order from the restaurant ever again – not entirely fair considering the restaurant may never have even known about this unhappy experience.

Furthermore:

  • 14% say food quality was not as expected (likely due to travel time or packaging)
  • 19% say the order took too long
  • 19% say the food wasn’t the correct temperature when it arrived (timing or packaging issue)
  • 29% say the order was incorrect or missing something

All of this could be avoided! When partnering with these mainstream third party apps – you’re also:

  • Losing a direct communication channel
  • Losing positive brand perception
  • Losing much needed profits to sustain yourself
  • Losing consumer data for future marketing
  • Losing foot traffic in your dine-in real estate

Most importantly – you’re losing control once that food leaves your four walls.

Why on earth are we doing this to ourselves for such limited margins?

If you are operating a restaurant and are currently using these apps – though you will never have full control of the situation, there are a number of options available to you to leverage more control.

That said I encourage you to consider your own in-house off-premise program. These options below should be considered whether you’re partnering with a third party or if you’re offering your own in-house platform:

  • Offering a limited delivery only menu option with higher margins (consumers are obviously willing to spend more)
  • Offering limited day-part delivery times (example; not at 6pm on a Saturday when the kitchen is slammed)
  • Using specialized take-out packaging for certain menu items to protect the quality of your unique food options
  • Using tamper-proof packaging so delivery drivers cannot alter the order (happens often)
  • Having a quality control program (or expeditor) reviewing meals before it leaves the restaurant
  • Sending printed customer care promises (how to reach the restaurant directly) delivered with the meal

There are much better options out there for digital take-out, delivery, catering, and off-premise dining that will allow you to keep control of all of the above while maximizing profits including the introduction of your own off-premise strategy – which will often keep costs to under 10% – no joke!

Then, use these ‘savings’ to increase your own marketing & advertising efforts. It surely won’t be 25-30% like what these third party delivery apps are currently taking from independent operators (which you were willing to give up anyway); keeping more money in your pocket.

This type of in-house strategy will also differentiate your brand from the competition that is also increasing each day on these main-stream app platforms.

How will you stand out and make your brand memorable? How will you position your brand for a sustainable future? How will you protect your brand, its profits, and utilize the available customer data?

Don’t partner with them just because it seems like the easy thing to do or ‘because everyone is using them.’

The notion that you must be on them to survive is 100% inaccurate. If you need to use them for ‘marketing’ – you need to learn more about marketing.

Take a stand and learn about your options first.

I am yet to hear a positive story on how these main-stream third party delivery apps have actually helped their business grow in the long-term. In my professional opinion, restaurants should ditch third party delivery apps.

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Have Restaurants Forgotten The Fundamentals

Have Restaurants Forgotten The Fundamentals

Originally Posted on FoodableTV – By Doug Radkey 08/08/2018

With technology continuously advancing in the restaurant industry, it can be easy to get absorbed and caught up in the next big thing. Technology platforms can help you save time, financial resources, and improve ‘customer service’ levels, just to name a few.

But sometimes when you get so caught up in technology, you can forget some of the fundamentals that will never be replaced by technology, but still play a large role in the success of today’s restaurants.

The key is the right balance of technology that will assist you in meeting both short-term and long-term goals.

This article is not about how to not use technology (it’s a great asset,) but don’t let it fail you, your staff, or your customers. Let’s strip back the technology for a moment and remind ourselves as an owner, operator, manager, or front-line employee – some of the tactics that we must never forget or stop learning.

First Impressions

Curb appeal and first impressions must meet and exceed your guests’ expectations. When stripping back technology, restaurateurs must understand that first impressions are essentially a means of effective communication that positions a restaurant to develop positive customer emotions and “touch points.”

As always, one must thoroughly think about the consistent message and experience that’s intended to be delivered.

Key Performance Indicators

Technology provides an operator with a great amount of data, but restaurateurs still need to learn and understand this data and know how to use it to their advantage. Understanding key performance indicators such as staff turnover percentages, prime costs, percentage of repeat guests, and proper menu engineering statistics (to name a few) – are all essential to making the right business decisions that will eventually impact your bottom line.

Concept Characteristics

Outside of having the right location, the right concept, and the right chef or mixologist – a restaurant needs to inherit five key concept characteristics that technology cannot simply implement on its own.

Restaurateurs need to develop scalability, sustainability, profitability, and consistency – while providing a memorable experience. Finding a successful, individual approach for managing each of these characteristics is the key to success in any economic situation. All five of these characteristics are important and must work in unison to be successful.

The 3 Elements of Marketing

In terms of restaurant & bar marketing, it comes down to three things– driving awareness, increasing revenue per customer, and generating repeat business.

Technology can help execute marketing strategies, but operators still need to know their target market and their hyper-local competition to understand which strategies will drive the best return on investment.

An ‘old school’ approach to developing a marketing plan will still deliver success in today’s technology driven world.

Continuous Education

It doesn’t matter which role one plays in the restaurant, everyone must continue to learn. Owners, managers, and front-line staff should have the mindset and a personal development plan in place to continuously learn the industry.  It’s important to stay up to date with customer service strategies, product details (visiting suppliers), and how the supply chain works within the restaurant. In addition; reading books and listening to podcasts for example are a great learning tool everyone can take part in.

Customer Service

It’s no secret, we’re all witnessing a shift in how technology affects customer service and ordering sequences.

As the technology continues to evolve, restaurateurs must not forget that engaging guests on a personal level will always build on those positive customer emotions. These “touch points” are required to make not only a positive first impression, but a lasting memorable impression.

This is especially important if you’re considering adding third party delivery to your revenue & service mix. How will you protect your brand and enhance customer service after the food has left your venue and is in the hands of their delivery drivers?

Make sure there is a plan in place that engages customers on a personal level.

Focus on Systems

Having the correct systems in place will create consistency, develop operating capital, enhance team morale, and build business value– while also positioning a restaurant’s concept for future growth opportunities (being scalable & sustainable).

This includes proper communication between front-of-house and back-of-house, day-to-day checklists, quality control methods, and human resource management, among others.

Again, there is technology that can assist operators with their systems, but they can’t develop the process of implementing the right systems for specific concepts. That is up to you to know which ones are needed to maximize each moment of the day.

Collaboration

Lastly, a sense of community is a driving force in this industry. We can build online communities (social followings,) but the best way to develop a sense of community is through collaborating with local farms, breweries, chefs, charities, and even the competition. Understanding this fundamental strategy will amplify your messaging throughout the community, improve a restaurants perception, increase staff morale, and generate revenue opportunities– while developing a destination, not just a restaurant.

Sometimes it is nice to just step back and review the bigger picture and remind ourselves not only why we’re in the restaurant business, but to revisit the basic fundamentals for restaurant success.

Once that is truly understood and the proper ground work is in place, technology can be implemented to enhance and support operations to save time, financial resources, and improve those needed ‘customer service’ levels.

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Bar Design 101

Bar Design 101

By Doug Radkey – 07/26/2018

There is truly a science to the design and layout of a winning bar. Outside of implementing a timeless interior, a bar needs to consider many factors including but not limited to; efficiency, hyper-local competition, and overall guest experiences – within its design elements.

Completing a bars ‘concept plan’ should be one of the first steps any aspiring bar owner should take. A concept plan will outline vision, value, mission, and culture statements plus its initial architectural, entertainment, and menu development characteristics (wishlist).

Once you’ve defined your concept, you can begin adding more heart and soul to the design and overall guest experience strategies; the back-bone to a memorable bar. Every component of the bars interior design, entertainment plan, and menu development process should enhance the guests’ overall senses (also known as emotions).

Here are items you can work on for your vision, prior to delivering a presentation to any designer, consultant, and/or architect.

Energizing the Space

Consider ways to not only maximize the space, but energize the space. What experiences can you deliver? Use this time to consider adding space for sound engineering, live music and/or DJ’s, interactive games, mix of televisions, and the right mix of socializing and networking opportunities.

Social Space

In today’s market-space, it is imperative that all newly designed bars (and restaurants) take into account social media, guest photos, and guest videos. Keeping the energized space in mind, how can you add space with the right lighting for taking group photos (with your branding in the background) in addition to taking videos and photos of cocktails and/or food.

Bar-Back

The next focus needs to be on bar efficiency. Consider the size of establishment, guest capacity, and your point-of-sale requirements. Then add multiple bartender stations while choosing the correct equipment, bottle display, overhead glass racks (less breakage), and under-bar space plus the number of speed rails, ice stations, garnish stations, cutting boards, and sinks within a one pivot movement for each bartender. This will then determine the size of ‘bar’ required, which will assist in developing your budget (and beverage menu).

Kitchen Space

A winning bar will also have a memorable food program. Offering premium food and focused, high-quality beer, wine, & spirits is a recipe for maximum revenue potential in today’s market space. Ensure there is space for grills, flat-tops, deep fryers, burners, and a convection oven (or combi-oven) plus space for prep areas, freezers, and refrigeration to provide a quick (and profitable) food program.

Seating and Lighting

This will entirely depend on the chosen concept. Your choice of lighting and seating will determine length of stay, the amount of money a guest will spend, and how they will interact with guests in their party plus other guests at your bar. Every seat and light fixture must have a purpose. This is just as important as laying out the actual back-bar itself and should be discussed with designers, architects, and consultants.

Branding

Consistency through all design elements (interior, exterior, menus, website, social media, and other marketing collateral) is the final consideration piece. Look for ways to incorporate subtle additions of logo colors and branding throughout the venue. Where ever the guests will take the most pictures and videos, make sure there is a way that people will know they’re at your bar!

There are numerous other variables and details required, but starting with this will make you look like a pro when you meet with a designer by having a concept plan completed and a true vision of how you want your bar to be laid out. A professional designer should be able to then take your vision, tweak it to professional standards, and implement it into drawings that will ensure it meets local codes and your overall budget!

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Developing Staff Engagement for Positive Guest Experiences

Developing Staff Engagement for Positive Guest Experiences

Previously Posted on RestoBiz by Doug Radkey 04/11/2018

Engaged and motivated employees are at the heart of positive restaurant experiences. Working at a restaurant or any hospitality-related business needs to be more than just another paycheck. Restaurant operators need to remember that money is not a motivator – it is a satisfier.

When employees are satisfied and engaged, everyone wins.

When restaurant staff members are effectively on-boarded, trained, and are emotionally happy in their environment (a venue where they get a sense of achievement, respect and wages), they are more often than not willing to share these positive moments with others, effectively becoming a brand ambassador – both inside and outside of the restaurant.

If restaurants hire for a mix of values and experience, versus experience alone, and create a systematic approach to hiring through proper job advertisements, interview processes, on-boarding, manuals and training, they will see an immediate difference in their culture and turnover costs.

This is why it’s important to remember that ‘values beat experience, when experience doesn’t work hard’.

Investing in employee engagement can give any new or seasoned restaurant a competitive edge. Let’s look at the steps needed to create effective staff engagement today:

On-Boarding Strategies

On-boarding is often overlooked within the restaurant industry, though it should be a priority! It’s an opportunity to introduce new hires to your expectations and culture, the first step in developing engagement. The days of throwing new hires into the fire on their first day of work needs to come to an end; no matter their level of experience. All staff should be given a series of welcoming packages, manuals and proper training specific to the brand. Lastly, on-boarding provides a clear chance to define what it means to be productive, promote compliance, and create the footprint for a memorable working experience.

Proper Communication

It is important to ensure the restaurant has a pre-shift meeting with all staff members on-duty. This will set the tone for the upcoming shift, whether in the kitchen or the front-of-house area. This is the time to ensure all staff clear their minds of ‘outside noise’ and are working towards a series of goals for the upcoming shift. Other communication methods that will increase engagement opportunities include hosting staff meal programs to discuss menu items, manager log-books (print or mobile friendly), and having other communication boards strategically placed throughout the restaurant.

Continuous Education

Consider starting a program that offers to help pay for culinary or other hospitality related education. Once a candidate passes their three month probation, discuss an opportunity for them to take their learning to another level. This could include online courses, in-class courses, or visiting suppliers such as breweries, wineries, or local farms to learn specific product information. Imagine the long-term benefits and staff engagement a program like this will do to a restaurant’s bottom line and overall guest satisfaction.

Flow of Creativity

When employees are empowered with the opportunity to be creative, great things happen. It is ideal to keep staff engaged in the food and beverage menu development process. It may be wise to create a program that promotes a new food and/or beverage item each month. If each staff member creates a new dish or cocktail; hold a contest to see which item(s) should be featured over the next thirty days. Then for each sale of that item over the next month, ensure the creative staff member receives a small commission from the sales. This immediately creates a new story, a level of engagement (online and in-store), and could help with future menu engineering strategies!

Staff Reviews

One of the many methods used to create culture and accountability, is that of performance evaluations. This type of evaluation is extremely helpful to track an employee’s step-by-step development and is highly beneficial; for both the employee and operator. Staff evaluations highlight areas the employee may be excelling at and areas that are in need of improvement. It also provides an opportunity to develop performance based rewards, which is an excellent way to reduce employee turnover costs and keep employees engaged in their day-to-day tasks.

Team Experiences

Outside of commission-based sales and continuous education opportunities, restaurant teams still seek other experiences. When is the last time the entire team went to a staff party or took part in a staff building exercise? Depending on concept and median age of employees, a restaurant operator has the opportunity to take their team min-golfing, laser-tag, paint-balling or out for a meal/drink elsewhere, one night per quarter, to name a few examples.

In summary, providing a consistently positive restaurant experience through staff engagement is what creates customer loyalty and long-term brand ambassadors. Once you have formulated this mindset, and designed these programs, it’s time to promote it. Get your staff to talk about it, get them to help in your recruitment efforts, create a story on your website and menu, showcase your staff everywhere possible (social media), and finally invest in their future for the sake of yours. It really can be that simple.

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Preparing for Wage Increases

Preparing Your Restaurant or Bar for Wage Increases

Originally Posted on FoodableTV – By Doug Radkey 03/09/2018

If you haven’t done so already, preparing your restaurant or bar for a regulated wage increase should be near the top of your to-do list, no matter your region. There has been plenty of government level discussions and a ‘movement’ if you will, defining a need to offer better living wages for citizens across North America (and abroad), with a focus on the hospitality industry.

The day is coming if it already hasn’t happened in your area.

Should your venue have already been offering what’s called a ‘living wage’? Arguably yes, but the market for years has demanded ‘good food for cheap’ (for the most part) which has dictated the need for restaurateurs in particular, to pay out the lowest wage possible to its hard-working staff.

However, the times are rapidly changing. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Not surprisingly, however, many restaurateurs, potentially ones like yourself, have become concerned about the complications a dramatically large increase in their costs will have on their operations.

The biggest challenge most restaurant owners face when considering a large wage increase is how they’re going to adjust their concept and overall business models, sales, and marketing strategies to effectively respond to the increase.

Smaller independent restaurants are placed into a concerning financial position that could have dramatic implications. But, it doesn’t have to be so grim for small operators with a well-thought-out plan about what processes need to be in place.

1. Review of Concept

Restaurateurs are ultimately responsible for achieving long-term viability. The key elements to a successful concept are scalability, sustainability, profitability, consistency, and delivering memorable experiences.  To achieve this, one must weigh their overall value against their expenses.

The first step to preparing for a wage increase is to measure your value proposition. How can you add further value to your guests to ultimately increase your revenue? What are one to two ways you can increase value within each of the above five listed elements within your unique venue?

Create a SMART action plan to implement over the next 1-3 months.

2. Review of Systems

Successful restaurants are also built on systems. As an employer, these systems need to be reviewed on an ongoing basis. What FOH and BOH systems can be scaled, improved upon, or simply cut-out, to maximize efficiencies without diminishing guest experiences, profitability, sustainability, and consistency?

This is the time to review your restaurant’s service sequences, training programs, food & beverage preparation, line of equipment, food & beverage suppliers, menu development, communication systems, inventory management systems, use of technology, and many others.

A complete 360 degree assessment of your operations is the most ideal approach.

Doing so will position your venue to potentially reduce weekly hours while offering an improved competitive wage that will be more utilized to its maximum potential.

3. Utilize Available Data

Improving a restaurants staff scheduling process within itself is an easy way to control costs, positioning a restaurateur to maximize its sales per labor hour and other labor performance indicators. Restaurant labor costs are a prime expense that needs to be properly controlled to eventually turn a profit.

An increase in labor benchmarks means your other prime costs including food and rent costs, need to be reduced below what’s been known as ‘industry standards’. This means that your food costs should be between 25-30% (instead of 30-35%) while your rent should be 5-8% (instead of 10-12%).

Aligning these benchmarks to profitable levels will position your venue for a sustatainable future; even with a wage increase – there is nothing to stop a venue from obtaining what’s often referred to as an impossible 10-20% net-profit over a period of time.

Utilize data on labor, hourly sales, and the month-over-month operating results from your point-of-sale system, to forecast expenses (creating a revised budget) with an increase in your new minimum wage over the next twelve months.

Physically visualizing this data and its results will determine the route you will need to take to pivot and align the remainder of your cost categories.

4. Menu Engineering Strategies

Once your systems are deemed to be operating at their full potential, it may be time to review your menu engineering strategies. To assist in a wage increase, for example, it is ideal to consider adding ‘value added’ menu items, simplifying food preparation methods, and looking to eliminate any complex menu items.

Your last resort should be to increase menu prices. Look at all other aspects first, including size of menu, preparation time, prime food costs, the number of ingredients used, and the repurposing of those raw ingredients throughout the menu, where possible.

Looking for ways to reduce and control food & beverage costs (controlling – not cutting), while developing a menu your target audience wants & needs, may position your restaurant to have more available funds to use towards an increase in labor costs.

5. Review Promotional Plans

The math is simple, an increase in sales and margins will position a business to pay its staff higher wages. Often the problem doesn’t lie within traditional lunch and dinner hours. To fill seats during traditional non-peak hours, restaurateurs need to consider menus that target day-parts and added-value; while understanding their ideal customer profile.

The moment a restaurant stops marketing is the moment it starts failing. Once a restaurateur truly understands their locations slow periods and peak periods, in addition to the target market and guest spending habits, a strategic plan can be developed and executed to maximize each moment of each day; by ensuring your restaurant has a monthly and quarterly marketing and sales plan created.

In summary, once that moment is gone, you don’t get it back. Therefore, what could an extra $100 to $200 per day in sales during typical ‘slow periods,’ do for you and your new labor costs, in one full year?

6. Look After Your Employees

Employees are your number one asset. If we (most restaurants) weren’t already paying just a minimum wage to employees, this discussion wouldn’t be needed. It’s time restaurant owners look to take the initiative and implement a better living wage for their employees.

Build culture and value by developing sustainable hiring programs, consistent training systems, scalable pay grades, profitable working environments, and memorable customer experience strategies to develop a brand your entire community (customers and employees), will want to support over that of your competition.

It’s understandable that small independent restaurants are vulnerable to a minimum wage increase, but there are ways a restaurant can prepare itself for, and take the initiative on their own, to increase wages and pay their staff a more comfortable living wage.

Change starts now!

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4 Ways to Prevent Restaurant Burnout

4 Ways to Prevent Restaurant Burnout

Originally Posted on FoodableTV by Doug Radkey 02/21/18

We know restaurant owners, chefs, and managers, more often than not, wear too many hats, leading to upwards of 60 to 80+ hours of work per week.

No matter how much improvement we’ve collectively made in recent times to keep operations manageable, flexible, and “fun,” there still seems to be the long hours, the working on holidays and weekends, and the minimal margins.

Let’s not forget about the labor restraints, the rising operating costs, and the demand of the overall market to deliver quality food, drink, and experiences; all at often the lowest price point possible.

It takes sacrifice and required systemized thinking, creativity, social skills, stress management, and a lot of passion to win in this industry — which leads to an enormous amount of personal pressure.  

This job-related pressure and the extra hours at work will, no doubt, create higher than normal amounts of stress; leading to personal exhaustion, poor decision making, mental health issues, and sometimes even family related conflict.

If this sounds like you, you need to find a way to simply work smarter, not harder. If you currently have the mindset that by working more hours will result in more work being done, you are wrong and need to make a restaurant lifestyle change, today!

This mindset is, in fact, the starting point of what we call: burnout.

Burnout within the restaurant (and hospitality) industry is real and happens more frequently than it should. Preventing burnout and building a work-life balance for everyone—including owners, chefs, managers, and support staff— is, in fact, possible, contrary to popular belief.

Here’s how:

1. Hiring the Right Team

The first step is to build a team based on values, vision, mission, and culture. Creating and executing on these statements will build the foundation within your concept to create consistency, accountability, and room for growth.

The right team, however, is only as good as the training program installed at the venue.

A profitable training program will provide common elements such as the use of checklists, incentives, and easy to understand procedures. This will then, in turn, create a system of standards— one that reflects your vision, value, mission and culture statement— immediately positioning you as a leader, to properly delegate tasks and empower your team to achieve the required daily objectives (therefore making life easier for everyone).

2. Creating Operational Systems

The more any restaurant depends on the owner’s day-in and day-out involvement in the operational details of the establishment, the greater the risk of failure and burnout.

Starting and operating a successful restaurant also relies heavily on having the right systems in place, allowing the venue and its hired team to work as one cohesive unit.

Having the correct systems in place will create consistency, develop operating capital by reducing costs, enhance your team morale, and build business value while positioning your concept for future growth opportunities.

These systems include HR management, inventory management, communication systems, financial control systems, positional and shift related checklists, quality control systems, and more.

The benefits that you will quickly achieve through the implementation of these systems are much greater than what you will need to invest in setting them up.

3. Utilizing Available Resources

It is also important to stay on top of your game by continuously learning. There are multiple ways to accomplish this, such as working with industry mentors, attending trade shows, reading leadership and industry-driven books, and/or listening to podcasts (just to name a few).

Owners, managers, and yes, even front-line staff should have the mindset and a personal development plan in place, to continuously learn the industry. Continuously learning will reduce your daily involvement, improve on team experiences, and drive the results your restaurant needs.

Without diminishing restaurant fundamentals, is there also a way to implement technology within your restaurant, allowing you to work more efficiently? What are some cost-effective resources available to you and your team to enhance operational systems? It’s time to look for these investment opportunities.

4. Finding YOU Time

It is critical that you find yourself some ‘you time’. With the right team, systems, and resources in place, it is not only beneficial for you but for your entire team, as well. Look for ways to have a 30-minute workout in the morning, afternoon, or evening after work.

You also want to ensure you’re taking time off each week for yourself, your friends, and your family. Lastly, schedule a vacation, and take it.

No excuses!

Stop trying to do everything yourself. Learn to trust your team, delegate tasks based on their varied skill sets, and simply avoid burnout.

If you recognize any of the symptoms of burnout, it’s time to make a change in your restaurant’s lifestyle.

Find your balance and build a culture that places a premium on life. It may look like more ‘work’ up front, and there are many more solutions to suggest, but investing in a people-first mentality, will provide the results you need to begin leading a successful operation.

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Conducting Restaurant Staff Performance Reviews

Conducting Restaurant Staff Performance Reviews

Originally Posted on Typsy by Doug Radkey – 12/06/2017

It takes happy, engaged employees to create memorable guest experiences. To do this requires leadership, culture, and accountability. This in turn will develop a cycle of improved revenue, loyal customers, and a decrease in employee turnover.

One of the many methods used to create culture and accountability, is that of performance evaluations. This type of evaluation is extremely helpful to track an employee’s step-by-step development and is highly beneficial; for the employee,  restaurant owner, operator, or manager.

Staff evaluations highlight areas the employee may be excelling at and areas that are in need of improvement. It also provides an opportunity to develop performance based rewards, which is an excellent way to reduce employee turnover costs and keep employees engaged in their day-to-day tasks.

The key ingredient however to a winning employee evaluation program is consistency. Be consistent in the timing of evaluations, your required standards, and with all employees (meaning do not single any one employee out from the others).

Asides from consistency, it’s ideal to also keep the following six tips and steps in mind when conducting staff performance reviews:

1. Create the Foundations Early 

Make it known during the on-boarding process that all employees are subject to both regular and scheduled evaluations. 

Design a complete staff performance plan by formulating accurate job descriptions, job expectations, standard operating procedures, on-boarding processes, pay scale development, training programs, and team building exercises.

These systems will create the foundations to work from, for future performance based evaluations.

2. Schedule Evaluations in Advance

When it comes time to complete an evaluation, the employee shouldn’t be surprised. It’s either part of the scheduled evaluations that they’ve been made aware of from the start, or you’ve had regular discussions with them, leading to a required off-schedule evaluation.

When you schedule an evaluation in advance, you can explain to them the entire process and provide them with a copy of the evaluation forms, so they’re equally prepared.

3. Encourage Self-Evaluation 

This form of evaluation is often over-looked by many employers, though it is an extremely important aspect to the overall evaluation process. It is best practice to have employees fill out the exact same evaluation form to see how their personal observations may pair with your observation.

Finding out how they feel about their own performance will set the tone for the evaluation meeting. It will also open a brief discussion period about any obstacles they may be experiencing to achieve a stronger performance.

4. It’s Not All About Your Employees

Performance reviews should develop an opportunity to create ‘two-way’ communication. Don’t make it all about the employee. Use this time to ask if there is anything the restaurant can do to make their job or employment experience better for them and their team mates.

Make note of this discussion and see if there are any trends or consistencies among the answers from multiple employees so you as the owner, operator, or manager can take immediate action to improve.

5. Provide Balanced Feedback

The overall staff evaluation should look at the quality of their work, including their dependability, attendance record, customer service rating, team-based communication, openness to feedback, and how they’ve handled unique or stressful situations. It is ideal to score and rank each category out of 10, to provide a measurable goal for improvement.

You want to take this time to provide honest feedback with a solid direction to improve on the requirements of the hospitality driven business.

Discuss the previous period, but keep in mind that at least 50 percent of the performance evaluation should be spent on the future. When talking, use simple, direct language while comparing each issue to a note within your completed standard operating procedures. This is how effective leadership is then respected.

If there is a below average score, anticipate the possibility of a confrontation or negative reaction. However, as the leader, if you’re properly prepared for the evaluation, you can take a proactive measure by following every negative with a positive, to reduce this possibility and to keep the momentum of the meeting in check.

You want to spend more time on the positives to enhance the performance improvement plan.

6. Set-Up a Performance Improvement Plan

This is the opportunity to improve on performance, morale, motivation, personal development, and overall profitability. By using a series of ‘SMART’ goals (Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely) an employer can create a system of reward and accountability.

Whether it was an excellent, average, or below average review, there should always be an improvement plan in place. It’s ideal to provide three SMART goals for each individual to work on between now and the next review or specified time for improvement. As the employer, is there any further support and/or resources they need from you to achieve these goals?

Write these goals on the performance review form, discuss any rewards/incentives, and ensure both parties sign it for optimum accountability. 

Completing these reviews on a consistent basis will provide employers with the opportunity to develop happy, engaged employees.

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