A Guest Experience That Cannot be Copied or Cloned - By Peter McAlpine

Some Implications for the Hotel Industry
Does nobody see anything obsolete about the tendency of hotels to copy each other's guest experience, while the chains clone theirs throughout the hotel group? It's high time to move on from this practice. I would like hotels to understand that they can create a far more loving and caring guest experience that cannot be copied; one that increases the happiness and well-being of the staff and guests; and which puts the pervasive SOP/Customer Satisfaction (SOP/CS) guest experience in the shadows. This article explains why it is superior and why it cannot be replicated.

There are, however, some major implications for the hotel industry that the SOP/CS culture diehards and hotel groups that clone their SOP/CS guest experience will not like. Although they may not realize it yet, the time will come when the hotels and hotel groups that learn how to create it will reap the benefits over those that prefer to stick stubbornly to the well-worn path.

The scenario nowadays is basically this. When a new independent hotel opens, it uses many of the P&Ps, systems, and operational manuals 'borrowed' from the chain hotel groups. Similarly, when a chain hotel group opens or takes over another hotel, the corporate office fills it with basically the same P&Ps, systems and operating manuals used in all of the other hundreds of properties in the brand or Group. The result is a guest experience that is so similar wherever you go, especially in chain hotels where standardization and uniformity are treasured. This may be 'normal', but does nobody realize that the thinking behind it is now obsolete and that it merely confines you within the town limits of Normalville where every hotel's guest experience is basically the same?

Worse still, to facilitate the guest experience cloning process, the new hotels also install the same old Human Resources Department concept, which defies all pesticides and witches' cauldrons, and refuses to die. With the HR Department comes the service training, courtesy of the same Wonder Care customer satisfaction programme that has been doing the rounds in the Group for years with the occasional update. Cloneable customer satisfaction continues to 'rule, OK!', even if nobody dares to use these words anymore.

This approach has been great for the shareholders and financiers, but very uninspiring for the guests and staff as the guest experience basically stays the same. On the one hand, it enables the chains to open many new hotels each day or week very quickly and efficiently. But as long as the concept of service remains embedded in the SOP/CS culture mentality (100% efficiency in the SOPs), a hotel's service concept can be copied very easily by any hotel anywhere.

It must have occurred to people that with this cloneable concept of service, you eventually hit the ceiling of progress. Once every employee is performing the SOPs at 100% efficiency, how do you improve the guest experience except by focusing on the material aspects of a guest's stay. You can only become a maximum of 100% efficient, and you cannot use the same old concept to move to a higher level of guest experience. You cannot reach the stars on rocket fuel technology.

You can, however, change all this by creating a higher level of guest experience that cannot be reached by the SOP/CS culture hotels and which cannot be copied. The way to create a guest experience that cannot be copied is to completely change the focus and balance of the guest experience. You cannot create it with current thinking, which is very limiting.

Instead of basing the guest experience on performing the SOPs as close to 100% efficiency as you can, flavoured with a few dollops of that Wonder Care programme, hotels should base the experience on the main spiritual values and elements of service, namely, love, warmth, care (from the heart and not the SOP/CS kind), empathy, intuition, creativity, and mystery. When the focus is on creating a guest experience infused with these spiritual values and elements, you actually create something that cannot be copied or cloned, unlike the SOP/CS guest experience.

You have to change the emphasis from 100% focus on the standards to creating a guest experience in which the standards are saturated with love, warmth, care, empathy, intuition, creativity, and mystery. The more you saturate it with each one, the more the guest experience evolves. I find that these 7 create the synergy to take the service continuously to higher levels of guest experience. There is no ceiling unlike in the SOP/CS service culture, and this is one part of the beauty of it. The whole guest experience changes and can change in many ways.

This will sound laughable and idealistic in an industry where left-brain thinking still predominates, but the catalyst of this new guest experience is love. Assuming that you know how to do it correctly, the more you deepen the employees in this core value alone, the greater becomes the desire to want to show love to the guests; and as this spirit increases, the manner in which it is shown changes, and the guest experience changes. The spirit impacts the whole guest experience.

This is not theory. I have observed it happen several times. I started off in the hotel industry copying the SOP/CS guest experience like seemingly everyone else, but I always felt that something was missing. Eventually, I worked out that it is the spiritual element that is missing. Then I found a way to work through the heart to infuse the SOP/CS guest experience with love, care, warmth, and empathy to start off with before moving beyond this. I observed how the guest experience changed, and it even changed differently in different departments. People applied the spirit of love in a different way when creating the guest experience, and the synergy of the employees in one department created a different guest experience than in another department.

Then I observed how the same kind of guest experience differed greatly not just in different hotels, but also in different countries because of cultural influences. The SOPs were the same, but even with the same workshop content and the same extensive follow-up deepening programme in the 7 core values & elements, the guest experience turned out differently. By 'differently' I mean that the guest experience was stronger in certain core values and elements and so the staff did things differently. The emotional level also varied. Sometimes the guest experience was incredibly strong in love, care, and warmth, and sometimes less, but stronger in creativity, empathy, or mystery, for example. It could not be replicated because the spirit of love was at a different level. The spirit created affected everything.

So far I have just mentioned the effect of developing one core value, namely, love. Let's now add empathy. When you develop empathy, you change the guest experience further, and distance it even further from the SOP/CS guest experience, which in comparison becomes the relation everyone is embarrassed to talk about.

Empathy is an important quality to develop in the employees because the guest experience of tomorrow will require employees to be able to read and understand the guests intuitively, and to show that they are in-tune with them. In regard to the guest experience, empathy is a feeling an employee has of a guest's true emotions to a point where the employee can relate to that guest by sensing true feelings that run deeper than those portrayed on the surface. People often hide their true feelings with a mask, but an employee strong in empathy can sense the truth behind the mask and will act compassionately to help them express themselves, thus making them feel at ease and not so desperately alone. It is as though the employee truly understands, and indeed may do through personal firsthand experience.

When you develop empathy in the employees so that they are highly sensitive to the emotions and feelings of the guests and then act compassionately, considerately, and with understanding, the guest experience becomes truly wonderful - especially when you develop empathy by touching the heart and in combination with certain other core values and music.

The guest experience changes according to the development of empathy in the employees. The deepening programme will help the employees to increase their susceptibility to the emotion, as well as their desire to show it, but every employee will develop differently and practise it to a different degree. While the emotional level of empathy in the hotel will increase with the deepening programme, the intensity will differ between hotels, thereby resulting in more differences in the guest experience.

You can change the guest experience even more by developing the power of intuition of the employees. Why hotels don't develop this in the employees is a mystery to me. Everyone is born with intuition. Intuition enables us to have those moments of insight when we see a situation clearly and know precisely what to do. It creates those 'gut feelings' about a person or situation that turn out to be true. Unfortunately, many of us have been conditioned to distrust or ignore these direct experiences of clarity and insight, and to look at the facts instead.

Developing the intuition of the employees supports the development of empathy, and is a very important part of service at the level of creating truly memorable experiences and beyond because it increases the employee's feeling about the guests, and enables them to know what they should do to make each guest happy. By developing their intuition and by encouraging employees to use it, to act upon their feelings, and to show empathy with compassion, they will create more varied memorable experiences.

To summarize this, you can change the guest experience by the way you develop each of the 7 spiritual values and elements of the guest experience. When you develop one core value, it impacts the others, and this in turn creates a different guest experience. They are all interrelated. For example, the more you develop the intuition of the employees, the more it will impact the way they show empathy and the degree to which they want to show empathy. The more you develop love, the greater the effect you will have on the way empathy is shown and intuition is used. And so on.

When you add the element of mystery, the guest experience becomes even more impossible to clone. Mystery is an element that is seemingly little known in the hotel industry, but one day I am sure that it will be a normal feature. In short, mystery is when you leave even first-time guests asking themselves, 'How did she know ... that this is my favourite drink / fruit / food / music / etc. / or that I wanted to buy a Gucci handbag / that I want to go on a desert safari?' I haven't told her or anyone yet.' (There are ways!)

Mystery is something chain hotels will find very hard to create because you cannot make an SOP for it, and as soon as you try to standardize it, the mystery vanishes. The same actually applies to the other 6 core values and elements once you try to standardize them with SOPs and P&Ps. This point should not be taken lightly. Some of the current ways to create a guest experience will not work at the higher levels.

The level of mystery depends to a large extent on how the employees are deepened in the other core values because those other core values create the spirit and desire in the employees to want to create a guest experience filled with mystery. You can hand a hotel a list of 10 ways to create mystery, but the level of mystery created will depend on the synergy of all the core values being developed, and the level each individual employee has reached as a result of the deepening programme. Again, love is the catalyst that creates a truly memorable guest experience with mystery.

Let's add another of the core values, namely, care (genuine care from the heart as opposed to SOP/CS care), and the guest experience becomes even more impossible to copy or clone. In the SOP/CS culture caring service is mainly about providing guests with what they want and need in a material sense. Most hotels focus on ways to care for the guests and they have numerous manuals on how to do this; even going to the extent in one hotel group of having an SOP on how to smile. Generally, these manuals are full of procedures and standards that are written in a cold and emotionless language, seemingly by people from whose heart the spirit of loving and caring hospitality had been banished long ago.

In contrast, caring service at the level of creating a truly memorable guest experience is much deeper and closely linked to love. Truly caring service stems from love for fellow human beings and a genuine desire from the heart to make other people happy. How to develop this spirit of love goes beyond the article, but the spirit is very different from SOP/CS culture caring service where caring service usually feels like it is being provided because it is a duty to do so.

The more this core value is developed in the employees, the greater the impact it will have on the guest experience. The spiritual level of care in the guest experience is directly related to the degree to which the employees are deepened in love and empathy, and definitely not by training or techniques that increase or redefine efficiency. In turn, the more each of these core values is developed, the more they will impact the creativity and mystery in the guest experience because the more they are developed, the greater becomes the desire to be creative and to create mystery.

Everyone develops at a different speed. Some employees are so moved by the spirit and deepening programme that they are soon creating a guest experience that is infused with love, care, warmth, empathy, intuition, creativity and mystery. Others develop more slowly. Different departments develop at different speeds as well. Hotels as a whole follow the same pattern.

The guest experience cannot be copied because to a large extent it is created by the spirit of love, and this will vary from hotel to hotel. As the spirit grows, the experience will change. With deepening, the levels of love, care, warmth, empathy, intuition, creativity, and mystery increase, and as they increase the staff do different things for the guests, which they did not do before. The increase in emotion can be compared to turning up a dimmer switch to make a light brighter. Unlike in the SOP/CS culture, there is no limit to how far the dimmer switch can be turned.

This is what makes the guest experience grow and change in different ways. It is no longer restricted by the SOP manuals. With the gradual development of the core values and elements, the guest experience not only feels different, but new and different things also happen. Once a guest experiences it, s/he will never be happy again with an SOP/CS culture hotel.

Apart from the obvious financial benefits of moving on from the cloneable SOP/CS culture, there is another enormous benefit of creating such a guest experience, namely the health benefits of a truly memorable guest experience that is infused with love, care, warmth, empathy, intuition, creativity, and mystery.

Heart research over the years has proved that health starts with love, and that love can reduce stress. Research also shows that emotions work much faster and are more powerful for our well-being than thoughts; and also that the heart is much more important than the brain to overall health and well-being. The heart's dominance inside the body is now clearly demonstrated. Thinking clearly with your brain is useful, but feeling positively from your heart provides an amazing boost to health and creativity.

Showing and experiencing love, or briefly re-experiencing a cherished memory, creates synchronization in your heart rhythm in mere seconds. This increases the release of healthy, energizing hormones, while at the same time decreasing levels of damaging stress hormones. At the same time your immune system is strengthened, blood pressure decreases, and health and focus increase.

Feelings of compassion, love, care, and appreciation produce a smoothly rolling coherent heart rhythm. A different heart rhythm leads to other chemical and electrical - even neurological - reactions in the body.

When people experience love, they not only feel happy and joyful, but they also produce, for example, the hormone that prevents aging, and which gives us feelings of youthful vitality. Also, a loving body absorbs less cholesterol, thereby preventing arteries from clogging, and blood pressure stabilizes. Positive feelings, like love, generate health. Creating a truly memorable guest experience infused with the spirit of love is not only going to make hotels more money, but it will improve the health of the employees and guests. Surely the Sales and Marketing people can make use of this.

But there's more. Studies show that the electromagnetic field of the heart can be measured from between two and three metres from the body. If someone has a coherent heart rhythm, it has a demonstrably positive effect on other people in close proximity to him or her.

The implications of this for the hotel industry are very big, I feel. For a start, it makes completely obsolete the chain hotel approach to creating an essentially similar and uniform guest experience throughout a brand or the group. Why would anyone want to continue doing this?

It would be a great shame if the owners of the huge land and underwater hotel projects in the UAE, for example, spent a fortune creating a unique design and a multitude of facilities for their projects, and then installed an SOP/CS culture. What a waste of money and loss of revenue that would be, especially if a competitor group decided to break its traditional ties with Normalville!

In this concept of guest experience there is really no chance for uniformity and standardization anymore. Even with the same SOPs, the guest experience will be different in warmth and appearance in every hotel - sometimes with the comparative warmth of a 500 watt bulb, sometimes 3,000 watts, and sometimes even 10,000 watts or more. There is no limit either. The disturbing point for traditionalists is that if you try to create it by shackling the 7 core values and elements with the SOP/CS structure, the more you will discover that you cannot create the experience. The winds of change can indeed be frightening!

The area of competition for hotels will become the spiritual aspect of the guest experience; not the material grandeur of a property. The hotels and hotel groups that will become preferred will be those which have the more effective approach to developing the core spiritual values in the employees and guest experience; which have the more effective deepening programme; and which are willing to align all of the hotel's systems and procedures with the nature of the new guest experience. The traditional Human Resources Department will have to succumb to the witches' cauldrons, of course.

The SOP/CS culture will surely die at the 4-star and 5-star level because more and more hotels will try to create an alternative guest experience based on the experience described above. Independent hotels and small luxury resort groups will adopt it, and then the chain hotels will become undesirable in comparison. Why on earth would anyone want to stay at a hotel with an SOP/CS culture when you can stay at a hotel where the staff create a personalized memorable experience infused with love, care, warmth, and empathy, with intuition, creativity, and mystery, and where the warmth is so great and can be increased continuously? Incidentally, other spiritual values are actually developed too, such as compassion, but I cannot go into those here.

The ability to create such a guest experience will also surely become a major factor for choosing a management company. This kind of experience cannot be created in the key card manner of the SOP/CS culture. Hotels and hotel groups will have to experiment and this will take time. I have been doing this for over two years and I am still learning and discovering new ideas and ways.

A year from now hotels will wish they had started now. The speed at which they learn will be directly related to their willingness to break away from ideas and approaches that have become synonymous with organizational development and staff training & development in the age of the SOP/CS culture.

Hotels and hotel groups that don't like change will like irrelevance even less as the hotel industry changes direction and their shareholder value declines. I believe that in the future people will choose a hotel, especially at the 4-star and 5-star levels, according to the infusion in the hotel's guest experience of the 7 spiritual values and elements above. This will be where the money will be made. Meanwhile, ... the SOP/CS culture diehards will do just that.

About the Author
Peter McAlpine is the Senior Consultant at Renaissance Consulting Ltd. in Bangkok. The company specializes in pre-opening 5-star city hotels and resorts at the level of creating truly memorable experiences; upgrading customer service to this level; and inspiring hotel staff.

Contact

Renaissance Consulting Ltd.
99/192 Mubahn Place and Park,
Soi 90, Tanon Pracha Uthit,
Ampheur Prasamuthchedi,
Samuthprakarn, Thailand
Tel/Fax: +66-2-461-5164; +66-7-054-8813
E-mail: info@renaissanceconsultingltd.com

The Employment Interview - How Hard Can It Be.

By Dr. Rick Johnson
Monday, 28th May 2007

Interviewing a new job candidate sounds easy; After all you are in control; You have something to offer; You can select anyone you choose to select - Right?

That sounds good but in reality interviewing a person to fill a job opening is one of the more difficult tasks you may face as a manager. It does require specific skills to do it right and increase your chance of hiring the ideal person for the job; the person that will stay and fit in with the culture of your company.

That being said, I personally don’t know of one company that has a formal program to train their managers on how to conduct an interview. Interview training is much the same as training managers how to conduct a performance review. It is a rarity to find a company that actually does it. Recruitment, retention, interviewing and performance reviews are not just a “Human Resource” (HR) thing. They are a basic responsibility of all managers.

You can interview candidates for hours, do profile testing and have multiple team interviews and still not know for sure if they are the right person for the job and the right fit for the company. An effective job interview is one that will allow the employer to select an employee who will not only be able to perform the job, but who will stay on the job for an extended period of time. Turnover which requires rehiring and retraining are expensive for a company.

The Questions

Asking the right questions is not as easy as it sounds but questions that determine skill level and experience are fairly straightforward. The more difficult objective for any manager conducting an interview is to select the applicant who will fit in, work well in a team environment, be a contributor, enjoy, respect and promote the company’s image.

Selecting an individual that can not only do the job but one that will be so happy working for the company that they will stay can be a real challenge. Facing that challenge requires asking the right questions.

Let’s explore the interview process in more detail utilizing excerpts from CEO Strategists “Lead Wolf Interview Guide”

AN INTERVIEW IS:

A FACE-TO-FACE ORAL COMMUNICATION:

1. Between an applicant and an interview team
2. Initiated for a specific purpose
3. Focused on very specific subjects

Please note – individual one on one interviews in addition to and subsequent to team interviews are acceptable and sometimes preferred after identifying the final candidates.

SPECIFIC INTERVIEW OBJECTIVES:

1. To clarify data on the application form - - looking for apparent inconsistencies, time gaps or other missing information.
2. To obtain additional information not contained in the application.
3. To test to a degree, the applicant’s truthfulness regarding information on the application.
4. To obtain information from the candidate which will help appraise his personality, character, motivation and skills/knowledge.
5. To inform the candidate about the job, its requirements and the company.

CONDUCTING THE INTERVIEW

After you have conducted the necessary introductions and addressed work history, begin to focus more on probing for data you need to assess from the candidate in reference to the specific job requirements.

Avoid asking questions which can be answered yes or no. Ask open-ended questions which call for lengthier answers, for answers which give candidate’s opinion. If your questions begin with HOW, WHEN, WHY, they’re probably open-ended. Don’t ask leading questions which suggest a particular answer; the candidate will give you the answer he thinks you’re looking for.

Regarding work history, for example, try leading with a question like, “Tell me about your job at the XYZ Company”. The way he answers this question will indicate what he considers important. If he is slow to get going, ask him WHAT he LIKED and DISLIKED about the job; WHY he was interested in that job when he took it.

Then you can probe more deeply into:

1. Level and complexity of work
2. Extent of responsibilities
3. Motivation
4. Attitude and feelings
5. Effectiveness on prior jobs
6. Achievements
7. Interpersonal relationships
8. Level of accountability & authority

Here are some useful questions to ask in these areas. Don’t go down the list asking everyone in order. That would seem like an interrogation …. But these questions do suggest some useful approaches:

Level and Complexity of Work

“What did your job at XYZ Company consist of?”
“Could you describe a typical day at work?”
“What sort of things took up most of your time on this job?”
“What kind of decisions did you typically make on this job?”

Extent of Job Responsibilities

“Explain how you fit into that organization.”
“Tell me a little bit about your former boss.”
“What were his/her responsibilities?”
“How much contact did you typically have with your boss?”
“Describe some of your interactions with your boss.”
“Were you empowered to get your job done? How?”
“What kind of decisions did your boss expect you to make?”

Motivation

“How did you get into that field originally?”
“What attracts you to this industry?”
“When did you first think of leaving your former job?”
“Why did you decide to make a change?”
“What were some of the things that you really liked about that job?”
“What were some of the things that you liked about that company?”
“Describe the best boss you have ever worked for.”
“Describe the worst boss you ever worked for.”
“What is the worst thing a former boss ever did to you?”
“What is the best thing a former boss ever did?

Attitudes and Feelings

“What did you like best about your last job?”
“What kinds of things did you dislike?”
“What was most satisfying about your last job?”
“Did you like your boss?”
“How did you feel about the company as a whole?”
“What was the one thing you really liked about the company?”
“If you could have changed one thing – what is it?”
“How would you describe the culture of the company you worked at?”
“How much of a challenge was your former job?” How?”
“Do you feel you met your personal goals at your job, personally?”

Job Effectiveness

“Did you receive any awards or commendations?”
“To what extent were you able to increase your earnings?”
“What aspects of the job challenged you the most?”
“What did your boss say during your last performance review with regard to job specifics?”
“Did you agree with your boss’s assessment of your performance?”

Academic Achievements

“How well did you do in school – GPA?”
“What were the courses you did the best in?” Why?”
“What courses did you have trouble with? Why?”
“What courses did you get the most out of?”
“How have you applied any of the academics to your real world job performance?”
“How do you feel about the school you attended?”
“What did you like the most about school?”

Personal Goals & Objectives

This should include a discussion about what the applicant is aiming toward in terms of both the immediate job opening and their long range objectives. This is often a good way to develop insight concerning their ambitions and motivation.

“Could you explain exactly what you are looking for in a job change at this time?”
“If you had the opportunity, how would you write the job description for this job?”
“What values/standards would you desire in the company you would like to end your career at.”
“If you had to start all over again would you still be doing this type of work?

Outside Interests

A person has more freedom of choice in outside activities so these can be particularly revealing. Note how varied or restricted the outside activities are.

Note whether they are solitary in nature, family in nature or group type activities. Solitary activities might indicate that a person may be a loner. Extensive group activities could indicate an outgoing nature and an aptitude for leadership. Extensive participation in sports could indicate a high energy level and good physical health.

It could also indicate an ability to work closely with others in a team environment. Of course, all these observations can be backed up with personality profile testing. There are numerous tests available that can be used.

“Tell me about how you spend your free time.”
“What sorts of things interest you outside of work?”
“What takes up most of your free time?”
“What kind of things do you like to do best?”
“What activities outside of work give you the most satisfaction?”
“How did you get interested in…..?”
“Do you participate in any type of sports?”
“Did you play organized sports in school?” Intramural?”

Personal References

Don’t rule out references that are personal friends or family. Although a candidate is highly unlikely to put someone down as a reference that won’t say glowing things about them, sometimes they are not all plants. This is particularly true for young workers who have only one or two work references.

Personal references become necessary in these cases. However, try to uncover some names of other people and former work associates that are not on the reference list. Call them and ask about the candidate. These people are likely to give a reference that is less biased.

“Tell me about some of your co-workers and how they performed their job.”
“What about other supervisors at your last job. Who were they? How did you interact with them?”
“Who is the one person you didn’t get along well with at your former job?”
“Which family member do you have the most difficulty understanding?”
“What kind of reference would they give you?”
“Do you mind if we call them?”

Let’s face it. Conducting an interview and hiring the right person is no easy task. Getting the wrong person on board can be a very expensive and damaging proposition. This isn’t something to take lightly or just leave up to the Human Resource department.

Obviously, if you have an HR department, they will pay a very important specific role. But, the final hiring decision is generally left up to the manager of the department where the new employee will work. Train your managers on how to conduct an effective interview and what is involved in the selection process.

Remember, in spite of all the support from HR, in spite of all the testing that is available, in spite of the numerous team interviews and opinions, getting the right person in any given situation is still a gamble. However, you can dramatically improve your odds for success through preparation and training.

Rick Johnson, expert speaker, wholesale distribution’s “Leadership Strategist”, founder of CEO Strategist, LLC a firm that helps clients create and maintain competitive advantage. Need a speaker for your next event, E-mail rick@ceostrategist.com. Don’t forget to check out the Lead Wolf Series that can help you put more profit into your business.
www.ceostrategist.com

Foodservice Design - The Simplest Kitchen On Earth - By Lee Simon

Last summer, my family and I spent a week vacationing in the Rocky Mountain resort town of Breckenridge, Colorado. After a long day's journey, my children, then six and two years of age, were exhausted. They woke early, tolerated two planes that carried them half way across the United States, and then finally endured a ninety minute car ride before we reached our destination. We quickly dropped off our luggage and immediately left in search of somewhere to eat. We needed something simple and quick. The kids were fading fast.

Witness to an Operations Miracle
We found a local restaurant on main street called Rasta Pasta. They had a variety of pasta dishes. The restaurant is small, about 60 seats, but the menu seemed to offer a few dishes that were kid friendly and we were not in the mood for a restaurant scavenger hunt. Just as we had finished reviewing the menu posted outside, it started to rain. We headed inside and were seated in the restaurant which was a little less than one-third full at the time. But with the rain came an onslaught of patrons. By my estimation, there were about thirty people who were seated at the same time. I began to cringe.

There I was with a tired family in a small restaurant. Thirty patrons seated simultaneously. A very small kitchen. Only two servers were on the floor. For those of you with hospitality experience, you can appreciate the mental math that was going through my head. I could not figure out how they were going to pull this off, and to be honest I did not give them very good odds of doing so. I braced for the worst, keeping the kids entertained to the best of my ability, and then hoped for the best as I watched the two servers go to work.

Our salads and garlic bread arrived quickly, as they were prepared in advance. That helped to keep the grumbling tummies in order for a few minutes. With the kids content, my attention began to shift more towards the actions of the two servers and two cooks. The servers moved through the restaurant with incredible precision, while the cooks were busy but not out of control. My attention bounced from family to restaurant staff, back and forth. Within just ten minutes, our food had arrived. I thought we were fortunate to get our meals first, but when I scanned the restaurant, nearly every patron already had their entrée. It truly was an operational miracle, or was it?

Dissecting a Miracle
When our server had delivered food to all of her tables, she checked back to ask us 'so, how is everything. Is there anything I can get you?' My response caught her off guard. 'That was a thing of beauty,' I told her. I then had to explain my hospitality background and congratulate her and the rest of the restaurant's staff on their recently completed performance. And a fine performance it was. Thirty people fed in just over ten minutes in an a la carte, full service restaurant.

Before leaving, I took a closer look at the 'kitchen.' This was the piece of the puzzle that pushed my astonishment over the top. The entire equipment package consisted of two countertop six burner ranges, a single six-foot refrigerated preparation table, and a conveyor toaster. That was it. End of story. Being the sick, hospitality geek that I am, I arranged a time to return the following day to the restaurant, during off-peak hours, and interview the manager to find out just how they did it. I wanted to know how they made it work.

The interview was great and incredibly enlightening, because the system was so simple. They had implemented terrific menu planning and cross utilization of product. They had developed a menu of hot entrées that could all be prepared in a similar manner - by sauté on the range. They prepared cold entrée salads from the same refrigerated preparation table used to support the hot a la carte station. The salads were pre-made and the garlic bread was run constantly. With just three pieces of cooking equipment and a refrigerator on the line, they were able to offer incredible service.

And not to be overlooked, I believed that the attitude of the staff played an essential role in the restaurant's ability to perform. Let me give you one quick example. During my interview with the restaurant manager, I asked what they did when the single conveyor toaster went down. How would they produce their garlic bread? He said that they were pretty fortunate. The toaster was extremely reliable and did not go down much - maybe once or twice in a season. Usually, he shared, damage to the toaster was a result of an impatient server poking the conveyor to try and get their bread out quickly and, in the process, destroying one of the heating elements. 'What would you do then?' I asked as a follow up question. I was then informed by the manager that there were three simple steps to remedy the situation. First, he would berate the server (half jokingly, half seriously) for being so impatient. Second, he would take an unused sheet pan and throw it on top of the back burners, which were raised, on one of the countertop ranges. Finally, when the shift was over, he would spend thirty minutes unsuccessfully trying to find the element he ordered before season for an event such as this before giving up and calling a service technician to repair the unit. I think you see what I mean by attitude playing an important role. The staff all took their jobs seriously enough, but not too seriously.

Lessons from the Miracle
So what can we learn from this dining experience? Plenty. But there are two primary lessons that I derived. Let's start with the menu planning. The restaurant featured a menu and an equipment mix, despite being limited, that worked well together in total harmony. Both cooks could work on hot or cold entrées at the same time. The method of production was similar for most dishes. The cross utilization of food ingredients had been well conceived. When the menu and the equipment mix are not in harmony, seamless production is a near impossibility.

The next lesson has to do with the planning process as well - planning and design of the restaurant. What helped their success was thinking through the operation during the initial restaurant planning process, but not over-thinking. Some of the clients I have worked with in the past insist that the kitchen will 'never work' unless they have every single piece of equipment they can conceive in exactly the right place. I am not sure I agree with this, as kitchens always evolve, and often do so between the time the design is completed and the time the restaurant opens. Then, I have had other clients that have not thought through their operation enough before engaging in the planning and design of their facilities. This is not good either. I do not mean to sound like Goldie Locks, but the level of planning needs to be just right. Think through the operation, but don't over-think. Keep things simple and logical. Whether in a quick service environment or a five star luxury resort, just the right amount of planning will increase the likelihood for success exponentially.

About the author
Lee Simon is an award winning foodservice designer with The General Group. Lee is also the author of The Restaurant Dream?, a new book offering an inside look at restaurant development from concept to reality. As a practicing designer, Lee uses his operational experience on a daily basis to assist his clients with the planning of new and renovated foodservice facilities. His past projects, located domestically and internationally, include all types of foodservice operations. For questions or information, log on to www.thegeneralgroup.com or e-mail info@thegeneralgroup.com.

Be sure to check out Lee's new book The Restaurant Dream?

The Difference Between a Leader and a Manager

By Dr. Rick Johnson
Wednesday, 23rd May 2007

Make no mistake - to maximize your own effectiveness you have to be able to function both as a leader and as a manager.

The trick is to know precisely when to go into the manager mode and when to become that servant type leader. I once read a quote on the difference between a manager and a leader that stated:

"A Manager "does the thing right" and a Leader "does the right thing."

How Do You Become a Who?

I don’t know who said that but it is quite a simplification. First of all, a manager doesn’t always do the thing right and conversely leaders don’t always do the right thing.

Oh sure, most leaders do the right thing most of the time, but what the “right thing is can cause quite a debate and who gets to decide what the right thing really is?

And who decides who and what is actually right. How does one get to become a who?

Doing the Right Thing

Doing the right thing doesn’t sound very complex for a person of character and integrity but think about this for a second.

During my ten years as a turn-a-round specialists there were several occasions when I had to sacrifice the jobs of many to save a company and the jobs of others. Was that the right thing to do in the eyes of those that lost their job, their income, their security?

If you were the wife, the husband or the child of one of those employees that were sacrificed for the sake of survival of the company would you think that it was “the right” thing to do? We are not talking about malcontents, under performers and employees with issues. We’re talking about pure innocent sacrifice here.

All of a sudden, “the right thing” gets a little more complicated. That’s why I quit being a Turn-A-Round specialist after ten years. I got tired of being the “Darth Vadar of Distribution”.

Leaders Inspire Others to Greatness

True leaders inspire others to greatness. In spite of what may seem the contrary, being a true leader in times of sacrifice and turbulence is even more important than in normal times?

However, it’s equally important to adapt to the role of manager as well when sacrifice is necessary. I often talk about compassion as both a strength and a weakness when it comes to individual leadership models. I have met numerous CEOs that boast of long tenure employees.

However, there are some that earn that tenure simply due to the compassion of ownership. Certainly compassion for people is a strength but it can become a weakness if it stands in the way of accountability and maximizing the effectiveness of the organization.

The Balance of Compassion and Performance

So how does an effective leader balance compassion with performance and accountability? A leader must demonstrate the need for maximizing performance to the team. This is communicated more by action than words. Tolerance for the lack of excellence or sub par performance sends a distinct message. The wrong message.

A leader must lead by example whereas a manager uses direction and enforcement of policy and procedure to accomplish specific tasks. Of course, a manager must also be able to lead as well.

Sound confusing? It is……… There is a fine line between leadership and management. A line that is often shifting according to circumstance. If you are going to maximize growth and profitability in your organization that means that every manager must become an effective leader.

A leader encourages, leads by example, cares about the team and gives regular feedback. People need to be recognized and praised. A leader influences and inspires others to believe in themselves and to follow a vision for the future.

Communication is essential, knowing when to go into the manager mode and become less a servant is also necessary. This mode should be the exception but it does exist for even the greatest leaders and it is necessary at times. In fact, a true test of an effective leader is knowing when to go into the manager mode. Effective communication can stir emotions and emotions can become a powerful motivator.

Confidence, Self Esteem or Ego?

We all have egos but effective leaders control their own egos and understand how to utilize their understanding of people to inspire peak performance. They are confident and have high self esteem without demonstrating arrogance. Leadership can not be ego driven but good leaders command a presence when they walk into the room.

They are not only compassionate but they are passionate about success and they make every effort to coach and mentor their team. However, a leader can't afford to waste too much time in the minutiae of the team. In fact a functioning team will solve many of its own problems and they are expected to. This happens when the right people are on the team.

Leaders lead by example, they delegate and empower people. They also seem to have a keen sense about selecting and developing the right people. That in itself is a key difference in transcending from being just a manager to becoming an effective leader.

Selecting the right people with potential to excel and then developing those people through the coaching and mentoring process to achieve greatness is a primary responsibility of leadership. Effective leaders know precisely when to coach, when to mentor and when to manage.

So what’s the Difference?

In reality if you are going to be responsible for the actions and results of others it just isn’t good enough to be only a manager. Effectively, managing is about leadership. Personally, I believe to be really effective, there is no difference. An effective leader must be a good manager and a good manager effectively must be a good leader.

The results will speak for themselves in the long run...

E-mail rick@ceostrategist.com if you would like a copy of the “Lead Wolf Leadership Creed”.

Rick Johnson, expert speaker, wholesale distribution’s “Leadership Strategist”, founder of CEO Strategist, LLC a firm that helps clients create and maintain competitive advantage. Need a speaker for your next event, E-mail rick@ceostrategist.com. Don’t forget to check out the Lead Wolf Series that can help you put more profit into your business.www.ceostrategist.com

TOURISM, CULTURE AND HERITAGE--February Tourism Stats Available

Nova Scotia welcomed seven per cent more visitors and had a five per cent increase in room nights sold in February 2007 compared with February 2006.

"February was a good month with the East Coast Music Awards and we're now ramping up for the busiest part of our season," said Len Goucher, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Heritage. "We're rolling out our 2007 marketing campaign based on the new tourism plan developed through the Tourism Partnership Council. We're looking forward to seeing how the season unfolds."

Room nights sold varied in the regions in February, with a 13 per cent increase in Cape Breton and a 45 per cent decrease on the Eastern Shore.


The number of people traveling to Nova Scotia by road decreased by six per cent, while air visitation was up by 39 per cent over February 2006.

Air travel is increasing as travelers want to spend more time at their vacation destinations and less time getting there. Cities with direct air access to Nova Scotia are being targeted in the 2007 marketing campaign, which will be launched at Stanfield International Airport on Thursday, April 24. The campaign has a heavy emphasis on online tactics to reach the many travelers who research and plan their vacations on the Internet.

Nova Scotia's comprehensive system for reporting tourism statistics includes counting overnight visitors -- excluding Nova Scotia residents
-- at all entry points to the province and gathering the number of room nights sold from licensed accommodation operators.

Detailed tourism statistics can be found on the Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage website at www.gov.ns.ca/dtc/pubs/insights .
Statistics for March 2007 are expected to be released in early May.

Bellboy to General manager- How long is the Road?

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Where do GM's come from? How do they start? How long is the road from entry-level position to a leather chair of GM's office? We took a look at a number of professionals from around the world to come to a series of interesting observations.

For those just entering the Hotel Industry, the ultimate career goal may be the position of General Manager. For others, it may be CEO of a Hotel Company. Less ambitious ones may settle for a Director of Rooms or Director of Sales title.

We took a look at Hotel General Managers across the world, to determine how long it took them to get to their current position. We sliced and diced the data on 60 people from various countries and backgrounds to answer this question - How long is the road? How much time does it usually take from the moment when a young person walks into the door as a receptionist or a bellboy to the moment they land their first seat in the big leather chair of a GM's office, guarded by a dedicated personal assistant?

Table 1 reflects the length of time it takes a person to get from an entry-level position to a General Manager role in various parts of the world. Interestingly, the shortest time it takes is in North America (only 14.75 years on average), and the longest is in Asia (16.5 years). Europe is in the middle at about 15.8 years.

This could be contributed to the differing values placed on climbing the career ladder in various cultures, or to the average age at which people retire (thus creating opportunities for the younger colleagues to be promoted), or to the size of the industry which translates into the number of opportunities available to upcoming professionals.

We also found that the area of specialization made a difference in how fast the person rose to the top ranks of management. The data on all professionals we studied was split into 4 common categories - Administrative Personnel, Food and Beverage Division, Rooms Division and Management Trainees. Although not an exhaustive list, it covers 97% of all GMs included in the survey.
Some of the examples of entry-level Administrative positions were Accountants and Night Managers. In F&B, young professionals often started as busboys, waiters, stewards, cooks, assistants F&B managers. Typical entry-level Rooms Division positions included: receptionists, PBX operators, bellboys, Assistant Front Office managers.

Unsurprisingly, it took the shortest time - 14.8 years - for people who started as Management Trainees (across all cultures) to get to the General Manager job. These are usually top graduates from Hotel programs, handpicked by hotel companies. They are invited to be nursed through all various departments in order to be seasoned as General Managers in the shortest possible time. People who came up through Rooms Division followed the Management Trainees (at 15.3 years).

For those trying to select the job that leads to the General Manager position not by the fastest, but by the most assured road, Table 3 offers the set of data on the make-up of the General Manager population we studied categorised by where they started.

A clear majority of General Managers around the world (40%) started their careers in F&B in entry-level positions. Interestingly enough, this is very characteristic for Europe, where the number reached 55%! At the same time, in the US it's Rooms Division, and in Asia it is an almost even split between the top 3 most popular areas.

Although jobs in the Hotel industry vary in popularity around the world, the General Manager position is one of respect and financial satisfaction. Taking one's time to climb up the ladder from the entry-level job as a waiter or bellboy has its' hardships as well as rewards. It also doesn't have to be the end goal, but rather just another step on the ladder of one's career success. Many CEOs and COOs are made from former General Managers.

Forward any questions or comments to Tatiana Veller, Managing Director - Russia for HVS Executive Search, at tveller@hvs.com or at phone numbers +7 (495) 660-3653 and +7 (909) 642-0313.

By Tatiana Veller




This article comes from Hotel News Resource
http://www.hotelnewsresource.com

The URL for this story is:
http://www.hotelnewsresource.com/article27258.html

Food & Beverage - Great Night For A Buffet - By Joe Dunbar

One sure way to experience a higher food cost percentage is to substitute an all you can eat buffet in lieu of your a la carte menu on your busiest night of the week.
Batch production and preliminary forecast data will set a ceiling on the quantity and cost of production. Service labor is typically lower on buffet service. Most likely, the buffet is priced well above your average dinner entree.

Is this a smart move?

I do not recommend allowing customers to determine portion size. You can help by having manned carving stations. Although you will see a better food cost percentage, you lose some of the service labor savings.

Does the higher buffet price make up for the greater food consumption associated with the buffet service style? I believe the higher prices encourage customers to overload their plates. Your patrons are aware of the menu structure. They will calculate the utility in selecting the buffet and make the decision based on appetite.

Years ago, I was at a training seminar for statistical sampling techniques. In the early evening, a classmate asked "where's a good place to eat around here?" and very few people responded. Finally, a friend suggested an excellent Italian restaurant with a Wednesday night only buffet. He said he heard about it from his cousin who lived in the area. It was a Wednesday. Four of us decided to join him at the buffet.

This restaurant offered both a la carte menu service and the buffet. Our waitress asked if we were ready to order. Everyone encouraged me to start first. I was a definite for the buffet from the moment I stepped inside. My friend stuck with his original plan and also ordered the buffet. The next person was dieting and she chose a chicken breast entree. The ordering dynamics changed and the last two people also selected from the a la carte menu. Both people ordered a pasta entree with a side of Italian sausage.

Our buffet was priced twice as high as the typical entree. We each enjoyed clams on the half shell, shrimp, baked lasagna, prime rib, salad and we picked up dessert for our still hungry mates. Everyone kept looking at our prime rib (a beauty) with envy.

This restaurant employed help to carve the rib and portion the stuffed pasta dishes. The portions were generous and the goal seemed to discourage patrons from going back to the self-serve shellfish selection and salad bar. Desserts were eye popping and our friends begged us to bring them each a slice of a decadent chocolate cake. Our dieter stuck with some fresh fruit.

Our fellow diners decided they would order the buffet if they came again including the dieter.

I am 100% sure the cost of the food we consumed exceeded the target food cost percentage. During the meal, I noticed most tables were filled with serious buffet lovers. Clearly, the wait staff was skeletal. They did pay for extra help to handle portion control at the carving station. Were they right in the decision to go buffet style? I believe they were doing well with the buffet strategy.

Since they used a sumptuous buffet with prime rib and a top notch seafood selection to fill seats on a Wednesday night, I liked the idea. A quick check of the other restaurant parking lots nearby showed the wisdom of the decision. Shift the same meal service to Friday or Saturday night and I'd be against the decision.

Joe Dunbar
Dunbar Associates
P.O. Box 579
Fairfax, VA 22038-0579
800-949-3295
http://www.joedunbar.com
jdunbar401@aol.com

How will Global Climate Change Affect Canadian Tourism

http://canadiantourism.blogspot.com/2007/04/how-will-global-climate-change-affect.html

Last night, I was fortunate to attend a presentation by the three territories (Yukon, NWT and Nunavut) promoting tourism to the north (see Lookupnorth.ca) I have only visited the Yukon in the past, but the presentation reinforced my wish to visit the North (I really want to visit Nunavut) as soon as possible and perhaps launch a Spanish website to promote it to Hispanic markets. It also reminded me about Global Climate Change because while looking at the great images of the north that were presented (vast open spaces, Musk Ox, Caribou, pristine rivers, mountains and lakes, wonderful Inuit faces carving magical figurines) I thought to myself "my God, all of that could be gone in a few decades."

An article on the front page of the Globe and Mail published on Monday April 9, 2007 began with the following:
"By 2050, snowmobiling could be history in Eastern Canada, a quaint winter pastime from the days of yore. It will be just too warm to have reliable snow. People who like skiing in Banff on real snow better get on the slopes now and enjoy it while they can. The ski season could become truncated, perhaps by as much as 14 weeks a year at higher elevations." (Globe and Mail, April 9, p. A1)

Looking at this past ski season in the Rockies (and Whistler for that matter) one could be tempted to say "Naaah," but the people of Intrawest already know very well how unstable, wacky weather can affect their business as it happened last January when Blue Mountain in Ontario had to layoff hundreds of workers due to lack of cold and snow. The Globe's article based the previous statements on the recently released summary report by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), the UN sponosored group of more than 1,000 scientists studying climate change. The report is alarming (but not alarmist) to say the least. 2050 is not that far off into the future. Some of us might still be alive then and certainly our children and their children will be (my daughter will be a relatively young woman then). While climate change has been part of the history of the world and certainly Canada's (as Prof H.V. Nelles wrote in A Little History of Canada: "The story of Canada begins with the melting of the ice") it is not change that is most concerning, but the pace and speed with which it's taking place.


The predictions are so dire that one might be tempted not to believe what activists like Al Gore or scientists groups like the IPCC are saying, but that would be a grave mistake. All evidence points to unstable weather at best and unbelievable climate and geographic changes at worst (with the consequent loss of lives).


The purpose of this posting is a call to action to the Canadian Tourism industry to get involved now. From grassroots (how has climate change affected your business so far?) to provincial and national associations, the industry should organize and begin working groups and committees to study how climate change is affecting and will affect Canadian Tourism by 2050 and whether there is something we can do to either prepare for the changes or to ameliorate the impact. You can download the entire summary report by the IPCC by visiting www.ipcc.ch


Comment, get involved, this is a matter that is not just about the future of Canadian Tourism, but also about the future of our children and our children's children.
hasta la vista,

Jaime

Making the Move to General Manager

Published: April 2, 2007
Author: Martha Lagace

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5608.html

People achieve success in the early years of their career by specializing and becoming functional experts—in essence, they succeed by knowing more and more about less and less, says Benjamin C. Esty, chair of the General Management Program at Harvard Business School. "But there comes a time when they have to recreate themselves as generalists. In this new generalist role, they end up knowing less and less about more and more. This is an extremely difficult and potentially very risky transition, and it can easily derail a very successful career. GMP is about smoothing and accelerating this transition into general management."

For new general managers—or just as likely in companies these days, senior functional managers who operate as part of an executive team or who have important cross-functional or cross-organizational responsibilities—their job has changed from driving excellence in a single functional area to integrating consistency, cohesion, and alignment across many moving parts in the business unit.

"When you're responsible for leading, it's not enough to do what you've done in the past. You need to fundamentally rethink what you're doing and where you want to go in the future."

The first big challenge for new general managers, says Esty, is seeing linkages and interconnections across the organization. The second is transitioning from the role of a doer to the role of managing through other people—and that's a big change.

"As a new GM, you will be one step away from the customers or one step away from the shop floor. Your job is much more about people and less about hands-on doing. So really the challenge is about delegation and achieving leverage; and on some level it's about finding, hiring, developing, and retaining top people. With those individuals, you then have to build an effective team.

"A lot of people aren't comfortable letting go; they want to do."

How it works
New skills, while important, are only a small part of what new general managers must possess. GMP's greater goal is to challenge them with new perspectives and ideas around people and organizations to help them forge connections across functional areas, says Esty.

To that end, readings and classroom discussions in GMP are very different from the Harvard MBA program, and from other HBS leadership programs. Where the MBA program develops functional skills, GMP uses business cases that cut across multiple functional areas and highlight the challenges of integration. The cases also focus on general managers from companies around the globe in an effort to mirror the international mix of participants. "We try to have cases that reflect the people in the group. More importantly, we choose cases with protagonists that have exactly these general manager jobs, who are 'the general manager in the middle' who have the incredibly difficult job of managing up, down, and across the organization.

"The cases are designed to get smart people to see different things in the same situation. In essence, the cases end up being Rorschach-like experiences: 'Here are some clouds. What do you see?' It's stunning for the class to realize that very smart people can come to very different conclusions. And so it really expands how they think about problems and gets them to focus on the process of making important decisions." But changing the way people think and improving their business judgment is what GMP is really all about, says Esty.


About the author
Martha Lagace is the senior editor of HBS Working Knowled

Future Proofing Your Property

By John Burns

The economy is cyclical. The boom phase of the cycle will give way to a softer economy just a surely as a recession proceeded the prosperity we are enjoying today. As an industry we can prepare to weather the next downturn with the least negative impact possible including minimizing empty rooms, lost revenue, laid off employees and reduced profits. Future proofing is a combination of the following three elements.

Vigilance
Prosperous times sometimes can encourage a passive attitude to the future as managers focus (quite naturally) on making the best of the good times. The future proofing process begins with recognition that a downturn will eventually come. Once that recognition is accomplished the stage is set for ongoing watchfulness for signs of a developing decline. Several indicators are available for hoteliers to monitor, including:

The pace of new bookings for future dates in comparison with the pace in similar previous periods. Group booking pace provides a long-range indication, offering a view six, nine or 12 months into the future. Transient booking pace provides shorter-range but nonetheless valuable evidence of either continued strength or potential weakness.

National and international economic indicators such as those found in magazines such as Newsweek, Time, Business Week or the Economist as well as in numerous online sites. Downturns have dependable “hard” indicators that are reported by these sources and which are accompanied by the pessimistic buzz that prosperous times may be coming to the end of their cycle.

A vigilant mindset positions a hotelier to recognize downturns relatively early in their onset. That recognition enables them to act sooner and thereby take the steps needed to mitigate the impact of the demand drop that accompanies economic softness. Leaders can capture the early mover advantage in the marketplace as travelers shift their preferences to lower cost and higher value options.

Preparation
The preparation element of future proofing has many aspects. Those in this article relate to inventory and revenue management as well as to sales and marketing activities. Several areas within these disciplines invite examination and, where necessary, adjustment, to allow hotel management to move quickly and decisively when they see an economic downturn approaching.

Future proofing in the context of hotel sales and distribution begins with verifying that the property’s rate structure provides flexibility to quickly respond to changing demand in the marketplace. Achieving this essential flexibility is best accomplished through the creation of a series of rate tiers. The presence of these tiers, with successively higher rates moving from a lower to a higher tier, not only enables upward movement to a higher rate tier when demand is strong but also downward adjustment to a tier of lower rates when demand softens.

Each rate tier provides a coherent spectrum of FIT, corporate, group, promotional and other rates, allowing relatively easy movement from tier to tier rather than piecemeal adjustment of individual rates. Because of this ease, the multitier structure better protects corporate rate revenues while allowing lower (sometimes considerably lower) promotional rates.

The next area for review is promotions. Promotions (bed and breakfast rates, free Internet access, free parking at airport properties while guests are traveling) take time to devise, frame out and implement. Those devising and framing steps can be completed in advance, in anticipation of their potential implementation should negative conditions warrant. Partially completed promotions can then be left “on the shelf” for use if and when required.

Remember that promotions need not be developed from scratch or all be developed by you and your team. Now, when pressure to immediately respond is absent, is the time to ask questions such as: What worked well for our hotel during the last economic downturn? What would be required in order to repeat one or more of those successful promotions? What, if any, modifications might or should be made to them? What did our competitors do that worked well? Can we use the same ideas this time to gain advantage for ourselves by being the first hotel to introduce the promotion in our market?

Some promotions, such as fourth night free, may not only require internal accounting flexibility but may also stretch the capabilities of the hotel’s property management system. As promotions are considered and as some are prepared for potential implementation it is wise to verify the PMS’s ability to accommodate these possibly unconventional revenue allocations and, if changes in functionality are required, to move ahead with them.

Sometimes a package is a promotion, sometimes it is not. Regardless, packages are a powerful vehicle through which to offer highly attractive-and incremental revenue generating-propositions in the market. Packages bundle accommodation with one or more attractive add-ons at a price that drives business. Further, they can allow discounting without revealing the specific room rate, and so protect the integrity of the property’s rate structure.


Like promotions, package component pricing can challenge a property management system. Verification of the property management systems ability to accommodate the proposed packages’ rate structures in advance is prudent. If it becomes apparent that changes are needed in the PMS this is the time to take the necessary action.

If designing a flexible rate structure and preparing promotions and packages are step one in the preparation phase of future proofing, step two is validating the distribution plan. Future proofing demands a detailed understanding by sales and marketing, revenue management and reservations staff of all of the distribution opportunities in all of the available channels - both those in use and those currently unused. This begins with understanding the additional opportunities available via the central reservation system (CRS) in which the property’s availability and rates are stored. The CRS is operated by either the lodging brand with which the property is affiliated or the representation company used by the property.

The CRS is the gateway to selling the property through the brand’s central call centers, through the global distribution systems, and through the brand’s Web site. There may be additional exposure opportunities present, opportunities above and beyond listing rack, corporate and program rates. There may also be specific procedures, or sales prohibitions, with which property staff should be familiar.
In focusing on this area, they should ask these questions: What are the package and promotion loading procedures? What is the approval process (if one is required) for listing of a new promotion by a property? How quickly can a proposed new entry be considered, approved and loaded in the CRS and on the brand Web site? Are there any obstacles or prohibitions about the promotions that can be listed, i.e., packages with third parties such as concert ticket promoters that may be restricted by corporate policy?

Once the options and opportunities available directly from the hotel brand or representation company have been determined and figured into the future proofing action plans, the next step is to identify the options available from third-party Web sites.

This process involves still more questions.
What use is the property making of merchant model distribution options in the large Web sites such as Expedia, Travelocity or Orbitz?
Does the property now, and at what point in a softening economy should it, offer additional inventory or lower rates in certain circumstances?
What exactly is the forecasted occupancy or revenue point at which those actions should take effect?
How much, if any, use is currently made of opaque distribution sites such as Priceline or Hotwire?
At what forecasted occupancy or revenue levels should that use increase, if at all? Are there other Web sites in which participation that could benefit the property during an economic downturn? What are they? What is the procedure for becoming active in them?

Channel management is the term for maintaining rate and availability information in all of the distribution channels–the brand CRS, the large third-party Internet sites, and all of the small specialty Web sites in which the hotel appears. Rate volatility is common in soft business situations and the challenge for reservations and revenue management staff to maintain accurate rates and availability data in every channel and site in which the property participates grows larger. A variety of computerized channel management tools are now available to hotels with which to automate and speed this data distribution. As part of the future proofing process, the hotel’s need for a monthly subscription to one of these tools should be determined.


The next step is to search for potentially useful shared sales opportunities. Can city or regional clusters of properties promote themselves to jointly achieve greater visibility than would be possible for a single property? Are there alliances in place-possibly coordinated by the brand or representation company-to facilitate such joint promotions?

Finally, the property’s readiness for another type of distribution warrants examination–the hotel’s public relations program. Great rates, packages and promotions are of little benefit without an awareness of them by potential buyers. A public relations program that pairs an extensive and up-to-date distribution list of printed and online recipients with relationships with local and regional travel writers will substantially increase the likelihood of broad awareness of your property and the appealing offers it has available.

Responsiveness
Watchfullness achieved and preparations made, the third and final element in future proofing is responsiveness. When the indicators suggest and confirm that a period of demand decline is underway, the need is for prompt, measured response. Once the signs are clear, it is time to adjust group rates, complete the promotions, activate the packages, and become even more focused on the changing demand for accommodation.

By acknowledging the inevitability of an economic down turn, monitoring for signs for its arrival, preparation of tactics for use when that time comes, and timely implementation of those tactics, a hotel can weather the down cycle with the least disruption to its revenues, competitive position and internal resources.


John Burns is the president of Hospitality Technology Consulting. He can be reached for comment at John@burns-htc.com or by phone at (480) 661-6797.

Employment Opportunities

The Normaway Inn is a uniquely-appealing property located on 500 acres in the
Margaree Valley at the beginning of the Cabot Trail.  Accommodations range
from nine rooms in the Inn to self-contained cabins with woodstove fireplaces
and Jacuzzis.  We feature gourmet dining in a country setting where our five-
course meals include herbs and vegetables from our own gardens as well as
local lobster, trout, lamb, organic Highland and Angus beef.  

Before and after dinner, we welcome our guests to meet other travelers in our
living room for a chat around our spacious fireplace  where we are pleased to
provide nightly entertainment.  Bicycles and foot paths are available to
explore the property.

We are currently seeking individuals to fill the following positions:

Sous Chef
Waiters and Waitresses
Front Desk Attendants
Housekeepers
Grounds Keepers

If this setting sounds appealing to you, please contact us as follows and
visit our website at Normaway.com.  Accommodations can be arranged for
successful applicants.

Phone                1-800-565-9463 (Halifax 457-1131)
Fax:                1-902-248-2600
e-Mail:        normawayinn@lincsat.com

Disappearing front desk

By Jack Hagel, Staff Writer

CARY - Something is disappearing from hotel lobbies across the Triangle: the imposing, impersonal front desk.

Desks that resemble tables or podiums are replacing those long, marble barriers -- for decades the cold centerpiece of the American hotel lobby -- as more hotels experiment with new check-in procedures aimed at cutting down long lines and making guests feel more welcome. Consider:

* Plans for a Hotel Indigo in Durham include a circular, low-to-the-ground front desk resembling an information desk at the mall.

"If a front-desk person is checking someone in and they want to walk them to the elevator, they can do so very easily," said Natasha Gullett, an Indigo spokeswoman. In older hotels, clerks are "locked behind those front desks; they don't have that flexibility."

* The region's first Aloft hotel, to be built near Raleigh-Durham International Airport, is to include a circular "free floating" front desk that also will offer more flexibility.

* Durham's Wyndham hotel may be retrofitted with podium-like pods as part of a national redesign planned by the chain.

* Lifestyle Hospitality, which plans a boutique hotel in Durham, wants to do away with the front desk altogether. Employees with electronic tablets will greet guests, sign them in and walk them to their rooms.

"It's almost like walking into a private home, where the host approaches you," said Lifestyle CEO Steve Marx. "... You'd be crazy to think a traveler would not feel comforted or welcome by that."

Technology is a big part of the front-desk evolution. For years, clerks were tethered to the desk answering phones, working the cash register or guarding keys.

"Half the people who traveled wanted to write you a check," said Russ Smith, general manager at Embassy Suites in Cary. "It was a very mechanical process."

Today, kiosks allow guests to check in, get their keys, and check out without ever talking to a hotel employee. That unchains clerks from the desk, allowing them to pay closer attention to guests. They can walk guests to the fitness room, for instance, instead of just pointing.

At the Embassy Suites in Cary, those tasks are easier because of three check-in podiums that take the place of a traditional front desk.About a quarter of Embassy Suites hotels feature the pods. Eventually, all of them will, Embassy spokeswoman Dawn Ray said.

The pods still function as old-fashioned desks for guests who prefer face-to-face service, about 90 percent of those who visit the 273-room Cary hotel.

The design has made it easier for front-desk clerks to help guests who have problems with kiosks. "When you're in the grocery store, and you're stuck, someone will come up and help you," Smith said. "We do the same thing. We just come out from the pods."

Not all guests are keen on the kiosks. Take Jim Turiano, 34, a systems engineer from Allenwood, N.J., who stayed at the Embassy Suites in Cary last week. He prefers the face-to-face check-in at the desk.

But in Cary, "I didn't know where to go," he said. "I saw a couple of folks hanging around in ties at the little pods. It was really confusing. I like to know where to go and know what to do. It's one of those comfort factors when you get to a hotel."

At least the pods made it easier for hotel representatives to assist him Wednesday when the kiosks stopped working.



Staff writer Jack Hagel can be reached at (919) 829-8917 or jack.hagel@newsobserver.com.

What Will Not be Hot on the Restaurant Menu in 2007?

By Greg Morago and Linda Giuca, The Hartford Courant, Conn.McClatchy-Tribune Business News

March 22, 2007 --Pity the poor chefs who are still drizzling everything with truffle oil. Don't they know it's over?

At least that's what other chefs (perhaps even chefs who helped make it a common restaurant staple) say of the unctuous oil infused with the word's rarest of fungi.

Truffle oil, however, is only the latest victim in a long line of ingredients, spices, foodstuffs and preparations that moved swiftly up the restaurant menu ladder, only to become victims of their own provocative popularity. Remember when it was sun-dried tomato this and blackened that? We've weathered enough seasons of arugula, roasted garlic, balsamic vinegar, free-range chicken, preserved lemons and exotic salts to last a lifetime.

So who's to blame when wonderful foods become so pervasive that we turn our backs on them? Is it the restaurant chef who is eager to be considered hip by championing a trendy product? The zealous consumer, armed with magazine clippings, demanding the new gnudi? The television food personalities who suggest we demand Marcona almonds, Peruvian potatoes, Danish butter, Emilia-Romagna cheeses and Iberico ham? Or the food media machine so quick to tempt readers with the next new thing?

Probably all these forces work to make a foodstuff a hit and then a flop. But as anyone who lives to eat knows, food trends are cyclical. One day we're waxing eloquently about the glories of curried chicken salad, and 10 years later we're rhapsodizing curry-flavored ice cream. One day it's artisanal honey; the next day it's bee pollen. Goodbye, carambola (star fruit); hello, acai (the Brazilian super berry that's loaded with antioxidants).

We began the new year with plenty of predictions from a variety of food sources about what will be hot in 2007 on the restaurant menu and in the shopping aisles. The lists include: locally grown produce, high-end chocolate, flavored sodas and waters, pork belly and other artisanal pig products, better bread and whole-grain bread, molecular gastronomy and exotic mushrooms.

But even the food predictions for 2007 have some been-there/done-that redundancies. Some lists said burger bars and upscale salts would be new trends. In some cities, burger bars have reached a saturation point. And haven't we scoured the world for salt enough already?

Speaking of "enough already," we asked national and local chefs which ingredients they're absolutely tired of seeing in the kitchen. Yes, truffle oil was the first answer from more than one chef. But some of the other foodstuffs might surprise you. Here's what they said when we asked what they're weary of cooking and fed up with on restaurant menus:

* Aaron Sanchez, executive chef of Paladar and Centrico in New York: "Truffle oil. I think it's overused,and it's a distraction. If you're going to use truffle, use the real deal. The oil is like a bad perfume."

* Daisy Martinez, cookbook author and host of "Daisy Cooks!" on public television: "Today it seems like there's an overuse of cilantro and chorizo to make Latin food 'Latin.' Nobody has addressed that there are different types of chorizo that come from Portugal, Spain, Mexico. The chefs who are using those ingredients don't have a connection to it and it shows. And if I never saw another molten chocolate cake, I'd be happy. It's been done already, hello!"

* Roberto Donna, chef/owner of Galileo in Washington, D.C.: "Foam. I hate foam. I don't think foam should be involved in any kind of food. Make a sauce or use the ingredients in their own original taste. I'm against any technique that changes the taste of the ingredient."

* Luis Bollo, chef at Ibiza in New Haven and Meigas in Norwalk: "It doesn't happen that often,but I'm tired of codfish croquettes. Customers love them,but I get tired of them."

* Sean Dutson, executive chef, Hartford Marriott Downtown: "If I never cooked another grilled chicken breast or saw another fried calamari, I'd be happy. The reason for both is that everyone does these dishes. The chicken breast is something I always feel people are getting because it is culinary 'safe': They know how it is going to taste, and although it isn't particularly exciting, it is at least something they are familiar with. As for the calamari ... most places have figured out that if they don't screw it up too bad, it will win praises from their customers, so they offer it. I just don't really like doing it because people migrate toward it and forego some of the less common things we offer ... plus the way I prepare it ... it is a mess to clean up.

* Chris Schlesinger, cookbook author and owner of East Coast Grill & Wine Bar in Cambridge, Mass.: "Tuna tartare and edible flowers. They're ubiquitous -- everyone uses them. Tuna tartare is a way for chefs to use the scraps of tuna, but now everyone does the same thing."

* Noel Jones, chef at the Polytechnic Club in Hartford: "Truffle oil is a good example of something overused. Putting it on microgreens? No. Putting it in an egg custard? Yes. Some chefs think if you give people a lot of truffle oil, you will win them over. I say keep it simple."

* Jimmy Burke, chef/owner of Riva Restaurant in Scituate Harbor, Mass.: "We sell a ton of chicken parmesan. We do it well because we're an Italian restaurant. Our customers expect chicken parm on the menu, but I hate having it on the menu."

* Daniel McManamy, chef at Gabrielle's in the Centerbrook section of Essex: "The first thing that comes to mind is butternut squash. It's ubiquitous because it's cheap and plentiful. People like it, and almost everyone has butternut soup or butternut ravioli. I have butternut risotto [on the menu]."

* Kim Canteenwalla, chef for Elizabeth Blau and Associates in Las Vegas, and partner in Simon LA in Los Angeles: "I like them, but I'm bored with short ribs. They're everywhere, on every menu."

* Louis Lista, chef/owner of the Pond House Caf- at Elizabeth Park, West Hartford: "If I never have to be concerned about someone's carb count again, I would not be upset. This is coming from someone who could happily live on pasta, rice, potatoes and bread."

* Todd English, cookbook author, television personality and owner of multiple restaurants in Boston and New York as well as Tuscany at Mohegan Sun: "White truffle oil. It makes me gag. I had it on caviar, and I was like, 'Whoa! What's going on here?' It's overused."

* Mary Sue Milliken, cookbook author and owner of Border Grill in Santa Monica, Calif., and Las Vegas, and Ciudad in Los Angeles: "Boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I look at them in the grocery store and think: 'What are people doing with them?' It's the worst kind of chicken you can have. I hate them. Don't get me wrong: I love chicken -- the whole chicken."

* Jennifer Crescella, chef at Shea's American Bar & Grill, Manchester: "Tiramisu. It's everywhere in every shape, size and color. It's bastardized from the Italian version." Garlic mashed potatoes rub her the wrong way, too. "Let's go back to wholesome, good solid cooking. Simplicity is what I like."

* Sara Molton, executive chef of Gourmet magazine and television food personality: "I have mixed feelings about truffle oil. I like it, but it's been overused. It overwhelms whatever you put on it. Yes, I use it, but it's been overdone."

* Rob Maffucci, chef/owner of Vito's by the Park, Hartford: "My two ideas are unrelated: If I never saw another filet mignon well done, or saw another Olive Garden commercial ... A filet is a beautiful piece of meat; if you're a steak lover, it's the best. [But overcooking] takes an incredibly expensive and delicious piece of meat and turns it into a Salisbury steak. If you're going to order tuna or meat well done, you should probably order the chicken." As for the chain restaurant, Olive Garden spends "millions of dollars convincing you that Grandma is in the kitchen. My mother is in the kitchen [at Vito's restaurants]. When you come to Vito's or any chef-owned restaurant, the best compliment you can give to the chef is: Ask the chef to come out, and ask him what his favorite dish to make is. You'll have the best meal."

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Hartford Courant, Conn.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

Food & Beverage - Signs of Theft

Some people can feel when they are getting ripped off by someone inside. Trust your gut. If you have a strong suspicion there is a thief the problem is probably already chronic. Set and bait the traps.
One of my first assignments involved catching two thieves with their hands in the cookie jar. The first suspect was the closing bartender and the second was the closing chef. My client was sure the food cost was out of control. He felt the bartender was guilty of treating his friends to expensive wine.

Prices on shrimp and crab were dropping steadily in this restaurant with a New Orleans themed menu. A new vendor had joined the competition and prices at the Fulton Seafood Market were trending lower. The food cost percentage was steadily climbing to an unacceptable level.

Portions were very straight forward for both of these key items. The popular Jambalaya called for 6 pieces of Shrimp 16/20. Crab meat was only used in crab cakes (1/4 pound per cake). The Micros 2700 POS system was programmed for two crab menu items - a single cake appetizer and a two cake entree portion. The Jambalaya was only available as an entree.

If you run into a period when vendors are discounting prices on high volume purchase items, food cost should be in decline. This poor performance could not be blamed on the market. I had the owner go count the crab and shrimp. He gave me the phone number of the modem hooked to his POS system and I installed the polling package on my computer.

Based on recent sales activity, there were plenty of shrimp for the weekend. The freezer had 5 blocks of 5 pounds each. Since we were out of crab, an order was placed for 20 pounds. So the available portions were 75 Jambalaya and 80 crab cakes. Sales counts for the weekend were 44 Jambalaya and 72 crab cakes (30 apps and 21 dinners). I called the owner on Monday morning and asked him to count the shrimp and crab. He reported no shrimp and 7 crab cakes in the freezer.

I prepared the report for him to use in the discussion with the chef. After being confronted with the numbers, the chef responded. He told the owner he had donated two blocks of shrimp to a popular local charity. The owner knew the president of the association personally and began to dial his number. The chef stopped him and admitted to the theft. He was replaced and the food cost fell in line.

There were zero sales recorded on the Micros for an expensive California Merlot (the entire week). A fresh case had only 5 bottles instead of 12. The bartender said his friend asked him to charge his account for the week. He drank one bottle a night on each night. The friend would come by soon once he cashed his paycheck. The owner let it fly. I protested but he said bar sales were way up since this person had started. His friend started paying and still drank his nightly bottle.


Joe Dunbar
Dunbar Associates
P.O. Box 579
Fairfax, VA 22038-0579
800-949-3295
http://www.joedunbar.com
jdunbar401@aol.com

How to Start A Restaurant

You love food, but it takes more than that to start a restaurant. Here’s what you need to write your own recipe for success.
By Eileen Figure Sandlin
Entrepreneur.com
Updated: 11:00 a.m. ET March 16, 2007The Main Ingredients



For more information, see Entrepreneur magazine’s step-by-step startup guide #1400, Restaurant and 5 Other Food Businesses, available at www.smallbizbooks.com or by calling toll-free at (800) 421-2300.

From poultry to pirogi, steak to grits, Americans are hungry for good food and unique dining experiences. The National Restaurant Association says that in 2005 (the latest year for which statistics are available), the average household expenditure for restaurant food was $1,054 per person, or $2,634 per household. And considering the 300 millionth American was born in late 2006, it’s clear there will be plenty of customers both today and in the future. That makes owning a restaurant a good business opportunity for aspiring food-service entrepreneurs, even during economic slowdowns and when consumer prices are rising.

“Food dollars spent outside the grocery store are higher now than ever,” says former restaurant consultant Kenny Lao, 30, co-owner of Rickshaw Dumpling Bar in New York City, an eatery with 2006 sales of $1.3 million. “So if you have a strong concept and have your execution and operation strategies down pat, any time is a good time to open a restaurant--even now.”

The Cornell University School of Hotel Administration confirms that the most successful restaurateurs have a clear concept and the ability to implement it consistently, as well as the determination to succeed and the flexibility to adapt to changing market conditions (including economic downturns). At stake is an estimated $537 billion in industry sales projected for 2007--and your chances of success are better than you might think. A survey commissioned by Restaurant Startup & Growth magazine suggests that the failure rate for independent restaurants is 23 percent--a far cry from the 90 percent that has been the conventional and largely unsubstantiated figure exchanged in business circles and famously emphasized on the reality show The Restaurant. That’s significantly lower than the failure rate for all new businesses--only 50 percent remain operating after four years--so you have reason to be optimistic.

The key to success is service, says Randy Smith, president of Bottomline Hospitality Group in Scottsdale, Arizona, a restaurant corporation projecting $6.2 million in sales for 2007. “This is really a wonderful time to go into business,” says Smith, 33. “One survey I saw said that more than 70 percent of respondents believed service was the number-one reason they frequent and return to a restaurant, even if the food isn’t quite what it should be. If you can master the service and commit to selling good food, you have a good chance of success.”

Here’s how you can slice off a tasty piece of the restaurant profit pie.

Do Some Time

There’s a lot more to running a restaurant than schmoozing with your clientele and testing new recipes. That’s why industry experts advise working in a food-service environment first to learn the rhythm of the business and experience its inner workings. Any restaurant experience can be valuable, provided you spend enough time learning the ropes.

“It’s imperative to have hands-on experience in the many departments that make up a restaurant,” says Pete Hanning, 37, vice president and co-owner of The Red Door in Seattle, which had 2006 sales of just under $3 million. “I started in the restaurant industry at 15 as a dishwasher and learned by working fine dining, restaurant/bars and pizza places. You can’t quantify the amount of overall experience you need to succeed, but it’s hard to understand all the facets of the business unless you’ve worked them.”

In addition to this hands-on experience, you should surround yourself with people who understand the industry, from seasoned servers to an experienced operations person. A restaurant consultant can also be very helpful--but expensive, too. So you may want to turn to your local SCORE office, which provides expert business counseling on small-business issues at no charge. If they don’t have a former restaurant executive within their ranks, they may be able to refer you to someone who can answer your questions and dispense a little gratis advice.

Do Your Homework

Before you start planning menus, you also need to write a viable business plan. This recipe for success must outline your plans, goals and strategies in detail. It should include a detailed description of your concept (i.e., Indian, continental or sports-themed); a description of your proposed menu and pricing; a description of your target market and the marketing you’ll do to reach it; a discussion of staffing and how you’ll train and retain employees; and the pièce de résistance--an in-depth discussion of your financing, from startup funding and monthly cash flow to long-term income and expense forecasting.

“It’s way more romantic to think you can open a restaurant by the seat of your pants, but in reality, planning goes a long way,” says Michael Curcio, 29, owner of Pyrogrill in Jupiter, Florida, with projected 2007 sales of $2.2 million. “A business plan takes a ton of guesswork out of the startup process and is a good guide for getting your place off the ground. Make sure the plan is fluid and adaptable to market conditions and challenges.”

Ray Sidhom, co-owner of Four Food Studio and Cocktail Salon in Long Island, New York, with 2007 sales projections of $5.7 million, is one savvy owner who reviews his plan frequently. “We have so many details to watch, from the food and liquor to staffing costs,” says Sidhom, 41. “If they’re not where they should be, the business suffers. So we look at the intricacies of the business plan often and use analysts who do projections and models.”

A good business plan will also be useful when seeking financing, but it’s more common for aspiring restaurateurs to rely on personal savings and funds from friends, relatives and outside investors rather than bank loans.

So how much do you need? “This is such a capital-intensive business that it’s easy to underestimate the amount you need,” Smith says. “Don’t even think about starting with less than $100,000 in cash for a bargain-basement opening, or you won’t get even remotely started on the right path.”

The amount also depends on your location and the local cost of living. In pricey New York state, for instance, Sidhom says you’d better have $2 million for a restaurant with 200 seats if you hope to generate $1 million in sales.

“Steak” Out Your Spot



A good location is crucial to the success of a restaurant. Choose a building on a well-traveled street where it’s possible to install highly visible signage, but beware of historic districts, where there are restrictions on every aspect related to a building’s exterior. Check out the local pedestrian traffic, like Lao did. Because his restaurant is on a busy thoroughfare in the middle of New York City, he does a brisk carryout business during lunch hours--and attracts famous guests like Martha Stewart. Also, look for a building with a large, well-lit parking lot as close to your establishment as possible, and check out the other local businesses. If there are too many restaurants in the vicinity (especially if they serve the same type of cuisine), or if the other businesses don’t generate a lot of regular traffic themselves, you could find yourself short on customers.

As for leasing a building formerly used as a restaurant, don’t sign until you find out its history. There may be a very good reason why it failed--reason enough to make you invest your time and money elsewhere.

Finally, Hanning recommends buying used equipment when you start out, especially when it comes to big-ticket items like refrigerators. “In a few years, when your cash flow is better and you’re duct-taping your appliances together, then you can buy new,” he says. “Restaurant auctions often have good deals.”

Study the Menu

Probably one of the most exciting aspects of establishing a restaurant is coming up with a winning food lineup that dazzles diners. Naturally, menu selections should reflect your establishment’s theme consistently (i.e., no herbed couscous at a pizza parlor), and you should create signature menu items that set you apart from the competition. For instance, Lao built his dumpling empire on six varieties of dumplings (including a chocolate dessert dumpling) and simple add-ons like Asian salad, noodle soup and green-tea milkshakes. It takes approximately 2.5 minutes from order to delivery--and he sells about 1.4 million dumplings a year. “That’s more dumplings than I ever imagined I’d see in my life,” he says with a laugh.

At Four Food Studio, Sidhom and co-owner Jay Grossman, 34, avoid “menu fatigue” by rotating the offerings on a seasonal basis. They keep their loyal customers informed about the new selections through an e-mail blast sent just before the menu changes.

Anita Lo, chef and co-owner of both Rickshaw Dumpling Bar and Annisa, a contemporary American restaurant in New York City’s West Village with 2006 sales of $1.5 million, features a five- to seven-course tasting menu in addition to the regular menu to keep clientele interested in her culinary offerings. “I tailor the tasting menu to each table and never bring back the same dishes,” says Lo, 41. “I also keep a database of everything my regular customers have ever eaten, so they have a unique dining experience every time they come in.”

Pricing menu items is an art unto itself. Your prices should reflect everything from food costs to labor (both prep staff and servers) and overhead (i.e., utilities). You should also build in a profit margin of at least 10 percent to 15 percent to make sure the business is on a firm footing for future growth.

Tell Them About It

Seasoned restaurateurs are the first to admit they don’t spend much--if anything--on advertising. “In a fine-dining environment like New York, advertising makes you look desperate,” says Lo. “It’s better to make sure everyone who comes in leaves happy--that’s your best advertising.”

Curcio believes that if you have to spend more than 5 percent of your operating budget on advertising, then there’s something wrong in your business plan. Others think that print advertising isn’t particularly effective for drawing customers, TV and radio are way too expensive, and coupons don’t build repeat business--just business from customers who come in only when they can get a discount.

Even so, it’s important to get the word out to potential clientele when you are just starting out. Unless you are opening a linen-tablecloth restaurant, try announcing your presence in the neighborhood by distributing fliers (at 4 cents each or less) and by holding a grand opening. This is one event you’ll actually want to advertise in the local newspaper and by sending out news releases to the local media. Host the event a few weeks after the doors actually open to make sure all your equipment, cuisine and staff are up and running smoothly. Offer specials, give balloons to the kids and hold fun activities to make a favorable impression on new customers. Have business cards and printed menus at the hostess stand or cash register that customers can pick up, and consider giving away promotional items like pens or keychains imprinted with your business name and phone number. And don’t forget to invite the media. Free press from food critics, life-style writers, columnists and others is worth its weight in gold.

Word-of-mouth is another potent publicity resource. At Four Food Studio, the partners create their own buzz by holding special events, like Monday “Industry Night,” which attracts up to 500 people who want to network with other professionals. They also held a brunch recently that featured horses, a petting zoo and blow-up slides in front of the restaurant to attract families.

“It’s not the same old, same old,” says Grossman, the restaurant’s crea-tive marketer. “We try to create a place with a different feel, a different flavor every time someone visits.”

Reach the Next Level



Business plans and menus are crucial--but there’s one more essential ingredient needed for success as a restaurateur: passion for the business.

“This business is a highly competitive grind,” Smith says. “So if you’re not passionate about it down to your core, you won’t make it. You also have to make others buy into your vision and make them want to be part of something great. Those things, coupled with integrity and a really strong work ethic, are the keys to success.”

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

TV shows like Cheers have made bar ownership look easy and fun. But don’t be fooled—bars entail many of the same business responsibilities as restaurants. On the plus side, you can operate out of a fairly Spartan space and you don’t open until 4 or 5 p.m. You have far less perishable food on hand, and you need fewer cooks and servers. Profit margins on consumables are usually higher, too—for example, one bottle of spirits will yield a lot of shots, which can add up to a lot of money depending on the price point. For these reasons, it’s possible for a new bar to be in the black in about six months.

On the flip side is the reality that you’ll be working into the wee hours of the morning, which can take a toll on your personal life. You’ll also have to deal with unruly patrons and spend a lot of time coaching your staff on how to handle troublemakers. Plus, the bar industry is far more scrutinized by regulating officials. “You have to understand the laws, ordinances and political climate associated with selling liquor,” says Randy Smith, president of Bottomline Hospitality Group in Scottsdale, Arizona. “If we didn’t share a full-time lobbyist with other local business owners, it would be nearly impossible to do business.”

Selecting the right concept for your bar is crucial. Neighborhood bars are still the most popular type, although sports bars do very well in cities with professional sports teams. Other types of bars include specialty bars, like martini or cigar bars; brew pubs, which sell house microbrews; and nightclubs, which have entertainment on tap in addition to libations. Choose a location that has good traffic flow in the area and safe and convenient parking, and you’re on the way to becoming a fixture in the neighborhood.

What Not To Do When Starting A Restaurant

Don’t sign a lease if your rent ratios aren’t in order, or you’ll be working for the landlord.

Don’t commit to the project financially if you’re not already committed to it conceptually, culturally and logistically.

Don’t ever start a project that doesn’t have a genuine sense of purpose and concept credibility. It won’t stand the test of time.

Don’t lose sight of the fact that employees are the most important part of your business, and don’t skimp on training and development. A happy employee equals satisfied guests.

Don’t start believing your own hype! You won’t be able to make sound decisions.

Source: Randy Smith, president of Bottomline Hospitality Group

Eileen Figure Sandlin is an award-winning freelance writer and author who writes on business topics.

Copyright © 2007 Entrepreneur.com, Inc.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17645308/


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