Restaurant Masterminds

We get so involved in the daily routine and in the running around putting out fires that we need to find time to step back and step out of that routine.  You need to set aside time every day to focus on how you can improve your restaurant.  I don’t mean just a fleeting thought as you are trying to fix the latest plumbing problem while at the same time seeing why table 32 sent back their entrée.

I mean actually spending a specific amount of time on a new project (uninterrupted) with new ideas. If you are like me you like to bounce your ideas off someone else to get their feedback. This can be so helpful in creating a new plan of attack.  So, the first step should be where to start? What should you work on??? 

Here are a few ideas:

·         Is your atmosphere up to date or are you still in the 80’s? When was the last time your restaurant had a fresh look.  When was the last time you talked to an interior designer about what to do and what was new and hip?

·         What was your last charity event at your restaurant and how many press releases did you send out? When group after group calls you to donate a gift card do you have a marketing plan to get their whole group in your restaurant?

·         Is your staff motivated – better yet are you? Are you tired or refreshed, when was the last time you had a few days off for you.  How can you lead and motivate your staff if you are exhausted?

·         Going Green?  Is your restaurant working on doing their part for the environment? Do you have a contact with all the resources to make going green easy and cost effective for your restaurant?

·         Is your marketing planned and ready to go for the holidays? That’s right the holidays are just around the corner and for most restaurants the biggest profit time of the year.  Do you have a plan of action to create new customers and to get your customers dining more frequently?

·         When was the last time you updated your menu and gave it a fresh new look? Is your costing current and are you highlighting the best profit items on the menu?

·         Are you meeting with your staff regularly to mastermind ideas with them?  Did you know that your staff is one of the most valuable resources you can have.  They can help you implement all the new projects and ideas successfully.

·         Do you have systems and employee manuals in place? When was the last time you updated your policies and handbooks, are they really current?

Am I overwhelming you with too much to do?  Well, I don’t mean to and you only need to work on one thing at a time but you need to be working on something.

You need to find the time for yourself so YOU can grow and grow your restaurant.

All the things I listed above will be discussed at our next meeting by our phenomenal group of professional speakers.  I encourage you to take a few days off to revitalize yourself and to find new energy and motivation.  I guarantee this event will help you do all those things.

See you in Phoenix.

For more information go to www.restaruantmasterminds.com

D.  Morse

I’m writing this today with a heavy heart. My cat who was only 2 ½ years old was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer the other day and we had to put her down. Her mother and all her siblings died during cat birth and they were able to revive her. So what was the purpose of only having her live for 2 ½ years and then take her away? I was thinking about this last night when I couldn’t get to sleep,( poor kitty) and I thought how it’s so like our lives as we don’t know what lies ahead for any of us.       

 I talked about your dreams at the last meeting. Have any of you done anything about them? Have you spoken to anyone about them? Is someone holding you accountable to your dreams? Don’t wait, don’t let any more time pass you by. You never know when it’s your time, the last thing you want is to go through your whole life and at the end wonder what happened to all your time. You need to take a mental health day at least once a week. Get out of your restaurant, don’t take phone calls, and don’t call the restaurant. You will be amazed at how clear your head will be when you get back to work. Your time alone or time with your family is very important to your well being and also the well being of your employees. You would never let your staff work seven days a week why are you? If you never leave your restaurant and go see the competition you will never know what the new trends are or what other people are doing. You MUST get out of your own way and go to other restaurants even if they are not the same concept as yours. You will always be able to bring back a thing or two to use or not use in your place.

You need to make the most of your life because you only have one. Take the time to enjoy your surroundings. I think the thing that Caia left behind is, enjoy  your  life while you can. Your business will always be there, your problems will be waiting for you when you return (but given time you will be able to deal with them better), but you can never get back time lost.

Sherri L. Varano

The fall colors are just starting to show here in Colorado….our gorgeous Colorado Rocky Mountains are now showing signs of snow…in a little more than a month the flakes will be flying…..time to pack up the bbq for the winter…or is it?

I ran one of the most successful marketing campaigns to date for my restaurant. Last year, a few weeks after Labor Day, I was at our local Home Depot. While I was supposed to be buying a toilet plunger, I found myself negotiating one incredible deal.  I found a bbq, not just a bbq…but a big bad boy…yep, every man’s dream toy…the outdoor kitchen! It was  not only the grill, but side burners, granite counter tops, drawers down the front, area for refrigerator all encased in this beautiful stone layout…this stainless steel wonder had me mesmerized!  As I was standing there, the number of people that said, “wow, I wish I had that” sent that idea bulb right above my head. Realizing that they had made room for the newly placed snow blowers, I searched out the Home Depot orange vested manager and began to negotiate. That’s right, I negotiated. Here it was nearly October and they still had a couple dozen grills…I looked at the original price of $799, marked down to $699….but after some brief negotiations and a good solid handshake, I found myself a proud owner of the MAN GRILL….well, okay, I guess you could say, I met the “grill of my dreams”…..(sorry, couldn’t help myself). Oh, one thing I forgot to mention…I only paid $389!!

I took this grill back to the restaurant and saved it for the spring. Once spring rolled around, I pulled out the grill and placed it near the front entrance….HELLO excitement!!! I ran an email special announcing one entry every time you dine with us and then ran double entry’s on Sunday….with over 7,000 entry’s in a matter of a few weeks, I doubled my dining numbers, I nearly doubled my database and before you know it, it was the talk of the town.

I set up a night in the banquet room to give away the bbq and invited people to “come watch the live drawing”….and they did! No specials! I ended up handing out gift certificates to those who attended…and the excitement churned. My numbers for this promotion were absolutely incredible. That bbq paid for itself 20x’s over!

So, my advice to you…do what I did…go out and find that season end grill for more than half off and save it for the spring where you too can run the “Grill of my dreams” …dine in to win!

Take a look at my most recent purchase from Home Depot this year. We’ll be saving this bad boy until the spring and then when the big box stores put their grills on display I’ll have mine ready to give away and at only half the price! This grill was orginally $999, granted it’s the display model, I only paid $529!

From the desk of the marketing guru,
Ben Martinez

By Diana Coutu

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of reflection.  It’s an important part of gauging how far along you are, or conversely, how many steps back, or off your goal track that you’ve taken.    Reflecting on past successes, and challenges that you’ve overcome can help you reframe the present.

 This time last year I was in the middle of building our bigger, better, brighter, ultimate-kick-butt pizzeria and as with most build outs, there were some hiccups.  Someone said that I should keep a journal of the struggles, but in truth I knew how unimportant the struggles were.   It was the completion that I was focused on and I knew that keeping reminders of the hiccups would only slow me down.  Really, who cares that an insufficient capacity transformer cost a week delay, or the gas inspector being overbooked cost us 2 weeks. 

It’s now a year later and all those challenges have been overcome, we crossed the finish line so really, who cares about the stops?  Mostly those who like re-hashing the worst of times.  Those who prefer to discuss what’s wrong instead of what’s great.   And I for one fall into the second group.  This year we are enjoying the benefits of all the planning, all the work, all the brand new equipment, and all the custom pieces that were made just-for-us.  I am thrilled with the results; every day something makes me think about how much I love our new pizzeria, of how much better it is from our old pizzeria.  It is exactly what we wanted, open kitchen, efficient design, easy to clean, easy to manage, I’m probably a little biased, but I think it’s the best pizzeria ever.   And so last Friday, when we had our 3^rd busiest day ever, and service times were good, and there weren’t any mistakes, nor any complaints, and when the staff said that it didn’t even seem ‘that busy’, I was even more thrilled.  Our twenty first century pizzeria has proven itself, and I am the proud mama, beaming about a 65% sales increase over the same week last year – and the week before we were up 50% over same week last year.  

 Some people say the economy is in trouble, but I don’t see it.  My business is booming, and it’s only getting busier.   In the past 30 days I’ve added 2 other regular marketing campaigns to my marketing calendar, and with Canadian Thanksgiving & Halloween right around the corner there’s 2 more great reasons to send out something fun to my list.  And truly, the most important job I have is marketing my pizzeria, which I happen to love almost as much as I love my pizza!  So I’m SUPER excited!  Last year I had to hold back on a lot of marketing campaigns because we had reached maximum capacity of the old pizzeria and as much as we wanted more sales, we couldn’t handle it (it’s okay – it was a good problem to have).  And now we can handle a lot more, with less staff & better service times.  It’s kinda silly, but I feel downright giddy about it.  I have fallen in love with my pizzeria and marketing my pizzeria all over again!  And so, to all of the ignoramuses out there who want to focus on the stops, go ahead & get stuck there.  The rest of us are moving forward, too busy to listen to your ‘sky-is-falling’ mantra, too focused on the results to track the stops.  And to those of you who may find yourselves temporarily stuck, and deep down you know that you’re supposed to adapt and overcome, but you’re not sure how, seek out a group of like-minded individuals who can help get you moving forward again. 

Diana Coutu is a four-time Canadian Pizza Champion, internationally recognized gourmet pizzaiolo and co-owner of Diana’s Gourmet Pizzeria in Winnipeg, Man. In addition to creating award-winning recipes, Diana is also a consultant to other independent pizzeria owner/operators in menu development, creating systems to run a pizzeria on autopilot, along with marketing and positioning to help operators grow their business effectively and strategically. She is available for consulting on a limited basis, for more information contact her at Diana@dianasgourmetpizzeria.ca.

This year has been a major year of learning for me after 13 years in business. I decided I would take a huge leap and hire a General Manager for my restaurant in Calgary so I could have a better quality of life – i.e. more personal time, less stress. Also after so many years I had become exhausted and bitter dealing with staff issues. The state of the economy in Calgary for the last few years has been crazy in terms of finding and keeping staff (never mind quality staff).

So the quest began – it seemed the best way to find a General Manager was through word of mouth, asking everyone I knew in the business if they knew anyone. I had tried conventional means of advertising to no avail. I was also looking for a Kitchen Manager at the same time. One referral came my way for a Kitchen Manager – just before I met this individual I had been fortunate to find a terrific Kitchen Manager/Chef. Since I met this girl referred to me we talked several times and thought there might be something down the road (we had a ‘connection’). I woke up in the middle of the night (like you’ve never done that) with work on the brain and thought this potential Kitchen Manager could possibly be my new General Manager.

We met again and confirmed that we had a ‘real connection’ – when I suggested the position of General Manager she told me that would be her dream job, given her years of front of house experience from serving to supervising, combined with her professional Chef training – a perfect candidate. She also thought we had the most wonderful restaurant ever with a great reputation in town.

Mistake number one – I did not check references – in fact I didn’t even have an actual written Resume from her, other than her verbal – I worked here & there – I had rave reviews, blah, blah, blah.

Mistake number two – We similar characteristics in the ‘creative’ department. Not what I needed – I love the creative aspect of my business. I needed Systems & Operations.

Mistake number three – I fell for some of her sob stories about the boyfriend (with a drug problem – note to self, ‘it takes one to know one’) he totaled her car (I gave her my new catering van to drive) – my cell phone is broken (I bought her a new cell phone) – gave her a laptop computer – oh & don’t forget since I had been trying desperately to implement Systems & Operations, I took her to Las Vegas to a 4 day workshop teaching Systems & Operations – she loved Las Vegas – it was her first time there, so after the workshop we dined, cocktailed and went to shows. You know, market research. By the way, she really didn’t like the workshop at all – in fact she thought it was a waste of time – she proved that to me.

During the first few weeks of her working things were spiraling out of control, like her head spun around – she had no respect for my Kitchen Manager and made that quite clear – she fired a dishwasher on the spot for no apparent reason – she yelled at staff, complained that she didn’t get any respect. She brought her friends in for complimentary food and drinks – lots of them. She left if I wasn’t there. She scraped the entire side of my new vehicle that I so kindly let her drive – as well as racking up $500 worth of parking tickets.

It all came to a head one day when she blew up – told me my Restaurant was a complete Joke – she had tried to ‘turn it around’ but that wasn’t possible. Don’t forget I’ve operated successfully for 13 years with a great reputation in the community and suddenly ‘she can’t turn it around’!

This lesson cost me a great deal of stress & money, but there is a happy ending.

Through the advice of my Mastermind Group, I got very clear about the expectation and job description for this General Manager. I enlisted the help of my husband who has years of experience in interview and hiring executives. I also enlisted the help of an agency that specializes in hospitality and pre-qualifies candidates for specific jobs. There is a cost to the agency, but in the end that is money well spent (much less than my expensive lesson, plus I have a working General Manager). I also found out I could negotiate a better rate with the Agency, rather than taking the initial price quoted.

I now have a fantastic General Manager who takes on the tasks that I don’t love – we have a clear line of communication and expectation – not and emotional minefield. My business is going to grow efficiently beyond my original dreams without me killing myself and waking up in the middle of the night worried about work.

Linda Crossley
Village Cantina Tropical Grill & Club Paradiso
Calgary, Alberta
Canada

Growing up south of Boston was great, we had the Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins and Patriots. Back then, the Celtics were perennial winners, in the early 70’s the Bruins were big and bad with Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito. Unfortunately the Sox and Patriots were the brunt of many jokes and a constant letdown. As any sports fan will tell you, they’re your team, and you have to love them. Fast-forward to 2008 and the Sox and Patriots are on fire, not to mention the Celtics. Living in New England and being a sports fan, doesn’t get any better than the last five or six years. I’ve been to the Super Bowl to see the Patriots four times now, after the beating we received in 1985 from the bears and the loss to Brett Favre in 1996, to be in New Orleans and see us win against St. Louis was just an incredible night. I even had the distinct pleasure of running into Bob Kraft the night before in a jazz club and having my picture taken with him. Since then, we’ve just expected the Patriots to win every game they play.

            I took my son and daughter to see the Patriots play this past Super Bowl in Phoenix. It was my daughter’s first football game ever. We were all dressed in our Pats gear, fired up and looking forward to celebrating at the end of the game. In our minds, it was a sure thing. Much to our dismay, the Patriots lost, spy gate was a nightmare and our beloved coach was getting destroyed in the papers. To say it all hurt was an understatement. After the loss to the Giants, we went back to our hotel and went to bed. We didn’t even go to dinner. Our flight home was like being at the morgue. 2008 was a new year with high expectations, seeing Tom Brady on the ground screaming and twisting in agony was devastating. The odds makers had the Patriots 5-2 favorites to win the Super bowl, now they’re 15-1 favorites. Some people have us not even making the Playoffs. How quickly people jump on or in this case off the bandwagon. Don’t they remember Drew Bledsoe going down and some unknown guy named Tom Brady coming in and leading us to Super Bowl victory number one?

            How many Restaurateurs have had their Chef walk out on them, or have their manager quit during the busy season. I don’t think there’s an owner alive that hasn’t experienced this nightmare. Did you fold or close your business. Adversity isn’t about problems; it’s about how you deal with problems. There’s always a solution if you take a step back and think rationally about the situation. People in our industry are some of the most creative people I’ve ever met. We work when other people play, we work nights, weekends and holidays. We pull people from their families and loved ones. Yet we have this sub-culture that constantly defies the odds. Nine out of ten restaurants fail, and still new ones open. You can kick us, knock us down and we always get back up. It never ceases to amaze me just how resourceful restaurateurs really are.

            My daughter called me on Monday night when she finished work and said, ” Dad, can you believe what happened to Tom Brady?”  I told her I was shocked. Her reply was incredible, she said ” well, you know what this means don’t you” I said, “What” to which she replied, ” it’s time to go buy a Matt Cassell shirt.” And there it is. What kind of owner or manager are you? How do you handle tough situations? Do you fold under the pressure, or do you dig in and get tough.

            We’ll see you all in January. Don’t ever give up your dream.

Dick Varano

No, Barack Obama didn’t ask me to be his personal chef, dang it, but I did take advantage of the hometown hassles! That’s right, they shut down the biggest Interstate in the city so that no one could drive NEAR the Mile High Stadium where Barack and crew were speaking. While the excitement generated around the closure of I-25, stopping the 55,000 cars that drive through there a day, Denver Metro residents were all in a tizzy….but hey, I saw this as a marketing advantage! I ran a special to my guests and said, “we realize the inconvenience of the shutting down of I-25, so the next best highway is I-270″….this happens to lead very close to my restaurant, so I offered $2.70 burritos! We were PACKED! People loved to know that we took advantage of the overcrowded downtown restaurants and highways and ran a special just for the hometown folks!

I also knew that with over 80,000 people coming to Denver, I had to get my piece of the pie!! I had made up maps and fliers, tucked them into our menu and handed them out to the local hotel….I know what you are thinking, “so what, every hotel has RACKS of sightseeing and places to go”….but did you know that when you hand the concierge a $25 gift certificate to come and eat for free, that the recommendations he gives to his guests, paid back that certificate!! How about dropping off some of your dessert items to the hotel staff? Think about it…..how many times have you stopped and asked a hotel employee, “do you know where a good place to eat Mexican food is?”

The exciting thing is, I took the afternoon to go down and get into the mix of the Democratic National Convention..my kids loved the riot police in all of their gear (didn’t look much different than my son in his hockey equipment), but I learned SO much just by going down there…..I could of hired some sandwich board kid to stand down there with “Best Mexican Food in Town, Voted by CitySearch.com” and had him handing out coupons…although I think the secret service would of probably done a 5 day background check on everything….I could of made t-shirts, wrapped a map/coupon in them and threw them to crowds….oh wait, I would bet that I would be tackled to the ground by the riot police for launching “something” into the crowd! Scratch that one…..but the point I am trying to make here is this was a moment in history for Denver, but that doesn’t mean you need something as big as this to use marketing techniques…heck, the next time I get dragged to the Home and Garden Show, I’ll seek out the organizer and ask her how she feeds her crew! (By the way, honey, I don’t get “dragged” to the Home and Garden Show, I enjoy looking at the 65 different deck tops, anything with you, dear).

So, keep in mind, marketing is everywhere….and who knows, maybe one of Barack’s secret servicemen was in my restaurant…their other part time job is being a part of my secret diners club…..

Off to Market!

From the desk of Restaurant Masterminds Marketing Guru
Ben Martinez