Restaurant Masterminds

Mother’s Day happens once a year, but in our restaurant we celebrate Mother’s Day all month long! That’s right, we send out an offer for a free lunch or dinner for Mom! So many times restaurants fall prey to a limited time frame, when in fact, by extending the “celebration” you are actually extending your profits.

If you think about it most families are celebrating not only their own Mother but the Mother of their children, drop by Grandma’s and maybe even your Mother-in-law….doesn’t leave much time on Mother’s Day to sit down at a restaurant and celebrate, right?

Last year this “Celebrate Mom ALL Month Long” promotion kept a constant flow into the restaurant 7 days a week. Families were not tied down to celebrating Mom on just one day. The response was tremendous! If a month seems to be out of the question, why not all week long? By giving your guests an option you are opening the door (so to speak) to the vast majority of diners who are faced with time constraints.

With Mother’s Day just a couple of weeks away, it’s time to get the information out that you are madly in love with your Mom and she deserves to be recognized EVERY day of the month….not just one day! Email promotions or even a nice Mother’s Day card sent to your guests is a fantastic way to capture the hearts (and unprepared Dad’s and Kids) of your guests with an offer they can’t refuse!

From the desk of
Ben Martinez

Restaurant Masterminds Marketing Guru

What a weekend! Had a birthday, met up with my Restaurant Masterminds Group, threw back some crab and hung around with Duff Goldman! That’s right, Food Network star, Duff Goldman from “Ace of Cakes”, spent about an hour with us at our Restaurant Masterminds meeting and it was GREAT! As you can see I’m all decked out in my suit and he comes in just as life would hand it to him….free and easy! Who would of thought that some guy who is creative in making cakes, turns out to be a TV star that gathers up at $15,000/hour to make guest appearances….what’s wrong with me??

I think it’s my turn. I have been trying to think of a show to pitch to the television execs and get my foot in the door….HEY! That’s it! My new Food Network television show is called, “Get Your Foot In The Door” a series of shows where I could help the everyday “Joe” open up a restaurant! Or even a better name, “Grab my seat”….no, not featured on the Playboy channel, I’m talking about opening up restaurants, getting them going and then it is up for grabs! Duff started out by making a cake for a wedding, people loved it and BLAM he’s got himself a cake business, gets recognized by just the right person and hello television!

Now that I look at this picture, maybe we could do “Ace of Cakes meets Margarita Man”….Cheers to a great cake!

Overall, it was a great weekend, we had some fantastic guest speakers, some fabulous mastermind time and just an overall successful event.

You might say I finally got off my “Duff” and wrote a blog!

From the desk of

Ben Martinez

Restaurant Masterminds Marketing Guru

Do you know who the boss is in your restaurant? I sure hope you didn’t hesitate and think through your answer! It always has and always will be: Your Customer! Our customers are the reason that we are in business. When you take a vacation or send your child to Hockey Camp always remember it was your customer that paid for it!

Your customer has the power to fire everyone in your restaurant simply by spending his money somewhere else.

As an Independent Restaurateur you need to motivate your staff to completely understand that the customer is number one. You need to teach your staff that creating a relationship is a real and genuine friendship. In the end, this is what will really separate your restaurant from the National Chains.

Have you ever had one of those staff meetings when someone starts talking about their “horror” stories about how hard it is to please customers? How customers take advantage of us? Why the phone ringing during lunch hour is such a problem? Or how about “Mrs. Jones comes in all the time and all she ever tips is $3″. And, have you ever agreed or sympathized with your staff on any of these comments? By agreeing with your staff you are unknowingly planting seeds that allow customers to be treated coldly, rudely or in a very unfriendly way.

This defeats the entire purpose of why you are in business! Poor customer service becomes the root cause of every business problem we have. The entire purpose of your business is to take such good care of your customers that the customer makes a habit of returning to your restaurant time and time again. But this will only happen when your staff consciously build relationships with your customers. It’s not easy, but when they actively, cleverly and willingly make an effort to do this, the customer no longer is a customer, then the customer has become a guest and will become a walking billboard for you.

Now this will never happen if your staff sees your customers has a “hassle” or a “pain”. The reason why your staff thinks of these guests has “naggers” is because leadership is not present to teach your staff that your customers are the boss! We as leaders set the tone. We either ask the right questions that start the ball rolling in our staffs minds, or we do not. We lead by example. It’s up to you as the leader of your staff to set the example and explain the importance of your customers.

Your staff may think, “It’s only one guest that we lost tonight because of poor service”, but the real lifetime value of that guest is worth over $7,000 in my restaurant. Now lets say you lose 10 guests per month, that’s over $70,000.00 in lost revenue, now are you willing to take the time to educate and teach your staff who the boss is?

Do you consider that “nagging” customer a dear friend? How would we treat the customer if that person were a dear friend? Are friends really “better” than customers? Does your best friend regularly come by and give you money to help with your car payment? Does your friend pull out his credit card after having a beer with you and say, “Here’s a little something for your kids College tuition”?…NO?

Our customers do!