Restaurant Masterminds

Yes, you read that right! We just signed up member number 25,000 in our El Jardin RepeatRewards® loyalty program. Every time I work with new Independent restaurant owners across the country I always ask them one question before we start our initial coaching call, “What is your number one asset in your restaurant”? Never, as a new member, has anyone ever answered correctly.  Some responses I hear are, “my employees”, “location”,”bank account”, while others wander off and really don’t know their number one asset. I’m here to tell you all the answer! IT’S YOUR DATA BASE!

Your data base is by far your number one asset! We teach our members how to obtain guest information and most importantly, what do with it once they’ve obtained it. What happens when your data base begins to grow in the tens of thousands? How do you manage that data base?

During coaching calls and talking to prospective new members, Independent restaurant owners often ask me the size of my database, and with a grin I tell them, “I have 25,000 members in my data base.” Each time I mention that, I get the same overwhelming response, “WOW!  I wish I had that number of guests listed in my database, because if I did then running my restaurant would be easy!”

I won’t kid you, it’s great having that many members in my database, in fact it’s one heck of a number to brag about! However, the reality is, the more members you have means the more segmentation you must do…in other words, the more work you must do to manage your list. After all, does it make sense to mail 25,000 post cards to your members at a cost of over $12,000? It does if it brings you twice the amount of sales, however, I know not all 25,000 members are loyal to my restaurant, so I cleverly segment my list according to the guest and am able to create mailings that produce the most return on my investment.

It doesn’t matter if you have 25,000 members or 25 members in your database, here are a few tips that I have always practiced, and advise my members to adopt the same rules.

Scrub your lists regularly:

Scrubbing your list is simply making sure that you are keeping it as clean as possible. RepeatRewards® does this on a regular basis. They run a “Duplicate Elimination” to help find customers that may be possible duplicates of one another. They also run a “NCOA” – National Change of Address to help my database update customers who have moved, and I am able to update to their current address.

Mail First Class when you can:

Mailing first class birthday cards and post cards allows the post office to return any mail back to your place of business for guests who have moved or did not correctly register a forwarding address. Once you’ve received the return you can try and contact guest, and update their new mailing information. If you are unsuccessful contacting the guests, you can now put them on a “mail hold” and save yourself the money from future mailings.

Include mailing information on email blasts:

When sending email blasts to your guests, ask your guests to update their current mailing addresses if they moved. Again, this will save you money on future mailings, plus it will help increase your return on investment percentage.

When are your guests dining out:

RepeatRewards® sends me a list of what guests have not used their membership card during a 12 month consecutive time frame…when this happens, we mail them a “Lost customer” postcard  trying to entice them to come back and see us. This is a  three step process and if you fail to get them back to your restaurant, then place the guest on a “mail hold”, again, helping keep our list clean.

Back it up!

The wonderful computer world has provided us with the best technology to help maintain our records, exciting promotions and creating databases, but one bad computer glitch and all can be lost! Take the time to purchase an external hard drive that automatically backs up the information on your computer and date base. Just one computer virus or glitch in your system, can crumble your entire list. Take the time to BACK UP your computer!

Do you have a system in place that tracks what offers your guests respond to?

Do your managers manage your staff to make sure they are following all the guidelines to insure that proper promo codes and membership numbers are being entered correctly?  It may not matter or cost you much money when you have 100, 1000 or even 10,000 members in your database, but I guarantee that once you get in the 20,000 member mark you’ll want to make sure someone is managing your database!  Managing 25,000 members does take a little effort, but since this is my #1 asset in my restaurant, I’ll do whatever it takes to protect my database and make sure it stays squeaky clean.

Ben Martinez

Restaurant Masterminds

We are all watching our economy and wondering how it could possibly be effected by the problems with Greece or the European Union. It’s hard to imagine the impact of the world’s financial situation is directly related to our current financial crisis. How is my restaurant effected by events taking place half way around the world. The truth is, we are all connected with our new global economy. The price of the Euro effects what I pay for Italian Wine in my restaurant, or how many Europeans visit the area this summer. The Canadian exchange rate  can drastically alter my season’s sales. Thinking about this is mind boggling.

The Domino Effect is something that occurs everyday in our restaurants. We recently had a cook, who I consider a rising star in our company, have an awful night in the kitchen. The results were disastrous. When he was  a prep cook, or a dishwasher, his impact wasn’t as noticeable. As the expediter on our line, the impact is magnified and can be costly. A typical young man, working in a restaurant gets out of work late and goes out drinking with his buddies. This happens on a nightly basis, no big deal. The problem arises when he stays up till four am. drinking and has to work a double shift on a holiday weekend.

What our young cook didn’t understand, was, how many people were effected by his immature and poor decision. When the dinner rush came, he was tired and ineffective, he got in the weeds and the whole restaurant suffered. He let his entire kitchen crew down, his “friends” at work were upset with him for screwing up their night, and the servers were pissed at how long it took to get food out of the kitchen. Our manager spent her night in damage control, and finally, let’s not forget about our customers. To say we had some upset customers is an understatement.

The net effect of one poor decision by one of our cooks, was devastating. I don’t think anyone anticipated the outcome of one lousy decision. One person matters. We don’t realize the effect we have on our staff. If the owner or manager comes to work in a lousy mood, the entire staff is on eggshells. It’s like throwing gasoline on a fire, it runs rampant throughout the entire restaurant in seconds. Every employee knows you’re in “One of your moods,” the effect will mushroom out into the dining room and customers will notice that something’s off and your ambiance will be affected. This trickles all the way down to your servers and hostesses as well. Cause and effect, the results hurt.

We sat down our young cook and explained the ramifications of his poor decision. He didn’t realize just how great the impact was to the entire restaurant. To say he apologized is an understatement. I think he now realizes how intricate his role is in our company and the effect he has in our operation. Most people think of themselves as inconsequential, that they don’t matter. This is as far from the truth as possible. The key is to make sure everyone on your staff understands the ramifications of their actions and their importance to your team. Your team depends on you every shift, every day. Actions speak louder than words, lead by example and be the employee that everyone can depend on.

Ahhh…..sunshine.  What a glorious day it was late last week….until all ‘HAIL’ broke loose!

I was at my restaurant on the El Jardin Patio enjoying the beautiful sunshine and talking with some of our guests.  It was moments later when my cell phone buzzed and my son texted, “Get home, your new flowers are ruined!”…It was at that point I was SURE they used my new flower pots as hockey goals.  I spent all weekend planting these beauties.

We had the hail storm of the century at our suburban home, golf ball sized hail pounded our neighborhood, causing millions of dollars in damage. Luckily no one was hurt, except the vegetation and lots of broken glass from cars parked outside.

My wife and I had just spend the prior weekend planting over $600 in flowers throughout our yard, only to see them ALL destroyed in an instance with the hail. As bummed as we were, we thought we would just turn all our receipts into our insurance adjuster and they’ll replace the flowers for us….NO WAY…our policy does not cover any landscaping or flowers…now we’re really bummed when our agent says “no coverage for landscaping”.

Now most people would begin to feel sorry for themselves for their loss…but not me! Instead of putting my head down and sobbing to myself “why me”? I put my marketing hat on and began to think how could I turn this unfortunate situation into a positive marketing sensation?  I like to call it, “turning lemons into Margaritas“.

How can I connect with my neighbors and guests and let them know I feel their pain? It only took a few minutes and the ideas were coming from every direction. I’ve always talked to Restaurant Masterminds members about riding the coattails of the media. The media creates the story and it’s up to you to create the marketing. Live feeds from all the major news stations were broadcasting from my neighborhood, it was the lead story on every local channel. Now was the perfect time to capture my guests undivided attention. How many times has a major story broke out in your hometown? It happens at least 12-14 times per year, it’s up to you to be prepared when it happens….THINK… “create the marketing”.

One simple email blast to my guests had them coming to my restaurant in droves. The email was headlined “What the ‘hail’ happened?….my poor house!” Immediately people knew what I was talking about because it was all over the news. It was my highest open email rate EVER! I connected with my guests not at a business level, but at a human level. They felt my same pain, and wanted to share their stories with me at my restaurant. The email was “real”, I told them my story of the damage that was created by the hailstorm, earned their sympathy vote because it has either happened to them or someone they know and love. The email created a buzz in the community, and someone always feels your pain.

I kept the momentum going to include all of my neighbors and guests, offering to pay their “deductible” on their insurance (up to $10 off their food bill of $25 or more). We were packed for two straight days, it wasn’t about the $10 deductible, it was about the story, instead it was about the people. They drove out to the restaurant to share with me their story. Likewise for me, it was a great two days talking to my guests and really letting them get to know me as a person. Guests love to know AND be a part of your life.

Now I’ve done these kind of emails many times (turning lemons into Margaritas) and each time the feedback has been phenomenal. The next time something unfortunate happens to you or your restaurant, think of how you can turn it into a positive marketing idea and remember, you must be “real”, in the hospitality industry, people know when you’re it isn’t realistic, be passionate and own what you do!

Cheers,
Ben Martinez

Traveling to Chicago for the National Restaurant Show is a major undertaking. Travel arrangements must be made, along with dinner reservations and show plans. In order to maximize your trip and take full advantage of what’s available to you, it takes considerable research on your behalf to figure out what booths you definitely need to visit, and what booths you’d like to visit. If you approach the show without a plan, it could turn into an exercise in futility. The resources available to the restaurant business is endless. The key is to approach the show as a pure business proposition and not an excuse to get out of town and party.

When you register on line to an event like the National Restaurant Show, you are asked to fill in an inordinate amount of information about your company. The reason behind this, is to match you up with vendors that might be of interest to you. It will depend upon your concept and where you are located to properly pair you with vendors of interest. Be prepared to receive numerous e-mails from vendors for at least a month leading up to the show. It sounds overwhelming, the truth is, it will definitely help you figure out a game plan for the show. Just jotting down a number of vendors and where their booths are located will reduce the amount of time you have to back track and zig zag back and forth between the two buildings. Bring your walking shoes, you are walking on concrete with thin carpet rolled over it, by the end of each day, your feet will feel it.

I like to attend shows of this magnitude every couple of years, because our industry is changing so rapidly, technology advances seem like a daily event. New concepts are opening constantly and if you don’t keep abreast of what’s out there, your business can get passed right over by your guests. It’s always easy to go with status quo, ( if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. ) The reality is, if you don’t keep up with the changes and you wait to do it all at once, it might be too late. Publications and News Letters are a great way to keep up with our industry, local Food Shows are extremely helpful. Put them all together in one building and your starting to understand the magnitude of the National Show. This is the same for any industry, if you want to succeed, you have to keep up. Nothing is worse than a business that is perceived to be tired, or even worse, a has been or tired.

Several years ago, my wife and I opened our Prime Steak House, we spent seventeen months planning and researching for our Steak House. Our research included visiting Steak Houses in multiple cities across the country and attending the Boston Food Show, The National Hotel and Restaurant Show in New York, and The National Restaurant Show in Chicago. Between the three shows, we pulled hundreds and hundreds of samples, of china, silverware, glassware, menu covers etc. The key to our restaurants’ final look was that we planned and executed our entire menu beforehand and served it utilizing all our samples. This enabled us to visualize it and touch it. Items we loved at the various shows, weren’t ultimately the items we picked out for our restaurant, once we ate and drank from them.

With energy costs spiraling out of control, you need to start planning your equipment replacement, we spent an entire day looking at new technology for ice makers, dishwashers, induction burners, radiant heaters for our outdoor dining that run for twenty cents an hour. Our goal was to plan a budget over the next several years and allocate the monies needed to upgrade our restaurant and make it more affordable to run. This at least gave us an idea of what it would cost over the next few years to accomplish this and what is in the pipeline for new technology.

Finally, the classes available at the show are limitless. The speakers, the networking events, and the resources go on and on. It all depends on your specific needs in any particular year. Utilize your local Food Vendors Show annually, go to a major show like Boston, New York or and major city that’s close to you if you can. Every two or three years, do yourself a favor, go to the National Show and see it all under one roof. Imagine forty or fifty thousand restauranteurs all together at one time, what an incredible opportunity to network and gain some great insight to what’s happening all over the world. This alone makes the trip worth it. Stay ahead of your competition and get out of your restaurant and see what’s out there.

Dick Varano