Walk with a Purpose

So, I have been on a restaurant binge lately also known as my own version of a personal stimulus package. I’ve hit every restaurant that I enjoy both chain and independent. I’ve gone to each one of them alone, blackberry on fire, and watching how the leadership in those restaurants has chosen to lead their team. If the managers and the owners of these establishments knew they were being watched like a professional quarterback in a two minute warning down by 1 point they would be careful of how they might be perceived but then hey, I digress…on to my point.

What I have seen is a sad display of “walking about” accomplishing nothing, waiting for something to actually happen like maybe a fire will start and they might be able to douse it with their own brand of restaurant management.

Here is what it looks like…host, bar, disappear, bar, host, disappear…disappear, bar, bar, host, and disappear. Who the heck knows what they are doing when they disappear? Are there cash registers or guests in the back of some restaurants I don’t know about?

Why not follow some kind of path that improves the business? I’ve heard it called…

15 Minute Rotation
The Critical Path
The Moments of Truth
The Guest Path

Call it what you want but why not touch every aspect of the business while you are walking through your business? I mean, we’re fighting for every guest and subsequently their return visit, why wouldn’t you check every potential opportunity your guest might experience in your business in an attempt to exceed their expectations?

Try this….

Host – make sure they are smiling and presenting themselves the way you would present yourself – thank guests and staff
Servers – dressed sharp, engaging the guest, selling, refilling, bussing, hit the table tops and check with guests to make sure a return visit is all but inevitable – thank guests and staff
Bar – fast drinks, clean glasses, friendly face, building business, cost control – thank guests and staff
Restrooms – clean, smell great, fully stocked with supplies
Outside – lights on, first impression great, thanking guests coming and going
Back of the House – awesome product, clean environment, food safety, thank staff

Repeat, and then repeat again, then again, again, again….you get the idea.

Now you can expand your stopping points, add bullet points to check on, set anticipated time frames, you name it. If you have a deficiency in your business and want to improve it, put your restaurant leadership on it, over and over again.

So you’re open…say ten hours a day, it takes 30 minutes to complete one of these rotations, you can complete 20 of these rotations a day. For sake of conversation let’s say things come up and you can only get 15 rotations actually done through your restaurant. You have decided that fast drinks delivered under 3 minutes is your focus and you put your leadership on it by checking it 15 times a day with either positive reinforcement or coaching to improve….how long could it possibly take to accomplish your focus?

You get results where you put focus….
Walk with a purpose…..
Make your restaurant better tomorrow, by engaging it today….