Tag Archives for " staffing "

Q & A – Cash Only

Operations

Question:
We are a four location, family ran, breakfast/lunch restaurant located in Washington state. With ever-increasing costs in labor and food, we are looking for ways to reduce cost without sacrificing food quality or customer experience. My wife and I have been discussing installing ATM machines at all of our locations and going cash only.

Answer:
Angie and I once considered this for our restaurants too.

But we couldn’t get away from the idea that we’d forgotten who the business was for and that our job was not only to serve our guests but to make it EASY for them to enjoy dining at our establishments. We felt that going to cash only and ATMs might earn us someone’s business once, but were more concerned that those hassles and potential ATM fees might keep them from choosing us next time they were considering going out.

How about place an ATM and give a discount to your guests who choose to pay cash? Maybe even raise your prices on your best selling items slightly? I’m confident you’ll find that about 20% of your menu mix accounts for about 80% of your sales anyway, so the appropriate price changes are a bit easier.

-Joe

Q & A – Employee performance system

Operations

Question:
Do you have an attendance/performance point system for employees?

Answer:
The best employee performance system that we’ve found is something called a “contact book”. This can be deployed in any way you like, but here’s the concept.

-Put together a simple 3 ring binder with a lined sheet of paper for every employee that you have, alphabetically and by the department.
-As part of the responsibilities of the manager who’s just completed any service shift, he/she must complete at least 3 contacts: One positive, One Negative and One Neutral. That is, he/she must comment on the performance of 3 staff members at minimum per shift.

What you’ll find rather quickly, is that candidates for promotion rise to the top quite quickly and those that you recognize you probably shouldn’t move forward with are even more obvious.

The reason this works so well is that you’re requiring it of every manager, several sets of eyes. And if you can get those same managers into the habit of checking the contact book regularly for updated info, the average employee’s stellar performance or habitual lateness doesn’t go unrecognized.

Action items must follow, of course.

-Joe