Motivating Staff in the Restaurant Industry

When it comes to motivating and keeping staff happy in the restaurant industry, there is one thing that is a must; throw the advice of the motivational gurus out the window.

That’s right, while much of the advice offered by motivational speakers and advisors is great when it is applied to the workforce in, say, a corporate or business setting, the restaurant industry is a whole different world.

While the dynamics between management and staff is similar to what you find anywhere else, and while there is plenty of interaction between staff members themselves, the primary focus when it comes to motivating and keeping staff happy in the restaurant industry is in making them feel as if they have a vested interest in “their” restaurant’s continued success and reputation.  Easy enough to say, you may think, but how do you put that into practice?

Motivating your staff is a fairly straightforward matter; it depends entirely on giving them something to be proud of.  Emphasizing the quality of your customer service and bragging up your staff to your clients will give the staff something to live up to, and will instill a sense of loyalty and pride.  This can be done in a dozen different ways.  A handful are listed below which may help you get started in the right direction. But before you can even begin to reward or motivate your staff, you need to “understand your target market”.

Many of your employees are considerably younger than you are and their idea of The Future or A Reward may differ greatly from yours. To you the future is next year or next decade or maybe the end of your lease. To the young people who work for you, the future is tomorrow, Saturday night or just maybe next summer. Reward? Well nothing satisfies like instant gratification. Carry a few prepaid cell phone vouchers or maybe even lotto tickets and reward your staff on the spot. And if they win? Well hopefully they will buy you out and YOU can stop worrying about the future.

Employee of the Month/Quarter/Year: 

Having an employee of the month/quarter/year program is a great way to show your staff AND your customers just what a great staff you have.  Fair warning, however, words are not enough.  Put their picture on the wall with a short bio that explains why they were chosen, but to double the impact, make it worth the employee’s time.  Perhaps a cash gift or a gift card can help with motivation.

Have an “Employees in the News” wall: 

Every community has its share of events; things like sports competitions, high school and college graduations and other events that make it into the newspaper.  Display your employee’s achievements outside of work in a prominent place; let it be known that you care about their life outside of work and want them to do well.

Reward for Work Well Done: 

It seems as if every industry focuses on the negative, taking away tips or bonuses for poor quality work, or docking hours for mistakes.  This, however, tends to rebound negatively in the end, so why not start off on the right foot and reward for work well done?  If one of the wait staff agrees to come in on their day off, match their tips for the day as a gesture of good will, or hold a contest for bus boys for the most tables cleared each day.

Work Sponsored Events:

There is nothing like camaraderie to instill a sense of loyalty in one’s staff, which is why it is always a good idea to get involved in community events.  Put together a softball team, or a bowling team made up of staff members and then use their activities as a focal point for getting the rest of the staff together regularly (the focus being on fun, not work!).  You’ll be surprised at how quickly they become motivated.

Walk the Talk:

If you want to be an inspiration to your staff you must walk the talk. Be an example of what you want from others. Don’t blow your top if you have a bad day. If things go wrong, deal with it calmly; and always be energetic even if you don’t feel like it. Consistency is key.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, you won’t have to limit yourself to just those motivational suggestions listed above, let your imagination soar, and see just how quickly your staff changes their tune and becomes truly interested in ensuring “their” restaurant does well!

For information on Ideal Software’s Stock Control system for monitoring Food Cost IdealStockControl

Ideal Software wishes a very Happy New Year 2012

Wishing all our customers a HaPPy hApPy NEW YEAR! Success, fun and happiness in 2012!

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Ideal Software thanks their customers for the support received throughout 2011.

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101 Ways to Deal with Food Cost - Part 4 - Purchasing and Receiving

Part 4 in our series “101 Ways to Deal with Food Cost” deals with Purchasing and Receiving, providing useful tips in dealing with food cost in these areas.

Purchasing Tips:

The goal of purchasing is to obtain wholesome, safe foods to meet your menu requirements. The operation must have food to serve customers when needed. The food needs to be the right quality consistent with the operation’s standards and purchased at the lowest possible cost.

Inventory Levels

The first step in computing what item to order and how much you need is to determine the inventory level, or the amount needed on hand at all times. This is a simple amount you need to order, you must first know the amount you have in inventory. Walk through the storage areas and mark in the “ On Hand” column the amounts that are there. To determine the “Build to Amount” you will need to know when regularly scheduled deliveries between deliveries. Add on about 15% to the average amount used; this will cover unexpected usage, a late need to order is the difference between the ‘Build to Amount’ and the amount “On Hand”. Experience and food demand will reveal the amount an average order should contain. By purchasing too little, the restaurant may run out of suppliers before the next delivery. Ordering too much will result in tying up money and putting a drain on the restaurant’s cash flow. Buying up items in large amounts can save money, but you must consider the cash flow costs.

Purchasing and Ordering

What exactly is the difference? Purchasing is setting the policy on which suppliers, brands, grades and varieties of products will be ordered. These are your standardized purchase specifications; the specifics of how items are delivered, paid for and returned. These specifications are negotiated between management and distributors. Basically, purchasing is what you order and from whom. Ordering, then, is simply the act of contacting the suppliers and notifying them of the quantity you require.

Purchasing Specifications

By creating purchasing specifications, you can control which items you purchase and you can maintain which items you purchase consistency. This information is extremely important if you have more than one person that does ordering in your operation.

Purchasing and Inventory Software

Purchasing and Inventory Software is readily available to restaurant operators. Many larger organizations are using inventory control software that saves a significant amount of time and money. Most managers are used to the monthly grind, standing in walk-ins counting eggs, butter pats and frozen chickens. With inventory control software, mangers can use a laser scanner, similar to the ones used in grocery stores, to scan bar codes. The software can also be linked to your distributors and you can place your orders electronically based on the inventory.

Inventory, Storage and Accounts Payable

Ordering effectively is impossible unless you are completely familiar with the inventory items. Prior to orders being placed with vendors, counts of stock need to be established. Software programs are able to determine order quantities based upon par balances and sales figures.

Perpetual Inventory

Perpetual Inventory is a check on the daily usage of your main entrée items from freezers and walk-ins. This is for tracking expensive items, such as meat, seafood, chicken, cans of caviar, etc. When completed, the perpetual inventory will ensure that no bulk products have been pilfered from the freezer or walk-ins.

Purchasing Kickbacks and Gifts

Unfortunately, the food service industry is notorious for kickbacks. It is even more unfortunate that these kickbacks or gifts are essentially paid for by you in the form of higher prices. You need to ensure different employees receive and purchase stock as well as check prices regularly.

Here are some ideas to help keep kickbacks out of your store by ensuring different employees receive and purchase stock as well as check prices regularly.

Receiving Tips:

 

Plan ahead

Plan ahead for deliveries to ensure sufficient refrigerator and freezer space.

Mark all items for storage

Mark all items for storage with the date of arrival or the ‘use by’ date.

Delivery Truck

When Delivery truck arrives, make sure it looks and smells clean and is equipped with the proper food storage equipment. Then inspect foods immediately.

Reject food that has been thawed and refrozen

Look for signs of thawing and refreezing, such as large crystals, solid areas of ice or excessive ice in containers.

Content damage

Look for content damage and insect infestations.

Invoice accuracy

Check the accuracy of the invoice with regard to the purchase order, specifically price, damage, quality, quantity, brands, grades and variety. Items that are not correct need to be noted and returned before the driver leaves and the driver must sign the form. The vendor’s invoice also should be checked against the actual purchase order.

Check temperature

Check temperature of refrigerated and frozen foods, especially eggs and dairy products, fresh meat and fish and poultry products.

Keep all flooring clean

Keep all flooring clean of food particles and debris.

Calibration

Calibration makes sure all scales and thermometers are in place and calibrated.

Remove empty containers

Remove empty containers and packing materials immediately to separate trash area.

For information on Ideal Software’s Stock Control system for monitoring Food Cost IdealStockControl

To view Part 1 “101 Ways to deal with Food Cost” 33 Possible Food Cost Problem Areas

To view Part 2 “101 Ways to deal with Food Cost” Back to Basics

To view Part 3 “101 Ways to deal with Food Cost” The Menu, Pricing and Standardized Recipes

Ideal Software Guest Appearance on It’s My Biz

An excerpt from the final episode of It’s My Biz, Nedbank’s Small Business Seminars, with guest appearance by Ideal Software featuring their flagship product Ideal Stock Control.

Screened on ETV, DSTV channel 134, Thursday 17th November 2011.

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November Issue of Ideal Software's Niche Notes, our newsletter that keeps you coming back for more!

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101 Ways to Deal with Food Cost - Part 3 - Menu, Pricing and Standardized Recipes

Part 3 in our series “101 Ways to Deal with Food Cost” deals specifically with the menu, pricing and standardized recipes.

The food is great, the service fabulous and the restaurant is busier than ever but are you wondering why the bottom line isn’t all it should be? Check your FOOD COST! Here are possible Food Cost problem areas:

Pricing

Pricing is an important aspect of your revenues and customer counts. Prices that are too high will drive customers away and prices that are too low will kill your profits. Pricing is not the simple matter of appropriate markup over cost; it combines other factors as well. Prices can be either market driven or demand.

Food-Cost Tracking

Cost is the basic building block of menu pricing, so you need to understand how to track food cost in order to price your menu for maximum profits. Before you price your menu, you need to cost out each menu item. This information can come from your standardized recipe, or you can create a separate cost sheet that lists all the items on the menu.

Recipe Information

Although you recipe file will change over time, it should always contain certain basic pieces of information. Make sure that you keep track of these changes and keep you file up to date.

Yield costs

Once you have standardized recipes in place, you can determine the per plate cost of every dish. In order to do this, you need to know the basics ingredients cost and the edible yield of those ingredients for each dish.

Menu Pricing

Menu pricing is a major component of your food cost equation. The more you can charge your customers, the lower your food-cost percentage. Pricing may seem like a mathematical exercise or a lucky guess, but it is neither of these. Pricing is based on a markup of cost, which is figured by the determining food cost, sales history and profit margin.

How indirect factors can increase Profits

Certain factors can give you a competitive edge, allowing you to charge more than the competition for your products. For instance, if you operate a steak house that serves prime beef and all the other steak houses in town serve choice and select, you are able to charge more for your product because of the higher quality. Other factors may allow you to charge more (or less) as well e.g. If you have off street or valet parking, you offer amenities that allow you to charge higher prices than some of your competition may be able to.

Calculating Entrée and Meal Food Cost

Armed with cost information, you are now in a position to establish your menu prices. Remember, however, that prices will also have to take indirect factors into consideration.

Food Cost Percentage Pricing

This is probably the most widely used method of menu pricing and more than likely it will be the way you price the majority of your menu items. To calculate cost percentages, use target food cost percentage and actual item food cost.

Menu Sales Analysis

Menu sales analysis, or menu scores, track how many of each menu item is sold. Looking at this information, together with food cost and menu prices, can give the food service manager a great deal of information.

Analyze and Classify Your Menu Sales Mix

Once you have an effective menu design, analyzing your scales mix to determine the impact each item has on sales, costs and profits is an important practice. If you have costs and waste under control, looking at your menu sales mix can help you further reduce costs and boost profits. You will find that some items need to be dropped altogether.

For more info on Ideal Software’s Stock Control system for monitoring your Food Cost IdealStockControl

To view Part 1 in our series “101 Ways to deal with Food Cost” 33 Possible Food Cost Problem Areas

To view Part 2 in our series “101 Ways to deal with Food Cost” Back to Basics