“Sorry, no substitutions!”
I was coaching a client today on the rationale of how his menu can add to his ability to serve his guests and increase his business and how service can add to his ability to market his menu to assist in driving his guest counts. The he dropped the bomb on me, “We don’t do substitutions, period” So I asked him, “how do you like irrelevance?”
Your business has to be all about the guest, period! If it’s not you who has this focus, somebody in your market will, and you’ll lose!
Here’s a corollary from Seth about the Pump Room in New York.
Source: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2006/10/yes_substitutio.html
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“Would you want your wife to pee in this place?”
A few years ago when I was a multi-unit manager for an international QSR, I was pleasantly surprised when the President of McDonald’s at the time, was asked what his number one priority would be for the new year would be. His response? “Bathrooms!”
Now this story from Fast Company.
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A Triple Play!
In honor of my Cardinals winning their 10th World Series, here’s my take on the triple play!
Fast Feeders Test Call Center Order Taking
Wendy’s, McDonald’s and Pizza Hut are experimenting with using call centers as a way to improve drive-through service. Because the call center workers’ only job is to take orders, they have time to be friendlier and to speak clearly and slowly–unlike workers who have other tasks to perform. Call-center employees are also trained to increase sales through “suggestive selling,” the official term for the classic line “Do you want fries with that?”
When customers pull up to the drive-through at a Wendy’s in Lexington, Ky., for example, a call-center employee elsewhere in the city asks for the order and clicks on computer images of each item ordered. Meanwhile, a digital camera snaps a picture of the car and driver placing the order. The order travels back to the restaurant via the Internet and appears on screens in the kitchen and the drive-through window. When the customer gets to the pickup window, the employee matches the order to the picture of the car taken earlier.
Caribou Coffee’s No. 2: So It Tries Harder
When your biggest competitor has 12,000 locations, and you have 432, it pays to be creative. Caribou Coffee has a granola bar deal in place, and a rolling holiday promotion that begins in November.
McDonald’s Makeover Means Customers Linger
After 50 years and billions of customers, all 13,000 McDonald’s restaurants in the United States are getting a McMakeover–half of them by the end of this year. Plasma-screen TVs, soft couches, coffee tables and wireless Internet access are just some of the new features.
The iconic red or brown “double mansard” rooftops–designed to catch the eye of passing motorists–will be replaced by something more sleek and modern. Some things won’t change, however, including the famous golden arches. McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc wanted customers in and out quickly. The new relaxed interiors, on the other hand, invite people to linger.
“We’ve evolved our menu. We’ve evolved our marketing, and it’s time to evolve what McDonald’s’ environment is on the inside space,” says Sophia Galassi, vice president of restaurant development for McDonald’s.
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What can be accomplished if you work as a team?
How about a World Championship?
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Lee On Leadership
Lee Cockerell, Former EVP of Operations for Walt Disney World, just spoke on the topic of creating magic at the National Restaurant Association’s Marketing Executive Study Group. Lee is a scholar of leadership. Here were a few takeaways:
It’s not the magic that makes it work, it’s the work that makes it magic. It takes thousands of people being extremely organized, managing time well, and keeping promises to set the stage for each guest to have the most fabulous vacation of their lives.
Guests do not come first, leadership does. Great Leadership -> Inspired Case Members -> Guest Satisfaction -> Business Results.
Appreciation, Recognition, and Encouragement are free, unlimited sources of fuel for your business. Use them to the fullest. Lee recognized cast members who had received letters of praise from the public with a personal note from him and a collectible pin. He found a restaurant server still carrying around that note of appreciation 10 years later. People have a very high ROI.
If people are your competitive advantage, it will be years before anyone can imitate you. If your competitive advantage is product, it can be copied tomorrow. Developing your employees as a competitive advantage takes time and consistency, but it is time well spent.
If you have a chance to see Lee lecture on leadership, I recommend that you make the time.
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