Archive for October, 2006

“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.

http://blog.fastcompany.com/archives/2006/10/30/the_princesses_and_the_pee_a_customer_experience_fable.html

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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.

Read the whole story…

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.

Read the whole story…

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.

Read the whole story…

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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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HOW TO MAKE A HEALTHIER MENU

Replacing refined starches and supersizing fruits and vegetables

REPLACE REFINED STARCHES WITH WHOLE GRAINS

Americans have largely moved away from whole grains, but elsewhere, these nutritious foods remain firmly on the menu. Here, for inspiration, are how cooks in other countries and from other cultures treat these wholesome grains:

BARLEY
Stuffing for roast duck (China).
Breakfast porridge (Scandinavia).
Twice-cooked rusks: These are softened in water, topped with chopped tomato, garlic, feta and basil and drizzled with olive oil (Greece).
Scotch broth: A soup of meaty lamb bones, barley, root vegetables and cabbage (Scotland).
Crispbread: Griddle-cooked flatbread made with barley flour and whole-wheat flour (Norway).

BUCKWHEAT
Blini for caviar or smoked fish (Russia).
Kasha: Buckwheat groats, typically toasted with egg, then cooked in water or stock (Eastern Europe).
Kasha varnishkes: Buckwheat groats with egg noodles (Eastern Europe).

CORN
Tortillas (Mexico).
Buttermilk cornbread (Southern U.S.).
Garlic cheddar grits (Southern U.S.).
Cornmeal-blueberry pancakes (Southern U.S.).

OATS
Muesli: Breakfast cereal with rolled oats, dried fruit and nuts (Swiss).
Oatcakes: Scone-like baking-powder breads (Scotland).
Buttermilk oat bread: Baking-soda bread made with oats soaked in buttermilk (Ireland).

WHEAT
Farro and borlotti bean soup (Italy).
Farrotto: Risotto made with farro and sometimes mushrooms (Italy).
Tabbouleh: Chopped parsley and bulgur salad with tomato, mint and lemon (Lebanon, Syria, Israel).
Bulgur pilaf with chickpeas (Turkey).
Bulgur and lentil soup (Turkey).
Green bean and bulgur pilaf (Turkey).
Bulgur and chickpea salad (Lebanon).
Greek soup of wheat berries, dried beans, lentils and rice (Crete).
Kibbeh: Ground lamb meatballs with bulgur (Middle East).

SUPERSIZED FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

Why should only burgers, fries and sodas be supersized? Consider revising at least some of your plate concepts to bring the vegetables center stage. Here are some tips to keep in mind as you look for ways to showcase produce:
•Reposition vegetables as the feature, not the afterthought. Offer daily special sides, just as you have daily special entrees. “Today we’re featuring fresh Blue Lake beans. Would you like a bowl for the table?”
•Develop complete plates that take the emphasis off animal protein. Other cultures and cuisines offer good models. Take a look at the Indian thali, a meal on a rimmed silver tray. There is no main course on a thali; the components—meat, legumes, vegetables, yogurt salad, rice and/or bread, pickles, relishes, sweets—have roughly equal weight. Indian flavors may not be appropriate to your operation, but you can borrow the idea of the thali in rethinking plate balance.
•Talk to your suppliers about fresh pre-cut product. Demand that they respond to your needs.

 

 

BRING ON THE NUTS

Tree nuts are an excellent source of monounsaturated fatty acids. Pounded nuts are the foundation of many sauces in many cultures.

FROM SPAIN
Romesco: A thick pounded sauce of dried chiles, pimiento, almonds and/or hazelnuts, garlic, extra virgin olive oil and wine vinegar. Serve with: Seafood. Pepitoria: A thick sauce of ground almonds, fried garlic, bread, spices and hard-cooked egg. Serve with: chicken, rabbit, meatballs. Picada: A mixture of nuts, bread, saffron, garlic, parsley and spices. Serve with: meatballs, chicken, fish, shrimp, squid. FROM GREECE
Skordalia: A mortar-pounded sauce of stale bread, almonds or walnuts, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, and lemon juice or wine vinegar. Some versions include yogurt. Serve with: Seafood or chicken; cooked beets; grilled vegetables. FROM TURKEY
Tarator: A sauce of pounded almonds, walnuts or hazelnuts, with bread, garlic, water, lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. Serve with: Seafood or vegetables. FROM MEXICO
Mole: Many mistakenly think that chocolate is this sauce’s signature taste. In fact, many Mexican moles contain no chocolate, but they almost always contain toasted and ground nuts or seeds.

BEVERAGE ALTERNATIVES TO SODA

Reduce refined sugars without sacrificing taste.
•Make it fun with fruit garnishes, straws and eye-catching glassware.
•Explore Mexico’s aguas frescas, lightly sweetened blends of fresh fruit and water.
•Offer an iced mint or peach tea with sprigs of fresh mint. Try lemon grass, mint or chamomile tisane.
•Low-fat yogurt drinks and smoothies offer lots of creative potential. Frozen fruit whipped with buttermilk makes a low-fat, high-fiber beverage with eye appeal.
•Use club soda as a base for refreshing spritzers.
•Buy a vegetable juicer and develop a signature cocktail.

 

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Fast-casual franchising: Is your chain ready?

Great article over at Fast Casual that talks about how to determine whether you are ready or not to franchise your business.

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Omaha Beef fears hamburger patties contain E. coli

Boston Globe: A Danbury firm is recalling about 1,680 pounds of ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli, state consumer officials and the company said Monday. Omaha Beef Co. Inc. is recalling 10-pound boxes of hamburger patties and 5- and 10-pound bags of hamburger.Read more

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Comments and asides!

I have been working with Wordpress to figure out why my comments haven’t been working - and we think we have it solved. After the reset goes through the servers, everyone should be able to begin commenting again. And please do!

Jeffrey

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Making Celebs a Reality

Ever wondered how to get a celebrity to your venue for an event?

RealityRox specializes in promotions with celebrities, including more than 250 talents from MTV’s “Real World,” “Laguna Beach,” “American Idol,” “Playboy Playmates,” “Survivor,” “America’s Next Top Model,” “Saved By the Bell,” “Model Challenge USA,” “The Surreal Life” and more. Catering to nightclubs and bars, RealityRox is a talent resource for on-premise promotions.

RealityRox provides promotional materials to advertise the event, and its Web site follows the talent around the United States and Canada.

For more information, visit www.realityrox.com. For booking, contact booking@realityrox.com or (323) 230-7228.

 

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