Let the world know

Okay, so not necessarily the world, but at least, your locality.

What needs to be known to the world? All the great things you are proud of in your restaurant.

This article is inspired by a recent visit to one of the restaurants I consulted for last year. I saw that they have new posters on their new offerings that were cunningly designed and phrased. I was happy but at the same time, I was disappointed. Why are they keeping these good marketing tools in the restaurant when the place could benefit from it being brought outiside?

This visit was part of my post-consultancy check which I do for all my consultancies. So I sent a report to the owner of the restaurant about my visit. I also told him about using the posters in their marketing activities.

As in all restaurants, we have great things to say about our own places. How this dish is special, this ingredient is superb and the like. We are able to tell our clients those, if we are lucky.

However, it is more important that your target market learns about these great features. Let the world know about them. Don't keep them in your restaurant. Use the marketing tools that are most effective for your market. It does not have to be an expensive effort. Take note though that marketing is an investment.

So the next time that you make a great offering in the restaurant, tell the world about it.

What an owner wants VS. what the guests want

In my few years of doing consultancy for restaurants, this is one of the hardest things to balance: what an owner wants against what guests want.

For yet to open restaurants that don't have a very specific theme or cuisine, my work is the hardest in terms of putting the menu together. I have met owners who have a hard time accepting that not all the recipes that they want can go to the menu. I have seen others go so wayward with the menu choices that you get confused yourself whether the owner really wants to make this a business or just a personal kitchen. Luckily, there are also other owners who listen. They are aware that, as owners, they do have all the right in the world to insist on what they want. However, they also know that since this is a business activity, then their decision would have to follow what is the whim of their clients and consequently, what will be the best for the business.

If the restaurant has a theme, at least stick to the theme. There can be no burgets in an Asian restaurant, as an example, even if the owner loves burgers. (Maybe he or she should just open a burger house.)

If it's a generic setup like a family restaurant or cafe, there are a couple of ways to put together the menu. One is to know what the locals like to eat. Ask around. Eat otu. Make a survey or a study. It is better to do these than to be sorry later on when there is a few people in the dining area.

Second is make a theme or menu that is yours and create a need or clamor for them. That means making the food really delicious that it becomes a by-word or a new talk of the town. You can't really go wrong too much with great-tasting food, can you?

For an existing restaurant, my earlier suggestion of asking customers is still the best way to revise a menu. Listen to your clients. Guests who feel their opinions matter tend to patronize an establishment more.

Events for Restaurants

Most marketing activities today dwell on advertisements and in-store promotions. Personally, I like doing a combination of advertisements, in-store promos and events. Adevrtisements let out the information about your restaurant in places and media that matches your target market. In-store promotions push your average check higher and make good foundation for guest loyalty. Events are the the between-the-line marketing activities that, in my opinion, give more value and substance to your restaurant in the eyes of the consumer.

Events. Why events? Admittedly, most events tend to be expensive, tedious and eats up a lot of manpower time and company resources. But why do restaurants bother having events?

I believe that events, if executed properly, give your restaurants better exposure than advertisements. Longer exposure, media value and the ability to zero in on the essence of your restaurant.

What events can your restaurant do? Let's start with your own occasion: Anniversary. You can also other occasions related to your restaurant. Example, if you serve crabs and there is a National Crab Day, then it sure is a good way to have an event. Other events are occasion-based: Valentines, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and the like. Other events can also be customized according to the objective of your event. If you want to highlight a new service or dish, you can build or conceptualize an event around that service or dish.

When I do events for restaurants, I alwasy stick to my original marketing product mix. Stick to your target market, packaging, place and price.

How has the crisis affected your restaurant?

Living in the Philippines, I am quite sure that businesses are not entirely affected by the US recession. From what I have seen, most homegrown businesses and micro enterprises are more resilient in these situations. It is those huge export-driven businesses that I think have been affected most.

How about us in the restaurant industry? Have we been hit hard or is just another day in another year?

In the cities where I go to, I am glad to note that business is good as ever and for some even getting better. Admittedly, some restaurants feel a little decrease in customer share of clients coming from US companies like pharmaceuticals and agricultural companies. Example is, if before, these medical representatives would dine out like almost everyday. Now, they have reduced that frequency to almost once a week or even less frequent.

Other restaurants feel a decrease in average check. People still dine out but are a little bit thriftier.

Hopefully this is not the case for you. If you experience a decrease in guest check, it is time for another review of your menu. Push your dishes which give you high profit margin. At this point, try to eliminate from your menu those that barely give you any profit.

On the other hand, this may be a good time to use imported goods as the prices might be cheaper or if they are still not cheap, would be the best time to haggle. Businesses abroad need all the business they can get even at a meager profit margin.

Strengthen your menu. Create dishes that are of "value". This means dishes that will look like a lot to customers but will be of very little cost to you and one that you can sell at an inexpensive price.

This recessino is not for a few months but maybe till he 3rd quarter or even the 4th quarter of the year. So make sure that your business is ready for any hard hits.

"Sorry sir, out of stock."

"Sorry, sir, that item is not available today."

How many times have you heard of this in restaurants? Of course, the statement comes in different versions like Sorry, it's out of stock or Sorry we just run of of ____. Somestimes, you have replaced your out-of-stock order with another one that's unavailable.

Irked guests would end up asking, "So okay which one of these is available?". When guests get to this point, that means they are just about to walk the door if the next order is unavailable. Worse, they'll tell their friends and relatives about it. Lost opportunity and ruined reputation in one transaction.

So how does a restaurant avoid getting items to be unavailable? Or how does a restaurant handle days when an item or items in the menu are not available?

First of all, there will always be a time when an ingredient will be unavailable for reasons out of your control. And it better be out of your control because guests will understand it more. Ensuring that all your offerings will be available is a long process called proper restaurant management. In short, it is just as important as making sure that the food is good and the portion consistent. When dishes are out of stock, it is a lost sale for the restaurant.

Proper inventory monitoring would be the primary factor. If your kitchen staff has a way of knowing which items are not available anymore, then they can order for this ingredient. This brings you to proper recording of stocks, identifying your order time and average consumption time. Order time is the number of days an item will be available after ordering. Checklists would come really handy.

Keeping a lean menu is also helpful. When a menu is substantial, the possibility of overlooking a dish or ingredient is higher. When you have minimal items, you can handle the stocks better.

Now, in days when the restaurant just realized they can't offer this dish today, follow these simple steps:
1. Let waiters know what item or items are not available
2. Label your menu if possible so as to cross out the menu or temporarily make unavailable.
3. Teach waiters what they can suggest to replace that dish. You cannot lose the sale altogether.

Restaurants should actually make this a commitment. NO OUT OF STOCK ITEMS. When everybody commits to this, the possiblity of an unavailable item gets smaller.

Four Steps of Menu Revision

Revising a menu is definitely not an easy task but is a MUST in every restaurant operation. Why is that? It's all because of the factor of change or the lack of constancy in this business. If at all, change happens really fast in a restaurant that every management only has the choice to cope up with it.

In a previous article, I discussed about how often you should change your menu. Today, I'll let you in on the steps on how to revise your menu.

STEP 1: DATA GATHERING. With your current menu, you should have a tally of number of orders per dish in the menu. These data should tell you which items are most popular and which items are not and so on. You will need this information to know which dishes or menu items to retain and what decision to make about the other dishes. You should also be gathering data on what other menu items your customers wish to see on the menu.

STEP 2: RECIPE TESTING. Test your new recipes if you have that you have not tested but will include in the menu. Testing the rescipe also includes having all employees involved in the kitchen and dining room service taste them. Recipe testing would, of course, require that you document every ingredient and every step whilst perfecting the taste and appearance of the dish. You may refer to a previous article on menu standardization. If you are concerned about how the market will react to it, you can do an exclusive taste testing to know how people would react to the new dishes.

STEP 4: COSTING. Costing is both a science and an art. If you follow a certain computation or multiplier or percentage, sometimes it cannot be applied to all the dishes in your menu. For example, there might be an item that has very minimal costs that you can tag a higher markup on for higher profit margin. Or there is an item that might not be totally saleable if you follow the proper markup. Costing has to be updated. Use the most current or the highest possible food cost you can use to make your selling price sound and sane. The menu engineering part needs an up-to-date food cost and an intelligent approach to yield management.

STEP 4: DRAFTING OF MENU. Drafting a menu has to follow certain standards. I'll let you in on properly doing or organizing a menu

Menu revision: how often should you do it?

It is one of the questions I always ask during initial meetings with a new restaurant client: When was the last time you changed your menu? They would give an answer and would always ask in return: How often should we change the menu?

As in many situations, it depends on a lot of things.

For other restaurants, it's as often as every month. For others as long as twice or once a year.

First, changing a menu takes time. If you're a seasoned chef or restaurateur, it might be the easiest thing to do for you. I know of a chef who changes menus every month and does the whole thing in one hour. Of course, that does not include testing and costing. Other chefs take months.

Unassisted, I can change a menu in a month. That's because I take the time to recost and test recipes I have not tested. I also like to arrange dishes properly.

The frequency of menu revisions depend on the following:

YOUR CUSTOMERS. Country clubs and other exclusive clubs have to change every month. This is to avoid customers from getting tired of the menu. In this case, a once a month revision is necessary. In other cases like specialty restaurants or lean menu arrangements, a twice a year revision should be okay. This could be applied for places who specialize in certain dishes like crabs, chocolate and the like.

SEASON. It is always best to use what's in season. So to adapt your menu to what's in season, it would be good to revise the menu to make use of seafoods, fruits and vegetables that are easily accessible to you.

ECONOMIC MOVEMENTS. Inflation would always be a key factor to any restaurant. When prices increase and your food cost cannot handle the increase anymore, it's time for a revision. When there's a sudden increase or shortage of an ingredient, it's time for a revision.

Remember, changing a menu doesn't mean totally replacing your current offerings with all-together new ones. It is best to retain your bestsellers and introduce fresh dishes. Don't be afraid to put new or experimental dishes just as long as you've tested them.

In the next blogpost, i'll let you in on how to revise your menu.

Love is in the air

It's January. The New Year is done. Chinese New Year is a few days ahead. After that, what's next?

Yes, you got it. It's Valentines day! That means probably one of the busiest times for a restaurant. If you have not planned for Valentines day, you still have time to do so.

So what exactly do you want to do on Valentines?

You might say, "No, not the same 'dinner for two'...", "How about a family Valentine feast?" or what about a Chocolate buffet?

What promotion or special offer, if you have any, will be dependent on what is hot or most profitable in your locality. That will apply to your decision on the food, service, serving size and other promotions.

Valentines is mainly targetted towards couples, husbands and wives. Second would be families who eat out on February 14 with their children adn relatives. Next would probably be group of friends. Where I live, I have seen both. There are restaurants who target couples. Others stick to family diners.

As to the menu, it is usually items in the menu made extra special or named to suit the day like Heart Crepes with Chocolate Sauce or "Steak my Heart away" or something to that effect.

No matter what works for you, it is best to keep in mind, like other special occasions, this is no time to mess with the food. The food, the service, the place, all have to be special.

One thing I would like to remind restaurant managers is to take it easy on the heart shapes. Don't overdo it! Flowers would be expensive during these times but there are other ways to make a romantic setting. you may use candles, figurines, covered votives, rose petals (tell your florist to collect for you in advance), plants, pillows, music. Keep the heart shapes to invites, cake or dessert and flyers. Other than those, it just might get tacky.

Also, take it easy on the "red" color. Overdoing it might make others see red. Red is a great color but not to be overused on Valentines day.

One other thing is keep the good ambience going. Don't overpack your restaurant just because you want to optimize the day. Diners need some space.

So happy valentines day planning to you!

Really knowing the industry is a must!

As I was doing my planning for 2009, it brought me thinking about the potential clients I will approach this year for my restaurant consultancy business.

Most of my potential clients, obviously, are those restaurants who are under some marketing or operational problem. One of the main reasons they are in their situations is the lack of know-how on properly and successfully running a restaurant. You see, the people who own restaurants and hotels in the city where I am from are wealthy people who are knowledgeable in other industries. The hotels and restaurants they put up are their "status symbols" or the outlet of their financial capacity. One other reason is that the people they hire to run their companies are just as inadequately unequipped to run the restaurants.

Most of them depend on the people they hire to make the restaurant succeed which is but normal since they are paying them for the said task. However, it is totally a futile effort since the owners don't know what is the right thing to do so how would they know if their employees are doing it right.

So part of my consultancy is owners with procedures and controls that will let them know if the restaurant is doing great or otherwise and whether their employees are doing their jobs or not.

However, it is totally dependent on owners to take seriously their very important role of knowing the restaurant or foodservice industry well. I would like to think that this the true sign of an owner's desire to make the company succeed and be profitable. When owners, who usually are wealthy and busy with other businesses show interest in knowing how to run a restaurant, no matter how small scale it may seem compared to their other businesses, it is a good start towards making good decisions for the restaurant.