Identifying your House Specialty

A simple yet important marketing activity for a restaurant to do is identifying its house specialty. This is the dish that the restaurant management deems what they can cook and serve best. It is what sets it apart and what it gives to guests when they ask for something special. It is the dish that is used in photoshoots or food reviews. It is the restaurant's signature.

Simply put, when a restaurant is not able to identify its specialty, there is a high probability that the people running the place are confused as to the identity of the restaurant itself.

So just how do you set your house specialty? Ideally, it should be the reason you opened the restaurant or the concept or dish in mind as inspiration.
It could also be the best dish you can serve, what the restaurant is famous for.

I think for those restaurants who do not have one, one possible reason is that they have other good stuff in the menu which are not necessarily their specialty. However, your specialty can also be a group of dishes or a cuisine. But definitely, a single dish or ingredient would be the best items to set as your house specialty.

So what is your restaurant's specialty?

Our chef is not really a chef

I have encountered a lot of restaurants where the head cook or "chef" is not really a trained "chef". When I say trained, I would define it as somebody who studied in a culinary school.

So if your chef is not really a chef, does this post any problem? My answer would depend on the competencies your chef has acquired.

I have met a lot of head cooks who have the skills to lead a kitchen even though they did not get the chance to study in a culinary school or work for a chef or in a professional kitchen. Let me first tell you what competencies we need to look for in a kitchen head:

CULINARY SKILLS. Of course, that person has to be an excellent cook. He or she must be able to demonstrate correctly how a dish is to be prepared. He or she must also be an example in correct cooking methods, proper ingredient handling, food safety and personal hygiene.

LOVE FOR CONSISTENCY AND STANDARDIZATION. I give utmost importance to these because the skills or tasks to aschieve consistency need dedication and time. This is includes cost control, standardizing recipes and documenting them too, quality control and portion control.

GOOD PLANNING AND ORGANIZING SKILLS. A kitchen needs someone who will keep things in order. Menu planning is a must. It is also important to be organized with documents and to note important dates for restocking, ingredient shelf-life, reorder time and cleaning schedules.

DESIRE TO TEACH AND TO LEARN. People management skills are just as vital in the kitchen. We have heard it all: Leadership by example, Give and Take. All of them important in the kitchen. A nurturing leader in the kitchen needs to know when to encourage and when to reprimand.

ONENESS WITH COMPANY GOAL. A kitchen head needs to properly inform his or her team what the restaurant aims for.

If your chef or kitchen head or head cook has the above competencies, there is a great future at least for this person or his kitchen. I have met kitchen heads who learned to cook from informal means and just from experience but who have the right to lead a kitchen. At the same time, it is necessary to continuously yearn to learn.

Running out of Valentines Day ideas?

Valentines Day would probably be one of two occasions in the year that, if I could, I do not want to get involved with in any way. Not because I am "heartless" or cold but because I personally don't need a Valentines Day to rekindle my love for my husband and family.

However, as my work dictates, I had to launch a lot of Valentines promos. This year, a couple of restaurants think they have run out of gimmicks for this over-emphasized occasion. They've done romantic dinners, buffets, concerts, parties. What else could possibly be done?

2010's Valentines Day just might be a chance to do it differently because this year's Valentines Day coincides with the Chinese New Year. Instead of two promotions, you get to do just one! Of course, there would be establishments who would like to celebrate these separately because of their clientele. Your promotion would greatly depend on your cuisine, your facilities and the type of service that you provide.

So here are a few Valentines promotions you could do this year:

FAMILY DAY sort of event. One February 14, 2010 is a Sunday and a Chinese New Year. I know a lot of families who celbrate Valentines with their families. Cook up a family or group menu with special dishes. If you have the space and facilities, do family activities like games, activities for the parents while the kids play or swim, family barbecue and the like. Throw in some exercises or heart check-ups. Good for the heart!

THEME IT UP! Chocolates and strawberries might be over-used but hey, they are still bestsellers. You may use other heart or romance related themes, though. Examples would be movies, prom, wedding, lips, hands (holding hands), bear and more. Remember also that the color scheme doesn't always have to be around red.

CHOCOLATE FORTUNE COOKIES ANYONE? 2-in-1! Give away Chinese New year themed giveaways for Valentines.

At this time, you should already be concretizing your Valentines promotion. My last tip, do enjoy the day yourself!

TOP MENU MASTERS 2010

This is one of the food events this year that I believe restaurateurs should check out Top Menu Masters Conference claims to be the biggest foodservice event of the year. If you are a serious restaurateur or foodservice operator or is planning to be one, you should check it out.

TOP MENU MASTERS 2010 Foodservice Conference is a 2-day business conference on February 25-26, 2010 at the
Summit Ridge Hotel, Tagaytay City.
Landline: (02) 710-0550
Fax Line: (02) 727-0257
Mobile: (0922) TOPMENU
Email: topmenu2010@gmail.com
You may also visit their website at www.restaurantsolutions.com.ph for more details.

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.