What Restaurant Managers Can Learn From Disney's Magic

First time Disney visitors have a whopping 70% return rate. How many restaurants can say their customers are that loyal? Fortunately, the Disney Institute has published many of its parks' tricks in "Be Our Guest," so let's take a look and see what restaurateurs can apply to improving their own customer loyalty.

It's All About Process

Walt Disney was utterly obsessed with process and procedure, and this drive to develop processes which allow delivering a "magical" experience every time is the key to Disney parks' success.

It wasn't a question of "luck" for Disney... not ever. A theme park was a "factory" for entertainment and delight, and key to this level of service was designing great processes and rolling them out at scale.

For example, consider height limits on rides. After it became clear that kids were devastated by waiting in line and then being told they were too short for a ride, Disney implemented passes that would give turned-away kids permission to skip to the front of the line on their next ride.

Constant Optimization

Walt Disney was detail-obsessed, viewing the parks as ever-unfinished products which required constant improvement. He would tour the parks incognito, looking for minor staff slip-ups and track down supervisors to arrange a retraining program.

Even the sound system of Disney parks is designed for the perfect customer experience. The Disney World park uses some 15,000 speakers placed scientifically to ensure the volume of the music you hear is constant as you walk.

Training Staff To Understand Tone, Not Just Words

If a customer asked a seemingly nonsensical question like "When does the 3 o'clock parade start?" -- how would your staff react?

For Disney park staffers, known as "cast members" because Walt viewed every service person as part of the experience, the question isn't nonsensical. They're trained to interpret the tone and understand the question isn't necessarily meant literally. Often, the customer really wants to know "When will the three o'clock parade pass by here?"

The staff member then answers the "real" question appropriately, offering proactive advice if possible. Of course, their staffers are also trained in the best gestures, postures, and facial expressions and how humor or tone of voice produce the best possible experience.

Never-Ending Customer Research

Walt Disney strongly opposed the idea of an administration building, because he wanted his administrators walking around the park and seeing how customers interacted. He understood this was the only way those administrators could make good choices about how to improve the customer experience.

Nowadays, this principle is formalized with customer researchers going out and collecting data, but that doesn't mean it has to be formal for your restaurant operation. As with all of these Disney park tricks, you can apply it on a small scale every day yourself.

Tips For Hiring A Restaurant Chef

Hiring a restaurant chef may well be the most significant decision you make when starting or operating your restaurant. The quality of the food, timeliness of presentation, profitable operation of the business and draw for diners who appreciate the food all depend directly or indirectly on the skills and abilities of the chef. Here are a few tips that should be considered when you are searching for the right person to carry the title of chef.

If your establishment already has a signature style, your new chef should be able to follow that general format in cooking. However, it is also true that a chef will always bring his own personality and style into the dishes that have made your establishment known and enjoyed in the community. For a new restaurant which has not yet cast a theme or cuisine, the outlook of a chef can help to form the personality of your restaurant.

Finding a chef may be done through various means. There are head hunter employment firms. Be sure that the one you use is knowledgeable about the specific needs of the restaurant industry. You could check with reputable chef schools for upcoming graduates, although these people may not have the level of experience. Some chefs are looking for a change of geography, so you could attract inquiries to your business.

Administrative duties are also part of overall responsibilities of chefs. If there are workers in the kitchen, they must be directed and supervised. The chef is usually responsible for maintaining the knowledge of health and sanitation standards expected of a first class establishment. Food handling and storage is a necessary part of duties of the chef. He or she must also be able to maintain a reliable inventory of the necessary food, spices and kitchen supplies. Working within a budget is also important.

When choosing the chef, you should give them an interview that includes preparing a selection of items from the menu. You may want to combine that with allowing the applicant to prepare something that they are skilled at. Ultimately, the chef must be able to work with you, with the existing staff and in the surroundings that will be commonplace while on the job.

Take the time to ensure that you know what you want when hiring a chef. If you want a person who is calm and laid back in the kitchen, your interview should reflect that. If you can handle a lot of drama, you may be less picky about a little emotion from your applicants. Be sure that you taste the type of dishes that the chef puts out

How To Handle Restaurant Discipline Issues

Even in the best run restaurants, there will occasionally be discipline issues that arise. When you find that employees are not performing as expected, it is important to act consistently, and promptly. When a relatively minor issue is allowed to grow and fester, it can affect morale of the other employees and can even result in loss of business. In worst case scenarios, failed discipline can result in safety issues or even legal action against the restaurant.

Before you can work on discipline problems, your employees must know what is expected of them. There must be a standard of behavior or performance against which the actions are measured. Even if you think about behavior that should be obvious to most people, your problem employee may not be aware of the issue. If, for example, off-color comments or foul language is part of the vocabulary of an employee, they must be informed that such comments are unacceptable.

Standards and expectations about what is acceptable and what is out-of-line should be consistent across the entire employee roster and work environment. A particular dress code, if stated, must be followed by every employee. This leads to a less stressful workplace for everyone. There is no effort to push boundaries because of lack of knowledge.

The employee should be encouraged to participate in restaurant training sessions, either at the work place our outside the workplace. For example, failure to perform a specific part of the job correctly should become a discipline issue until the employee has been trained in the correct way to do the task. Training can be formal or can simply be in the form of a regular performance review.

Part of identification of correct standards is setting up a progressive statement of penalties for failure to meet standards. A plan for correcting unwelcome behavior presented in a tactful and positive way has the benefit of salvaging the training efforts already expended on a specific employee. Many employees who start out with rough edges can be trained and counseled to become an asset to the employer.

In every case of restaurant discipline problems, it is important to approach it with the idea of preventing legal, health and safety issues. Additionally, you want to avoid employee behavior to drive away customers. Identify the expected behavior and train the employee in how that behavior is to be displayed. When there are continued issues with a specific employee, follow a plan of progressive penalty. Your goal should be to salvage a marginal employee, rather than eliminating him or her.

Tips For Setting A Restaurant Theme

Setting a restaurant theme is one of the more important tasks for setting up a new dining establishment. The thematic choices can incorporate food type, decorations, staffing and equipment needed. Proper market research must be conducted in order to ensure that there is a pool of people who will be interested in the themes that you select. Here are some tips from ReservationBooks.com to help ensure that the tone of your establishment is effective in reaching your customer pool.

It is important to understand that a selected theme of your restaurant is far more than just picking a type of food. A theme certainly incorporates the cuisine, but it also describes the type of service offered and the customers you plan to attract to your business. For example, a family restaurant may be one theme, while a dinner club will be a different theme. Both of these examples could serve the same type of cuisine.

Determining the customer pool will often help to determine the theme of the facility. If you want to attract senior citizens who have time to sit at a table and discuss grandchildren while drinking a cup of coffee or two, the type of service you will offer and the facility set up will be different than for an eating place that mainly serves the lunch crowd from a nearby office complex.

Although you may prefer to serve a specific ethnic cuisine or specialty, the theme is still the over-riding factor. You can easily use your cuisine choices offered to customers in a way that is true to the theme while still providing a variety of options to your dining public. The menu options should mesh smoothly with the theme and decor of the facility.

The decor can reflect the theme of the facility without being overwhelming. You don't have to have every item of equipment and decoration related to a Western theme in order to display a family friendly Western atmosphere. Wagon wheel light fixtures, table decorations and focus walls coupled with numerous items that appear to have come from a local junk dealer may result in a cluttered look, rather than a family theme.

Choose your restaurant theme carefully. The elements of choice can include the style of service, type of food and the decorations that provide visual interest. The theme that has become more of a gimmick than a philosophy of service may have a shorter lifespan than is desirable.

Tips For Setting Restaurant Hours

The decision about what hours your restaurant should be open is one that can't be made in a vacuum. It is true that the scheduling of open hours for the facility must be considered in advance of opening or re-opening. Placing advertising in telephone directories, newspapers or other marketing venues requires letting potential customers know when you will be open. Here are some tips for setting restaurant hours.

Your facility location will play an important role in deciding how to set your serving hours. An area that has a large daytime population will need to be open during the hours that will serve these people. This doesn't rule out changing the dynamics of the restaurant in order to attract a different type of diner in other hours.

If your location is largely deserted in the evening hours, you have a choice of doing something that will bring people to the location. This might be a better service level, theme foods or perhaps entertainment. Those people who are interested in your restaurant theme or cuisine may travel some distance to take part in what you offer. You will also need to consider the availability of staff, so that patrons of your facility can receive the same type of top quality service at any time they choose to eat.

You may find that your restaurant advertising or marketing efforts are different for different hours of serving. If you are trying to reach young families you probably won't want to advertise your facility in a singles dating site. The hours for families would be different than for those people eating after attending the movie theater. The type of menu may change with the time of day.

Checking out the surroundings and considering how you can take advantage of events going on in the surroundings will provide a reason to use flexible scheduling. For example, if a nearby church holds choir practice every week, you may want to have open hours so that people can eat before their meeting or can grab a cup of coffee after the session.

When deciding which hours your facility will be open, there are several factors to consider. If you have a daytime location, you will need to give people a reason to make the trip during off hours. If you are open with other nearby establishments are closed, you will probably pick up some customers. A cost-benefit analysis will help you to decide. The diners who are likely to come to your eating place will affect the best hours for your facility to be open for business.

Catering Contract Worksheet

A few of us know how catering actually works. It is not just about decorating and serving food for the guests, but also a procedure in executing every single detail in an event flawlessly.  Numerous things are required for a successful catering service. Some would say that it is a form of art and the caterer must have an impeccable taste, much like how an artist is perceived through the eyes of the critics. The jargon used in the catering or food business is also unique.

Catering is a different world of food altogether. It has a wide array of choices namely wedding, baptism, baby shower, corporate, and many more. If you have your own catering service, being organized is very crucial. One has to take into account the availability of the venue, the materials needed for the decorations, food tasting, and the number of guests who will attend the event.  It is important to make sure that your clients’ requirements are met and to give them their money’s worth.

Since we want to give them the best event that they could possibly have, constant communication with the client is a must. Be ready for last minute changes as opposed to a permanent decision. For this, the rule of thumb is for you to have it all in written agreement and not just verbal. This is to give you assurance that there will be no room for changes once a decision has been agreed upon. In order to help you with this, Mr. Dave Lipson has come up with a solution with the use of his catering template form at FreeRestaurantForms.com. It is a catering contract worksheet stating the most relevant information in organizing an event, giving restaurateurs and their clients a common ground with regards to having a successful event.

FREE Restaurant Produce Spreadsheet An Easy Way To Track Produce Use

What easier way to monitor produce supplies than by using a spreadsheet and a free one at that. There are plenty of websites that offer spreadsheets for tracking various restaurant inventory. Restaurants generally consist of a multitude of items that need to be stocked and re-stocked on a regular basis, since the majority of these items get consumed daily. Having a free restaurant produce spreadsheet is one way to properly maintain a complete list of what needs to be ordered next time from the food service in charge of supplying all the perishables.

The website with the most commonly used spreadsheets available is called freerestaurantforms.com and these are completely free documents that are able to be downloaded right to your computer. This spreadsheet can be altered in any way needed to make it fit better with your list of produce used. Not all restaurants carry the same items or quantities, so these numbers are easily inserted to make them accurate for your restaurant.

While the individual items are located in the column to the far left, the estimated quantities to be used and how much was ordered are listed to the right.

The columns start off the with par amounts for a typical weekday and weekend, with each amount able to be placed in a separate column. The days of the week are then listed, starting with Monday and ending on Sunday, with two columns alloted for each individual day.

There is a column for Par and a column for Ord. This is a great way to use this free restaurant produce spreadsheet for keeping track of what is used on a daily basis. It is nicely organized and very easy to follow. This format will make ordering produce much simpler, since you can see if the par amounts are as accurate as you thought or if you need to adjust your produce order.

Use A Restaurant Daily Logbook To Track Incidents

A customer complains. A cook cuts himself in the kitchen. A busboy slips on a wet floor and is injured. How can a restaurant manager track these incidents effectively? The answer is with a daily logbook. There may be other paperwork involved, depending on the restaurant, but a daily logbook can allow a manager to record many details that may have contributed to the incident.
Tracking personnel issues is just one of the functions of a daily logbook for restaurant managers that the folks at www.reservationbooks.com came up with. If an employee comes to work after having a fight with his/her significant other, this person may be distracted enough to not pay attention to what is happening.
Other factors can lead to incidents. If the restaurant is experiencing an exceptionally busy time, cooks may be rushing too much to meet the demand and allow quality to suffer, leading to customer complaints or injuries.
There are many different factors in a restaurant that can lead to an incident. Keeping a daily logbook can allow a manager to look at what else was happening leading up to an incident to better manage things and prevent future similar occurrences. Often, without the benefit of a logbook, the only information available to a manager is who and what happened. Why gets lost, which can prove to be a tragic loss as it can have a serious impact on future managing of similar situations.
A manager's daily logbook is an invaluable tool for reducing the chaos associated with running a restaurant and making a manager more effective in carrying out his duties. Having information and notes about all of the different events taking place at a given time can help to determine if there is a problem with personnel, service, or simply that more staff is needed in such situations to avoid the chance of an incident.

Name Brand Reservation Books

The brand of a reservation book is important for those that desire specific attributes in their reservation books. Reservation books are used by many high profile and professional businesses that need to have consistent quality and information access each year. Name brand reservation books consistently provide excellent quality and similar information designs for year to year.
You can find many name brand, top quality reservation books for affordable prices. Name brand products can be found for excellent prices if you are willing to do a little research. Consumer reports and other online comparison sites are a great first stop for your reservation book search.
Online shopping and being able to compare different companies is a great tool to find the best price for your desired reservation book. High quality products can be found from many outlets including www.reservationbooks.com and discount sellers that may not actually have premises you can visit. Or the product you desire cannot be found locally and you can only obtain it from the Internet. It is important you read all of the fine print and understand the refund policies and shipping costs.
Many businesses, hotels, caterers, restaurants, spas, salons, convention centers and more use reservation books. Being able to obtain the same type of reservation book each year helps these companies stay efficient even if their electronic systems crash. Having consistent access to records even with a power outage will put your business a cut above the rest and will stand out in your customers mind.
Technology is used extensively but having an accessible hard copy at all time is still important. Name brand reservation books will provide you the perfect foil to overcome any electronic difficulties as well as to keep impeccable records of which you can design future marketing schemes. Soon you will notice many quests returning because of your company's attention to detail and high level of service.

How to Make a Reservation at the Front of the House

Those that manage the front of the house reservation must always be alert and on their toes. This individual needs to be able to multi-task, be detail-oriented and very organized. They also must have excellent customer service abilities and able to communicate clearly with both customers and staff. The front of the house is one of the first presentations of your business and you want to make a good impression form the start.

The front of the house will handle room bookings, dinner reservations, special requests and more, basically anything that deals with reservations. The front of the house will hold packages, obtain and pass on messages and even be able to obtain concert tickets if you desire. This position is often time confused with the concierge though the positions are similar.

The main concern for the front of the house is to ensure that the quests are enjoying themselves. They can find transportation to and from their facilities, take care of any complaints, and make sure that all quests are having a pleasant stay. The front of the house is all about service so having a front of the house staff that stays cool under fire is important. They should be able to deal with anything that may arise and if not know who to contact to solve the problem.

Those that have experience in service and sales may do well in the front of the house. You may have to convince a potential guest why a more expensive room or service is better if what they want is not available. Those that have sales experience will find it easier to provide accommodations for those whose first choice is taken as being a successful salesman takes time, and the more practice you have the better you will be at selling.

The front of the house deals with all complaints so you will have to be able to deal with guests at their worst. Many guests will take out their frustrations to the front of the house even if the problem had nothing to so with your business. Travel delays are always frustrating and you need to be skilled at calming down your customers and soothing and feelings that may have been upset. The front of the house is very demanding but if you are a people person then you will enjoy all the challenges it brings as well as the constant interaction with people.

Front of the House Reservations

Reservations are mainly taken at the front of the house, for the food industry as well as the hotelier businesses. Restaurants, cafes, and bars will filter all of their reservations through the front of the house as this is a main responsibility for the front of the house manager. Hotels also include reservations at the front of the house. More businesses are requiring reservations making the front of the house duties very important.
The front of the house oversees more than just reservations. Besides reservations there are reception responsibilities, operations, customer service and more. Hotel front desk responsibilities involve all of the above as well as check out information, special requests, billing, housekeeping information etc.
Reservation software is a great way to keep track of the front of the house reservations. Reservations programs are easy to use and affordable. They can take web bookings, avoid double bookings, track customers, analyze reservation patterns, create confirmations and receipts, automate any calculations, and can create reports.
Front of the house reservation books can be found for full years as well as partial years. They will include complete calendars, monthly at a glance calendar, daily contact lists, daily duty lists for managers, sections, hosts, bussers and bar. There is a notes section where you can write any special information needed for that day or any reminders.
Despite the popularity of electronics, reservation books are still used as they can be found in many styles so you can have a book that blends into the design of your restaurant and hotel. Most hotels use software as there is much more information needed for each reservation. The front of the house can be challenging and require a lot of customer service skills but it is a great way to utilize organizational skills and interact with individuals.

www.reservationbooks.com

If you are in the hospitality or restaurant business, I would heartily recommend visiting the http://www.reservationbooks.com/ website because they offer a variety of solutions to meet your reservation and hospitality needs. The reservation books were designed with quality in mind and were built to withstand the rigors of restaurant demands. These books will not wither from the daily use they will receive.
http://www.reservationbooks.com/ has specially created books to help with specific areas of your organization. There is a catering module that allows your manager to track the number of guests, the menu for the event, the staff that will be working the event etc., and all of this is separate from your day-to-day reservation book. If you want to track your bar organization, there is a book that allows you to keep records of your AM and PM bar staff. You can track the number of identifications that were checked and the number of cabs that were called on any given night.
Depending upon the type of establishment you have, you might want to consider getting a customized reservation book. Your customized book can be embossed with your hotel or restaurant's name and or logo, which immediately identifies your establishments as an upscale organization. Contact the manufacturer if you need a reservation book with non-standard sized paper to see whether your request can be accommodated or not.
The hospitality industry requires having smooth day to day operations and having the right reservation and management tools at your fingertips can separate your organization from the one down the street. http://www.reservationbooks.com/ can offer you communication tools that will help you to achieve the success that you desire. All reservation books allow you to track who, when and where, but http://www.reservationbooks.com/ can help you ensure that you have all of the resources that are required to meet your event planning needs.

Personalize your Reservations Book and Improve your Business

Proper planning and efficient organisation are essential to the success of any business, irrespective of the industry it operates in. One aspect of organisation in any business in the service industry is the Reservations Book. Whether you are involved in a hotel, restaurant, dog boarding kennel, beauty spa or salon or medical centre, you are going to need an efficient and practical booking system. To avoid confusion, chaos and angry clients it is vital that your staff have the means to collect and record all the necessary information in one place to allow for easy reference and adjustments where necessary. An added advantage is gained when you find a way of personalizing your reservations book to value-add to your corporate image and professionalism.
There are many different types of reservation books in use which all serve a similar purpose, which is to allow the staff to see at a glance what is happening at any given time and where vacancies exist. Most reservation books allow for the same information to be recorded. However, is a generic type of reservation book the best for your individual business? Are there some changes you would like to see that suit your specific requirements?
This can be done by finding a supplier who specializes in personalized reservation books. They will be able to cater to your specific needs and produce reservation books that are unique and suited exactly to your needs. Sometimes, they will be able to adapt a generic system to your needs or they will be able to design a system exactly to your requirements.
It is important to have the best system of reservation books to ensure the efficient and smooth running of the day to day aspects of your business. It is about being able to organize your business data as efficiently as possible, and by personalizing your reservations books, you will achieve this.

Restaurant log book helps managers stay organized and save money

Every restaurant experiences it at some point: chaos.

Overbooked dining rooms. Under-stocked kitchens. Angry customers. Unreliable employees.

From the back of the house to the front, miscommunication and a lack of organization are common problems that plague even the finest restaurants and catering facilities. In today’s fast-paced dining establishments, many managers have accepted the chaotic environments as simply part of the business – the unavoidable woes of running a restaurant.

But what they don’t realize is: these problems are costing them money, day after day.

Time spent solving issues, instead of preventing them, can cost businesses thousands of dollars a month. Factor in losses from angry customers and lack of repeat business, and these numbers can be staggering for many struggling restaurateurs.

Working smarter
Dave Lipson, owner of ReservationBooks.com, says that even the smallest bit of organization can go a long way.

Lipson has developed a restaurant manager’s log book, called the Manager’s Communication Module, that can help managers organize and track virtually every aspect of the restaurant in one compact, portable book. The daily log book allows managers to track sales, promotions, customer complaints and repairs, among many other day-to-day restaurant operations.

“A restaurant manager’s log book is essential to the success of any restaurant, no matter how big or small the business,” Lipson said. “By using something as simple as a daily log book, restaurant managers can run the business much more efficiently and cost-effectively.”

Lipson says the number-one goal of the Manager’s Communication Module is to ensure smooth, day-to-day operations of a restaurant or catering facility. By allotting space for managers to address the five essential areas of operation (who, what, where, how and when), the restaurant log book can easily save valuable time and money for these businesses.

“I’ve seen managers out there who say they don’t need a manager log book. They keep everything in their head. That’s a good trait to have in this business, but it can only take you so far. These same establishments are the ones that are suffering the most from a lack of restaurant communication. They might have a packed dining room at night, but they can’t understand where or why they’re losing money,” Lipson said.

The Restaurant Manager’s Communication Module includes a daily calendar, available with a two-page spread for every day of the year. The spread is divided into sections for taking notes on every aspect of the business: front of house, bar, back of house, employee issues … even kitchen inventory status.

The restaurant log book also includes sections for tracking daily and monthly sales, logging employee schedules and shift changes, recording customer wait times, and maintaining reservations. An incident report section also lets managers track accidents and customer complaints.

Managers can even use the restaurant log book to record the weather each day, which often correlates to sales and can be useful for planning specials more effectively.

The restaurant managers log books are available in a variety of formats, including spiral bound or in a faux-leather binder for front-of-house operation.

The need for organization in a surging industry
In a $558 billion restaurant industry, restaurant log books and catering log books are becoming more and more popular among managers. Manager log books, like the Manager Communication Module, provide a means of preventing chaos and insuring effective restaurant communication – even when it’s as simple as jotting down a note.

According to Lipson, who designed the Manager’s Communication Module with the suggestions of successful restaurant managers, businesses can use the daily log book however they want. In fact, most managers won’t fill in every section every day, Lipson says. But every bit helps.

“Manager log books and restaurant log books don’t have to be used religiously to be effective,” says Lipson. “For some businesses, the log books are an essential resource for running the business and saving time and money. But for others, they simply provide a neat, organized space for a manager to take down important notes that come up during the day. But instead of losing the notes on napkins, backs of receipts or in unorganized notebooks, managers can keep all this important information in one, easy-to-access, organized daily log book.”

For caterers looking to improve catering communication, ReservationBooks.com also provides a Catering Communication Module – a manager’s daily log book catered specifically to larger dining facilities and event-planning organizations.

According to the National Restaurant Association, disorganization is a problem that affects nearly every business in the food-service industry. Jeffrey Meyer, bestselling author of several time-management books, recently told the National Restaurant Association, “Sixty percent of the papers on your desk and 80 percent of your files can be tossed.” The solution, he says, is finding a way to consolidate the most important information for your restaurant into one resource.

That’s where restaurant manager log books come in.

Ask any experienced restaurateur and they’ll tell you that saving money in the restaurant business is just a matter of working smarter. Restaurant log books, like the Manager’s Communication Module, help organize priorities while preventing unexpected hiccups in day-to-day operations. From tracking weekend sales to making reminders about much-needed repairs, manager log books can provide a money-saving boost in restaurant communication – without all the chaos.

For more information on restaurant manager log books, reservation books, daily log books or the Manager’s Communication Module, visit http://www.ReservationBooks.com or call 1-800-942-7086.