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ServSafeŽ Training en Espaňol
We are offering two Spanish language ServSafeŽ Food Safety
Training Classes in September:
Thursday,
September 23 in Boston
and
Wednesday,
September 29 in Springfield.
Both
classes will run from 9:00 AM until 5:30 PM, including the exam.
Registration can be made by calling
(413) 774-2786 (English) or (413) 330-9908 (Spanish). Prepayment of $225.00 is
required and the textbook, study guide and directions to the site will be sent
as soon as payment is received.
Our English language classes are posted at
our website. |
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Massachusetts' NEW
Food Allergy Awareness Laws
As a reminder, new food allergy requirements go into effect
October 1, 2010.
Visit our website for more details and the latest information
on the regulations.
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Do you know someone who would benefit from our newsletter? Please forward it to them.
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Greetings!
Labor Day marks both the "end" of summer and the "start" of Fall, which
for many - students, parents, teachers, and others marks the start of
the School Year. As I talk to operators in the hospitality and service
industries and read articles in the business press, one fact that stands
out is that in tough economic times it is important that your
organization have a solid foundation. One of my "foundation" courses at
Cornell was Introduction to Management and I would like to share a
lesson from my first classes in that course.
Eric F. Nusbaum, Ph.D., CHA
Wheelwright Consultants
(413) 774-2786 (617) 938-8668
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Managing Through Your People
I still remember the definition of management given in one
of my first college classes in September 1971.
Management
is the accomplishment of goals and objectives by working with and through
people.
All those years and that definition remains valid. As simple
as it sounds it deserves to be taken apart and analyzed.
". . .
the accomplishment of goals and objectives . . ." The purpose of
management is to get from a starting point to an endpoint. Without goals
managers can't measure progress or evaluate performance. Goals should be
reasonably specific, such as a set level of sales or profits or a set
percentage of increase or improvement. ". . .
by working with and through people." Unless you're a one-person shop, you
don't do "everything" yourself. The actual work of attracting, prepping
for, serving, and accounting for the revenues and expenses associated
taking care of customers is done by your people. Sure you help out in the
rush and deal with certain customers yourself, but most often it is the
efforts of your people that satisfy your customers and leads to the
attainment of your goals and objectives.
To accomplish your goals, your people need you to provide
them with three different types of information:
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What
are the goals? They need to know the organization's and their own goals as well
as those of their co-workers.
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How
do I do my job? This should be provided by proper and effective orientation and
training. [Last month we discussed the importance of training, we'll talk about
the actual training in future months.]
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Where
are we with respect to our goals? This should be provided on three levels: the
organization, the department, and the employee. This information must be
provided on a regular basis through memos, in staff meetings and in performance
reviews.
Communicating Your Goals Encourages Cooperation
Where there is a lack of valid, reliable information, people
will tend to believe incorrect information and that can hurt you.
Years ago I was surfing the Internet and I came across a
blog whose writer assumed that a 35% food cost meant restaurants had an exorbitant
profit of 65%. [I found this profit margin on a recent web search.] Shortly
thereafter a venture capitalist asked me to review the financial projections
for a celebrity Chef's new restaurant. The Chef listed a 35% food cost and a
20% kitchen labor cost and stated, "That leaves 45% profit for us!"
Your staff may be think that your profit is in the 20-25%
range. They may think that the owners are making a bundle while they do all the
work. If so, there is little reason for them to follow standardized recipes,
portion properly, control waste, or accurately ring up sales.
The accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche, LLP, and
others put restaurant profitability in the 4-7% range. Most employees are
shocked to learn how little profit a restaurant makes. When they understand, tend to be more
willing to follow standards and to watch out for waste.
Accomplishing goals is like trying to eat an elephant: too
big a task for one person. So
those who are responsible for reaching the goals of the organization must break
them into smaller pieces and delegate responsibility for accomplishment of
sub-goals to others. The Chef should be responsible for food cost, kitchen
labor, and other direct kitchen expenses. The Service Manger should be
responsible for service labor, direct service expenses, and for the average
check. Individual servers should have goals for the number of guests served and
average check for each meal period. And so on and so forth.
Training is a Process, not a Destination
A few years ago our printed newsletter quoted Fred Smith,
"Working with people is like washing an elephant with a toothbrush." No matter
how good a job you do initially, by the time you've worked your way around the
elephant, it needs washing again. New employees need initial training followed
up with refresher training for as long as they work in your business. This
requires a planned on-going program of refreshment and renewal.
If you don't know where you are, you can't know where to go
We have accounting statistics - food cost, labor cost, etc.
is so that we know where we are with respect to our goals and industry
averages. They allow us to compare our performance in different periods and to
our peers. Statistics are benchmarks that chart our progress toward our goals.
Our staff members need to have benchmarks as much as we do.
They reinforce positive efforts and help our staff to feel proud of their
accomplishments. They let staff know how they are performing and "being in the
know" is one of primary factors that reduces staff turnover! Pretty much every
employee can have a few benchmarks by which they can compare their own
performance to their peers. It is possible to confidentially compare a server's
average sales for a given meal to the best performing server as well as the
"average" server. This provides a benchmark of performance and a starting point
from which to progress.
All benchmarks need to be provided in a timely and
appropriate manner.
With this information at hand, you can work with and through
your people to reach your goals.
Next month we'll talk more about the training process.
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Promotional Opportunities
 There are very few business that would not benefit from
increased sales. Today's marketing professionals agree that the most effective
promotions are those done internally or through the web. Wheelwright Consultants offers web
marketing services, but here are a couple ideas for internal use:
September 16 - Mexico Independence Day (NO Cinco de Mayo is
NOT Mexico Independence Day) Offer Mexican food and beverages. [Did you know
that salsa already outsells ketchup?]
September 22 - Anniversary of the Patenting of the Ice Cream
Cone by Italian immigrant Italia Marchiony (1904). Offer inexpensive or
complimentary ice cream cones to children or all guests.
October 1 - National Diversity Day followed by October 11 -
National Multicultural Diversity Day. Highlight the diversity of your employees
by offering a daily special that recognizes the diversity of your employees by
name and country of origin.
 October 15 - National Grouch Day - yes, it seems that
everyone has "their day". Give
grouches something to sweeten their day. Note that National Grouch Day is not
to be confused with October 27 - National Cranky Co-worker's Day. You can offer
special "attitude adjustment lunches" with a dessert or candy [chocolate
presented with the guest check has been shown to increase top percentage]
included to sweeten someone's disposition or an after work attitude adjustment
party, where allowed by law.
We have literally hundreds of holidays and events that you
can promote. Many of them can be "surprise" events for those who are in your
business, but which will generate good will and "buzz" as people talk about
their experience; many can be promoted with a simple poster, table tent, or
posting on your website; while others require some planning to pull off
successfully and may actually require a couple of repetitions before they work.
Contact us for more ideas or promotional assistance.
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Thank you for reading our
newsletter. We hope you found it interesting and informative. Our next
newsletter will have more news and
information. Look for it in your inbox in October.
Sincerely,
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Eric Nusbaum, CHA, Ph.D.
Wheelwright Consultants |
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