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 EHC #548
 Insights for the Professionally Curious
 August 1, 2008 
Good Morning!

The de-cluttering of my office continues as the Six Star project starts to take on a life of its own. I appreciate the 230 operators who have helped the cause by responding to my first survey. Have I heard from you yet? If not, it's not too late to share your thoughts.

I suspect the program designers will need to invent ways to do things that have always seemed impossible ... but what would you like to see invented? So the next few EHC surveys will take each element of the Six Star program and ask you to go WAY outside the box of what you think is possible and complete this sentence: "Wouldn't it be cool if ______"

Go crazy! Be unreasonable! We want a "wish list" of the resources you would like to have at hand if your wildest dreams could come true ... and then let's see how close we can come to giving it to you.

Bill Marvin
The Restaurant Doctor

Avoiding The Ego Trap
Get Out Of Your Own Way

You can do whatever you want to do and call it the right way to run your company. You have the right to do that, of course.

Just be aware that when what is important to you takes precedence over what is important to your guests, I contend that it is an action driven by ego ... and that is a dangerous luxury in the service business.

I am reminded of a story I read many years ago of a municipality somewhere in the Midwest that had a water pipe that spanned a ditch. The local kids were always playing on the pipe, frequently breaking it. After yet another repair, the town fathers called a special meeting to determine how to stop it.

Various deterrents were suggested like wrapping the pipe in barbed wire and the discussion was spirited. Finally, an old man in the back raised his hand. In a quiet voice he asked, "Why don't we just make it strong enough that they can swing on it?"

That is the parallel. Rather than looking for ways to stop your guests from doing something, I think you should always be exploring ways that you can adjust your systems to accommodate their preferences.

In the water pipe case, one way to "adjust the system" would have been to make the pipe stronger. Another would have been to bury the pipe. No pipe, no problem. Trying to stop the kids from doing what kids want to do will only be a continual struggle and a waste of energy.

You need to maintain some sense of order in the restaurant, of course, but if all this little piece does is get you to re-examine the motives behind what you are doing or how you are doing it -- even if you choose to change nothing -- something good will have been accomplished today.
Six Star Hospitality(tm)
Rethinking Restaurants

WHAT IF some of the best minds in the business came together to re-think how restaurants operate ... to imagine how they could be ... not waiting for change but becoming the catalyst for it?

WHAT IF we could trigger a contagious resurgence of hospitality in the world by delivering the experience of heart-felt caring to every patron of every independent restaurant, every time?

WHAT IF we devised an elegantly simple system to provide the logic, methodology and support structure that would enable every independent restaurant to operate with effortless excellence?

WHAT IF this approach provided restaurant owners and staff with a fulfilling sense of purpose and the joyful experience of enriching the lives of the people they serve?

WHAT IF this program was so irresistible and easily affordable that hospitality truly became the competitive point of difference in every independent restaurant in the world?

Would you think we're crazy ... or would you ask, "How can I be a part of it?
Here's What You're Passing Up To Save 75 Cents!
In This Week's EHC Special Edition ...
  • Private Dining for Fun and Profit - a look an idea that is common practice in China ... and that could be a competitive point of difference for you as well
  • Read It and Reap - pointed advice to the workforce of the future
  • What Did You Learn From Your Staff Today? - one operator's insight into how to get more productivity from his staff and make work for satisfying for everyone
  • Special Offers on Management Resources - while I am still in that business
Solve the problem of what to talk about in your next staff meeting. Upgrade to the EHC Special Edition and get it all!

The August Survey
Fiscal Fitness

The Internet opens up possibilities that were unthinkable only a few short years ago and Six Star will take full advantage of that.

A common complaint of independent operators is the amount of time they spend pushing numbers so we will automate as much of the grunt work as possible. This survey will give you an outline of what we already plan to create ... and we want your ideas to help us see even more radical applications.

The numbers may not be the most exciting place to start, but the programming will probably be the hardest piece of the program to develop and we need to get started. So let's see how big a game you want us to play. As usual, I will send copies of the survey results to everyone who participates.

In the meantime, you can download copies of all past EHC surveys -- including the massive WOW Ideas collections.

Click here to add your thoughts to this month's survey.
Copyright ©2008 William Marvin. All rights reserved.

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