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 EHC #561
 Insights for the Professionally Curious
 October 31, 2008 
One of my more difficult weekly tasks is to decide what information I am going to leave OUT of the Complimentary Edition of the EHC. It's not that I don't love you all, just that the folks who are paying for my weekly rants deserve to get their money's worth ... even if that money only averages out to 75 cents an issue. So I apologize for the necessary surgery ... and hope you may eventually decide your business is worth another forty bucks a year!
Good Morning!

I have to face it -- I have become a political junkie since I got off the road last Friday. I've been addicted to following the polls, watching campaign coverage and scouring the Internet for commentary. I can't seem to get enough of it ... and I can't wait for it to be over so we can get to work on the work itself.

There is something about this particular campaign that strikes me as being the most important of any in my memory. Perhaps it is because the failures and flaws of the past several years are suddenly so obvious and ominous. Perhaps it is that the chance for a change -- any change -- has snapped me out of old thinking and opened the door to new possibilities.

Whatever it is ... and whatever your personal politics ... there is a feeling that we are about to embark on a future that is different and more positive than our past. At least that's what it feels like to me. If you sense something like as well, you can use it to your advantage. Harness that sense of enthusiasm to create new possibilities for your business as well.

As World War II became imminent, Franklin Roosevelt famously said, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." His words are just as applicable today. You may be seeing a scary future right now (and I am not talking about Halloween). The economic news is not good. People are worried. They are watching where and how they spend their money. In many markets sales are down, tips are down ... and spirits are down. What to do?

The most important thing is to stop whining and do your job! The main task of a leader is to lead. Your staff, your family and your community is looking to you for direction. Like it or not, you are leading them ... but toward what?

You can either adopt a bunker mentality, pull in your horns and hope you can ride out the downturn ... or you can imagine a larger, more exciting future, pass that dream to your staff and guests and set about making it happen. It all starts with you and your thinking.

If you want some no-nonsense help in setting a more compelling course -- one that will draw people to you like a magnet -- then do whatever you must to join Joel Cohen and me at The Last Birthday Bash in New Orleans on November 17-18.

I promise that you will come away inspired and empowered ... with a workable plan to outwit, outsell and outlast your competition. It's your future. Create it.

Bill Marvin
The Restaurant Doctor
Do You Need a BATH?
Repositioning For Fun and Profit
According to the 2009 Zagat Survey of America's Top Restaurants, the area of the industry that is showing the greatest upward trend right now is what they call "BATH" (Better Alternative to Home) restaurants: casual, modestly-priced eateries (pasta-rias, burger joings, BBQs, upstace diners, noodle shops and myriad ethnics) as well as family dining chains.

This genre buys wholesale and produces meals more efficiently than home cooks. In city after city, Zagat's survey results show that BATHs are by far the fastest growing dining segment. Right now that sounds like a good place to be.

I was talking this idea over with one of my clients today and we agreed that while the concept is similar to what used to be referred to as Home Meal Replacement (HRE), the marketing position is different. At a time when people are concerned about time and money, you are setting yourself up to save them both ... or to at least make the time savings more valuable than any additional cost premium over making the items themselves.

As you are formulating items to offer in this program, be sure to create some element of labor that needs to be added at home to complete the dish, even if it is just sprinkling a packet of cheese on top before putting it in the oven to heat. This way the customer will be more involved with the product and have some sense they actually DID something to prepare a meal for the family.

(Don't sell that idea short. Cake mixes didn't get market acceptance until they required the homemaker to add an egg).

If you truly want to create a successful BATH operation, stay focused on what your customers need at home and what makes you a better alternative. We will be developing this idea in more detail at The Last Birthday Bash.

Becoming A Place of Hospitality™
Rethinking Restaurants

(NOTE: The US Trademark Office refused my application to register "Six Star Hospitality" saying it was too similar to something called the "Six Star Diamond Award" awarded to cruise ships. Star Diamond? Go figure. Since I've always said the purpose of this work is to help you create "A Place of Hospitality," that is the new working name for the project.)

Past the human dimension, we have identified six functional areas of concern that must be in balance to create a memorable dining experience and create A Place of Hospitality™. In a previous issue, I outlined Fiscal Fitness ... and the list continues.

2. Enlightened Leadership
The principles that create A Place of Hospitality are not things that you learn, but notions that you come to understand at ever deeper levels. Therefore it is essential that the company's leaders continue their personal journeys in this direction and understand the important differences between what it takes to be an effective leader and what it takes to be a good manager. They are not the same skill sets.

A Place of Hospitality will provide continuing coaching support in the areas of life balance, leadership (and management) skills, climate-building, professional development, coaching, mentoring, clarity, accountability, mission and personal development. As goes the leader, so goes the organization.

(more next week)

A Place of Hospitality is taking on a life of its own. I appreciate all 290 operators who have helped the cause by responding to the general survey. Have I heard from you yet? It's never too late to share your thoughts.

The program designers will need to invent ways to do things that have always seemed impossible ... so what would you like to see invented while they are at it? The next few EHC surveys will take each element of the program and ask you to go WAY outside the box of what you think is possible.

Essentially we want you to complete this sentence: "Wouldn't it be cool if ______" Go crazy! Be unreasonable! We want to know the resources you wish you had at hand if your wildest dreams could come true. Then we'll see how close we can come to giving them to you.
Last Chance For The October Survey
Community Connection

Most independent operators are fixated on marketing, believing that all they need to succeed is to get more people through the door. That is important, of course, but people only come back because they want to ... because you have become their favorite restaurant.

Achieving this goal is more the result of continued connection than of endless marketing hype. Part of that connection is personal and part of it comes from maintaining contact and awareness with past and potential guests in a way that makes them inclined to patronize you more often..

This month's survey outlines what we already intend to create ... and asks for your ideas to help us see even more radical applications. The program designers will need to invent ways to do things that have always seemed impossible ... so we want a "wish list" of the resources you would like to have at hand if your wildest dreams could come true ... then let's see how close we can come to giving it to you.

If you wanted to be part of the development process for A Place of Hospitality, this is the way to do it right now. I can't ask you to field test something until we have created it!

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.

Here's What You're Passing Up To Save 75 Cents!
In This Week's EHC Special Edition ...

  • What's Your Problem? - a different way to look at daily challenges that reduces stress increases productivity
  • Trick or Treat? - marketing opportunities you may have missed ... and how not to miss them again
  • What Did You Learn From Your Staff Today? - how one manager learned to look beyond the numbers
  • 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!
Copyright ©2008 William Marvin. All rights reserved.

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