Dear Team Member: I've been thinking. In the last ten years the customer has been really good to us despite the fact that we may not have always been at our best for them. Americans dined out an average of five times weekly in the previous decade, and we saw higher comparable same store sales quarter after quarter. Traffic was good and even when we screwed up, the customer seemed to forgive us. Even if they didn't come back, another customer took their place at the table, counter or the drive-through. This got us all believing after awhile that maybe we were running this thing for ourselves and not the customer.
But the swift kick-in-the-butt that the global recession has given our industry lately woke me up to a sad reality: I think we became complacent, unfocused, and lost sight of what we get paid for. Shame on me for not pointing this out earlier and often with each of you, but we were just too busy. Or maybe I just didn't make the time. (I guess it's true that volume can hide a multitude of sins.) Either way, we unfortunately have the time now, because our business is down and no one is sure what to do. We can certainly blame the economy for the dip, but why are some places still doing well and we're not as good as we were? Maybe we all took our eye off the ball. So I hope you don't mind me taking a moment to remind you all of what the customer pays you for...
Be nice to the people with the money. Everything that you or I will ever have is currently in the hands of someone else: the Customer. Our business is run first for their enjoyment and satisfaction, then yours. This I swear: I will never forget that when the upturn comes. Service has always been our invisible product. It can't be stored but it can be given away. It can't be discounted or prepared, but it can be super-sized and delivered. It's most genuine when spontaneous and at its worst when it's discretionary. It makes a good meal taste better and customers come back. It makes our food and beverage taste better. It costs us nothing. So heap it on. It's as simple as beginning every transaction with a smile.
Minimize costs. Do you know what the average pre-tax profit on the dollar is in our business? Less than a nickel. That's right. For every dollar our customer gives us I spend 95 cents of it paying for food, beverage, utilities, napkins, rent, labor, franchise fees and waste. Then I pay taxes out of the remaining nickel. Follow our recipes, suggestively sell, and please don't over-portion, overheat or break, twist, bend or snap things that aren't meant to bend, snap, twist or break.
Maximize sales. I do not pay you. The customer does. When a customer buys a meal, beverage, appetizer or dessert, that purchase barely covers the cost of our sourcing, buying, storing, prepping, plating and serving it. When you suggest and sell a beverage, combo, larger size, side, or dessert, we stand a chance of making that nickel on the dollar. Chances are that if you don't, we won't. The future of your job--and our business--hangs in the balance. To sell is to serve.
Tell the truth. Teams must trust one another. "Lying makes a problem part of the future," said basketball coach John Wooden, "Truth makes a problem part of the past." Nuff said.
Be on time. Excuses are like...well, let's say bellybuttons. Everyone has one. Next time please just leave the house ten minutes earlier.
Build repeat business. A new customer will visit a restaurant once by either chance or by choice. A coupon for or proximity to our restaurant may foster a chance visit. A good or great experience on the part of our cooks, servers and managers converts chance to choice next time the customer thinks about where to eat. Repeat business is our lifeblood, and it means that the customer has driven past twenty or thirty or forty other places to choose ours. Let's give them something memorable every time.
Save the drama for your mama. Don't act like the south end of a northbound horse. It's not about you. Or me. It's about the customer.If your mindset tends toward complaining and whining and being sarcastic, well, that's pure poison to the team and the customer. If you insist on endlessly railing to your fellow crew and managers about how this is a bad place to work, and it's not like your old job, or that life is constantly unfair, and that you would rather be somewhere else other than here, then it's my responsibility to help relieve your misery by giving you a job at the competition. Things that matter most should never suffer because of things that matter least. Just saying.
Continuous improvement. If you see, sense, or know a better way to improve our people, process or procedures please let me know. I promise to listen to your ideas before you have to listen to mine. None of us is as smart as all of us, so please bring your brain to work every shift and help us all move the business forward for our customers and colleagues. We must all have a bias for action to make things better all ways and always.
Have Fun. Bottom line, we all get to work in the restaurant industry. It's the best business in the world, and it's a free circus and a free university everyday. Yes, you get paid to have fun too! So have fun with what you do, who you serve and who you work with. And if you see somebody without a smile, give them one of yours.
I'm pretty sure we'll get through these challenging times together if you and I are habitually consistent in our execution of these fundamentals. And if you can't do what I pay you for, then I'm obligated to find someone who can. One thing for sure: the restaurant business is never going "back to normal." Being pretty good at everything is not enough. We have to be great at a good many things. So there it is; you're either on the bus or off the bus. Now is the time. This is the place. You are the person. This is our rocket; together, let's ride.
