Pushing the Envelope

Sad But True Department: Some 1,000 pubs have closed around the country over the last three years. Some closures surprised no one – such pubs were closures waiting to happen – anachronisms, if you ask me. They should never have been in the first place.
For these pubs, high footfall days were rarer than a steak sandwich on the Rainbow Warrior.
But in a slimmer, more efficiency-conscious pub-world, rural pubs continue to decline as does the rural ‘community life’ that they once supported – no ‘Hold-The-Front-Page’ news there either, I suppose…
But I was recently asked to what extent do the remaining rural pubs help rekindle ‘community life’ in Ireland and in doing so, rekindle their footfall?
It’s an interesting question to mull over in the night’s darkness and I discovered that successful pubs take a widely different approach by way of an answer.
All have one thing in common. They’re pushing the envelope in terms of broadening their appeal.
You see it in the signs as you walk into such pubs.
They make their offering clear via signs to those passing by: ‘We’re open from breakfast though brunch, lunch and afternoon tea to dinner’.
Some actually – gasp! – welcome children and with the provision of a family atmosphere in mind, proudly announce that Sunday lunch will be served throughout the afternoon. Well, who’d have thought it? Lunch in a pub…….

 

Bad Bar Food Signs

I recently made the drive from Cork to Dublin and decided I would see whether, in light of the current economic downturn, any bars or restaurants were being more creative to entice potential customers through the doors. The results may surprise you:

Part 1

Part 2

 

Video: How to manage your food cost and develop a profitable kitchen

I have added a few videos we developed for our American sister website http://manageyourbar.com which I think you may find of interest!

Part 1

Part 2

 

5 aspects of a successful staff incentive programme

Once an aspect of chain restaurants and bars only, a well thought out, strategic incentive plan for your managers and staff can improve the bottom line, improve job satisfaction among staff and allow for “buy in” from your managers/staff into the overall success of your independent business.

There are many types of incentive plans you can introduce, however most will have the same basic principles. We have described these here to help you create an effective programme:

1. Make the incentive programme simple and easy to understand. Don’t overcomplicate the programme by having it tied into so many areas of the business that its both hard to measure and equally hard to achieve. Determine the key areas you want results on and work these into your plan. For example, increase average customer spend by 10% or Eur 5.00.
2. The incentive program should be designed in a way that allows your staff to work smarter and not necessarily harder. After all, if you implement a programme that requires staff to work longer hours to achieve it, you may end up paying for the extra hours labour as well as any reward earned by the staff so encourage and train staff to work smarter. Increasing the average spend per customer requires smarter thinking so would work well in the programme. Serving more customers in the day wouldn’t as staff might stay later to serve them.

Members, read the rest of the article here:
http://www.barkeeper.ie/3page.asp?menu=143&page=734&Subpage=594

 

10 Kitchen Secrets your Chef is Hiding from You

THE kitchen is unchartered territory for many bar and restaurant owners who are afraid to question the chef on matters that they are not too familiar with. Well. It’s time to get familiar, because your kitchen could be hemorrhaging money and if its your business, you’ll want to know how and why. Read three reasons here:

When stock is ordered, it is normally stored by a cook or cleaner with no interest in the First In First Out system of storage and so piles everything on top of older stock, increasing spoilage and expensive unnecessary wastage.

The Chef keeps no record of what he has produced each day so has no way of referencing how much preparation he needs to do each day resulting in over production and thrown out food. A record of Production should be implemented that cross references number of orders with items produced with any other details relevant such as local special event that brought in business etc.

The Chef has no “Kitchen Bible” in place that should contain all his recipes, guidelines for production, induction for new cooks etc, meaning that when the Chef is off duty, all recipes are prepared byu the cooks the way they want to prepare them resulting in inconsistencies and potential unhappy customers.

Members of Barkeeper, click here to read the other seven secrets:
http://www.barkeeper.ie/3page.asp?menu=117&page=700&Subpage=593

 

The biggest menu mistakes most restaurants make and what to do about them

Every restaurant has a menu but not every restaurant uses the restaurant as the real selling tool that it is.

A restaurant menu should not be an afterthought or something that should be put together over a coffee the week before opening. It takes time, decision and analysis to make the most of your menu but the results of such effort can be hugely rewarding.

The biggest make made by restaurants? Poor layout and design.

A good menu design can improve sales an average of 2 to 10 percent, according to restaurant consultants interviewed by Restaurants US. That means that for a restaurant turning over 1,000,000 a year, the opportunity to earn an extra 20,000-100,000 a year is either being won or lost based on the menu alone. Worth paying attention to? We think so.

So let’s look at some of the biggest design and layout mistakes:

1. Not keeping the colours in theme with your restaurant. An Italian Restaurant might make use of red, white and green on their menu, but this might not suit a French fine dining restaurant. Don’t overdo it on colours and fonts so that your customers are distracted, however make sure your menu is appealing enough to be read thoroughly.
2. Placing the highest profit margin items in the wrong places. There are different “sweet spots” on a menu where a customer’s eyes are naturally drawn depending on the layout of the menu. On a twofold menu, this spot is on the right hand page a few lines from the top. On a trifold menu, it is in the centre page, a few lines from the top. Putting low margin items here directly affects your margins. The top grossing restaurants know this and carefully plan what items they allow into these prime spots.
3. Not grouping products together. The best menus have distinct sections that help guide a customer from course to course, making it easier for them to choose more and spend more. Clearly identify what the appetizers are, the main courses are and the desserts.
4. Not offering something more than the competitor but charging more. What is your restaurant’s unique selling proposition? Are the chips handcut, are the vegetables grown onsite? Whatever it is, you need to sing about it to justify your prices if they are higher than your competitors. Customers are clever and know the market prices of most items so sell to your strengths.

 

Could your staff be turning away customers?

What would you do if you knew that after spending thousands on marketing, promotions, advertising and enticements to get customers in to your bar or restaurant, you find out that your own staff are preventing them from spending any money?

A recent visit to a carvery style restaurant highlighted this fact to me.

The roast of the day was Roast Pork which I ordered. Next came the decision of choosing what vegetables/potatoes I wanted, but a quick glance didnt whet my apettite for any of the potatoes on offer so I asked for a portion of the rice which was an accompaniment to the stir-fry on the menu.

Instead of happily dishing up a portion of rice, I was told that I wasn’t “allowed” to have rice with pork. Why not? because (according to the oblivious server) the rice is only for the stir fry. No offer of serving it as a side order or any accomodating of my request, simply a no. Surely a carvery style operation allows the customers choose (within reason) their accompaniments?

Not that I was the only one…the next customer who simply asked for a plate of potatoes and french fries was told they would have to pay for two meals. Honestly, if this is how paid staff are representing your restaurant, its time to reconsider your calling as a hospitality business owner.

Standard operating procedures are one thing, but when it gets to the stage of scaring away customers, then its time to rethink them.

Ensure your staff are offering hospitality and not just civility. There’s a big difference. Induction training and on-the-job evaluation will ensure you dont have a repeat of my unfortunate experiences in your business.

 

Cut your Energy Costs by 10%

The need to monitor and reduce our energy consumption is more prevalent than ever in Irish businesses. The rising costs of fuel, the impacts of climate change and the opening of the electricity and gas markets mean that to be a smart business, the business needs to be energy smart.

Successful businesses look at ways to cut costs, particularly operating costs. A simple, effective but often overlooked way to do this is to reduce your energy consumption. Control the amount of energy you use and your business can significantly reduce its operating costs.

You should already be ensuring that you are buying energy efficient equipment for your business and in this article Barkeeper.ie brings you the top tips that are guaranteed to cut your energy use by ten percent.

In the Kitchen:

·         Maintain refrigerators temperature at 3.2°C (37°F)

·         Ensure that the freezer is set between -18° and -15°C (0° and 5°F)

·         Regularly defrost freezers to stop build up which reduces efficiency

·         Make sure refrigerator doors are kept closed when not being used

·         Only use the dishwasher when it is full

·         Always use a plug in the sink when hand-washing dishes

·         Cover pots and pans to retain heat and decrease cooking times

·         Keep extractor fan filters clean to maximise ventilation efficiency

·         Turn off all equipment including lights when not in use

·         Only pre-heat appliances a maximum 15 minutes before use

·         Set water temperatures and ensure these are maintained

In the Bar:

·         Keep windows closed to keep heat in and open to let cool air in

·         Where possible use natural light instead of artificial

·         Maintain refrigerator temperatures at 3.2°C (37°F)

·         Make sure air conditioning is switched off when the bar is closed

·         Ensure that the keg room door is kept closed at all times

·         Turn off all equipment including lights when not in use

Guest Services:

·         Insulate your building

·         Install motion sensors for you

·         If you have a swimming pool use a pool cover

·         Insulate your boiler

·         Unplug all appliances in guest bedrooms after cleaning

 

Do yourself a favour. Get rid of dishonest employees

You know the scenario. The cash hasn’t been balancing at the end of the night and you have your suspicions as to who is responsible but you haven’t caught anyone in the act and don’t want to risk accusing the wrong employees. Some nights you have too much cash, and some nights too little.

If cash is going missing, then its going missing from one place and one place only – the cash register. The process should be simple, a customer orders a meal or a drink, its entered into the cash register, the customer profers payment and the transaction is closed and change given. However, clever and dishonest employees can work the system so that they dont enter the full value of the meal or hit a button relating to a lower priced item and pocket the difference.

With most till scams that I have come across, the defrauded cash normally stays in the drawer until the bartender has an opportune moment to remove it. This will normally be when there are no customers or staff around. To get around this, vary the times at which you remove the cash drawer and do a register reading. If nobody knows when management are going to remove the drawer, they run the risk of being caught in the act.

With this procedure, it is essential that only one staff member is allowed access to one cash register during their shift. Otherwise, blame is easily put on other employees who used it. Also ensure that the employee counted their cash in the drawer when they came on duty so that they cannot use the excuse of the opening float being incorrect.

Maintain this procedure, even after the offending employees have been caught and fired so that future employees will see the controls that are in place before they attempt something similar.

Business is hard enough without having to worry about dishonest emplyees, so let them go as soon as they are caught stealing.

 

The great wine rip off

Was this survey in the Sunday Business Post this week news or just rehashing what we already know has taken place in our industry for years?

“With restaurants routinely charging 200 per cent mark-ups on wine, The Sunday Business Post survey reveals the biggest offenders and examines where the money goes”

I must admit though that the Eur 300 mark up on a bottle of champagne borders on the insane.