RunningRestaurants.com recently posted a recorded call with Roger Beaudoin (founder of RestaurantRockstars.com) to explain what makes for a great working environment in a restaurant. His eight points act as a sort of philosophical roadmap for how to maintain a healthy culture that will ultimately deliver the best customer experience possible. Let’s break down the first four of his ideas:
Educate, Inform, Entertain
Beaudoin explains that service is the cornerstone of his business, that it’s a competitive edge—or something that separates your place from your competitors. Part of the idea is remembering that dining service is much like showbusiness, that everyone must know their cues, their marks, and their lines.
One way to accomplish this is to make sure the servers are well educated on everything. Each should know all the dishes, what makes them unique, how they’re prepared, etc., so that they are ready to explain them to the diners. For example, many restaurants offer steak. But the story about how your restaurant dry ages locally sourced, grass-fed beef and how the chef bastes melted butter over each steak as it cooks will delight your customers.
Beaudoin encourages each of his staff to develop their presentation skills and tailor them to their unique personalities. This kind of thoughtful and personalized service will keep diners coming back again and again.
See What the Guest Sees
It doesn’t matter if your restaurant has a thousand things right. Customers will spot the ten things wrong. As such, Beaudoin instructs his employees to try to see through the eyes of the customers as they come in to work. In other words, employees should try to notice what the guest would notice.
Are there overflowing trashcans outside? Empty them. Is there a pothole that someone can trip on? Report it. Burned-out lightbulbs? Change them. It’s all about the guest experience, and they absolutely will notice anything wrong.
We would also add that mystery shoppers are great at helping you uncover the harder-to-see nuisances that are bothering customers but aren’t as obvious to the staff. Impartial, third-party eyes are extremely helpful in this regard.
Our Mantra is Teamwork and Respect
Beaudoin believes in a culture of hospitality, family, and fun. This is accomplished by having a great chemistry among the staff, with each member fitting well with the other. In order to have a strong team, everyone has to mesh well.
He suggests reminding your staff that they all share a common goal: please the guest. That means helping each other out and remembering to appreciate one another.
Customers are quite perceptive when it comes to sensing the mood among the staff. If they’re at odds with one another, acting as though each one is out for him or herself only, then your guests will notice.
If your employees are having a good time, then there’s a good chance your guests will too.
Leave Your Problems at the Door
Beaudoin’s fourth concept is one our good friend Steve Back details at length in his book, Leave Your Funk at the Door. The idea is based on the truth that no one has a great day every day, that no one is in a good mood all the time.
But it’s critical that employees learn how to compartmentalize so that their bad moods don’t impact their own morale, or the team’s. The cascading effect of failing to do so is that the customer experience will suffer—even the line cook in the back, a person diners don’t see, can ruffle everyone’s feathers by making mistakes on the orders with overcooked dishes, poor plating, and a lack of attention to detail. And it gets even worse with front-of-house staff, especially when they start venting about their problems to the guests. (No matter how polite those guests are about it, they do not want to hear about an employee’s personal life. They’re there to eat.)
Managers must make sure they stress that in order to maintain solid teamwork and an air of respect, employees must not let personal problems affect their performance—or the performance of their teammates. When an employee is in the restaurant, it’s showtime.
Everything’s Connected
These first four points are highly interconnected. A problem in one case can undermine another, such as poor teamwork can absolutely become the problem that guests notice, or that a server who hasn’t mastered the menu has to trouble coworkers with endless questions.
Each of these four points is easily observed by an independent third party, which is why we highly suggest employing the services of a mystery shopping company. As hard as the managers and servers may try, they can’t make out the whole forest if they’re among the trees. That’s where a firm like The Brandt Group can help. Together, we’ll help you develop a strong culture that built on customer service, teamwork, and tip-top salesmanship. Reach out today, and let’s get started!
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