October 25, 2010
David Hayden
Managers
Charles lauer, common goal, common purpose, common vision, Dwight Eisenhower, Edwin Friedman, how restaurant owners can increase sales, how to be a better restaurant manager, how to get servers to sell, increase restaurant sales, increase sales, jim rohn, leadership skills, manager, Max DePree, motivating servers., quotes, Restaurant Manager, Restaurant managers, sense of purpose, Server, Servers, shared vision, tipsfortips, traits
Each person climbs the mountain for their own reason
“Leaders don’t force people to follow-they invite them on a journey.” -Charles S. Lauer
The fundamental question behind the desire to manage rather than lead is, “How can I get people to do what I want them to do if they do not want to do it?” Failure to answer this question is what leads so many managers to lead by force and threat of force. The answer to this question is simple. You must create a vision for your staff, which allows them to achieve what they want by achieving what you want. This is what I will refer to as a shared goal, vision, or sense of purpose. I have discussed the idea of selling a sense of purpose in the past. Today I want to go deeper into how to develop it.
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September 22, 2010
David Hayden
Managers, Servers
hiring, how restaurant owners can increase sales, how to be a better restaurant manager, motivating servers., reduce turnover, reducing restaurant turnover, Restaurant Manager, Restaurant managers, retaining servers, schedule, scheduling servers, Server, Server Blog, server schedules, Servers, set schedules, tipsfortips, training, Waiter, Waiting, waitress, writing a server schedule
"Did you get my note on the back of a bubble gum wrapper asking for this thursday off?"
One of the most time consuming tasks a manager faces during the week is writing the server schedule. Hours can be spent digging up scraps of paper and consulting server availability just to get coverage for a particular shift. This is followed by the inevitable complaints from people who work too little or too much. It is a task most managers dread. It is also one that can be avoided.
This week I have discussed the advantages and disadvantages to having a set schedule from a server’s perspective. Today I wanted to wrap this topic up by discussing the impact it has on managers. All things considered, I think this can be tremendously beneficial for managers. There are some downsides though. Knowing both the advantages and the disadvantages will help you make a better decision when debating set scheduling.
There are a few disadvantages to implementing set schedules as a manager.
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August 17, 2010
David Hayden
Foodies, Managers, Servers
cost, customer service, expense, Food, food cost budget, food costs, how much profit do restaurants make, how restaurant owners can increase sales, how to be a better restaurant manager, improve restaurant profitability, increase restaurant sales, lower food costs, profit, profitability, Restaurant, restaurant balance sheet, restaurant budget, Restaurant Manager, Restaurant managers, restaurant p&l, restaurant pnl. ebitda, restaurant profit, restaurant server, sample, sample restaurant budget, Server, Server Blog, Service, Tips, Waiter, waitress
In a previous post about why restaurants charge for different extras, I discussed the difference between the guest’s perception of profits and reality. It is not uncommon to hear a guest say, “I can buy this for half as much at the grocery store.” The problem is that food in a restaurant carries far more costs than the price of the food on a plate. I thought of a number of different ways to address this. The easiest way to explain a complex topic is in relatable terms. For this reason I have decided to look at the topic by addressing the most common item on restaurant menus: The Cheeseburger.
A friend in the business was able to supply me with the actual numbers from a Midwestern restaurant that is part of a far larger national chain. These are the actual costs broken down to their individual components on a hamburger. I won’t name the chain for obvious reasons, but it is fair to say that their volume allows them to buy these items for less than their independent counterparts. Here is how the actual cost of a half-pound cheeseburger and fries break down.
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July 29, 2010
David Hayden
A Little Humor, Designated Drinker, Index, Managers, Uncategorized
customer service, Facts, Food, Foodie, how to be a better restaurant manager, how to be a better restaurant server, Restaurant, Restaurant Customer, Restaurant Guests, Restaurant Manager, Restaurant managers, restaurant server, Rules for Servers, Sales, Selling, Server, Server Blog, Servers, Service, Serving, Tips, Waiter, Waiting, waitress
July 26, 2010
David Hayden
Managers
common mistakes, how to be a better restaurant manager, How to motivate servers, manager mistakes, motivating servers., Restaurant, Restaurant Manager, restaurant manager tips, Restaurant managers, Server, Server Blog, Servers, servers sell more, Waiter, Waiting, waitress
Motivating servers is a tricky business. Without question servers crave autonomy and tend to resist being told what to do. At the same time, managers in general are given very little guidance on what is perhaps the most important part of their jobs. Two similar restaurants in the same company with the same menu and with the same amount of sales can produce radically different results. The difference generally boils down to leadership.
Restaurants go to tremendous lengths to train managers on how to control costs, increase profits, and manage the balance sheets. Very little time is spent on developing skills for leading a staff. Recruiters look for management skills, but seldom can assess accurately the leadership traits that are effective in a restaurant. To make matters worse, a manager starting out with the best attitude can lose it after months of the daily rigors of the job wearing them down. To prevent this it is vital to keep a continuous focus on training for leadership and monitoring the methods a manager is using.
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July 6, 2010
David Hayden
Managers
customer service, how to be a better restaurant manager, how to be a better restaurant server, how to get respect of servers, how to get servers to sell, how to lead, how to motivate, How to motivate servers, increase restaurant profits, increase restaurant sales, leadership, management, motivation, Restaurant, Restaurant Manager, Restaurant managers, restaurant server, Sales, Selling, Server, Server Blog, Servers, servers sell more, Service, Serving, synergy, Tips, Waiter, Waiting, waitress
(Note: This is the final part of a six part series dealing with what does and does not motivate servers. It is based upon research presented in the first part. If you have not read the initial post entitled “The Epiphany”, I highly recommend you do so to fully understand the series. Later parts dealt with how money fails and succeeds to motivate servers. The most recent posts dealt with autonomy and mastery as motivators. This post is best put into perspective after reading those posts.)
“The sense of paralysis proceeds not so much out of the mammoth size of the problem but out of the puniness of the purpose.”
-Norman Cousins
I have been writing this series for six days straight now. With each part I write I become more convinced of the validity of the original research the series was built upon. Every day I see specific examples of how autonomy or mastery inspires people. Each one of those days I have also had misgivings about writing this post. The concept of purpose is so immense and so powerful that summing it up in a thousand words of less seems a bit overwhelming. I have outlined and re-outlined this post numerous times. To conclude this series I will show how managers can create a sense of purpose for their staffs.
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July 5, 2010
David Hayden
Managers
educate, how to be a better restaurant manager, how to be a better restaurant server, how to get servers to sell, How to increase sales, increase restaurant sales, learn. best practices, Restaurant, Restaurant Manager, Restaurant managers, restaurant sales, restaurant server, Sales, Selling, selling specials, Server, Server Blog, server sales, Servers, Service, Serving, teach, Tips, training, Waiting, waitress
(Note: This is part five of an ongoing series regarding what does and does not motivate servers. It is based on research provided in part one. I highly recommend visiting that post to gain proper perspective on this one. The second part dealt with how money fails to motivate servers. The third part showed how lack of money destroys motivation. Part four addressed autonomy as the first motivator. Tomorrow, I will wrap it up by discussing the final motivator, purpose.)
I hope everyone had a great Fourth of July. One of the benefits of being in the business as long as I have is getting invited to the best cookouts. Nothing like a few chefs putting together a meal. I live in one of the greatest BBQ cities in the world, but yesterday I had the best ribs this city has ever seen. Brined and then marinated for days in advance. These ribs were treated with TLC that would never be possible to replicate in a restaurant. The Executive Chef at one of the best Italian restaurants in town makes the best ribs in the city. Moral of the story: you can’t buy the best ribs in town.
More importantly, you can’t pay to have the best ribs in town made. A chef who cooks for a living and spends as much time cooking as sleeping made his finest meal for free. Money did not motivate the extra effort. He decided what he wanted to cook and he was cooking for his friends. In the lexicon of this series, that translates to “autonomy” and “purpose.” The interesting part to me is that as we all praised his ribs, he talked about how he would make them better next time. Even as a professional certified chef, he was thinking of ways to improve. The term for that is “mastery.”
Mastery for the purposes of this post is not perfection, but constantly striving for improvement. Serving is not something that can be perfected. Even the greatest servers in the world are still looking for ways to improve. This is how they became one of the world’s greatest servers. The key to mastery is constantly striving to improve. Servers who recognize this find far more fulfillment, challenge, and reward in the job. Managers who are able to instill this mindset in their staff are rewarded with highly motivated and productive employees.
Here are some tips on encouraging the pursuit of mastery amongst your staff.
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July 4, 2010
David Hayden
Managers
autonomy, how to be a better restaurant manager, how to get servers to sell, increase restaurant profits, increase restaurant sales, independence, Restaurant, Restaurant Manager, Restaurant managers, restaurant server, Sales, Selling, selling specials, Server, Server Blog, Servers, servers sell more, Service, Serving, Tips, Waiter, Waiting, waitress
(Note: This is part four of a series based on research presented in part one. Part one serves as the basis for the whole series and gives a great deal of background for this post. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend doing so to get the most out of this post and series. In part two I addressed how financial incentives do not motivate servers. In part three I looked at how lack of income can destroy your staff’s motivation. The next few posts will look at what does motivate servers.)
I am sitting at my computer writing this on July 4th, 2010. It is Independence Day. Outside my window I have been hearing fireworks for hours. They are completely illegal, but what better way of demonstrating independence than by flagrantly and loudly breaking the law. The news tells us it is dangerous. The police write tickets. Cities and tourist attractions sponsor larger and safer displays. They still go off outside my window. Even when the law is in our best interest, we love to violate it. We love exercising our independence despite the consequences.
Yet when people become managers and owners they seem to forget this. Independence or autonomy is a core principle we are raised on and strive for. When people try to take away our independence, we fight. It is no mystery that people will rebel against rules in the workplace. What is seldom considered is the power of autonomy to motivate.
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July 3, 2010
David Hayden
Managers
building sales, customer service, how to be a better restaurant manager, how to be a better restaurant server, how to get servers to sell, increasing restaurant sales, managing servers, motivating servers during slow times, motivating servers., Restaurant, Restaurant Manager, Restaurant managers, restaurant server, Restaurant staffing, Rules for Servers, Sales, Selling, Server, Server Blog, Servers, servers sell more, Service, Serving, Tips, types of servers, Waiter, Waiting, waitress
(Note: this is part three of a series based on research presented in part one. Yesterday, I addressed why contests and financial incentives do not motivate servers. If you have not read these posts, I highly recommend doing so in order to fully understand the premise of this post.)
Yesterday, I discussed why contests do not work to motivate servers. I made the case that servers were not primarily motivated by money. Like all other employees they are more motivated by autonomy, mastery, and purpose. I hope that instilled greater credibility to those who read it that this research is as true for servers as it is for any other profession. In the original post, this message was highly counterbalanced in the original by a very strong caveat. This caveat cannot be ignored.
The research did make it very clear that if you do not pay people enough, they will not be motivated. In no way should the fact that contests do not motivate servers be taken as an indication that servers do not care about money. Servers care about money. So do their landlords, credit card companies, student loan agencies, etc. It goes back to the old adage, “Money can’t buy happiness, but being broke can sure make you miserable.” The message of the research is that money provides a comfort level to focus on higher motivators. If the servers are not making the base level of money they need to be comfortable, they cannot focus on the higher motivators that lead to increased performance and personal satisfaction.
When a service staff is not making adequate money, you end up with three types of servers:
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July 1, 2010
David Hayden
Managers
customer service, how restaurant owners can increase guest counts, how restaurant owners can increase sales, how to be a better manager, how to be a better restaurant manager, how to be a better restaurant server, how to get servers to sell, How to increase sales as a manager, how to lead servers, how to manager servers, How to motivate servers, increase restaurant profits, increasing restaurant sales, Restaurant, Restaurant Manager, Restaurant managers, restaurant server, Sales, sales incentives, selling specials, Server, Server Blog, server contests, server incentives, Servers, Service, Serving, Tips, Waiter, Waiting, waitress
“Epiphany: noun- a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.”
I suppose there is nothing more simple or commonplace than scrolling through Facebook. I was scrolling through Facebook today trying to decide what to write about for today’s post when I ran across a video my friend Drew posted. The description said it was something people who manage employees should watch. I have been reading and writing quite a bit about that topic lately so I decided to give it a spin. In one video I found the most concise explanation of a phenomenon I have been trying to put my finger on for a while.
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