Brad Sugars of ActionCOACH comments on restaurant success

Brad Sugars Says …

Our suggestions included the following:

•    Increase prices.
•    Train the team to up-sell off the menu.
•    Train the team to serve the customer consistently and well.
•    Sack the staff that didn’t perform and set up a team of great performers.
•    Stop recruitment ads that didn’t work and advertise for the people they wanted, not the skills they needed.

Our plan of action also included systemizing the kitchen ordering, as well as the day-to-day routines. It was important to make it possible for anyone to open up, shut down, stock the bar, and order kitchen supplies, etc. We also needed to create cleaning, ordering and maintenance systems, and this work needed to be delegated to team members.

Next we needed to select and groom a manager who could operate the restaurant without the owners needing to be present. Systems were set up to enable this to happen, checklists were then created, as well as a requirements manual and rosters, to ensure that routine tasks were systemized and the system followed.

ActionCOACH then set about identifying our target market. Once this was done, we concentrated on designing our marketing to appeal to those targets. We started collecting customer details and created a database that we could market to.

ActionCOACH raised the bar on customer service and established the expectation of excellent service, and actively managed team membership around this expectation.

Everything was measured. The aim was to know the numbers every week – and by this I mean the number of tables, the number of diners, and average dollar sale. Every opportunity was taken to look for additional sales opportunities.

Testing and measuring played a vital role in transforming this business. All marketing efforts were tested and measured, and all procedures that didn’t work were stopped. All marketing is now tested on a small scale before it gets expensive.

All business Key Performance Indicators – sales, average sale, number of diners, stock rollover and wastage, portion measuring – are all measured and monitored.

Since coaching began, sales are up 20% and customer numbers and the average dollar sale are consistently up on a weekly basis.

The team is now more stable, and more productive. They have a greater focus on creating an exceptional dining experience for every customer, every time.

The owners now work 4- or 5-days per week only, and have time off together every week. They now have a life. And they are well on the way to having a manager who can run the business without them, for longer periods. The team is far more productive, happier and stable.

The kitchen is now essentially a self-sustaining, self-contained unit. Orders, cleaning and kitchen activities are self-managed by the kitchen team. The owners don’t need to continually supervise that area any longer.

The routine of ordering, daily team management, maintenance, and daily operations are almost at a point where the systems run the business.