Every one of the highly successful restaurants we’ve had the opportunity to work with have many common characteristics that every independent restaurant would be wise to emulate. Each of these companies sets incredibly high standards and strives for excellence in every aspect of their business, every day. This is why they have longer term success in consumer satisfaction, profitability and long term staff members. In business one needs to be sustainable because the investment is significant and to gain a return on one’s investment generally takes more time than what one estimates going into business.
What would your restaurant look like if you no longer accepted average and insisted on excellence? What effect would that have on these elements:
- food quality
- guest experience
- cleanliness
- cost controls/profitability
- customer loyalyty
I’m sure you’d agree that, if your restaurant achieved excellence in the execution of even the most basic tasks and activities it would dramatically improve your guest experience and likely transform your financial results. And the bonus is that the restaurant is sustainable.
Raising your standards is not a theoretical pie-in-the-sky statement, but something that can be measured in tangible ways. Raising your standards in these areas is going to take meeting with key staff members and have a round table discussion about the desired standards and challenge them to help devise these standards. If they feel an integeral part of the process they then will then “own” these standards. You would then devise yardsticks for measurement to see how successful you are with the new standards.
Discuss the ways to best implement the “new” standards with the overall group and work as a team to do this in an orderly and succinct fashion.
Take on one or two items at a time. Explain to the “stakeholders” why (they MUST know WHY) and show them how this fits into your mission and you’re on your way to creating a better culture, a better restaurant, and a more stimulating and rewarding place for your employees to work.
If done right, most employees (at least the ones you want to keep) WILL respond positively to leadership that provides clear direction, focus and purpose in what they do.
Why aren’t more restaurants performing at the level of excellence already? Many don’t think it’s possible or don’t believe it’s worth the extra effort (I see this quite often). The special restaurant companies we know have demonstrated that it IS possible to raise standards and move a business from being ordinary to extraordinary. While it isn’t easy, the results are well worth it.
Call us at 206.679.1037 to discuss this topic further and see how we may be able to assist you in your development of higher standards, how to implement them and how to measure the success and even improve upon what you are doing.