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Getting Guest Recovery Right (The LEARN Method of Guest Recovery)

Ben Beddow — Thu, 07 Apr 2022 21:34:54 +0000

Getting Guest Recovery Right (The LEARN Method of Guest Recovery)

Ben Beddow

Published April 7th, 2022

The ultimate goal of every restaurant is to satisfy and exceed the expectations of every single guest that walks through the door, turning them into loyal and returning patrons in the process. Such a level of perfection is an unrealistic goal, because, no matter how hard you may strive, it is impossible to please everyone.

There will always be people who are unhappy in all types of restaurants, and restaurant managers, and their customer facing employees, need know how to deal with unhappy customers, how to deescalate an an angry customer, and how to best recover a guest and make all of these guests feel like they’ve been heard and their issues has been properly resolved.

One of the best, easiest to teach, and simplest to remember methods for guest recovery, especially for an angry customer at a restaurant, is the LEARN method. LEARN is an anagram that stands for: Listen, Empathize, Apologize, Recover, Nurture. Each step in this process is explained below in greater detail, detailing why it is important and the effect that it has on the guests perception of the individual in front of them and, ultimately, on the effect it has on their opinion of the venue that that individual is representing. If you’re looking for an answer to “how would you handle an upset customer at the register?” then the LEARN method is a perfect step-by-step guide for this situation.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The LEARN Method

Listen

The guest who is talking has a problem, you are representing their point of contention and the source of their frustration. it is important to pay attention to the details and the nature of their complaint. Only by fully listening to the guest can you fully understand their problem.

Do not interrupt the guest whilst they are explaining their frustration. Make eye contact with them and give them your full attention. Allow the guest to get their full point across to you before responding to them. If needed, take notes whilst the guest is talking, especially if their issue is related to a food poisoning, assault, or theft that is said to have happened in your venue or on your property. These notes will be valuable later when relaying anything to the relevant authorities and when stories are retold. Note that if the complaint is as serious as food poisoning, theft, or assault you should politely interrupt the guest at the beginning so that you can obtain the materials needed to take proper notes of their account of the incident.

Empathize

Put yourself in the guest’s shoes. No matter how small their issue may seem, they have encountered a problem that has upset them enough for them to raise the issue with an employee or to ask to speak to a manager. They are looking for a resolution to their problem, but, often most of all, they want their problem to be recognized. That recognition is empathy.

Tell the guest that you have heard them and that you understand where they’re coming from. As you do this, reference the points that they made during their initial complaint so that they know that you listened to and understood their concerns.

Apologize

It is important to note that empathy comes before or with the apology. Apologizing without empathizing with the customer can give the impression that you or your establishment are brushing their issue aside with an apology. This can give them the impression that you do not wholly care about their issue and, ultimately, them. Apologies should be sincere and should directly address the guest’s concerns.

There are a few occasions where an apology shouldn’t be given. An apology amounts to an admission of guilt and should not be given for situations where you or the business could be considered legal liable, these situations include: accusations of food poisoning, and theft or assault by a restaurant employee. You should also not apologize when the guest is the one creating the issue, e.g. harassing employees or being loud and/or rude. It best to use your best judgement on whether to apologize to a guest in any given situation.

Apologize, don’t give an excuse. An excuse is a reason and it is never equitable to an apology. Providing an excuse instead of an apology can sometimes further anger a guest because the problem is not being owned and the excuse is not fitting what they expected.

Recover

A guest has complained because they have a problem severe enough to be brought to the manager’s attention, and they expect that problem to be fixed. Recovery is fixing that problem to a standard that is acceptable to the guest and the restaurant.

After going through the previous steps you will have an understanding of the guest’s complaint and a good feeling of how upset the guest is and what level of recovery suits their specific complaint and their level of upset. Recovery needs can vary from guest to guest and situation to situation, and it is important that managers lean on their previous experience in guest recovery to refine their response to the guest in front of them. It can also be helpful for owners, especially those of franchises and groups, to standardize how certain incidents are recovered; ensuring that recovery standards exist across the company so that guests are treated the same, no matter which venue they’re in.

Nurture

Once the guest’s issue is resolved the recovery process doesn’t stop. It is imperative that the manager checks back with the guest to show that the restaurant cares. If the guest will be returning at a later date for the compensation of their recovery, e.g. a free meal or bottle of wine, then you should take care to remember who they are so that you can recognize them on their return and provide them with special treatment. Nurturing a guest post-recovery can solidify their faith in your restaurant and turn them into loyal patrons.

To make sure they receive the best treatment for their recovery it is beneficial to tell them to book in advance and mention a special card that you gave them regarding this recovery. This way you can place them in the section of your best serve and the manager will know to pay them special attention. Nurturing can go a long way to turning a disgruntled guest into a loyal customer.

A Final Word: A Manager’s Challenge

Upset guests need to be tracked, ideally in a managers log. This is partially to see if there are any pattern or similarities in the complaints that could be permanently resolved, and also to keep track of potential repeat offenders. These people may be trying to take advantage of an establishment’s policies. These guests provide a problem for managers, not only because their actions lead to a loss in revenue, but also because of the frequency of the disruptions they can cause to the flow of the restaurant and the experience of other guests. Distinguishing between a customer who has high expectations and will provide insightful feedback and someone who is looking to take advantage can be a challenge. Such a skill is learnt through experience, but the result and the insight that can be passed on are invaluable.

Guest recovery can seem like a simple matter, but dealing with and listening to each complaint personally and individually is an important factor in it having a lasting effect on the customer and the business. If you’re looking to teach this method of guest recovery many prefer to do it by using it in examples of dealing with difficult customers in a restaurant.

By properly recovering an angry restaurant customer and nurturing a relationship with them, managers can gain key insights into where their customers think their venue is not hitting the mark and, thus, can help them to focus their efforts on improving the elements that most impact the customer experience in the customer’s eyes.

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9 Labor Cost Reducing Tactics

Ben Beddow — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 15:30:02 +0000

Labor Cost Reducing Tactics

Ben Beddow

Published March 8th, 2022

Labor costs are one part of a restaurant’s prime costs, and prime costs are responsible for over half of a restaurant’s overall costs. Restaurant labor costs are one the most controllable costs for a location, and the results of properly managing a restaurant’s labor costs can be realized almost immediately.

Controlling labor costs is crucial to a restaurant’s continued survival. But labor costs for restaurants are not a stationary target. A venue’s labor costs are dynamic throughout the year, fluctuating with business, and they will change year on year as business levels change.

Here we’re going to use the labor cost dollar amounts to calculate a figure that can be used to assess how efficient a restaurant is when it comes to its labor costs. After that we’re going to look at labor cost reducing tactics that can be implemented to bring those costs down.

Labor Cost Reducing Tactics

What Should Labor Costs Be In a Restaurant?

The ideal restaurant labor costs are between 25-30% of total sales, and can vary greatly by location. Quick serve locations that require fewer service staff may be able to push their labor costs below 25% of their total sales, but fine dining locations may find that their labor costs stay above 30% of their total sales.

Labor costs are typically viewed as a percentage of total sales. The formula for calculating labor costs is a simple one:

(Total Labor Costs ÷ Total Sales) x 100 = Labor Costs as a Percentage

It is important to note that total labor costs are not just the sum of all the wages and salaries paid out to employees. Total labor costs include everything associated with labor, including:

Insurance
Employment taxes
Paid time off, PTO
Workers compensation
Employee benefits e.g. shift meals

Labor costs are typically viewed as a percentage of total sales. The formula for calculating labor costs is a simple one:

(Total Labor Costs ÷ Total Sales) x 100 = Labor Costs as a Percentage

It is important to note that total labor costs are not just the sum of all the wages and salaries paid out to employees. Total labor costs include everything associated with labor, including:

Insurance
Employment taxes
Paid time off, PTO
Workers compensation
Employee benefits e.g. shift meals

Labor costs are typically viewed as a percentage of total sales. The formula for calculating labor costs is a simple one:

(Total Labor Costs ÷ Total Sales) x 100

= Labor Costs as a Percentage

It is important to note that total labor costs are not just the sum of all the wages and salaries paid out to employees. Total labor costs include everything associated with labor, including:

Insurance
Employment taxes
Paid time off, PTO
Workers compensation
Employee benefits e.g. shift meals

How to Reduce Labor Costs in a Restaurant

A quick tip is to also calculate labor costs by department, i.e front of house and back of house. This can help to pinpoint where labor reducing tactics might have the greatest effect and could tell you which ones to implement first. Labor reducing tactics focus around two goals:

Increasing employee efficiency to reduce the amount of time they spend on the clock
Balancing staffing levels with expected business levels

If there is a method to achieve one of these goals, without reducing the quality of service to guests, then it can be counted as a labor reducing tactic.

Sidework Sheets

Sidework sheets represent organization, and organization is key to increased efficiency. Sidework sheets lay out all the extra responsibilities and expectations for an employee outside of their primary restaurant role on that day. Sidework typically focus on three different periods of the restaurants working day: opening, changeover, and closing. Sidework sheets increase employee efficiency and reduce the amount of time it takes them to complete their necessary tasks.

Recipe Cards

Detailed recipe cards can increase the time efficiency of prep cooks by streamlining their work flow. Recipe cards should contain ingredients, cooking and food preparation utensils, along with a detailed list of recipe steps. Having detailed recipe cards for everything prepared in-house can also help to increase product consistency.

Cross Training

Having employees that are cross-trained can not only improve the guest experience but can also reduce the need to have multiple employees on during slower business periods. If the bartenders are competent servers then they can be given a section of tables, as well as the bar, and then a server need not be on shift. If servers are trained to manage the host stand, e.g. using reservation software or other reservation method, then a host might not be needed on slower days of the week. On slow days can an expediter complete the job of both the expediter and the food runner? All of these examples result in an increase in employee efficiency and also mean that there is one less employee on shift, resulting in an immediate reduction in labor costs.

Reducing Overtime

Overtime requires paying an employee more, typically 50% more, per hour worked and these extra costs can add up quickly. Overtime can be a necessary evil during busy periods but it shouldn’t happen every week. Reducing overtime to zero is the gold standard and proper scheduling and having enough employees on the roister to be able to be scheduled is key to accomplishing this. No overtime also means that no one is overworked and that staff can have a better work-life balance, potentially reducing workplace stress.

Self Ordering

The pandemic introduced the public, en masse, to self ordering. These processes are often viewed through the lens of customer convenience, however, they are also a great labor reducing tactic as they reduce the amount of employees needed on the restaurant floor. Self ordering comes in many forms. It can be via a QR code on the table or menu, through a self ordering kiosk, or via a dedicated mobile app. ActiveMenus offers digital solutions like beautiful and branded mobile apps and sleek website ordering platforms that can help to enhance the self-ordering customer experience.

Cutting Employees

If there are too many employees in the restaurant for the level of business the restaurant is experiencing then some should be sent home to reduce unnecessary labor costs. It is best for a manager to use their best judgment here because they know best about how business flows in their venue. Some states have reporting time pay laws that require employers to pay non-exempt employees a minimum amount of hours worked if they show up to a shift and are then sent home.

Review Scheduling Practices

If a restaurant is regularly cutting employees then they should review their scheduling practices to prevent this from happening. Restaurant scheduling is dynamic across all periods but that does not mean that data cannot be used to improve scheduling practices. Schedule data from this period last year along with sales forecast data can be used to greatly improve scheduling practices. It is also good to make notes regarding scheduling each day so when looking back at previous data it is possible to see what the impact of scheduling was that day.

Working out labor cost percentages on a macro, day-to-day basis can also help to give an insight into labor percentage fluctuations over the course of the week and to identify days where labor costs can be reduced. The main tactic here is to bring employees in later or have them leave earlier so that they cross over for the rush and are not clocked in when they don’t need to be.

Increase Employee Retention

We spoke about the importance of employee retention, and how to go about increasing employee retention, in this article. Hiring and training employees is an expensive process, estimated to cost 25% to 40% of their expected annual pay. The way to reduce this is to increase employee retention so this cost simply doesn’t happen.

Labor Management Incentives

Having more staff on shift makes a manager’s job easier and managers are likely to keep employees on the clock for this reason. If a manager is not incentivized to control the labor costs of their venue then they will keep extra, often unnecessary, staff on shift resulting in perpetually high labor costs. High labor costs are often attributed to the venue’s ability to consistently meet or exceed a high standard of customer experience. However, a high standard of customer experience can also be achieved and maintained in restaurants operating within their budgeted labor cost range.

Managers, both front and back of house, should be incentivized to make decisions that are both financially smart for the business and in the best interest of the customer experience. Many restaurant owners will tie the managers’ bonuses to targets for both their venue’s labor percentages and the results of quality of service reviews. Ensuring consistency in these reviews can be done by using secret shoppers.

Final Considerations

When reducing labor costs, especially when looking at staffing and scheduling, it is good to keep in mind that labor costs should never be reduced at a detriment to the level of service expected in that establishment. Finally, if a location’s labor costs are not where they need to be, and they cannot be reduced further without being detrimental to customer service or employee satisfaction, then managers and and owners will want to look at other cost reducing tactics as well as methods of increasing revenue that don’t involve an increase in labor costs e.g. menu engineering.

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Break-Even Point: A Restaurant’s Most Important Calculation

Ben Beddow — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 23:57:23 +0000

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Break-Even Point: A Restaurant’s Most Important Calculation

Ben Beddow

Published November 16th, 2021

A restaurant’s revenue stream fluctuates, in somewhat of a predictable fashion, throughout the year, from month to month, and through the week. Continuing to run a successful business whilst contending with this endlessly moving target is one of the magic tricks every successful restaurant owner and manager performs on a regular basis.

There are many metrics that can be used to analyze a restaurant’s financial position, and there are many meaningful figures that can be drawn from these calculations. But a singular indicator that can help restaurant owners and managers manage their location’s finances in real time is their break-even point.

Conducting a break-even analysis for a restaurant provides those running the location with a method of tracking their financial performance in real time, and allows them to set goals that can tell them when, maybe if, they’re going to produce a profit over a given time period.

Break-Even Point: A Restaurant’s Most Important Calculation

What is a Break-Even Point?

A break-even point is the point at which a business is not making a financial loss or gain. It is the point where the total revenue generated covers all the fixed costs of that time period, along with all the variable costs incurred up until that moment. It is the moment when revenue equals costs. When a break-even point is surpassed a location begins to realize profits. It is worth noting that not everything past the break-even point is profit, variable costs are still being incurred and should be deducted from the revenue amount past the break-even point. The remaining amount is realized profits.

A break-even point is one of many excellent restaurant KPIs, and is called a forecasting figure because it uses data from the past to approximate what might happen in the future. Break-even points can be viewed as either a dollar amount or as a guest count so long as reliable data is on hand.

What is Needed to Calculate a Break-Even Point

The more accurate a restaurant’s accounting is the more accurate their break-even calculations are. To use the break-even analysis formula the following figures are needed for the given period:

Fixed Costs (current and historical data)
Variable Costs (historical data)
Total Sales (historical data)
Guest Count (historical data)
Average Guest Check (current data)

Break-even points can be run over multiple time periods, provided the data is available for the specific time periods. But one of the hardest variables to get correct is a guest count, which is essential to calculating an accurate average guest check value.

The more accurate a restaurant’s accounting is the more accurate their break-even calculations are. To use the break-even analysis formula the following figures are needed for the given period:

Fixed Costs (current and historical data)
Variable Costs (historical data)
Total Sales (historical data)
Guest Count (historical data)
Average Guest Check (current data)

The more accurate a restaurant’s accounting is the more accurate their break-even calculations are. To use the break-even analysis formula the following figures are needed for the given period:

Fixed Costs (current and historical data)
Variable Costs (historical data)
Total Sales (historical data)
Guest Count (historical data)
Average Guest Check (current data)

Obtaining an Accurate Guest Count - One of the easier ways to monitor a break-even point in realtime is by looking at guest counts. Having an accurate guest count is crucial for this to work and essential for calculating a restaurant’s average guest check; which is an insightful restaurant metric in itself.

There are multiple ways of obtaining an accurate guest count. The easiest is by training employees to enter the correct guest numbers into the POS system for each ticket. Another method is to have hosts tally the total amount of covers, and another method is to use entrée sales volume data. Some restaurants will use multiple of these data points; but, in reality, each restaurant and manager is different and it is up to them to decide which is the best way to get the most accurate numbers for their location.

How to Calculate A Break-Even Point

As mentioned, there are two ways of calculating a restaurant’s break-even point: by dollar amount, and by guest count. Working out the first creates an easy path to the latter.

Calculating a Break-Even Point By Revenue

Break-Even Point =

Total Fixed Costs

(Total Sales - Variable Costs) ÷ Total Sales

Break-Even Point =

Total Fixed Costs

(Total Sales - Variable Costs) ÷ Total Sales

Example: Over a given period a location’s Fixed Costs were $36,000, Variable Costs were $16,000, and Total Sales equaled $70,000. During that period the Average Guest Spend was $35.

Break-Even Point = $36,000 = $36,000 = $36,000 = $46,666.76

($70,000-$16,000) ÷ $70,000 $54,000 ÷ $70,000 0.77143

Break-Even Point

$36,000

($70,000-$16,000) ÷ $70,000

$36,000

$54,000 ÷ $70,000

$36,000

0.77143

$46,666.67

Break-Even Point =

$36,000

($70,000-$16,000) ÷ $70,000

$36,000

$54,000 ÷ $70,000

$36,000

0.77143

$46,666.67

Meaning that only once this location surpasses $46,666.67 in revenue do they begin making a profit.

Calculating a Break-Even Point by Guests Served

To convert a dollar value break-even point into a guests served break-even point simply divide the above Break-Even Point by a location’s Average Guest Spend:

Break-Even Point

Average Guest Spend

Break-Even Point

Average Guest Spend

$46,666.67

$35

1,334 Guests

So this location will break-even once it has served 1,334 guests in this time period.

Break-Even Point Calculator

Using a Break-Even Point

First and foremost, break-even points allow managers and owners to know when they cover their costs, break-even, and begin to turn a profit. Beyond that break-even point calculations can also be used to assess the efficacy of various cost saving, and profit creating tactics.

Potential Profitability of Upgrades - There are many upgrades available to a restaurant: from automatic bathroom lights, to low wattage bulbs, to purchasing high efficiency kitchen equipment. When upgrades like these are on the table the “potential savings” figure is always a part of the decision. Implementing these “potential savings” into break-even calculations allows restaurant owners and managers to calculate how quickly they can recoup the outlay for these items, and how much larger a profit they will realize in their location.

Advertising or Average Check Increase? - When trying to increase a restaurant’s profitability owners and managers have two main options available to them: advertising and menu price increases. Choosing which one to invest in can be treading a fine line, but imputing the potential impacts of both into the figures used for making break-even calculations will provide an insight into which is best for the location at that current moment in time.

Guests Served Insights for Increasing Profitability - When a break-even point is calculated using guests served it is a tangible number that can easily be tracked every day. Using the guest served break-even point, owners and managers can get a better feel for how certain changes, such as the above mentioned profitability upgrades and choice between advertising or menu item increases, can affect their business. Using the guests served break-even metric can also help managers tailor their variable costs so they can be sure to hit their break-even point every period.

A Final Word

Break-even point calculations offer managers and owners an easy and insightful metric that can be used to monitor a business’s financial status across multiple time scales simultaneously. It also allows these people to understand what benefits manipulating their variable costs can bring to a business. As well as how check averages can be best used to determine the best direction for increasing a business’s profitability.

Whilst also being a great way to keep a check on themselves and their own efforts, managers and owners can use break-even points as an insightful metric when pitching location expansions, or even new business ventures, to potential investors.

The post Break-Even Point: A Restaurant’s Most Important Calculation appeared first on Online Ordering For Restaurants | ActiveMenus.

Training Your Employees for Everyone’s Success

Ben Beddow — Mon, 01 Nov 2021 18:13:39 +0000

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Training Your Employees for Everyone’s Success

Ben Beddow

Published November 1, 2021

Being understaffed is, unfortunately, not an adage that restaurant managers are unfamiliar with. It seems that -especially in the current moment- we are perpetually on the lookout for new hires. The turnover rate in the hospitality business has always been one of the highest in the nation, hitting almost 75% in 2018, and that was before the events of the past few years added its strain to the restaurant workforce and, thus, restaurants.

It has been calculated that losing a frontline employee and then hiring and training a new one amounts to an average cost of $5,864. That’s no small number when restaurants run on razor thin margins and are looking at renewing almost 75% of their frontline workforce each year.

Previously we produced a piece discussing 7 Ideas for Attracting and Retaining Employees in a Post-COVID-19 World. Many of these ideas were “outside of the box” ideas that can help you get in front of the competition in this crucial time. But once an employee has committed to working in a location then how to train restaurant staff, as we as employee development, becomes paramount to increasing their chances of success in that location. These are also important factors in retaining staff in a location and reducing the location's turnover rate and the associated costs. So, what makes an effective employee training program?

Training Your Employees for Everyone’s Success

A Checklist for New Employee Training

How to train a new employee is a problem that every manager approaches in their own way, and in a way that is suited to their venue’s operations. However, there are a few indispensable items and processes that can help new hire training in every venue, here is a new hire checklist for restaurant employees.

Employee Handbook

An employee handbook is an indispensable tool for restaurant managers as it ensures that all their employees have exactly the same information about their location, and what is expected of them whilst at work. An employee handbook is for an employee to take home, study, and, at minimum, should include:

A venue’s history and the experience it aims to create for its guests.
The hierarchy of the location along with all the phone numbers of the employee’s superiors.
The venue’s culture, dress code, and the expectations of the employee.
The rules of the restaurant e.g. no phone on the floor.
A restaurant floor plan with table and seat numbers.
A food menu. Featuring a breakdown of allergy suitable dishes and substitutes.
A drinks menu. Featuring all the menu offered cocktails and a list of all the available liquors and soft drinks.

Location Orientation

Knowing where everything is: from the staff room, to the ice machine, to dry storage; is imperative for helping an employee become familiar with their new workplace. Have an employee give them a tour and reassure them that they’re not expected to remember the location of everything from just a single tour. Repeat the location orientation a second and even a third time throughout the training period for new employees to ingrain things into their mind. It should be noted that repetition is one of the best ways to train employees.

Shadowing

Have a new employee shadow an existing employee who has already mastered the position they’re there for. This will show the new employee how things are done in that location, what standards they are expected to adhere to, and the quirks of the location.

Training Mode

If the new employee is going to be using the POS system then give them the opportunity to actually use it, rather than just showing them. Providing them with training time in a POS system’s training mode will accelerate their learning, increase their confidence and help to reduce mistakes (which cost money) once they start using the system in a live environment.

Make Them Feel Welcome

Making an employee a part of the team from the outset makes them more comfortable and more likely to become a long-term employee. Introduce new hires to everyone that they’ll be working with, both front and back of the house.

Furthermore, let the employee know that you value a work life balance in your location, and that the individual’s health and success runs parallel with that of the venue. Encourage an open dialogue about any issues they encounter in the workplace and any from outside of work that may affect their performance in the workplace that they feel comfortable talking about.

Don’t Overload Them

Each location and each individual is different and, therefore, the best way to train employees is relative to the individual and the location. Knowledge is paramount to the confidence and success of an individual in any position but people can only receive so much; and, again, everyone is different. Ensure that the information given to a new hire is absorbed and fully understood. To do this some locations will require employees to pass a test related to their position in order for them to be released from the restaurant's employee training program.

Don’t Overload Them

Peer-to-Peer Training

One of the best practices for training new employees is to have one of their new peers lead them through everything. Each restaurant has long-term employees that it has designated to be their trainers for each position and these employees are there to help welcome the new hire, make them feel comfortable, and to fill them in on all the operational quirks of a location.

Peer-to-peer training is where the new hire gets to grips with the role they will be fulfilling in that location and all that comes with it. It also gives them someone who they will feel comfortable directing their questions to once their training period is over.

Continuous Training

One of the biggest mistakes made by managers is a one-and-done attitude toward training. It is important to continue training employees after their initial “crash course”, no matter how intense that is. This applies to long-term employees too.

Regular questions about menu items, allergies, restaurant standards, seat numbers, and other pieces of information that pertain to an employee’s job can help to refresh everyone’s memory and ensure no one is falling behind. This doesn’t need to be a grill, but rather it can be made fun and can be best conducted as a group task during pre-shift.

Feedback and Program Development

Once a new hire has completed their training and settled into their new workplace -the time period for this will vary by employee and position- a manager should sit down with them and ask them what they thought of their training, if there were any areas they saw for improvement, and if there was anything they’ve learnt since that could be added; or anything that could be removed. This feedback can further the development of a training program and make it more efficient and effective for both the employee and the establishment, helping to reduce the hiring and training costs of new employees.

Last Word

As a final note, a high quality training program goes hand-in-hand with employee retention techniques to increase every employee’s tenure. Curating and maintaining a high quality training program provides a solid springboard for a successful employee experience and creates a location full of well trained, happy employees which, in turn, will help to reduce a venue’s turnover and lead to a reduction in hiring and training costs.

The post Training Your Employees for Everyone’s Success appeared first on Online Ordering For Restaurants | ActiveMenus.

The Power of Mocktails

Ben Beddow — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 04:05:55 +0000

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The Power of Mocktails

Ben Beddow

Published October 14th, 2021

Over the past few years the sales of low and no alcohol products in off-premise locations have been steadily rising. A September 2021 report showed that off-premise sales of low and no alcohol drinks had a sales lift of 10.4% last year, and the main takeaway noted by many in the drink business -and probably to their relief- was that the vast majority of those purchasing these non-alcoholic beverages are still purchasing alcoholic beverages. The fact that they are still purchasing alcoholic products is being used to show that becoming teetotal isn’t what is driving these sales, but that this indicates a move toward a drinking public that is more conscientious, especially members of younger generations.

What many industry commentators don’t note is the glaring opportunity this data provides to the owners and managers of on-premise locations. They can take advantage of this emerging trend of no and low alcohol beverages and offer them to their customers who, they now know, want them. Doing this can have multiple benefits and one of the most common and beneficial ways of appealing to these customer’s is by offering mocktails.

The Power of Mocktails

What is a Mocktail?

A simple question but one which many customers are ready to ask in many forms: Why is it called a mocktail? What’s the difference between a cocktail and a mocktail? What is the meaning of mocktail? Are mocktails good for your health? Are mocktails alcoholic? What are mocktails? A definition of a mocktail is:

A mocktail is a drink made entirely from non-alcoholic ingredients that is created to mimic a cocktail in style, presentation and flavor.

Mocktails are produced using fruit juices, fruit purees, flavored syrups, non-alcoholic “spirits”, herbs and other non-alcoholic ingredients. There are many “types” of mocktail and mocktails can be produced for both children and adults. Mocktails can be very crafty and flavorful or they can mimic a specific classic or contemporary classic cocktail. As with cocktails, the opportunities for flavor, mouthfeel, and style are vast, but mocktails also have great potential in what they can bring to a venue, their customers, their bottomline, and their employees.

Foster Inclusivity and Create More Customers

As more people turn to low and no alcohol beverages at home, more of those customers are seeking these styles of beverages when they head out to enjoy themselves with their friends, family and colleagues. Guests who are choosing not to drink alcohol are very often left with just a list of sodas and are visibly delighted when they find that a venue offers mocktails. This, in turn, evokes a positive feeling toward that venue and increases the chance that they will return.

Mocktail drinkers can often be the decision makers of a group because if they know they can get a good mocktail somewhere they are inclined to try and steer their group there, with others being likely to submit to their cause because they can find their chosen drinks at every venue then enter.

There are also groups in society -examples include non-drinking group and groups of pregnant women- who might actively seek out mocktails and inform other members of their group when they find them at a location. These groups might all enter a venue together, however the more likely scenario is that one person tells many, and those individuals take their personal friends or family there. Thus bringing a venue more customers.

Great Profit Margins

Cocktails are one of the pricier offerings to come from behind a bar and their high price is justified by the use of more than a standard pour of spirit and, often, the use of well-known, name brand spirits. Mocktails are often placed at lower end of the cocktail price bracket but, because they don’t include the expensive spirituous element, they don’t have the same cost basis and the margins on them are usually much greater than those of almost any cocktail.

Mocktails created for children call for a higher price than the sodas and juices regularly served to them; even though they’re just these drinks with a few additions that are unique to a specific location. This, again, can make the profit margin on a child’s mocktail much greater than that of a soda or juice, especially because mocktails are not bottomless and neither are they expected to be.

Increase Check Averages

Offering mocktails, for either children or adults, can have the effect of increasing check averages. Adults who are not drinking alcoholic beverages are often left with a non-alcoholic beer, soda, or juice to choose from, all of which are at the bottom end of the price scale, and guests will often only purchase one serving of either of these. The same goes for the standard offerings given to children, which are almost always bottomless.

Offering mocktails to both adults and children provides them with the choices of a higher price point, that immediately increases check averages. The non-bottomless nature of these drinks also means that reorders will increase the value of that check and positively impact check averages.

More Returning Customers

Simply, those who choose not to drink alcohol are not accustomed to finding craft non-alcoholic beverages when they’re in on-premise locations. When they do, they are often delighted and are much more likely to return to that location for those unique offerings that catered to their specific needs than they are to return to other locations that don’t have the same offerings.

The Bartender’s Mocktail Challenge

Most bartenders will know the mocktail definition, but if they have never created them before mocktails can present a challenge to bartenders. This is because all bartenders are accustomed to creating drinks with alcoholic ingredients, and the alcohol brings a substantial amount of body to these beverages; along with being the main flavor component. Creating drinks without that omnipresent alcohol requires substituting in other ingredients to create a familiar flavor and mouthfeel for guests. This is something that can take a lot of practice but learning to do so can seriously enhance a bartender’s skillset and their understanding of the non-alcohol ingredients kept behind their bar.

The Last Word

Mocktails are becoming more and more popular as consumers’ attitude toward alcohol shifts and more and more people are readily changing their drinking habits and reaching for low and no alcohol options from the shelves in off-premise locations. A change in drinking habits off-premise translate into new wants when they visit on-premise locations, and many venues have found that catering to the wants of this growing, but still niche, market can have a positive impact on their business. What’s more, there is little to no negative impact to a venue from adding mocktail to their offerings as bartenders often begin these programs by utilizing ingredients that are already available to them and space can almost always be found for them on menus.

The post The Power of Mocktails appeared first on Online Ordering For Restaurants | ActiveMenus.

How to Improve Employee Retention

Ben Beddow — Sun, 05 Sep 2021 01:07:36 +0000

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7 Strategies To Improve Employee Retention

Ben Beddow

Published September 4th, 2021

There’s the growth of takeout and delivery service, menu innovation like in-app ordering, bussing your own tables, and futuristic technological innovations such as bartending robots and intelligent burger flipping machines; but employees are always going to be the backbone of the food service industry and the restaurant experience.

The industry is in the midst of a staffing crisis. “Help Wanted” signs are posted in the windows of restaurants across the country right next to signs reading “Closed xxxday and xxxday due to understaffing”. There are many fingers being pointed as to the cause of this but an underlying and undeniable factor is high turnover. Annual turnover rates in the hospitality industry have been averaging above 70% for years now, meaning that, on average, a restaurant will lose 70% of its workforce every year!

Hiring and training new employees is an expensive process that has been further complicated by the labor shortage. Alongside hiring, restaurants need to be focusing on the employees they do have and how to improve employee retention; building a retention plan and structure to help them reduce their turnover, improve employee retention, and turn their current employees into longterm staff members. So, what are some tried, tested, and innovative employee retention strategies, employee retention ideas, and employee retention techniques that owners and mangers can utilize in their locations?

Table of Contents

Maintaining A Healthy Working Environment

It seems like “job satisfaction” has been one of buzzword of the decade and in the high stress, fast paced, customer service environment of restaurants; meaning that owners and managers need to build a healthy work environment into their employee retention strategies in 2021. Focusing on creating and maintaining a health work environment is a one of the formost ways of how to improve employee retention and motivation.

Be in Touch

Restaurants function on human interaction and employees work shoulder-to-shoulder, in constant communication with each other, through their whole shift. These high levels of interaction require an understanding of, not only, an employee’s capabilities but also who they are and their breaking points. Being in touch and knowing each of your employee’s limits and when they’re under acute levels of stress can help managers plan and help them operate within their limits, increasing their job satisfaction on a day-to-day basis, and learn from their employees as for how do you improve employee retention and motivation in a restaurant.

“Open Door” Policy

An open door policy gives an employee the opportunity to approach their managers and to let their issues be known. This can lift a huge weight off the employees shoulders and allows the manager to provide support for them through conversations with them and others and through scheduling practices. This open door policy needs to be reiterated to employees regularly and should apply to both personal life issues and workplace issues.

Breed and Be The Positivity in The Workplace

“S**t rolls downhill” is a well known idiom that everyone who has worked as a line level employee in any industry will understand. This is not only true with tasks but also with attitude. If a manager has a dour and negative attitude it will inevitably infect everyone in the workplace and go against and strategies to improve employee retention that have been put in place.

Managers and owners need to lead the charge of positivity by eliminating negative responses and being the problem solver, alongside encouraging and empowering their employees to do the same. Lastly, managers should lead the charge out of the negativity trap when everyone else’s attitudes start on a downward spiral.

Always Be Polite

“Please and thank you are free” is an age-old saying that doesn’t come without merit. If managers bring politeness into the workplace it will be noticed and echoed by the employees. It is beneficial to create a culture of gratitude and respect amongst employees; especially in such a high pressure environment. Even if employees don’t notice when it is present they’ll definitely notice when it isn’t and restaurant employee retention will improve with the politeness of the staff towards each other.

Actively Encouraging A Work-Life Balance

Employee’s shouldn’t feel overly demanded of by their workplace; after all, we work to live, not live to work. Allow employees to have input into their schedules, and try to settle on set schedules to allow everyone to better plan their lives. Discuss vacations and encourage employees to undertake certain things in their own life that benefit or please them. This is one of many innovative employee retention strategies that are being put to use today.

Another consideration for some locations is “on call’ scheduling. Instead of bringing an employee in and promptly sending them home that employee can be “on call” until a certain mid-shift point in time and if they haven’t received a call by then then can rest easy and do what they want with their time. This gives managers a labor saving flexibility and leaves employees with more free time and lower levels of frustration.

Keeping Promises

If promises keep coming up empty then employees are sure to jump ship. Whether this be with certain equipment, other job tools, or vacations and scheduling matters promises need to be kept. Keeping the dialogue open with employees with regards to promises is also important in case things go wrong and this level of commitment and openness is one of the more noticeable ways for how to improving staff retention.

Being Praiseful

Much like always saying please and thank you a few simple yet honest and meaningful words of praise can do wonders for someone’s morale, their sense of achievement, and the level of pride they take in their day-to-day work. Accolades shouldn’t be handed out freely but “credit where credit is due” is an important mantra for all manager to remember, but they are an excellent way of increasing employee retention.

Promoting Internally

The benefits of internal promotions speak for themselves: They know the location, employees, systems, and operations intimately, and the manager knows the employee. The location gets to retain a great employee and can also promote someone else into their previous role. It also shows other employees that there is the opportunity of advancement available for them too and. Promoting internally is one of the leading strategies for improving employee rentention. Promoting across locations can also have the same benefits and the same effect.

Letting Go of Toxicity

Just like negativity, a bad attitude can spread throughout the workplace quickly. This toxicity often comes from just one or two individuals and needs to be eliminated where possible. Everyone deserves their chance but no one deserves the right to bring the team down. Give these employees their chances, taking their personal situation into account along the way. But if the toxicity continues to flow then, unfortunately, the fit just isn’t right. This is one of the more inovative employee retention strategies for how to improve employee retention, because it focusing on letting go of employees who are having a detrimental affect on the workplace environment.

Encouraging Mentorship

The range of ages, skill levels, and experience is highly varied in each individually unique restaurant across the world. Encourage long standing employees to take newer employees under their wing; partnering them up for training helps to facilitate this. This gives longstanding employees recognition of their achievements and knowledge, and the authority to answer questions while also fostering a healthy environment of information exchange and making sure no one is afraid to ask a question.

A Final Word

In our last piece we discussed attracting and retaining employee and all of the points discussed there are highly relatable here. Increasing the successful retention of employees begins by implementing employee retention ideas and techniques from the beginning of their employment. The benefits mentioned in our previous article can also be implemented during employment, not just at the beginning and doing so can have a huge impact on workplace morale and positivity.

Uncovering the secrets of how to retain employees and how to improve employee retention and motivation is a jewel in the crown of successful restaurant management. Constantly working on improving employee retention strategies is key to continuing to improve staff retention. The points above, and in the aforementioned article, go a long way to increasing the employee’s happiness and motivation levels, reducing turnover, making the owner and managers lives easier, and helping a business run more profitably.

The post How to Improve Employee Retention appeared first on Online Ordering For Restaurants | ActiveMenus.