Archive for the ‘Growing Your Business’ Category

QFO: What are the benefits for restaurant owners if Guests place an order on a delivery app rather than calling in directly to the restaurant?

The benefit is always less than if your brand controlled everything it touches. Using a third-party to execute a significant portion of your Guest experience can be crippling. The Guest’s loyalty then is with the delivery brand and not your brand regardless. You've become a commodity.

The Speed of Success

You need to push into growth right now or you’ll drown in your own irrelevance.

U.S. Department of Labor Issues Final Rule To Amend Tipped Employee Regulations

On December 22, 2020, the Department of Labor announced a final rule revising its tipped employee regulations to address amendments made to section 3(m) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 (CAA). That amendment prohibits employers from keeping tips received by their employees, regardless of whether the employer [...]

Covid: An Opportunity To Revisit Drive-Thru Thinking

Covid has, if nothing else, sped up the thinking about how we deliver the Guest experience. It's never made sense to me that an operator dedicates less than 20% of his unit's resources to something that delivers 50-65% of his sales. [stm_post_about_author][stm_sidebar sidebar="573"] Digging Deeper [stm_news loop="size:3|post_type:post" posts_per_row="3" view_style="style_2" img_size="medium"][stm_spacing lg_spacing="60" md_spacing="60" sm_spacing="60" xs_spacing="60"]Are You [...]

Inside The Box Thinking

For the longest time, I didn’t believe in the rants of gurus who said to think outside the box. I mean, I was looking around and seeing that no one had actually exhausted their inside the box thinking first. Which should be a prerequisite right? How can you move beyond something that isn’t even working [...]

What Is The Employee Experience?

Q: Who creates and delivers every single guest experience? A; The Front-line employee. Understanding this means the imperative is to create a meaningful and differentiated experience for the employee first. so that they will create a meaningful and differentiated experience for your guests. Traditional roles, responsibilities and resources are no longer enough in a world [...]

Core Values Don’t Change

This is a list (in no particular order) of our core beliefs for building great businesses out of good businesss. We predicate all of our operational philosophies and client outcomes on these beliefs. The Guest Experience is the most important (only) product you offer. Attracting “A” level talent is a function of great operations. Recruiting [...]

Notes On Loyalty Programs

Loyalty is probably the most abused word in the marketing lexicon and is usually defined using a retail context. How? It’s use has been warped, twisted and misappropriated to mean nothing more than a discount that rewards a guest for dining with you or to dine with you at some future time (frequency). So much so that [...]

Pricing Is A Key Component To Sustainable Success

Pricing means different things in different industries, and every company has different needs. We draw from an extensive toolkit to develop a tailored solution that works for your environment and your people, and we work with you to design solutions that allow your organization to develop the skills to repeat the process into the future. [...]

Coaching Is Essential To Maximizing Individual & Business Success

Coaching is a development process that significantly enhances the economic achievement of individuals. It concentrates on helping people – especially entrepreneurs – substantially grow their businesses.

Lost Opportunity Cost

Most operators consider the cost-benefit between two (or more) choices they want to consider. The problem lies in how they chose the options being considered and whether or not there were better alternatives.

The Problem With Transactional Thinking

Bain & Co. recently pushed this out.

QFO: What is the first step that I should take before I build my own restaurant?

QFO: What is the first step that I should take before I build my own restaurant? Answer: Build your team.

The Only Reason People Leave Jobs

Lots of articles preach and even more tongues wag about how the #1 reason people leave jobs is a bad boss. This is wrong.

QFO: Big Menu Or Small Menu?

Q: Is it better for a restaurant to limit its options per food category or to have as many choices as possible? A: There is no right answer except to understand your Guests to the point of adding or subtracting enough to make them spend enough to make your restaurant a success.

Common Misconceptions About Loyalty Programs

A Loyalty Program is meant to maintain and strengthen the relationship between the Guest and your brand.

Questions From Operators: Frustration

Q: “I get so frustrated with myself on a weekly if not daily basis . Like how can I set personal or work goals and then continue to make choices that prevent me from achieving those goals ??? Sometimes it’s just forgetfulness , laziness , moments of weakness or taking the easy path instead of […]

People: Massimo Bottura

Massimo Bottura: “I have a test that I do with my chefs—it’s called “Who Are You?” You have to express yourself in an edible way—or even in a different way. You have to express yourself and tell me who you are. I do this test all the time—if I come back on a Monday, I […]

Weekend Payroll Help – #TOTD

If you’re waiting for Friday & Saturday to be able to make payroll – you have serious issues that need to be addressed. #20thCenturyThinking — Jeffrey Summers (@JeffreySummers) July 28, 2017

Labor Costs Double And Will Double Again

“In the past 18 months, restaurant wages have risen at double the rate of menu prices and will double yet again in the next 18 months.”

“I only work with ambitious leaders who want to define their future, not hide from it.”

For four decades, my Coaching, Consulting, & Learning Events have helped thousands of hospitality leaders worldwide, build successful businesses. Call or text me at +1-817-797-2929 or email me at Jeffrey@JeffreySummers.com