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That’s the first step right there. You’ve got to know what your
         standards are. It’s like playing a game without having a map or having
         a game plan. It’s like, all right, we’re just going to go out there and
         hope we get it right. That’s step one, set a standard. The next thing
         you want to do is you’ve got to constantly, constantly be training.


         Nick:
         Let me pick your brain on that. How do you go about training? I’ve
         talked with some clients before in the past, and they’ve never had
         a good training system in place, and their managers don’t have a
         good training system in place. So how do you go about putting that
         system in place of training a new server or retraining existing servers
         or bartenders or whoever it may be, to be able to make sure they’re
         providing the best experience, the best service, for that customer?


         Donald:
         Once you have a standard set up and you have a training program in
         place – and there are lots of easy ways to set up training programs.
         The biggest thing most restaurants do is they all usually offer initial
         training. When you first start, you usually get some sort of on-the-
         job training. In most restaurants, it’s what I call the ‘follow system.’
         “All right, Nick, you’re new. There’s Joe over there. Follow Joe       Donald:
         around for three days, do what he does, and then you’re going to be    A pre-shift doesn’t have to be a long thing. It can be five-minute
         on the floor.” It’s not a very effective training system.              kind of alley rally or whatever you want to call it. But basically, the
                                                                                manager or leader of the team gets everyone together. And what
         You’ve got to have workbooks. You’ve got to have things written        I like to say is that we’re going to go over the logistics, and then
         down, so there’s a standard. You’ve got to have a standard. But then   we’re also going to check everyone’s attitude and make sure we’re
         the other thing they miss is continuing training. Usually, it’s like: I   all in the right state, right frame of mind, and right energy level. So
         started out, I got some training to understand the restaurant and      you go over the things like: tonight our feature is this, we got a new
         maybe the… system and maybe the menu. But then after that, I’m         bottle of wine in, the chef has this new thing that we want to work
         kind of like, OK, there you go, and there’s nothing else that helps    on and we’d love your feedback on it, and VIPs – we’ve got the
         develop them or keeps them interested or keeps the team engaged        Smiths coming in. There are certain things you’d cover, the logistics
         and keeps them learning. There are tons of great books out there,      of what’s going on, but also you want to set the tone and reinforce:
         stuff like Danny Meyer’s Setting the Table, Service That Sells –       hey, tonight, I want to make sure we’re pre-bussing. I also want to
         awesome resources to keep the team engaged.                            make sure we’re staying on top of our greeting standard, and that
                                                                                                                    means when a table is sat,
         There are also tons of                                                                                     you’ve got two minutes to
         consultants and hospitality                 The five essential                                             make contact with them and
         experts that do small                                                                                      at least acknowledge them
         workshops and seminars, and                 entrepre neurial skills for                                    – eye contact, smile, and tell
         that’s really like an investment,           success: Concentration,                                        them that you’ll be right with
         but also shows your team that                                                                              them. So you want to set that
         you care about them learning                Discrimination, Organi­                                        tone every day. And the most
         and stuff like that. Training                                                                              successful restaurants do this
         always has to be something                  zation, Innovation and                                         religiously. It becomes part
         that’s ongoing. And I’m also a              Communication.                                                 of their standard operating
         huge believer that you’ve got                                                                              procedures. You don’t miss a
         to have a pre-shift and a post-                                                                            day without having a pre-shift.
         shift. If you don’t have those,                              Harold S. Geneen
         you’re really missing the boat.                                                                            And then Post-shift is just
                                                                                                                    as important. When things
         Nick:                                                                                                      go wrong during a shift, and
         I understand what that is, but in case someone is reading this or      things go wrong – it’s the restaurant industry – a lot of dynamics.
         listening to this that doesn’t, why don’t you go through what each of   You want to be able to write those things down and then talk about
         those are?                                                             it with the team, “OK, so we had that one table that it seemed like





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