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start my stopwatch and see how long it takes for a host or hostess.
doing that. But how have you used surveys in the restaurant business,
and what do you do with that data you collect?
Donald: Surveys are great, like you said, if you can get them to
fill them out. There’s a huge gap there. I’m a huge believer in just
communication, just talking to people and getting that information
and just basically learning about what’s important. That’s where the
post-shift come in handy. “Hey, we had this… in tonight, and they’re
actually from the town next to us, and they were talking about the
things they like and stuff like that and what they liked about the
place or the issues they had.” And that’s how you fine tune it, is by
getting the service right.
Nick:
OK. There’s one last question I have for you. If there’s anything else
that I might have missed that you could think of to provide a great
experience, is there anything else you want to add?
Donald:
The biggest thing is constantly, constantly working with your team. I
would say inspect what you expect, and then how do you maintain
the standards? Every once in a while you do an audit. So I do service
audits. Every once in a while, maybe I’ll give one of my friends a
$100-dollar gift certificate to come in, and I want them to shop my
restaurant. So I want them to come in and give me their opinion of
what went well and what we need to work on.
Mystery shopping services are some of the best things in the world,
but you’ve got to do some research on those, because you’ve got
to make sure you use a mystery shopping service that actually has
experience in restaurants. There are a lot of different dynamics in
restaurants that are different than retail, so they can get askew a
little bit. And I always try to make sure that I’m using a firm that
understands restaurants, or I do it myself. And I have a form I do.
It’s a service audit. So I just randomly work the floor and I’d be
timing everything. I’d watch a table come in the front door, and I
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And I might be just sitting on the side acting like I’m working on
something, so they don’t even know I’m watching. But I’m timing
everything and I’m watching everything and I’m writing down
little notes. Then, I go back and I fill the form out and I debrief the
team about it. “Hey listen, tonight I did a service audit. We had a
customer walk in the door at 8:00 o’clock. Nicky didn’t go over and
say “Hi” to them or even come back to the host stand until 8:04.
That’s not our standard.” Then we talk about things.
Nick:
That makes sense. The last question I have for you, Donald, is what is
the one main piece of advice you could give any restaurant owner, or
even a bar owner, to be successful in this business? There are a lot of
things, but what are the most important words of wisdom you could
give to a restaurant or bar owner that would make them successful in
this business?
Donald:
You’ve got to know your numbers. You’ve got to know them inside
and out. They’ve got to be like on the back of your hand… They’re
pricing drinks, and I ask them, “How did you come up with that
price?” “Well, that’s what the place down the street charges.” Well,
how do you know they’re making money? And sometimes you could
be leaving money on the table if the market – if you’re trying to
compete with the place down the street, you might be charging the
same thing as they are, but maybe they’re not making money. But
maybe you actually could get a dollar or so more for a drink because
you have a better perception of your place. Your place is a little bit
more upscale or this and that. So you’ve got to take into account
what it costs, but also what the market will bear for your market.
You’ve got to do a market analysis.
Nick:
Awesome. Well, I appreciate all the advice, and we’ll talk here shortly.
Donald, where can people get information about you and your
services and maybe hiring you as a restaurant coach?
Donald:
They can go to my website. It’s DonaldBurns.net. Or, my restaurant
coaching program is 10xrestaurant.com.
Nick:
Awesome, I appreciate it. Thank you, Donald.
INTERVIEW WITH:
Donald Burns
www.donaldburns.net
The Restaurant Coach™

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