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Those three systems are very easy to use. Basically, one is just in place, I can promise you that some of your best employees will go
keeping track of your invoices and your purchases, and the others
are two clipboard systems. And I’ll guarantee you, without the
heavy lifting, the recipe costing cards take 40 to 60 man hours to
create. Without creating an inventory system and going shelf to
sheet, that takes 20 to 30 man hours, and when it’s not set up right,
takes hours to do. Without those in place, which are literally critical
systems, with these three systems, you can reduce your food costs
three points or more, overnight.
Nick:
So these are three simple systems, once you understand them, that
pretty much can run automatically for you once you train the right
people how to do this. But for the owner, they don’t have to do all this
work. Everyone else is doing this work. The owner is just looking at
the numbers and seeing where
they’re at and what they’re
losing, right?
David:
Right. The job of the owner is to
put a system in place, train their
people, and inspect what they
expect. Make sure that they’re
being used. Trust and verify. All
these clichés are true. I don’t
want them doing the work, but
they need to put the system in
place so that others can do it.
And they need to understand it
so they can follow-up and hold
people accountable to those
systems, because here’s the
deal. I don’t care how good the
systems are. If you don’t follow
up on them, they will go away.
Nick:
My question for you is – and I have my ways of doing this in both
of my bars, but I want your opinion for someone who is reading this
article – how do you best go about training this owner to hold people
accountable with these three steps, with these three systems? What’s
your advice to them to say, “Here’s how you do this, and here’s how
you, the owner who is very busy, won’t forget about you holding them
accountable?” Because I’ve seen this with other clients of mine for
different things we’ve done with marketing and promotions, where
they have forgotten, because they’re so busy, to hold these other
people accountable for the systems we’re trying to implement.
David:
Right. Accountability is kind of one of those scary things, because
often as owners, we don’t hold our people accountable. We let the
tail wag the dog, if you will, because we don’t know what we’re
going to do if they don’t show up. If I hold them accountable, will I
lose that employee? Quite honestly, when you put the right systems
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away because the good life is over. You’re actually asking them to do
more.
So when it comes to holding people accountable and training
people to use systems, you can follow basically five very simple
steps. Number one is to be specific and clear about what you want
done. When you ask them to do something, be specific and clear.
Two, define what success looks like. What does it look like when
it’s completed? Three, let it go. It means don’t micromanage, like
give me that and I’ll do that for you. It doesn’t mean abdicate: give
it away and hope and pray it gets done. You have to follow up. You
need to set milestones and make sure that that manager is getting
those things done. If they need more support and training or they
don’t understand it, we can help coach them. We need to have
continued communication. There’s a
phrase that I always say, “Everybody
from this point forward, when it
comes to accountability, it’s from
the state of Missouri.” Why? It’s
the show-me state. “Hey, did you
get this done?” “Yeah, I got it done.”
“Great, show me.” There’s no conflict
involved, and I can discover if things
are getting done right or they need
help or I’m getting BSed. Last but
not least, number five is I really want
to make sure that we recognize and
reward somebody, whether it’s a pat
on the back or a bonus, it doesn’t
matter. The fact is I have to show
them that I appreciate that they got
it done.
So the key is training. Be clear
and specific in what you’ve got,
train them how to do it, tell them
what that success looks like, help them get it done – meaning be
over their shoulder – and keep checking in on them until they’re
successful. Because ultimately, your job as an owner or even a
general manager is to never let your managers fail. If they do, it’s
your fault. You’ve not given them the training and support necessary
to be successful. You’ve just said, “Get this done.” If you don’t give
them the skill sets, how do you expect them to get it done?
Nick:
That makes perfect sense. I’ve got another question for you, and this
comes from a past client. He said that he had a piece of software
where he had multiple different vendors where he bought his food
from. And he had this piece of software where it was either – I
could see the vendors doing this or maybe it was one of his staff,
but putting in those numbers of everything he orders, and it would
calculate where the best buy is that week or that month for what
they were purchasing. Have you heard of something like that? Maybe
I misunderstood them.