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Newsletter Archives
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E-Mail Newsletter
**** Issue #174 **** May 10, 2005 In This Issue
* Editor's Note
Refer-a-friend to subscribe to the newsletter and you'll be entered for a chance to win a great prize package with over $1,450 dollars in products and services! -- Contest ends May 15th!
To enter send your friends, co-workers, or colleagues an e-mail (or forward this e-mail) with the below link to the special newsletter sign-up page... ****You can appear in the next issue of the newsletter. Write in with comments/questions. Submit an article. Place an ad. Email us...****
EDITOR'S NOTE In today's issue we've got Bradley sounding off on Mother's Day, some terrific reader feedback, a great website recommendation and a good question about buffets that I hope will draw some responses from the group. In other happenings, this is the last week for the "Refer-A-Friend" to the newsletter contest--ends May 15th. It's a great chance to win for your restaurant over $1,450 worth of products and services. It's easy to enter...just forward the newsletter to your friends and colleagues and recommend that they sign up! The list of prizes and the referral form can be found online at: restaurantreport.com/newsletter/newsletter_signup.html The "Service Teleseminar" with Ian Maksik was absolutely fantastic last Tuesday! If you missed it, you can purchase a CD of the session online at: http://www.restaurantreport.com/marketplace/service_teleseminar.html Loaded with service tips and service WOWS, it really is something that every restaurant should have on hand for their managers and more importantly, for their staff. Lastly, later today (8PM EST), we are co-hosting a free teleseminar on Catering Profits for Restaurants. Space is now extremely limited -- more details as well as registration can be found at: http://www.ezrestaurantmarketing.com/teleseminar_rr
Cheers! RANT & RUMBLE EDITORIAL
From Those Wonderful Folks Who Brought You Dan Rather... You have to love CBS News – even on a local level. Both the network news and the local news are in trouble - is there anything more unwatchable than a local newscast that features 40% weather and 60% commercials (unless it's snowing and it becomes 100% weather). With the availability of approximately 900 channels (and the Internet) there are less and less people out there who still tune in and watch this drivel. Television is a ratings game and without ratings you are without paid commercials. So these are the times when the stations must produce, and they will stoop to any level to find an audience. Unfortunately, this includes the bashing of restaurants. Almost every restaurant owner will agree that Mother’s Day is good for business, and if used (or abused) by your local television station, it can be great for ratings, but disastrous for the restaurants. Just try this headline on for size... "Eat At Your Own Risk: Mother's Day" Now what could that mean? Here’s what it means from KYW-TV (Philadelphia) May 5, 2005 11:00 pm US/Eastern. "Mom's special day is Sunday, May 8th and you might have big plans for a big dinner. But before you make your reservation you should know some of Mom's favorite restaurants have serious health code violations. CBS 3’s Karen Scullin has the latest "Eat At Your Own Risk" investigation." "Fantastic flowers, a special saying, a magnificent meal, you want Mom to have it all. But before Mom's meal makes it to her plate you should know an "Eat At Your Own Risk" investigation revealed serious health code violations that have the potential to make her sick." You understand the drill. The reporter and a cameraman show-up at the restaurant and do the Mike Wallace thing. "What do you have to say about your fly infestation?" The general manager dances, looks bad and they get to nail yet another restaurant. It’s all about ratings and it’s a win/win situation for KYW. They picked four area independent restaurants that showed up on a city sanitation report, and the station has nothing to lose. These restaurants don’t advertise on the network stations, so there can be no loss here, and they get the sensational story that will make people run to their television sets to see what restaurants are in such big trouble. I’m not suggesting that the restaurant community is without blame when it comes to cleanliness and there are undoubtedly some that deserve to be punished. What I am suggesting is that this station chose Mother’s Day during a ratings "sweeps" period, and this station is saying that it might be dangerous to take your Mom to a restaurant. I find this ludicrous and irresponsible, but what else is new? When you have the big CBS attached to your name, and when you are desperate for ratings, restaurant bashing can be a good thing. And the last thing these people are worried about would be damage to something so insignificant (to them) as the restaurant industry. *****
*****
READER FEEDBACK: OBESITY & RESTAURANTS In response to Bradley's article two weeks ago... It is my opinion that a lot of the public are health conscious and watch what they eat at home. When dining out at a restaurant, one appreciates the "extras" as a treat - richer ingredients for richer tastes; a little extra fat for the added flavor; so many items on a menu that one normally wouldn't have at home, much less know how to make at home and with the expertise of trained chefs. Restaurant owners and chefs, please don't worry yourselves with "our", the public's, problem of obesity. We worry enough about it ourselves. Going out to dine is a "treat" to say the least, and the food we eat should enhance the "treat". If a few chefs want to worry themselves about obesity and the public, let them, by all means, worry. If they want to "fix" the problem, they can open up a specialty restaurant, featuring only "healthy" items on their menus. When the public wants to dine out and still have a health conscious meal, they can seek out one of these specialty restaurants. However, we are not all on the same "diet conscious" schedule. Therefore, when dining out for variety and/or a treat, these health conscious restaurants should be few. I think it would be a disaster if all restaurants started incorporating more health conscious items on their menus . It would be a fright to me and many I know if the "health" menu one day took over the wonderful treat of restaurant cuisine.
Thanks for the "soap box"!
***** READER FEEDBACK: CULINARY SCHOOLS In response to a question from Chicago last week... I am a graduate of Johnson & Wales University, Rhode Island. I received an Associates degree as well as a Bachelor's degree. I am happy I went. Here is the problem. I am an exception to the rule. Most Americans do not have enough drive to excel in kitchens (I am American), the hours are too long, not enough pay, etc. Culinary schools push out young men & women who think they are already executive chefs. They do not possess the drive it takes. I have an apprentice working for me who is a junior in high school. He plans on going to culinary after high school. He came to me the other day to tell me that his mother found him a job on the Internet as an executive chef when he finishes culinary. The job he has will pay him $130,000/year. Ha, ha, ha. He thinks that just by going to school he will be rewarded. I recommend you spend the next 3-4 years working in the best restaurants in Chicago. Knock on the door and ask for work. The money will be horrible, but the long-term benefit will be worth it. 1 year with Charlie Trotter would be worth much more than any culinary school and you will be making a little money instead of spending $22-25,000 a year at a good school. **Next Post After spending 23 years in kitchens and managing restaurants I decided to do the same thing and enrolled in a very good program. I believe the culinary degree experience will better prepare me and you for our passion for this business on so many levels. And since you are in Chicago, you have some of the best to choose from outside Hyde Park, N.Y. Go for it and good luck. Jeffrey Summers
***** READER FEEDBACK: HOW TO KEEP MY RESTAURANT CLEAN In response to a question from last week... The first mistake was not to get their buy in before posting the list. You should have gone to them and made your case for such a drastic change in their job description and explained the why before the how. You also should have gotten their input on how to breakdown and distribute the cleaning duties per job as well as defining the procedures for exactly how and with what each task is accomplished. The good news is that it is not too late. Have a meeting and discuss these things. Leadership is not what you do to people, it's what you do with them. Jeffrey Summers
*****
MOTHER'S DAY – PART II - by Bob Bradley A friend called me because he did take his mother out for Sunday brunch at a beautiful new restaurant on the water in Somers Point, New Jersey. With a party of six, he loved the ambiance of this particular spot and while checking them out on the Internet; he was attracted to their advertised price of $17.95 for the basic buffet. All went well until the bill was presented and guess what – the basic brunch was all of a sudden $24.95. But it even said $17.95 on the menu. When a member of his party quietly asked the waitress if there was a mistake, her reply was nothing less than incredible. "We decided not to change the menu, even though it does say $17.95 because it's the last brunch before our season and a new menu kicks in. We raised the price to $24.95 at Easter and we did the same thing on Mother’s Day. We are getting lots of complaints from our customers." My friend paid the bill and left and later called the restaurant to speak to a manager. His response was that "we tried to tell our guests that the real price was $24.95, but you have to complain to one of the owners and they won’t be back until Wednesday." My guess is that the owners took a few days off to spend some of that extra money. It’s an interesting way to run a restaurant and maybe they do so much business that upsetting a few customers on Mother’s Day is no big deal. *****
***** WEB SIGHTING For professionals in the biz, a definite site to add to your bookmark list is Restaurant Edge at http://www.restaurantedge.com
Tons of content, news links, legal resources and more -- all passionately put together by restaurant professionals. A must visit!
BULLETIN BOARD **Next Post - Re: Labor Cost What % of gross sales does a normal restaurant pay for cost of labor?
Thanks,
**Next Post - Re: Buffet Mechanics Can you tell me about running a buffet? What kind of equipment is needed? How do you determine pricing? Should there be price breaks for different ages? How should things be arranged and how do you determine the number of items on the buffet? Any information along these lines would be helpful. KP - jpeterson@characterlink.net
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