First Impressions Part Deux

Hello Dear Readers!

In my last blog I discussed how I went about dealing with some first impression issues. After making an incognito visit to a restaurant that would soon be under my leadership, I decided that a meeting with the existing management team was necessary. As I said before at that point they knew I was coming but they had no idea I had already visited the restaurant. My experience has shown me that even more so than your staff, you new team of managers will be chomping at the bit to give you their perspective on...well everything.      Just like with the crew, the information you'll get will be a combination of their frustrations, manipulations and implications that everything that is wrong with the restaurant was the fault of the person you've just replaced.

   This was certainly the case when I met with the management team. We met at one of the other stores and I told them that I just wanted to meet them. I tasked them with one simple task. Give the names of the five worst employees. Jane the assistant manager was hesitant to name names. Luckily the shift lead Anna Mae was more than happy to put together a kill list. She gleefully gave me names along with a laundry list of infractions that ranged from chronic tardiness to sex and blow on the premises. Anna Mae told me that she was already getting ready to fire some of these people because, "I don't put up with that shit". Jane meekly nodded her head and agreed with Anna Mae's input. I gave them no reaction and I asked if they had anything else to say. Jane told me she was feeling the pressure of having to do the schedules, luckily good ol Anna Mae was there to help her. There were also issues with deposits and she was unsure if she was doing the inventory right. Anna Mae wanted to know when she could get a raise, she also let me know that she had about fifty hours of overtime and that the last GM had been planning to promote her.

    I thanked them for coming and told them we would talk again after my training was over and I was there officially. Now I am quite sure that they left feeling secure in their jobs, and that their agendas had been well served. Here is the reality; Most issues you will have in your restaurant can all be traced back to one person,  the GM! the next level of accountability goes to your management team. If you are the new GM it is your job to figure out what management decisions led to these issues. Once you identify the root cause, create a solution. If you are an operator and you have service issue, high guest complaints, food quality issues, the first place you need to look to fix it is a mirror!

  Yes there were several crews issues I noted during my visit but the first question I ask is why the managers haven't addressed and corrected these issues. By meeting with my managers before talking to one crew person, what I am actually determining is if I have the right team in place to right the ship. All too often managers know about and even participate in unethical behavior. Sometimes they instigate it! Bottom line that first meet is crucial to assessing not only their strengths and weaknesses, you also get to learn the things they don't want you to know.

    Take Jane and Anna Mae. It was obvious to me that both of these managers knew what was going on in that restaurant. The only questions I had was how much were they involved. Here is what I learned about them from what they didn't say Jane is not a very confidant manager. She ceded control of schedules to a junior manager who should not have been doing them. She lacked the ability to control labor cost since she didn't do anything about her shift leaders highly unnecessary overtime. In addition she was unable to articulate why the crew she put on the list deserved to be fired. The cherry on her cake, she was the manager  that was standing outside when I visited the restaurant! Anna Mae on the other hand was a completely different story. Anna Mae had tons of confidence and bravado. She was also able to tell me in detail why she wanted the people on her list fired. Or course Anna Mae was robbing the company blind, not just in unneeded overtime but actual cash deposits. It was also clear that she loved having power but could care less about guests or crew.

    The reason I spend so much time discussing the managers should be obvious. YOU CANNOT BUILD A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS WITHOUT A STRONG MANAGEMENT TEAM!!!!! I can't stress this enough, when you are in a situation where your restaurant has significant opportunities for improvement in service, sales etc , you will achieve very little long lasting change without fixing the people issues first. Before you can fix your crew you have to start with your management team. If you're asking why it's simple. If your team doesn't share your vision, you will only have the business you want when you are physically in the building! They both had to go. Since firing your entire management team isn't the best course of action I started with letting go of one. It was a tough decision since they both had earned those pink slips. In the end I decided that low rent embezzlement trumped incompetence so I kissed Anna Mae goodbye.

   The tricky thing about trying to turn around a restaurant with lots of issues is the fact that you cant tackle the issues one at a time. Without knowing it you have your own circus act and your talent is juggling. The good thing is that many of the plated have a cause and effect to them. The very act of letting go of the manager that the crew assumed was safe sends a very clear message. at this point I'm ready to have a talk with my team....but wait here comes the twist. The powers that be decide that instead of firing Jane we are going to transfer her to the store I trained in and I would get one of their shift leads.

   This development showed me a couple of things right away. The first is dearth of quality managers, the second is the rampant nepotism the ran free in the company. Notice that I haven't really begun to reshape my crew. Before I can do that I'll have to handle issues that make reaching my operational goals much harder to attain. More importantly dear readers you will run into these issues at some point in your career. Next blog I will give you some tips on how to deal with them in a positive way....until then.

First Impressions

         One of the first things we learn as children is to always make a good impression. As we get older first impressions matter even more but often times we forget as restaurant operators, how much the first impression we make on our staff affects the impression our staff leaves on guests. I am a firm believer that all roads lead back to management. This means that instead of griping about your staff as if they were your peers; take control of the situation and determine the role that you played in creating this problem. Once you figure that out you can decide the best course of action to get your store back on track. As a consultant I had a client that presented a problem where the wrong first impression was having a huge impact on the units sales and guest comment reports. Here is the set up.

         I was asked to come in and work in operations for a beloved fast food chicken franchise. The store that I took over was in a Louisiana suburb. As a west coast city boy, there was a fair amount of culture shock to say the least. The unit had seen a dramatic drop in annual revenue that correlated with increasingly negative guest feedback. My mission should I chose to accept it was to go in and get food cost, labor and training turned around. During the first few weeks I trained at a store that was a few miles from the store I would be taking over. Whether you are a permanent hire or a consultant, immersing yourself in the brand is vital to success. In this particular situation the managers who were working in the store I would be running knew well in advance that I was coming. what they didn't know was what I looked like.

        Anonymity is one of the greatest tools in an operators arsenal, especially in the beginning. When staff knows that a VIP is coming their behavior changes. When I say VIP, that could be a new boss as in this case but in the general sense it means anyone who can effect your employment status. If you have an opportunity to view your operations under the cloak of anonymity by all means take advantage. Why would you do that you may ask. You do it because that is the truest snapshot of your restaurants culture and ambiance. This is how the team acts on a daily basis, when they don't think they're being watched. Mystery shops and guest 1-800 numbers are widely used tools in the industry. Inevitably when you take negative comments to your team they will try to turn it back  on the guest. They will say things like "that guy is exaggerating", or "we were so busy". If you have your own experience through the cloak of anonymity you will be able to quickly discern areas of opportunity from isolated events. More importantly you aren't dependent on biased feedback to manage a new unit.

           With these thoughts in mind, I went over to the store I would shortly be running to share in the guests experience. The visit was illuminating. I walked in and the girl at the register gave me a flippant greeting. She opted not to give me eye contact since she was busy talking to another employee. The first thing I noticed was that her uniform was a mess and she had no name tag. I asked questions about the menu, identifying myself as a first timer to the brand. My questions were designed to prompt tour guiding and upselling, none followed, I sat down at a table and waited for my number to be called. I sat in the dining room and noted the lobby was dirty, especially the floors. There were only two people in the dining room besides myself . The next thing I noted was the fact that I could hear everything the crew members were discussing. Most of it inappropriate. My food was lukewarm and tasted old, and when I went to the bathroom it left something to be desired. The most alarming part of the visit was the fact that I didn't see a manager until I was pulling out of the parking lot. She was standing outside smoking and talking to a crew member. The conversation was clearly personal. It wasn't the best first impression but it gave me real insight into the stores areas of opportunities. Later that day I called the manager on duty and set up a meeting with the managers. It was time to get their side of the story.

        Well that's all for now dear readers! Next column I'll reveal how I approached the situation. In the mean time please share your thoughts. How would you handle the situation? What insight does this give you into this stores operation?


Until Next Time.....