They say that “You can’t please all of the people all of the time.” That may be true to a certain extent, but for the hotel or restaurant chef, turning away customers does not make good business sense either. Without a well-balanced menu we stand the potential of not only losing restaurant covers but hotel room revenues, future meetings, banquets, and special events.

Competition comes in many forms; in some cases we are actually competing against ourselves. Decisions on menu items, cooking methods and ingredient integrity ultimately define who we are as a business and who our future customers will be. Read more of this >>

Days One and Two …

The Flavor of Napa was a world-class celebration of food and wine highlighting some of Napa’s best-known chefs and winemakers. Events took place up and down the Napa Valley over four days in November and included culinary demonstrations, multi-course dinners, wine tastings, and a closing brunch. Proceeds from the festival benefited the scholarship fund at the Culinary Institute of America. Participating Chefs included Thomas Keller, Bob Hurley, Christopher Kostow, Masaharu Morimoto, Tyler Florence, Michael Chiarello, Cindy Pawlcyn, Richard Blais, Todd Humphries, Jeff Jake, Christophe Gerard and dozens of others.

The main purpose of my week-long visit was to lend a hand and support the culinary team at the Dolce Hotel & Resorts Napa Valley property, the Silverado Resort. Dolce’s Silverado Resort was the host hotel, and I had the opportunity to work side by side with many of these iconic chefs. Read more of this >>

As a young chef, eggs, tomatoes, and other staples came straight from the farm to my back door. I didn’t think much about it at the time; it was just what happened in places like Burlington, Vermont, Connecticut, and, believe it or not, Long Island, New York. The phrase farm to table was not around yet, but many chefs did what came naturally to them, serving fresh local foods. As farms became factories and we began to forget how things should taste, fresh high quality produce began to take a back seat to inexpensive factory produce, massive mega ranches and irresponsibly harvested seafood. Read more of this >>

I have a friend who proudly proclaims that he is a chicken addict; he loves chicken, he eats it most days and states he just can’t get enough. I don’t want to sound like Bubba Gump, but I tried to count all the chicken dishes we do here at our restaurant and stopped at 50. Chili Lime, Lemon Pepper, Portobello Stuffed, Smoked, Coconut, Pecan, Maple Bourbon, Fried, Braised, Fricassee, and on and on. Chicken’s versatility lends itself to all types and methods of preparation and at a price point unmatched by most other proteins. Read more of this >>

I recently spoke with my culinary team about always being on stage. No big deal; it’s not really a new concept. Who hasn’t preached this for the last 50 years? Unfortunately I was not referring to the pre-planned, rehearsed productions we usually think of.

It is the hidden camera, breaking news type scenarios that I am concerned with. Its mind boggling to think that most people can record and broadcast to the entire world from their personnel electronic devices. The ramifications of a poorly trained associate making an isolated mistake, or a fluke situation on the part of a staff member or guest, can become the next YouTube sensation. The potential for negative publicity resulting in embarrassment, loss of prestige, and business is very real and does happen. Read more of this >>

It’s easy to fool yourself into thinking that your organization is in tune with the needs of both your existing and potential customers—that your organization is going after every opportunity to gain market share by working existing clients, stealing customers from your competitors, or creating new demand. Slick advertising, touted corporate cultures, and presumed levels of quality mean nothing to a disgruntled consumer.

Often staff shortages in customer service and point of contact positions serve as corporate crutches during tough times to justify poor performance. I am rarely satisfied by my purchasing experiences and will only support companies that get it right. I am sharing a recent experience that I had with purchasing customized chocolate pieces to illustrate my point.

My client required a logoed chocolate piece for their awards dinner. They wanted to see a mock-up and get a price as soon as possible, so I called America’s largest and best known foodservice/restaurant chocolate design and customizing company. I was told it would take three days to do a simple computer-generated mock-up. That was not what I wanted to hear, so I called their competition, America’s number two chocolate design and customizing company. Within minutes, I had a mock-up and price. This was followed up with support to ensure I received and was happy with my purchase.

Over the Valentine’s weekend, I used company number two a second time. Guess what? I will use them again and again. They get it and have won my loyalty. Loyalty breeds future success at a very economical cost. The cost is usually as little as people doing what you are paying them to do and doing it well, 100 percent of the time.

About this time each year, experts scramble to beat each other to the punch and be the first to make predictions for the coming year. Some predictions deserve to be considered, while others are just plain common knowledge and are really not newsworthy. I have always believed that doing what you do best, while offering what your market demands, is a great start. Cutting-edge, hip and trendy restaurants will always have a place in the market. They are exciting, fun, and necessary. But remember that the majority of these restaurants created their own success by doing what they knew best, not by following trends. Following trends is a tricky game; if you’re reading about it, it’s probably too late to get on board. That being said, serious cooks and chefs should always be expanding their culinary horizons and repertoires. It is necessary to continually develop if you are to reach your potential. So here are my predictions for 2010. Take them for what they’re worth and add a few of your own. That’s what this whole blogging thing is about.

Menus Shall Be Streamlined
Eliminating costly slow-sellers, high-cost, and labor-intensive items may be necessary to survive. A smaller, more manageable lineup of killer items, rather than dozens of so-so dishes, will assist in controlling costs. Use daily specials to market higher cost items, limiting the amount of inventory on hand while satisfying that creative star demand.

Menus Shall Include More Customer-Driven Options
People love to customize their menu options without feeling as if it’s a burden on the staff. You don’t want to lose business because of inflexibility in preparation. Multiple portion size options on appetizers, entrees, and desserts will encourage guests to try additional items and, as a result, help to raise check averages.

Menus Shall Be Priced Fairly and Competitively
Minimize luxury ingredients to keep costs down without altering the essence of a dish. Experiment with lower cost center-of-the-plate options, try roasts and underutilized cuts of beef, pork, and lamb. Value drives loyalty. Charge what you have to, but be fair.

Business Will Never Be Turned Away
Restaurants that once shied away from kids’ birthday parties, civic events, and SMERF (social, military, educational, religious, and fraternal) business are now thinking twice. Regardless of the price point, find a way; offer alternatives to keep menu costs down. You never know who’s in the group or what future business will book as a result of it.  Savvy operators know that a dollar profit is a dollar profit! Forget the percent game for now. You can’t pay a bill with a percent or put a percent in the bank.

Higher Quality Provisions Shall Be Used
The world is so food savvy, expectations are high, and people know quality. Questionable fish, select meats, aging produce, and cheap groceries are a fast ticket to any empty dining room. It all starts with purchasing fresh, high-quality ingredients.

Job Descriptions and Station Boundaries within the Kitchen Shall Be Eliminated
Teamwork will rule the day. Associates hesitant to cross station borders and think globally may find them out of favor and possibly out of work. Just remember that this concept will apply to all levels within the organization, even yours. Walk the talk!

Chefs Shall Rethink Menu Balance
Foods such as updated retro style cold appetizers will increase in popularity among chefs as a strategy to balance work loads and productivity in the kitchen. Creative salads, cured and smoked meats and poultry, cheese flights, raw, marinated, and smoked seafood, upscale contemporary charcuterie, and Americanized sashimi-style and cooked sushi will be offered. Chilled items allow for greater menu and labor distribution, while introducing unlimited cutting-edge and pro-health related menu possibilities.

Chefs Shall and Will Execute at the Highest Level
Flawless execution is required at any price point. You can’t fool yourself or your customers. Your restaurant is not a test kitchen. Cook what you know and are good at. No one wants to eat an experiment.

Happy Holidays!

As a result of the recession, most business staffing models were quickly revised. New efficiencies were discovered and all expenses were scrutinized. Things were happening, productivity was rising, and most staff members were willing to do whatever it took to help employers keep the doors open. Unfortunately, this intensity has stopped at some operations. What has not stopped is the ongoing downward economic spiral that most operations are still in. Several months ago, fellow blogger Geoffrey Sagrans wrote a post called “The Silver Lining”. His ideas and suggestions about how we will do business in the near future is exactly the scenario that must take place.

I have been thinking a lot recently about my own operation. How could I continue to find new opportunities to be more efficient and reduce expenses without affecting the guest? As most of you know, labor is our biggest expense; fixed labor is often a financial burden in slow times but necessary when busy. So how do you create the correct staffing model for your operation?

The first step is to look at it as an outsider. If you were critiquing someone else’s operation as a consultant, what decisions would you make? The difficult part is that most of us think of positions as the people who work them, not as a tool or expense. I am not suggesting that you reduce your staff members to numbers, but as an exercise, try making your schedules with positions, not names. If you’re adding hours to cover shifts for staffers who are not up to the expected level of productivity, something is wrong.

Secondly, look at the shift times. Can you stagger start and finish times? Can you move staff to different areas as needed? Forget about titles, station boundaries, and lines of delineation. Kitchens and dining rooms must utilize all staff at its highest productivity level to maximize efficiency. No one should be sitting while others are working unless they are on an official scheduled break. If people are hesitant to participate, cut their hours and send them home once they are no longer needed. They will get the message. I have a spreadsheet built into my schedules that calculates budgeted hours for the week. Anticipated cover counts, average check price and banquet revenue are all tied into the computation which displays the percentage of budgeted hours available for the forecasted revenue. On a slow week, I may use 140% due to minimum staffing levels, but on a busy week I am shooting for 70%. The point is, you can’t manage what you can’t measure. Find a system that works for you.

Third, are you using fixed labor to its highest potential? Are salaried chefs and managers working fewer hours than hourly staff? How much time are they spending in the office or on the phone instead of on the floor? Proper planning is extremely important and necessary. We could not exist without it, but there is a time and place for everything. I would guess that most tasks, calls, and projects could be accomplished in half the time. It has always amazed me how efficient people can be when they are motivated by the need to leave early for personal reasons, the start of a vacation, or just a shorter day.

In conclusion, I read somewhere that 20-30% of employees at many companies really do little or nothing all day, and their organizations could operate without them. I don’t think this statement really applies to our business, but there is some truth in it. The point is that these low-value-add workers should be the first to go before you start considering additional cuts, as real talent will eventually leave (real talent is always in demand as there isn’t much of it). If this last sentence makes you feel uncomfortable, you may have some work to do. The effects of the recession may soon begin to slow down, and the tables will begin to turn. Emerging from the recession with the best people should be your goal; you will need them.