In my last post, “Fly on the Wall: Two Chefs,” I challenged my sous chef to collaborate with me in an effort to address some of the current economic realities affecting our F&B lives. The post generated quite a bit of buzz from fellow colleagues, and we were challenged by the magazine’s editor to briefly address some potential solutions to the new norm.

Over the next seven weeks, we will be implementing initiatives at the Westin Atlanta Perimeter North based on our “Fly on the Wall” discussion. We’d like to share them with you.

Week 1: Embrace Scarcity
Week 2: Sell like a Team
Week 3: Build a Culture
Week 4: Learn from the Streets
Week 5: Walk, Don’t Spin
Week 6: Attract Rookies, Build Rock Stars, Set them Free
Week 7: Sharpen your Excel

In 1776, legendary economist Adam Smith penned, “No complaint … is more common than that of a scarcity of money.” Indeed, business is founded on the very idea that competitive entities will leverage scarce resources against one-another. Why then, is it, that our first tendency as employees and managers is to waste time complaining about what we don’t have? Read more of this >>

Dear Valued Team Members,

I would like to thank you all for your work during these tough economic times. As our country is on the road to economic recovery, we too are on that road by keeping our occupancies high, our costs low, and our guest satisfaction at its current lukewarm to mediocre state.

As a company, Big Box Hotels & Resorts has positioned itself to once again be the preferred vendor for all the parent hotel companies joining a very short list of companies that are able to continue to expand and grow. We’re doing so by tightening our belts and taking all we can to the bottom line. We started this program aggressively last year with our Labor Windows Program (LWP) and by pressing our interests our national purchasing vendors. The effort has paid off in our ability to both allow for the senior corporate officers to grant themselves a raise that can only be termed as “bangin’” and also keep our meddling in your operations high to scare the bejeesus out of your GMs and senior hotel executives. Read more of this >>

Two chefs (Keith Schroeder and David Harrison, executive chef and sous chef respectively at Westin Atlanta Perimeter North) talk candidly about the state of the franchise business-hotel kitchen.

Cooking in hotels has evolved in the past two decades. While there have been boutiques who have elevated hotel dining to historic highs, the classic business hotel enjoys economy-related challenges like never before. Two chefs take time after lunch to chat about the state of their segment: Read more of this >>

You’ve set up your F&B budget for the year based on expected inflows and outflows for operating your dining establishment at the hotel in a profitable mode. However, you relied on economic trends from previous years (lean and getting leaner) and forgot to include one of your most important expenses:  marketing your operation. Marketing doesn’t have to be a hard cost expense; it can be in the form of upgrading how your staff (and personnel, overall) contribute to the image you are presenting to your end-users (guests, visitors). Read more of this >>

In today’s business climate, employee rewards and recognition have become more important than ever for several reasons:

• Managers have fewer ways to influence employees and shape their behavior.
• Employees are increasingly being asked to do more and do it more autonomously.
• To support looser controls, managers are challenged to create work environments that are both positive and reinforcing.
• In present times, rewards and recognition provide an effective and low cost way of encouraging higher levels of performance from employees. Read more of this >>

Last month, I visited Potawatomi Bingo Casino in Milwaukee to get out on the front lines. I’d been sitting behind a computer so much, I felt the need to get out in the real world. A key advantage for Potawatomi is its top-down organization and planning. As a business manager, it taught me some lessons on the value of having a good plan and how it impacts employees. Read more of this >>

Throughout history there have been individuals who have exemplified certain core attributes, branding them forevermore as great leaders. Whether real or fictional, each shared a unique ability: the ability to motivate the people around them, or “rally the troops.”

So where does this ability come from? Why have men and women laid down their lives, the lives of their children, and untold wealth at the request of these leaders? Why is it that when they spoke others listened intently? One word: respect.

Read more of this >>

Especially during the last couple of years, companies are increasingly asking their employees to do more with less. Yet countless studies warn that disengaged employees won’t deliver peak performance. Understanding what engagement is all about—and why it matters—is a good place to start.

Employee engagement by definition is a combination of commitment (the motivation employees have to help the organization succeed) and line of sight (the focus and direction employees need) to make the organization successful. A vast majority of employees say they are disengaged, creating an unproductive—or worse—a toxic work environment. Read more of this >>