Getting F&B back to business: Focus on your employees.

One of the greatest wartime leaders in modern history, Winston Churchill, famously said, "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

As we all begin to see a flicker of light at the end of the tunnel and the number of new infections and tragic deaths from the coronavirus continues to fall, we must begin the process of planning how to effectively and safely re-open our hotels, restaurants and bars.

Over the next three weeks I will use my blog to share with you some useful tips on how to prepare yourselves, your colleagues and your property for the reopening. The first blog will cover what you should be doing with your employees. The week after will include tips on new standards required protect your employees and guests from this invisible virus, and the third blog will give some advice on how to protect your operating profit. 

Employees first

Check in with your employees now. How do they feel? What are their concerns, and are you able to address them? Are they ready to return to work? (Typically, if they were furloughed, as long as you are providing a safe workplace, employees are required by law to return to work). Be realistic with them about hours and expectations regarding pay.

Precautions. Ensure you bring in a Department of Health inspector to determine that your premises are safe. Communicate this to everyone, along with all the precautions you are taking in advance.

Ensure that you have the PPE you will need for all your employees (it should be provided free of charge). All staff should be required to wear masks; create your own policy regarding gloves – but be careful with this. Even with gloves on, staff MUST wash their gloved hands regularly. 

If you are advertising for employees you should make a 'clean bill of health' a condition of employment.

Returning to work healthy – and staying that way. Require all employees returning to work to advise you if a) they have tested positive for COVID-19 and b) they have recently been in contact with someone known to be infected with COVID-19 OR they have traveled to an area known to be infected. In such cases, employees must self-isolate for 14 days.

What happens if an employee is found to be infected with COVID-19? It is recommended that you immediately contact your local Department of Health, advise any other employees with whom this person may have come into contact, and close down any  areas where this employee has been working.

Treat your pre-opening as an opening  

Create a task force of employees to return to work early to get your F&B areas ready. The following must be a priority:

• Deep cleaning of all areas and creation of new cleaning schedules

• Reorganization of all areas (back and front of house) to allow for social distancing

• Updating of message boards so communication is crystal clear

• Placing orders for F&B and supplies

• Writing up of new standards and training manuals

• Organize a pep rally to thank your employees for their loyalty while on furlough and get everyone motivated for the ‘new normal’

 Training 

All employees should be scheduled for training in advance of reopening. Employee expectations should be communicated in a very clear way. Let them know the consequences of noncompliance. This is serious business.

Training should address:

• New policies and procedures being introduced by the hotel relating to health and hygiene

• Any new service standards

• How to answer questions about COVID-19 so there is a consistent message from staff to guests

Communicate with your guests

• Communicate your new standards and procedures in advance to all guests and require them to advise any guests they bring with them. Let them know what you’ve done to make your hotel or restaurant safe.

• Determine whether you will you require temperature checks for guests arriving at your hotel or restaurant, and communicate this clearly on your website and over the phone.

• Request that your guests inform you if they (or any of the guests in their party) have recently come into contact with anyone who has tested positive with COVID-19.

5/18/2020

Do you really know your customers?

According to the National Restaurant Association, sales in U.S. restaurants are expected to hit US$863 billion in 2019, a 3.6% increase over 2018. But while demand is strong, so are the choices available to potential customers.

Millennials and baby boomers are very different people. And while millennials generally think, dress and behave differently to baby boomers, when it comes to restaurants, there are enough similarities to enable you to satisfy both in the same space.

Millennials crave new and unique experiences. They love to play the one-up game… snapping pictures of the latest and greatest and sharing them on social media for all their friends to admire. It could be food, décor or entertainment. It’s the total experience they love.

And so if this is what millennials love, give it to them. Do you have an amazing, eye-popping signature dish? Is there something about your design that is so unique, they have to bring their friends to see it? If the margarita is your most popular cocktail, do you have one made with Gran Patron Platinum at US$250 a bottle, served in a hand-blown glass from Tlaquepaque, Mexico that they can take home with them?

Baby boomers are different. They’ve done it all and have a story about it even if it’s not true. New York Times Opinion Columnist Frank Bruni, writing recently about an unsatisfying restaurant visit, said of baby boomers: “Virgin sensations are less important; knowing that you’ll be able to hear and really talk with your tablemates, more.”

And so if this is what baby boomers love, give it to them. Does your menu contain a section of less complicated, simply grilled dishes? Are your chairs comfortable to sit in? Have you paid attention to your acoustics to ensure your guests can both talk, listen and enjoy music at the same time?

Despite their differences, millennials and baby boomers actually do agree on one thing: Exceptional service will bring them back time and time again. Danny Meyer, owner of Union Square Hospitality, is widely renowned as the authority on great restaurant service. In his book, “Setting the Table,” he says, “In the end, what’s most meaningful is creating positive, uplifting outcomes for human experiences and human relationships. Business, like life, is all about how you make people feel. It’s that simple, and it’s that hard.”

6/19/2019

To taste or not to taste?

I recently conducted three tastings with three different clients. One was an interview for a new chef, and two were for new menus in existing restaurants. As usual, they ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous. 

The “interview” tasting was sensational. Excellent flavors and plate presentations, and the dishes that were prepared fitted perfectly with the concept. 

Of the two new menu tastings, one was quite good and one was a disaster, and in the case of the latter it led to the chef being required to “look for opportunities elsewhere.”

An excellent black bass dish from the tasting that was a success!

A menu tasting tells you so much about your chef – not only about his or her culinary skills but their level of organization. In each case, you want to know how the chef has interpreted the concept. Is there a story behind each dish? Are you left scratching your head trying to figure out what you just ate, or are the flavors clean and bold? 

How are the plate presentations? Are they relevant or is your chef still decorating the plate with dots of sauce or using a huge plate and constructing a minuscule salad in one corner? 

Is there variety in the way dishes are plated, or does everything look the same? How are the portion sizes? What will the selling price be? Are you offering good value?

Has your chef identified a signature dish with a unique presentation? What is the anticipated pick-up time of each dish? Will you be able to manage high volume with your staffing levels, or are there too many steps to the plating of each dish?

And finally, don’t be afraid to challenge your chef if the consensus is that the dish simply doesn’t work. In one of the above-mentioned tastings, the GM was so concerned with how his chef would take my feedback that he was standing by with some oxygen to revive him! Later that day, the GM called me and said his chef was walking on a cloud … he was so thrilled with all the great feedback we gave him (both positive and negative).

---

I know I’m just a dumb F&B guy, but… Part 3

I booked a room for one…. not me and three cockroaches!

My first musing for the new year is about problem resolution. And in fairness, this can be directed equally at F&B managers and front desk/guest service managers. My final trip for the year was to New York to conduct a training course. My client had booked a room for me in a hotel that had opened in the last year or so. The staff were super friendly and while the room was small it was well equipped and comfortable. 

But without double glazing the noise from NYC traffic woke me at 3am and I trudged to the bathroom where I was greeted by a small American cockroach creeping toward my wash bag. I disposed of it quickly and returned to my bed where I found another cockroach crawling up the nightstand next to my bed and 6 inches from my pillow. And of course they weren’t alone as I then found another in my shower a couple of hours later. As my room was on the 17th floor I can only imagine how many others were hiding in the building.

I called to speak to the GM in the morning but was connected to the assistant guest services manager, who was sympathetic and apologetic. She offered to send me some coffee, asked if I wanted a late check-out and said she would remove the facility fee from my bill. I told her I was not looking for any kind of discount, I was just wanted to ensure that immediate corrective action would be taken as this was a serious problem. 

In most cases the hotel would say it had done its job. It had listened to my problem, shown empathy and offered me something for free. Boxes checked! Problem resolved.

But in today’s era of social media madness, this simply isn’t enough. Nothing was said to me when I checked out. No follow-up letter or phone call was received from the GM or anyone else. And today I received a generic email saying, “We're happy you chose us and would love to hear more about your stay. Tell us how it went!” 

This is where a hotel can differentiate itself. Cockroaches are a fact of life in hotels and restaurants, but people hate them and will avoid your establishment like the plague if they know the place is infested. Any comment to any employee about such a complaint should trigger a HUGE red flag. The assistant guest services manager knew what time I was checking out and she should have alerted the front desk to call her or a senior manager when I was at the desk so they could meet me in person and once again apologize. And a follow-up email or call from the GM should have been received assuring me that this serious issue was being dealt with immediately. 

THEN – the story becomes how “well” they dealt with it and not what happened.

Fortunately for this hotel, I am not one to post negative comments on social media. But what if I was…!

‘I believe that children are our future

I can hear you all humming that great Whitney Houston song… “Teach them well and let them lead the way…”

But as a hotel leader… Are you really getting kids right? "Oh yes, we have kid’s menus and we give them crayons and a coloring book.” Is that enough??

We all recognize that when a hotel or a resort gets kids right, the parents are SOOO happy. Hours are invested getting kid’s activities right, and in so many cases they do an amazing job. But more often than not, kids’ menus lack inspiration and creativity. 

I was recently inspired by a story about a young girl, Jasmine Stewart, who won “MasterChef Junior” and was hired to revamp the menus for Great Wolf Lodge Resorts. Obviously, the target market for Great Wolf Lodge Resorts is kids, so it makes sense that the company would do this,  but what a great example of having kids “lead the way.”   

As resort restaurants become more casual and approachable and grab-and-go cafes are popping up everywhere, it’s more important than ever to get kids right when it comes to food. What do they love to eat the most, and how can you explode it, take to it the extreme and blow them away?

If it’s a hot dog, how many different kinds of hot dog do you have on your menu and how is the presentation? Is it “LIKE… AWESOME!!”? Is it Instagram or Snapchat worthy? And to get an idea of how much can be done to a basic hot dog, just look at what the creators of Japadog did: Twenty-seven kinds of hot dog and six kinds of “shaked” fries!

And when it comes to ice cream... imagine arriving at a resort and finding the kinds of soft-serve creations dreamed up by the Toronto-based company Sweet Jesus – Krusty the Cone and Hella Nutella are two of my kids’ favorites. 

For kids, SO much is about aesthetics and creating the WOW with presentation. When in Maui a couple of weeks ago, we had an amazing dinner at Ferraro’s at The Four Seasons. We ordered their number one-selling dessert, Milk Chocolate Budino. The presentation was fabulous and of course both my girls took a video and immediately shared it with their hundreds of friends on Snapchat. Ask them what they remembered most about the dinner (and every dish was fantastic!)… of course they’ll tell you it was the dessert!

Video Block

Double-click here to add a video by URL or embed code. Learn more

A great bar is only great if it has great bar food

With great respect to bartenders around the world, it’s time to recognize the importance of bar food.

Too often, we see the same old uninspiring dishes on a bar menu… charcuterie and cheese board, chicken wings, chips and dip, fries, nachos, etc., etc.

It’s not that I have anything against these very popular dishes. But if you have them on your menu they must be AMAZING!

In the past few weeks I have been inspired with some fantastic dishes:

At Bar Buca in Toronto we ordered Burrata di Buca, pesto-stuffed mozzarella with gremolata and anchovies served with grilled sourdough bread. We devoured it. 

At DBar in Toronto we shared the charcuterie board. Daniel Boulud works with renowned master charcutier Gilles Verot. The selection might include Paté Grand Pere (coarse pork paté with foie gras, truffle and cognac), Fromage de Tête (braised pork cheek and snout set in a pork jelly), Duck aux Agrumes (a jellied terrine with braised duck leg, lemon, orange and grapefruit), Paté en Croute (pork, figs and duck breast), Chicken Liver Mousse and Saucisson Sec (dry pork sausage with black pepper, garlic and red wine). 

At the Fairmont Pacific Rim in Vancouver, British Columbia, I sat in at the raw bar overlooking the packed, vibrant lobby lounge and ordered from a sushi menu most Japanese restaurants would be proud of. 

As more and more people are choosing to eat dinner in a bar, differentiating yourself with a high-quality, well-executed bar menu will give you a competitive advantage. Additionally, as beverage is typically your profit-driver, retaining your guests for longer periods will increase your revenues and bottom line.