Staying on Top: Restaurant Strength-Training
Restaurant principals, from the ownership to the management team, are the key coaches and quarterbacks responsible for creating a restaurant's winning vision irrespective of expected business conditions -- positive or negative -- in order to promote continued success.
Staying on Top: Restaurant Strength-Training
by Maren L. Hickton
Restaurant principals, from the ownership to the management team, are the key coaches and quarterbacks responsible for creating a restaurant's winning vision irrespective of expected business conditions -- positive or negative -- in order to promote continued success.
Winning does not occur by happenstance. It is a calculated decision requiring great skill, discipline and determination. Those who win, possess a shrewd ability to focus and quickly assess current business circumstances, intuitively make any necessary operational modifications, and with the industrial-strength of an incorporated vision -- champion the team forward without negative distraction. It all starts at the top with the Owner and/or Chef as the chief executive mastermind and the General Manager as the enthusiastic promoter. A team of good staff members serve as guards to advance the restaurant's goals indefinitely -- whatever they are.
Ignore unsolicited advice. This may include accountants, advertising agencies, counselors, friends, newspaper reviews, polls, statisticians, and even hospitality consultants. On September 19th, Jimmy (Demetrios) Patrinos trusted his own instincts and opened his third fast-casual family style Primanti Brother's -- part of a group of nine Primanti restaurants that he owns in Pittsburgh, PA and Ft. Lauderdale, FL.
Marc Techlinski, General Manager, reports the new restaurant has been booming since day-one and the other restaurants haven't skipped a beat. "We are turning tables three to five times a night, our take-out business is great and we have an enthusiastic staff who are all doing an outstanding job in meeting increasing customer demand."
While Primanti's has maintained a well-established brand of incomparable sandwiches, the newer "burb" restaurants feature an expanded menu including their "Almost Famous" pizza which Patrinos started selling in his Florida location almost seven years ago. "We were fast-casual before they came up with the term," said Patrinos. "The key to being successful is to stay ahead of the curve by offering customers what they want before they think of it themselves. While we may be a chain of independents, the operative word, here, is independent. Each restaurant has its own personality -- designed to appeal to the clientele in each area where we open -- which we believe is very important."
Every customer is your most important customer. The Carlton, a nationally recognized upscale restaurant located in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh, has been lauded with countless awards for its outstanding daily menus, superior service and exceptional wine list. Kevin Joyce, Owner, recently named Restaurateur of the Year by Pittsburgh Magazine, the Pennsylvania Restaurant Association and the International Geneva Association is the genius behind the operation including the creation of his tried and true "Winning One Customer At A Time" staff training program, the restaurant's exquisitely executed wine dinners and facilitating complimentary limousine service for his dining guests to various Pittsburgh events. "There is no special formula for a successful restaurant other than finding the right talent and making sure that you keep challenging and motivating them with enough room to be creative so that they can continue to develop your concept in a positive way," said Joyce. "This includes knowing when to exhibit patience, when to prod and, most importantly, respecting and celebrating individual employee strengths."
"As clientele become more sophisticated, presentation techniques and procedures must be updated or amended to meet or exceed customer expectations," added Bill Kunkle, General Manager. "We are very fortunate to have a great team here. They don't just 'show up.' They all work hard every single day and, as a result, we continually expand our loyal customer base."
Keep the faith. Travel was difficult, business was sliding and wait staff were being scheduled off in record numbers. But rather than engaging in defensive behavior, a confident CEO in a multiunit restaurant group decided to meet the challenge by sending generous bonus checks to all General Managers in October.
"We felt it was important to let them know how much we appreciate them and bolster support. The positive response has been phenomenal. We've had an unparalleled increase in both productivity and creativity," said the Regional Manager. "Our intention was to shift the focus from 'what is going wrong' to 'what is going right' and it's probably the best thing we ever did."
Simplify. Joe Constanzo, Jr., Owner of The Primadonna Restaurant, understands the value of streamlining operations better than most. He offers a consistent selection of quality Italian food -- including 33 pasta selections -- with an impressive wall of awards including the 2002 DiRoNA award. "To know your market and your customers, it's important to be at the restaurant and I am here 98% of the time. An owner is in the best position to validate a customer's importance and address or correct any perceived service problems immediately," said Constanzo.
The Primadonna Restaurant is a charming upscale restaurant in the Southwest section of Pittsburgh that does not offer a children's menu. "Our customers want to relax when they are spending, on average, $30 a person, so if someone calls and asks, I simply tell them we do not have a children's menu. There are plenty of places you can take children out to eat," said Constanzo.
The Primadonna is open for dinner only and does not offer offsite catering. "We believe it is important to stay focused on our core business and not spread ourselves too thin. Restaurants who engage in attempting to grow their business by offering multiple menus and services sometimes end up diversifying themselves out of existence," advises Costanzo. "As for advertising and marketing activities, our advertising is a little different from other restaurants who often feature special menu items and so on. We create simple ads that just put our name out there. We believe it is far more important to remind our customers of their importance to us, thanking them for the fact that they took the time to experience our restaurant and helped make it what it is today."
Don't reinvent the wheel. When Ed Dunlap, founder of the largest roofing contractor business in the United States and entrepreneur, took over the Le Mont Restaurant with its glamorous 40 year-old hallmark location overlooking downtown Pittsburgh two years ago, he had the arduous task of completely remodeling the restaurant plus hiring and training staff to meet increased business projections. Dunlap knew that in order for the restaurant to perform at his desired level of excellence, all team members from the front of the house to the back of the house -- including the host and the dishwasher -- had to have higher skill levels to perform comfortably with the restaurant's new goals and be continually pumped-up to achieve their personal best. In this regard, it was up to Dunlap to create a plan to accelerate his vision which included bringing in the Culinary Institute of America to conduct an onsite evaluation and complete training program.
According to Alex Colaizzi, General Manager, "I have worked here for over 39 years and Mr. Dunlap is a premier leader. He completely understands the time and attention required to train others. Plus he provided us with the direction to train in a way to reach peak performance levels in no time. He has tremendous patience and a great deal of empathy which has greatly contributed to our growth. He was also able to keep the entire crew and maintain the union so that all the employees have benefits. I love the guy. He's like the master expediter of life. Right now, we have a waiting list of professional job applicants in every category because everyone wants to work here."
While Dunlap overhauled kitchen operations befitting his $1.3M state-of-the-art kitchen to make things more efficient, he still offers many of the signature dishes which made the restaurant famous including Steak Diane, Roasted Raspberry Duck, Rack of Lamb, Caesar Salad, Penne Marfredo, the Le Mont soufflés and flaming desserts prepared tableside. In addition to his Le Mont in Pittsburgh, Mr. Dunlap opened a second Le Mont Restaurant in West Palm Beach, Florida; Molly's Irish Pub, a casual Irish-theme restaurant; and The Colony, an upscale steak and seafood house, which he is currently remodeling.
Ask not what your restaurant can do for you, ask what your restaurant can do for your community. Caffe Amante, a thriving upscale restaurant located in a prominent office and retail complex in Pittsburgh's Fifth Avenue Place, recognizes the mutual rewards of restaurant philanthropy.
According to Executive Chef Dennis Raible, "As a natural extension of what I do, it's an especially nice feeling to offer something to someone else without expecting something in return. It not only makes me feel better about myself, but it also creates a hopeful occasion for others to experience the culture of our unique restaurant who would otherwise not likely have an opportunity to come through our door. While the indirect goal is, of course, developing resourceful relationships which invariably brings in a great deal of referred business, I really do look forward to these wonderful events."
Understanding limitations. While occasional failures, reflecting individual employee shortcomings, should be expected and forgiven as part of the learning process, more serious matters must be addressed and dealt with promptly. This includes knowing when to take a time-out with an employee for individual correction and/or instruction, when to reassign the employee to another position or, if necessary, knowing when to let an employee go.
These same principles apply to professionals/vendors with which you conduct business.
Follow the leaders. Like Wolfgang Puck who owns and operates Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group, Wolfgang Puck Worldwide and Wolfgang Puck Catering and Events. The Wolfgang Puck empire includes 12 fine dining restaurants and 34 casual and quick-casual restaurants. Puck's preeminent locations include Spago Las Vegas, Spago Beverly Hills, Spago Chicago, Spago Palo Alto, Trattoria del Lupo, Postrio Las Vegas, Granita, Chinois - Las Vegas, and Chinois - Santa Monica. The catering arm of Puck's business enterprise is Wolfgang Puck Catering & Events which is able to plan and produce any type and size of function worldwide.
When dynamo Wolfgang is not managing his incredible list of restaurants or catering business, he spends his spare time cooking for the world on a variety of programs including regular segments on Good Morning America and the Food Network or hawking his Bistro Cookware Collection on the Home Shopping Network. In addition to writing countless cookbooks and sharing tips and techniques for his own brand of culinary artistry, he's also planning to produce a newsletter.
Chef/Owner/Entrepreneur Puck is completely immersed in his work 24/7 and supported by a superior staff of culinary magicians along with his Director of Communications, Jannis Swerman, who e-mails me files of amazingly detailed themed promotional events on a weekly basis. "How does he do it?" I ask Ms. Swerman. "He is a fearless optimist with a constant ability to grow and change creatively. Wolfgang works very hard to inspire and educate those around him -- customers, employees and colleagues alike. He has this astonishing ability to draw people into his art, developing synergy, where people really 'get it' and understand the breadth of this industry. The depth of his commitment is, in my opinion, one of the many reasons he is so successful. He also sets an energetic and passionate tone for all of those who surround him in the workplace, which is why he retains such loyalty and devotion."
Available links:
www.primantibros.com, www.thecarltonrestaurant.com, www.theprimadonna.com, www.lemontpittsburgh.com, caffeamante.citysearch.com, www.wolfgangpuck.com
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Maren L. Hickton is the principal of Maren Incorporated, a full-service hospitality consulting and marketing firm based in Pittsburgh, PA. She can be reached by e-mail at: mareninc@aol.com
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