Restaurant Discounted Gift Certificates (Restaurant Blog Now)

During this current recession, I am practically fighting for business.  I have probably spent more time in the last month finding creative ways to entice guests to come and eat in my restaurant.  I am running such specials as 1/2 price appetizers and bar specials on certain beers and wines.  At the same time, I have to constantly remind my staff that guests that walk in our doors are giving us a chance to WOW them.   Before every shift, I encourage my staff to behave like it is a privilege to wait on these guests because if they have a bad experience, they will not be back.  I have had a lot of luck advertising through the link below.  This is a great way to stretch your dollar and still have an enjoyable meal.  I also like to use it when I am traveling.  You can search a certain city and purchase discounted gift certificates to restaurants for use while you are in that city as well.  Happy Dining!

Searching For Bar Sales (Restaurant Blog Now)

There are two main areas GM's dissect in order to generate sales in their restaurants, food and bar. The bar is one area you can constantly tweak in order to provide specifically what your guests demand. Let's face it; the guest drives our buying experience when purchasing alcohol. It is up to us to fulfill their specific demands. It complicates matters somewhat because you want to pair or link in some way your beverages to your food in order to increase both food and bar sales. One way I found to do this is to find wines that would pair well with my current food promotions. This is the fun part; I started sampling wines from various vineyards until I found perfect matches to compliment my menu. This in turn, raised both my bar sales and food sales. The key is having 3 to 4 specific pairings and promoting this as a suggestion to the guest as other guest favorites. Below are links to places that I have been ordering from for over 2 years now. All of these wines have been chosen by experts, and most importantly, voted on by panels of wine drinkers. It's the easiest way to try new wines with confidence. These are also great places to add change to your own personal selection as well.

To Tip or not to Tip? (Restaurant Blog Now)

The number one complaint you hear from servers and bartenders is the low tips they are receiving lately. No matter how many times you hear this, as a GM, you always have to be compassionate. Some managers like to turn it around on the server and tell them that if they gave better service, then their tips would probably increase. I am sure the state of our current economy plays some part in this, but mostly I feel that the majority of people do not know how to tip. The majority of the servers in the state of Texas make $2.13 an hour. Not to mention, the majority of restaurants in this state have a tip sharing policy where the servers give a portion of their tips to the bar staff and host staff at the end of their shift. People often ask what I as a GM leave as a tip when I dine out. My answer, 25%. People do not realize that for every table that comes in and does not tip, it takes normally takes two more tables of good tips, for that server to break 10%. Remember this when you visit your favorite restaurant next time. Servers are human beings just like you and unfortunately their pay depends upon the show they put on for their guests during a short period of time. Just because you have a bad experience at a restaurant, this does not justify you cutting a servers pay in half. Think about it, are you positive, upbeat and enthusiastic every second of every day that you are at work?

GM or GU? (Restaurant Blog Now)

I often find it funny, whenever a situation arises in the restaurant pertaining to unusual mishaps, everyone turns to the GM to go and clean it up.  In my restaurant it is no different.  The other day, I was running the dining room when I noticed an elderly man walking extremely slowly with a walker.  It appeared that he was trying to make his way to the bathroom.  I noticed as he passed by, his adult diaper was sticking out the back and remember reflecting that I hope my wife never allows me to make such futile attemps when I get older.  A few minutes later, I noticed the man making his way back to the table.  Not two minutes later, a guest informed me there was, as he put it, "Poop on the floor".  I sent the other manager in and he came out gagging.  I knew this was going to get interesting.  I told my manager to go and get a dust pan and a broom and we would try and get rid of the situation before any other guests made their way to the bathroom.  My manager returned with dish gloves, trash bag, broom, dust pan and air freshener.  After five minutes of trying to put the pucks in the goal, and multiple gag reflexes going off, we disposed of the situation with only one guest witnessing the hockey match.  Sometimes I think I am just an overpaid GU (General Utility aka Dishwasher).

Guest Perception (Restaurant Blog Now)

A guest's perception of a particular restaurant happens before they even open the doors to your restaurant.  Guest's probably have 20 or more options as far as where they would like to go for lunch or dinner.  They have either never tried your restaurant before, tried it before but had a bad experience a while back or had a great experience last time and would like to relive the moment again.  Employee's of the restaurant industry do not understand that guests are giving us a chance to make their dining experience a great one and frankly this is what this guest expects to happen.  From the moment they walk in the door the guest is keeping score in their minds.  Did someone greet me right away (-1 or +1)?  Did I sit at the table longer than 2 minutes before I was greeted (-1 or +1)?  Did the server treat us like we were a guest in their own house (-1 or +1)?  Was the food expectation that we had before we walked in the door met after our meal was complete (-1 or +1)?  It is the restaurants that instill this vision within their staff, that will survive the current economic climate.