Profitable Hospitality Podcast

Most staff want to do the right thing, but sometimes they don’t know how – they may need more information and training. And sometimes they don’t want to do the work correctly – that will need a different type of strategy. Changing staff behaviour is usually at the centre of business transformation, and that’s the work of Ken Burgin’s guest today, Kevin Dwyer of Change Factory.  In the interview we discussed how this change should be handled by supervisors and managers – the people responsible for ensuring staff perform at their best. We discussed the three pre-conditions for making change happen, and how ‘Skill, Will and Hill’ can get in the way. It’s a great discussion and of value for everyone in your leadership team.   

‘Cut costs’ are the magic words – they get most operators paying a lot of attention. But first you need to know what your costs are and how to access the figures. Not just a pile of invoices or POS print-outs, but detailed weekly and monthly totals, organised logically and connected to your bank account. That’s where bookkeeping comes into the equation, and there’s a revolution underway with how this can be done online. Instead of locked away on a PC, new cloud-based accounting services like Xero put the power and information in your hands anywhere you are online - it’s no longer strange and mysterious. In this interview Ken Burgin talks with Amanda Fisher, CEO of Connected Accountants on the many advantages of ‘moving to the cloud’, and the ways that management services like rosters, invoice processing and POS can be connected to a central cloud system. More control, more information and many more ways to watch your costs and profit margins.  

What makes a wine list profitable and popular? Where there’s a good margin on wine sold by bottle or glass, and the list does a good job at ‘selling’ when there are no servers around to assist. Jennifer Anderson of IamWaitress.com is an experienced sommelier and restaurant server – you may remember her from Podcast 32 on How to Build a Strong Front-of-House Restaurant Team.  In this interview Jennifer talks with Ken Burgin about the elements of a successful wine list, the math of wine by the glass and bottle and why a ‘progressive’ list makes decisions easier for customers and staff. We also discussed the language of wine descriptions and how to give service staff more skills and confidence to recommend wine and make more sales. Lots of juicy content here to make your wine list a real profit driver!  

Paul Rifkin is one of Australia’s most experienced executive chefs. He’s been running Campbelltown Catholic Club, a large social and recreational club south of Sydney for more than 13 years. The club has a wide range of food outlets: casual cafe and gelato, a food court, grill and special dinner events, through to extensive function facilities.  In this interview, Ken Burgin talks with Paul about how he manages cost-control, purchasing, food safety, choice of equipment, workflow, staff and innovation. The menu appeals to a wide range of people, as the area has a broad demographic. Traditional food is always popular, and modern choices influenced by media and food festivals are well received. This is an organisation that’s always developing! In the discussion we refer to Paul’s costing method using primary and secondary costs, wastage and wages. Download the worksheet from the podcast shownotes at Profitable Hospitality to see examples of how this is used.  

Reducing water, gas and electricity consumption makes financial sense, as well as reducing your impact on the planet. Less packaging in the front door and less waste disposal is plain common sense. A well-planned program to green your restaurant, hotel or bar can also be motivating for staff and is very well received by customers – there are so many positive stories if we take time to share them! In this interview Ken Burgin talks with Michael Oshman, founder of the US Green Restaurant Association. They’ve been working with foodservice operators, manufacturers, distributers and consumers for almost 25 years and are always finding plenty of new ways to reduce consumption and costs. Their website, and this recording, are packed with great information – share it with managers, chefs and suppliers.    

Almost every one of your customers has a mobile phone - they often use it while they visit your venue. Many restaurants and bars find that 60% and more of their web traffic now comes from smartphones or tablets – there are so many reasons to develop the mobile side of your marketing.  In this interview, Ken Burgin talks with Greg Hickman of Mobile Mixed. They go through a wide range of steps that restaurants, cafes, clubs and bars should be taking to join the ‘mobile revolution’. Updating the website so it’s useful on the small screen, making sure you will be found on Google local search, SMS promotions to bring in customers, using keyword and short-code campaigns and deciding if you need a separate app (mobile application). There’s a ton of great information in this interview – Greg is one of the leading authorities in the field, and he’s recently released a great E-Book that’s also worth checking out.  

We know the value of hospitality to make customers welcome and ensure they come back. And there’s another level to this – using strategic friendliness and networking to get a lot more people to visit our venue and bring colleagues. Or make your restaurant, bar or club a place that people make their first choice for regular meetings and networking events. Robyn Henderson of Networking to Win has been teaching the skills of networking for many years – to people in every industry. She’s bursting with great ideas on how hospitality operators can take the lead and create networking events, and reach out more effectively to others in their area. She has also put together a very practical guide on How to Start a Quarterly Business After-Hours Networking Event – ready for you to download and take action. Her website is also packed with great information and networking guides – she’s definitely one of the best!  

As a leader, you need to be able to manage people effectively. To find out what motivates individuals, and provide them with the support and energy they need to do their job to the best of their ability. In this interview, Ken Burgin talks with Kevin Dwyer of Change Factory, a consulting company that specialises in change management and business transformation. Kevin has worked with hundreds of teams and thousands of team members, including many in the field of service and hospitality. In particular we discussed how leaders have to be able to Coach people who have varying degrees of accountability, and get the best out of them. This could be managers or supervisors, or people working behind the bar. They also have to be able to Communicate clearly – usually with more listening and less preaching. Finally, they need Drive and Energy, plus an awareness of what they don’t know (and how to find out).  

Gus McAllister opened his new bar after a lot of hard work and research. His experience as a hotel manager gave him a solid understanding of customers, wine lists and suppliers, plus the confidence to recruit a good chef and manage the kitchen. Gus also attended the Starting a Cafe or Restaurant Workshop in 2013. We discussed location and site selection, the challenge of renovating a venue with a 'history', choosing equipment and creating a concept in tune with the local area in Melbourne. We also talked about administration, bookkeeping, marketing and menus. Gus has given us his ‘Top 10 Do’s and Don’ts for Opening a New Business’ – solid gold advice for anyone making plans for a cafe, restaurant or bar. Make sure to check the Tippler & Co website, follow them on Facebook and if you’re in the area, say hello!  

Trend watching is a necessity for chefs and business operators. Not to be slaves to fashion, but to keep up with curious and knowledgeable customers… and competitors. There’s an excitement about new flavours and ingredients that leads to constant innovation and stories - on TV, the web and in magazines. Why not join the party? In this interview with long-time trend watcher Phyllis Ann Marshall of FoodPower.com, we discussed 5 key trends she’s identified in US restaurants for 2014. They relate to the importance of carbs and sweet treats, the experimentation of  innovative chefs, and the value of side dishes as a menu and profit booster. Plus the endless desire for healthy food with flavour, and a growing desire for locally sourced product – food with a pedigree. Phyllis is a sharp observer and has a great sense of humour – I know you will enjoy this interview. You can subscribe to her newsletter at Foodpower.com and connect up on Facebook. At ProfitableHospitality.com, make sure to check the Menu Marketing Dep

Ken Burgin talks numbers and tactics with Jon Manning, the founder of PricingProphets.com – pricing is his business. It’s a wonderful moment when you finally have the courage to raise prices to reflect the real value of your product… and no one complains. It should have been done months ago! There are so many angles to pricing menus, wine lists and event packages, and in this interview Jon Manning shares lots of great ideas. So much hospitality pricing seems to be based on cost-plus – either a formula or guess work. Like  letting a bookkeeper write the menu, instead of using your marketing brain. It can also mean you leave money in the customer’s pocket. Or if prices are pitched to high, it will depress sales and create a negative impression. Jon outlines a wide range of ways to use ‘value based’ pricing, and has some great observations on how to make menus and event packages more profitable and popular.

It’s claimed that hospitality workers smoke at twice the rate of the general population! We all know the risks, but this industry seems to combine a set of working conditions and stresses which lead to a lot more smokers. However those looking to quit have a surprising rate of success when they are properly motivated and supported, and follow a set plan for quitting. Managers can definitely help! In this interview counsellor and therapist Jacqueline Stone goes through the causes of nicotine addiction, and the best ways to quit. While the interview is targeted at managers and operators in the hospitality industry who would like to help staff members quit, anyone who is looking to give up cigarettes will find it useful.   

In this second interview, Maz Valcorsa, the owner of Sadhana Kitchen, tells us how she started a raw food cafe and built it into a main street success. She came from a corporate background, and worked hard on researching the concept and learning about the business side of cafes and catering. I first met Maz at the Starting a Cafe or Restaurant Workshop and was impressed that even before she opened, she had more than 1,000 Facebook fans panting for her to start!  We discussed issues familiar to every startup – landlords, leases, food costs, staff management, bookkeeping and administration. And how to have a balanced, healthy life when your business is growing fast. She’s also utilising online and cloud-based management systems, and has an excellent website designed to make everyone hungry. Plus great social media activity, especially on Facebook and Instagram. In the first interview, Maz told us about raw food, the menu at Sadhana Kitchen and some of her clever marketing moves.  

So what is raw food – vegan, vegetarian, organic? Or just salad and juice? Actually, it’s a lot more sophisticated and interesting. Smart restaurant and cafe owners know there’s a huge number of people wanting fresh, healthier choices, and if they’re in Sydney, many flock to Sadhana Kitchen for the raw food and drinks. In the first of two interviews, owner Maz Valcorsa tells us about the concept of raw food, menu development, how she’s developed a range of extremely popular desserts, and what’s involved in the ‘cooking’ and preparation. Technically, raw food has not been heated above 46 deg. Celsius (115 deg. F). Even if you don’t plan to go ‘all the way’, there are profitable opportunities for every foodservice business to add more raw, unprocessed meals and beverages. Maz will give you lots of inspiration. In the second interview, she tells us about how the concept was developed, managing leases, landlords, staff, equipment and marketing.   

I love talking to chefs who take their skill with food and menus, and created an online presence and following. Sometimes this is B2B with their restaurant colleagues, or in many cases they reach out directly to the far-more-numerous consumers.  Chef Dennis Littley has grown his blog and website AskChefDennis.com into a very popular destination for food lovers, and he also supports bloggers to improve their skills. He does this  through regular blog updates and recipes, and through the huge following he’s developed on Google+. This includes regular Google+ Hangouts on Air (an example is on the shownotes). How he’s developed this is great inspiration for chefs who want to develop a life beyond long shifts and busy kitchens.  

In the second of two podcasts on efficient cleaning, Brent Williams of The Cleanest Image tells us about better cleaning of kitchen exhaust hoods, stoves, floors, walls, dishwashers, detergent use and getting rid of all that grease! Slippery kitchen floors are a major safety hazard, and food safety standards are demanding. Moving into the bathroom, Brent explains why the toilet area is often not smelling clean and sweet (did you know bacteria actually fart?) and the cleaning mistakes often made in an area most staff want to wipe down and leave as quickly as possible!  Employee training is essential, and the right equipment. In the first podcast with Brent, he told us about efficient cleaning for the restaurant front of house and the bar.  

It’s more than just scrubbing harder and using more chemicals! In the first of two podcasts on efficient cleaning, Brent Williams of The Cleanest Image tells us about better ways to clean chairs, tables, counters, floors, carpets, walls and glass. We want to make a great impression, but do it without breaking the bank – a lot of cleaning products are wasted. By understanding the chemistry involved (eg acid or alkaline levels), a better job can be done with fewer chemicals. Staff training is essential, plus the right equipment. In the second podcast with Brent, he will tell us about efficient cleaning for the kitchen and the toilets – both areas requiring thorough and careful maintenance.  

Young chef Zane Heemi caused a social media storm when his blog article Never ever become a chef: advice from a chef went viral several weeks ago. Within ten days it had been read more than one million times and attracted almost 200 comments. It’s a no-holds barred look at the long hours and harsh conditions experienced by some restaurant chefs in Australia. Zane started with part-time kitchen work when he was at school, and ten years later still loves the industry and he’s a lot wiser.   In his article he lays it on the line: you will miss important life occasions, there’s no such thing as calling in sick, you’ll learn all about drugs and alcohol, relationships will be difficult, the hours are terrible and management often treat you like dirt (language modified for a family-friendly blog).   I caught up with Zane and asked him why he was so hard on the cooking profession, and is this really what we need when the industry is trying attract more workers? His answers were articulate, positive and amusing - he w

One thing we know for sure: Facebook never stops changing. And the days of relying on it for ‘free marketing’ are almost over – very few of the posts on your business page are actually seen by fans – as few as one in twenty! The message is clear – ‘don’t build your house (the marketing campaign) on rented ground (you don’t own Facebook)’. A different strategy is needed. In this interview, CJ Hudson of Stencil, a social research and strategy agency, looks at a number of hospitality businesses on Facebook – their strengths and options for better results. The key issue for him and his clients (and for you) is how to move people from a casual connection on Facebook (click Like) to engagement (like, share or comment on updates) to making a sale – book a table, attend an event or visit and pay. CJ has an enormous range of experience with Facebook promotions and advertising – you will find this podcast packed with useful information. You can also view this as a video, where the audio matches up with all the Facebook

What do you know about stainlesss steel? It’s expensive to buy and install, and gives a professional, hygienic finish to your kitchen and bar. But there are different types of stainless, and different thicknesses - some are more suitable than others. In this interview, stainless steel specialist Laurence Burgin of Franklin Marine offers an expert tradesman’s advice on what covers so many surfaces in a modern restaurant. And you get to meet another one of my brothers!   There’s also a very useful Tech Tip in the second part of the podcast, about a smart piece of equipment that can eliminate the bulky documents that fill up your shelves and filing cabinet.