Mo' Money!

Someone asked me during a DEMO why our Guest Behavior Data Analytics Software is focused almost entirely on driving top line sales rather than the easier to prove KPI’s like food cost, labor cost, GTA and overall reporting.

Sure, those data points are needed, but they are back-end postmortem reflections of a day’s performance.? It’s math and a spreadsheet. It’s the same process used since the creation of the abacus. And when you don’t segment that data by day part and revenue center, down to each guest… to be honest, it’s vague and borderline meaningless. They tend to focus on tracking, cutting, and slicing costs versus building, growing, and expanding the brand.

At Red Onion, we focus on driving top line via the eyes, thoughts, and wallet of each guest because that is how you save a struggling company. That is how you respond to the truths happening at each location. That is how you make a good company great, and a great company exceptional.

Trimming food cost can be done in one day. You can change a vendor, adjust the recipe, reduce the portion.. it’s easy.? Tragic, but easy.

And slashing a schedule can be done in minutes. Both have nearly immediate results, however, the potential of a negative impact on guest frequency could be felt for a lifetime. These are guests that you may never get back. For once trust is gone there are way too many other places to try.

When a brand uses the millions of fact-based data points it is sitting on to identify and immediately solve every barrier to quality, value, performance, frequency and a happy employee, sales naturally grow, and you will get busier.

I know this sounds remedial, but have your employees seen a P&L? Do they understand that a restaurant is designed to be busy. It is designed to kick ass.?

A slow restaurant is like a V-8 engine running on 2 cylinders. It has no get up, no horsepower, no excitement and it blows unused gas out the tailpipe. It is demoralizing.

Having a busy restaurant solves almost every operating issue you may have:

• Most bad employees leave. They do not want to work that hard to earn a buck.
• The bad employees that try to stay get pushed out by the good employees that will not have it.
• The good employees stay because a busy restaurant is energizing versus the opposite of sucking the life out of you.
• Good employees stay because they like to be surrounded by other good employees. Tips go up across the board.? Mo’ money!
• Good employees stay and turnover goes down. Training costs nearly vanish. Mo’ money.
• You will not have to advertise for employees. You will organically attract the best talent. Mo’ money.
• Food waste becomes a smaller and smaller percentage of sales. As tenure goes up, mistakes go down. Mo’ money!
• Employees naturally become more efficient.? Managers and hourly labor costs goes down as a percentage of sales while employees actually take home… Mo’ money. Say What? How is that possible??
• The team comes together instead of pointing fingers. No one has time for BS. No one can get away with hiding during peak periods.
• Managers have more time to direct versus fill hourly roles. They finally have time to hone their craft and proactively visit with clients.
• Managers make their bonuses and stay longer. Mo’ money.
• Managers share with employees how a restaurant makes money. Employees begin to see the agony they cause when not part of the team. They become Ambassadors versus detractors.
• Manager turnover goes away. Mo’money.
• Sales means more new units creating opportunities for advancement. Growth from within. Mo’ money.
• As sales goes up, ingredient volume goes up, and supply chain gets to a new lower price tier, all without risking bringing on lesser quality. Mo’ money.
• Vendors want you as a customer. They love you as a customer.
• Landlords beg you to stay because your success attracts better tenants.
• Pricing can be set where is should be to protect long-term frequency, versus fear-based reactive pricing that puts a brand in a death spiral.? It honestly hurts to write that line.
• Employees don’t have to be told to do minor tasks. They see the need before the manager does and simply take care of it. They look for side duties like checking the restroom, smudges on windows, trash on the floor, spotless tables, weeds out front, pre-bussing tables, helping other servers when overloaded and projecting a pleasant attitude.? Not because they are told to but because they actually have a pleasant attitude. How often do you experience that?
• Employees have pride in the logo that is on their uniform.? They wear it proudly to work instead of hiding it in a gym bag.
• Guests respond favorably to a clean, organized, well-staffed restaurant. It’s common sense. Who wants to be ignored in a pigsty.
• Guests respond favorably to servers that anticipate needs versus having to ask for everything because they’re on their phone. Satisfaction goes up. Frequency goes up. Table turns go up. Tips go up. Mo’ money.
• And don’t even get me started about employee phone use.
• Guests respond favorably to employees who are happy to be there. The atmosphere changes when employees can’t help but smile. AKA Chick Fil-A.
• Leadership can stop using “No Room in My Budget” as to why you can’t afford a new broom, needed repairs, an extra employee, or maybe the smartest Guest Behavior Data Analytics Software I’ve ever seen.

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No one wants to be on the hamster wheel of replacing lost guests with new ones. You will run out of those you can trick into trying you again. And that’s when the Marketing Department gets blamed for not being able to create engagement or re-engagement. Bye-bye marketing person and hello new direction.? All while the same issues plague the brand.

On the flip side, imagine being so busy your brand now advertises strategically with messages of quality and variety. Marketing will spend less and get more out of it. The remainder goes directly to the bottom-line. Talk about Mo’ Money… That’s FREE MONEY!!

Data is your Single Source of Truth!?

We are your Single Source of Truth!

[email protected]

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