Be a Student of the Game

The key to success as a restaurant, bar, nightclub or hotel operator is a change in mindset and a commitment to being a student of the game.

That game, of course, is hospitality. To succeed, one must truly love this industry and their own business. Love digging into the minutiae and learning about every element of operations; love their team members and guests; love mentoring and finding mentors; love embodying the spirit of hospitality;?and love their own brand.

This is the exact message Michael Tipps drove home during the first Invictus Hospitality-led education session of the 2023 Bar & Restaurant Expo.

“The doing and the how is important, not the what,” says Tipps. “Be a student of the game.”

But what does Tipps mean when he says that?

The Successful Student Mindset

Before we begin, a note about reporting on other consultants and agencies. At KRG Hospitality we don’t pretend to know it all. When a peer says something and has an approach to this industry we find insightful, we want to share it. Keeping it to ourselves because they’re a “competitor” doesn’t help anyone or our industry.

We consider Invictus cofounders Michael Tipps and Homan Taghdiri friends and colleagues. Their values and mission align with ours.

So, when Tipps says successful operators are students of the game, we agree. Our team is passionate about learning so we can better serve our clients. I’m comfortable saying the Invictus team embraces a similar approach.

In addition to a hunger for knowledge, there’s another key element of this successful student mindset: positivity. For Tipps, that means two things:

• “Know what works first. Notice what doesn’t work second.”
• “Other venues aren’t your competition.”

Intention

I won’t speak for Invictus and their approach to understanding a client’s vision. We have our approach and tools, they have theirs.

One of the exercises that we find works to help us see how a client envisions their concept is to learn about what they like. What restaurants, bars, nightclubs or hotels do they admire? Are their operators their aspire emulate? What venues in their target market do they think are doing a great job?

Another part of the process is to visit similar concepts. These visits reveal a lot, including what a client knows about the business.

Look, we’ve all been there. As consultants, operators, leadership team members, front- or back-of-house members… We know when something doesn’t work when we visit any restaurant, bar or hotel.

However, a simple change to the lens through which we view an operation can make a big difference. First, we should notice what’s working. Going further, Tipps suggests trying to understand what an operator was trying to accomplish with their concept: “What was the intention?”

To Tipps, people who can walk into a restaurant or bar and identify what’s working before focusing on mistakes shows they actually know the business. A true student of the game recognizes any concept’s positives and intention.

“It doesn’t take skill to know what sucked about a bar or restaurant, says Tipps. “It takes skill to point out and understand what works.”

Visit KRGHospitality.com to continue reading.

3 Ways Restaurants Can Build Revenue This Mother’s Day

Written by Austen Asadorian, SVP of sales at SEVENROOMS

With Mother’s Day quickly approaching, there’s no doubt that operators across the country are preparing for the celebratory—yet extremely busy—day.

During their preparations, it’s important that operators find and incorporate new tools and innovative marketing tactics. Doing so will not only fill seats, it will ensure they capitalize on a key opportunity to drive incredible revenue.

Below are three simple but powerful ways operators can generate revenue and loyalty on—and beyond—this Mother’s Day.

Encourage Reservations & Offer Upgrades

An easy way to make this busy day seamless for guests—and, ultimately, staff—is to encourage and allow guests to make a reservation before they arrive. Reservations give operators insight into who will be dining with them, help optimize seatings and covers, and provide a idea of how much to order to eliminate food waste if a special menu is being offered.

Using a reservation system also provides operators with the opportunity to offer diners upgrades during the booking process, even including prepayment should they want to go that route. This not only allows operators to earn additional revenue before a guest even visits, but also a convenient way to offer guests peace of mind knowing they’ve handled that “something special” for Mom way before the big day.

These upgrades don’t have to be anything crazy or extreme (although that’s always an option). In fact, according to the National Restaurant Association, consumers want special touches and discounts over everything else. So, an upgrade can be something as simple as a beautiful flower arrangement waiting on the table to a special off-menu dessert brought out at the end of the meal.

Use Email & Social Media to Your Advantage

Properly promoting Mother’s Day offerings to guests is extremely important because if no one knows about it, who will come?

Operators should utilize tools like email marketing to send personalized communications to their guest database promoting the venue’s Mother’s Day reservation availability or special offerings. Better yet, these tools can be used to offer loyal guests reservations before they open to the general public, further creating a special experience for those faithful diners.

In the same vein, operators should harness the power of social media, too. Operators can target paid marketing efforts on social channels like Facebook and Instagram to drive even more awareness and revenue for their restaurant by creating an event, including the details of the activities, specials, or Mother’s Day promotions, and exporting the names of top guests and email data.

Please visit KRGHospitality.com to continue reading.

The 50 Best Bars in North America in 2023

The buildup toward this year’s World’s 50 Best Bars is growing with the recent announcement of North America’s 50 Best Bars.

Mexico City, the 2023 North America’s 50 Best Bars host city, is home to several of this year’s rankings. A true cocktail destination loaded with extraordinary bars, Mexico City boasts eight entries. Overall, 14 of the 50 bars on the 2023 list are in Mexico.

Of course, New York City also claims an impressive number of bars earning spots on the list. In fact, NYC boasts 12 of the 50 best bars in North America. More than half of the bars—28—are in the US.

Not that anyone asked, two of the bars on the 2023 list are in the city where I was born, Chicago: Kumiko and Milk Room. And I’m going to give a special nod to Herbs & Rye, number 27 and located in my hometown of Las Vegas (and the US headquarters of KRG Hospitality).

Of the 50 best bars in North America, Canada is home to seven. Four of these are in Toronto (where KRG Hospitality’s global headquarters are located), two are in Montreal, and one is in Vancouver.

Just one bar in the Caribbean makes the 2023 North America’s 50 Best Bars list. But what a bar: La Factoría is number 24.

Congratulations to all the bars and their bar teams representing the best of North America in 2023!

2023 North America’s 50 Best Bars Destination Award Winners

The Best Bar in Northeast USA, sponsored by Perrier

Double Chicken Please (No. 1; New York City, New York)

The Best Bar in South USA, sponsored by Torres Brandy

Jewel of the South (No. 5; New Orleans, Louisiana)

The Best Bar in the Midwest USA, sponsored by Rémy Martin

Kumiko (No. 8; Chicago, Illinois)

The Best Bar in the West USA, sponsored by Naked Malt

Thunderbolt (No. 10; Los Angeles, California)

The Best Bar in the Caribbean, sponsored by Scrappy’s Bitters

La Factoría (No. 24; San Juan, Puerto Rico)

The Best Bar?in Canada, sponsored by Tia Maria

Civil Liberties (No. 12; Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

The Best Bar in Mexico, sponsored by Bareksten

Handshake Speakeasy (No. 2; Mexico City, Mexico)

To check out the full North America’s 50 Best Bars list and this year's individual awards, please visit KRGHospitality.com.

Ovation Reveals 5 Secrets for Growth

Restaurant guest feedback platform Ovation CEO ???Zack Oates ?? reveals five secrets to what he calls the “digital table touch.”

The company touts itself as the number-one guest feedback platform. Ease of use is one reason the Ovation is viewed so favorably. Guests receive a two-question survey via SMS. Operators receive honest feedback they can use to improve guest retention and loyalty.

Those curious in learning more about the platform can check out several case studies on the Ovation website. Odds are, one of these studies matches closely with an operator’s own business.

For the purposes of this article, I’m going to focus on Oates’ 2023 Bar & Restaurant Expo education session. Getting even more granular, I’m going to drill down to Oates’ digital table touch approach to guest feedback and retention.

If Oates’ startling claim about first-time guests is true, guest retention is even more difficult than many operators would think. According to Oates, 70 percent of first-time guests don’t return to a restaurant. That number is, simply put, too damn high. Fifty percent is too high.

Feedback Reality

Let’s be honest about in-person feedback. While there are some honest guests out there, for some reason people tend to leave without being honest during their visits. In the moment, most of us will say “great” or “very good” when asked by a server or manager about our restaurant experience.

This is a compelling phenomenon. Per Oates, 15 percent of dine-in orders have issues. And yet most guests won’t say about an issue during their visit. That rate doubles to 30 percent for delivery orders, by the way.

Being totally transparent, Oates says he behaves the same in restaurants. He’s the CEO of a restaurant feedback platform and he’ll still say everything is fine during a visit even when it isn’t. So, while physical table touches are important, they’re likely not giving an operator an accurate picture of what’s going on in their dining room.

In fact, Oates says rather bluntly that “table touches are out of touch.” Further, they’re not scalable, off-premises, honest, or capable of fixing root issues, in his opinion.

Likewise, long-form surveys. According to Oates, long feedback surveys have an abysmal take rate: 0.01 percent. At that point, the rate may as well be zero. Online reviews, as may operators likely know, don’t really represent most guests.

The best solution to secure honest, actionable feedback appears to be Ovation’s SMS-based process.

Secret #1: Make Measurement Frictionless

Hot take: The easier a thing is to do, the more people will participate.

So, operators who want collect valuable guest feedback need to make it simple. If a guest orders delivery, operators should stuff carryout bags and top boxes with a call to action. For in-person dining, they should add a feedback CTA to table toppers. QR codes can make the process very easy. CTAs need to be visible and simple to complete.

The winning formula seems to be a two-question survey and collecting guest data. So, operators should consider enrolling guests who participate and leave feedback in a $100 gift card draw (or something similar).

To continue reading, please visit KRGHospitality.com.