We are open!!! I think...

On Monday, 27th February, we finally threw open the doors to our new place (officially!) and let in the masses.

Except, we didn’t… because that would be stupid.

We had already hosted a private event with the local mayor and other very important folk in suits and shirts, as well as 5 ‘Mocks’ sessions, where people could opt to become a guinea pig for the evening so our teams could try out their newly acquired skill set.?

Throwing open the doors and packing the place full of excited new guests would inevitably lead to catastrophe… Our teams would be forced to go from zero, to literally a zillion miles an hour overnight. We’ve seen numerous other restaurants and brands take this approach but the outcome is always the same.

• They lose the vast majority of the work-force as they fail to protect their new recruits.?

Expecting a newly trained team member to go from 20 practice covers to 500 real life ones from one day to the next is hugely unreasonable and no surprise when they leave after only a few shifts.?

Recruiting and training an entire team is such a vast investment, one that the company needs to see a return on. There would be no point in training and developing scores of people only to have them leave after a few weeks because we have failed to protect them from overwhelm.

• They tarnish their reputation.?

We have had people begging for literally months to come and dine in our new restaurant and these would-be guests have such high expectations.?

If we were to throw our guys straight in the deep end, many of them would sink. Afterall, they are brand new!?

Product quality would suffer, the guest experience would be compromised and team morale would hit rock bottom, leading to hundreds of disappointed customers who would likely tell their friends and family not to bother and also probably not return themselves.?

Then we would spend the next 6 months having to rehire and replace our team as well as re-establish our reputation in the local community.

On a side note here, word of mouth, in my opinion, is the most effective form of marketing there is, as it’s the only quadratic form of marketing.?

Ad spend, cold reach outs etc, they’re all very linear. You put a certain amount in, you get a fairly specified return. But with word of mouth, it has the ability to compound! Keep this working in your favour and you’ll never have to advertise again. But, if it begins to work against you (negative NPS) then your business will shrink no matter what you spend on acquiring new customers.?

So, what’s the solution?

Admittedly, there are many. But the main one that we have opted for…

Cover Caps!

Throughout any service, we currently allow no more than 10 covers per 15 minutes in our restaurant and no group larger than 6 in our bar. This will increase incrementally over the coming weeks and months, but for now the numbers are pretty low.?

Our opening night went off without a hitch, not even a spilled drink (much to my surprise!). All our teams were able to put everything they’ve learned over the past few weeks into practice and serve actual paying guests!?

At times the cover caps were questioned as they were coping very well in the heavily controlled conditions, but that is exactly what they are there for!?

I can’t tell you how tempting it was to allow the extra 200 walk-ins and fill the restaurant to the brim. It goes against so many of the lessons I have learned up until this point on ensuring maximum bums on seats etc, but the caps are in place to protect the teams, as well as the guests’ experience.

An added benefit is that by denying the vast majority of people a table during the first couple of weeks our restaurant suddenly becomes more exclusive. Bookings are now flying in months in advance from customers desperate not to miss out on spending their cash money with us.?

So over the next few weeks and months, as we gradually increase our cover caps, we will see our team gently rise to the occasion, safe in the knowledge that the majority of them will still be with us 1 year from now (almost unheard of, I know) and our guests will have the best possible experience, because of the restrictions in place!?

Ciao, x