Management by checklist is exactly what you think it is; it is the art of managing your restaurants by using short, focused checklists to ensure that the most important operational details aren’t missed on a shift-by-shift restaurant-by-restaurant basis. The practice is modeled after airplane pilots and their use of checklists. Checklists work, plain and simple. …
April 2016
Diagnosing Falling or Stagnant Sales
Too many restaurant operators mistake marketing problems for operations problems. They look at falling or stagnant sales, and they think I’ve got to increase marketing spend to get my sales back up. How do you know if your falling sales are a marketing problem or operations problem? Here are a couple of questions you can …
The Only Way to Sustainably Grow Your Restaurant’s Sales is through Better Operations
It’s time to return to basics and focus on what works for long-term sustainable sales growth, which is better operations. Nobody wants to hear better operations because they are either delusional about the current state of their operations, or they don’t want to put in the hard work and discipline of focusing on running better operations. …
The Value of Operations Data at Your Fingertips
Operations data are the data points that are generated every meal period in a restaurant that directly affect sales and profitability. Let’s break it down: Marketing activities remind your customers that you still exist. People come in to eat at your restaurant. You serve them food (operations) They pay and leave either happy or sad, …