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, …
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Norovirus Prevention on the Disney Fantasy
In one of the best Seinfeld episodes ever, George is trying to get a bigger apartment in his building only to find out that a survivor of the Andrea Doria shipwreck got it because the coop board felt bad for the guy.  Read the script below: The buffet can be the real ordeal on cruise …
Maybe You Shouldn’t Do Checklists
How could paper checklists be bad? Â Paper checklists are bad because people pencil whip them or lie on them. Â We recently conducted a survey of over 100 restaurant owners and managers. Â 94% of respondents believed that their teams weren’t completing their checklists accurately. Which raises the question; why would a sane person have their team …
The Restaurant Industry’s Dirty Little Secret
The dirty little secret in the restaurant industry is that we know a lot of our restaurant safety-documentation is not completed accurately. Every day in restaurants across the country, restaurant managers are supposed to complete temperature logs, line checks, and other safety checks to ensure that they are operating safely. A lot of those logs …
Don’t Neglect the FOH
I’m sure you have experienced this a million times…. I’m going to share a story from my days at bartending in a very busy mountain town. Spring break was one of the busiest times of the year. Two-hour waits for dinner and up to an hour wait for lunch. No real break between the shifts …
What does the Ford Pinto have to do with restaurants?
Do you remember the Ford Pinto Case from the 70’s? Â Ford Pintos had a flaw in their design, and if they were hit in a rear-end collision at a speed greater than 20 mph the fuel tank could rupture, and there could be a fire. Â Unfortunately, several people were killed in accidents because of this …
Fighting Norovirus with OpsAnalitica
There is no medical cure for Norovirus; if you contract it you simply have to ride it out. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t anything you can do as a multi-unit restaurant manager to protect your restaurants, brand, and profits. With Norovirus, the best offense is going to be a good defense. Here are some …
Feds Subpoena Chipotle’s Documentation
The Denver-based chain was served with another subpoena on Jan. 28 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California requiring Chipotle to produce documents and information about the company’s practices at all restaurants system wide. click here to read full article I don’t think you have to be a legal genius to see …
Pencil Whipping Happens
Let’s talk about the art of Pencil Whipping. Here’s the “official” definition from Wiktionary: Verb pencil whip ‎(third-person singular simple present pencil whips, present participle pencil whipping, simple past and past participle pencil whipped) (idiomatic) To approve a document without actually knowing or reviewing what it is that is being approved. (idiomatic) To complete a …
Alerting, Forced Comments, and Task Management in Checklists
A lot of our prospective clients ask us if we can force comments, create alerts or tasks when there are safety violations on their checklists.  We don’t offer these features, not for technical reasons, but for liability and management reasons.  I’m going to use this blog to explain our thinking on this subject. Alerts and tasks sound …