In this episode we interview Azim Saju – Founder Of HDG Hotels. What I really enjoyed about this interview was learning about Azim’s commitment to his employee and financial stakeholders. When you put your passion and focus on taking care of the people that take care of you, you grow. That is exactly what they …
customer service
Interview With Tony Montero- CEO Hai Hospitality
In this episode we interview Tony Montero, CEO of Hai Hospitality. What I really enjoyed about this episode is how Tony started in this industry at age 12 and how he has kept his passion for taking care of customers and guests. www.haihospitality.com/ Listen below or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Everyone has a Letter Grade in Their Window Now
If you haven’t heard yet, Yelp is now displaying health inspection scores on your restaurant page. Which means, every restaurant in the country could have a health inspection letter grade in their online window. Make sure you read the whole blog as I put together a list of things all restaurant operators should start doing …
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. …
Don’t Market Yourself Off A Cliff
Two of the most iconic moments in film history are Thelma & Louise driving off that cliff and Butch and Sundance charging out the door to take on the Bolivian army. They are scenes of people choosing their destruction. There are restaurant owners and managers that do the same thing every day. We wrote a …
Scientific Trick to Increase Server Tips
I was watching this YouTube video, a summary of Robert Cialdini’s book Influence.  They talked about experiments that were run in restaurants and how the server’s used the rule of reciprocation to increase tips. The reciprocation principle recognizes that people feel indebted to those who give them a gift.  The social obligation to return a …
You Are Only As Good As Your Staff
In our business, the people business, we rely heavily on our vast staff who service our customers with the same passion that we do when we’re on the front lines.  Guest perception will make or break your business. You need to make sure that each and every customer interaction is at it’s highest level …
The Value of Pre-Shift Meetings
I had the opportunity in 2002 to go through hospitality and customer service training similar to what the Ritz Carlton organization uses. This program was implemented at one of the premier shopping malls in the country, The Grove in Los Angeles. I was a Concierge Services Manager at the mall. Our concierge team was so …