Is money the best way to motivate your staff?
We all know they wouldn’t show up for work each day if you weren’t paying them, but is money the most effective way to get the most out of your employees?
In a piece for Inc. magazine, Ciplex founder Ilya Pozen says not necessarily. Pozen details a handful of free carrots that could help you push your staff to be its best.
Here are a few of his ideas:
Don’t criticize or correct: Choosing different ways to handle a mistake – asking the employee to come up with better solutions on their own, should the issue arise again – can be superior to a strictly negative approach.
Operations Tip: Profit Analysis Simplified
Guest Post by Chuck Deibel, Senior Partner at BEVINCO
Is looking at just the change in your Pour Cost percentage enough to determine how much more profitable it is to reduce your lost sales and missing inventory?
Look at the following simple example. Whether it’s bottles of beer, shots of liquor, glasses of wine or pints of draft beer, the use of the analysis method and interpretation on profit is the same.
Bottles of domestic beer are used at a cost of 65 cents each. They are to be sold for $3.00 each. The ideal cost percentage is .65/3.00 = 21.67%
WEEK ONE
10 bottles of beer are used, which results in costs of $6.50.
8 bottles of beer are sold, which results in sales of $24.00.
The actual cost percentage is 27.1%
The ideal cost percentage is 21.67%
The efficiency rating is 80%
The loss at cost is $1.30
The loss of revenue is $6.00. Profit is $17.50
New site helps pair your cocktails with your tunes
File this under the category of: ‘Things to do on your off-day or after closing up the bar.’
Those of us who enjoy a cocktail (or five) now and again know that music usually makes it way into the experience at some point. Whether it’s listening to the jukebox or picking an iTunes playlist for your friends at a party, song and spirits are usually kindred . . . well, you know.
All of which makes the new website Drinkify a particularly cool concept. Unveiled in November, Drinkify provides (usually serious) drinking suggestions to go with the music you are listening to. Or in this case, what you tell it you are listening too.
For The Who, Drinkify recommends a bottle of Red Stripe garnished with a glow stick, for Paul Simon it says pour six ounces of whiskey on the rocks, and of course for Snoop Dogg the site goes with gin and juice.
You’ll find some off-the-wall suggestions in there – the Bob Marley idea will almost certainly get you arrested – but for the most part the site does a decent job of entertaining, even if every drink isn’t practical. At the very least it’s a chance to have a some fun, either at home or behind the bar with staff after hours.
(Drinkify)
Questions you have to ask during interviews
We found an article on the CBS News website that could potentially be very useful the next time you are filling positions.
After interviews with a number of job placement and human resources professionals, CBS settles on a half dozen questions that will help in the process of selecting the best possible candidate. Here is what they came up with:
1. What’s important for you in a job? Since we know the candidate wants to work there, CBS points out the interview is a chance to assess the fit from both sides. If something about how you operate doesn’t gel with their goals this is the time to find out.
The advantages of opening a restaurant in a bad economy
Opening a restaurant or bar is a risky endeavor even under the most ideal of circumstances. So when the economy is in a downturn it would seem like the worst possible time to take the plunge into the uncertain world small business.
Not so fast, says Tony Marchese. In 2008 Marchese opened a restaurant called Trio in Palm Springs. In a recent article for iSante Magazine Marchese wrote that there are a number of factors associated with bad economies that can actually help the process.
Marchese pointed to:
Stop running a dead Foursquare deal
“Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
It is a quote applicable to many things, one of which is making the best use of social media within your restaurant’s marking efforts.
We occasionally come across clients who seem surprised they’ve been having difficulty getting traction with a promotion on one of their social media platforms. That is particularly true with Foursquare. Owners will be confused as to why a promotion they’ve connected to a check-in isn’t generating the kind of interest they’d hoped for.
Here’s the cold, hard truth: just because you are on Foursquare and have an offer out there doesn’t necessarily mean you’re effectively harnessing the service. Leaving the same “dead deal” on the table isn’t going to get you anywhere.
The phrase “Build it and they will come” will not get you anywhere with online promotion.
The correct way to split a check among friends
New York Magazine’s food blog Grub Street published a recent post that attempts to simplify a common source of dining controversy: Splitting the bill with a group of friends.
Grub Street argues the mistake people make is attempting to go through and account for every item of food consumed. Since the experience is shared, the bill should be shared as well. You are paying for the meal rather than the food. Even if you order soup and everybody else has an entree, if you were there for the entire meal you should divide the check evenly.
There is the obvious issue of a diner feeling shorted if he or she ends up with a larger bill than if they were eating alone. The post addresses that concern:
‘We’ve all taken a hit at some point, but consider that the scale will always eventually tilt back the other way, too. Call it the Dharma of dining — and an investment in the group’s collective happiness.’
Grub Street writes the only instance where the bill should not be split evenly is if alcohol is consumed. In that case it’s okay to have the server create a separate bill for the non-drinker, which allows the rest of the group to divide their total.
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About Barry Chandler
Barry Chandler works with bars and restaurants to bring more customers in the door through effective use of social media, online tools and customer engagement.
Since 2004, more than 2500 bars, restaurants and hotels have used his tools and services to improve their bottom line.
TheBarBlogger.com contains daily tips and strategies to grow a profitable hospitality business.
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