Hi,
Ever heard of the Blue Man Group? 25 years ago, 2 unemployed guys, Chris Wink and Phil Stanton painted their faces blue and performed on the streets of New York, banging on drums and pipes and putting on a fantastic show. They called themselves the Blue Man Group. Since then, they’ve gone on to put on a show around the country and world. Their shows are still rocking and pulling in the crowd.
Here’s what’s impressive about the Blue Man Group.
The founders of the show don’t perform anymore. They created a show where anyone who fits the bill in talent and craziness and with the right training can perform and entertain their audiences – as good as they did 25 years ago.
You know what that means for them and their business?
They can perform in multiple cities at the same time, and everyone thinks it’s the same guys, but they aren’t. The founders are chilling while cashing it in! They created a replicable business that could be scaled while giving themselves free time and resources to enjoy their life.
Imagine if you could do that in your restaurant/s? Just imagine for a second, your business isn’t dependent on your daily involvement to do well. And you choose how you’d like to use your time, maybe focusing on scaling your business, maybe traveling, taking time off, investing in other companies, or doing whatever you like, when you like, and how you like.
Wouldn’t that be amazing?
It may seem impossible, but it’s possible.
With the right systems, processes, and people, you could Blue Man your operations and strike a balance between your work and your life and scale your business.
Here are 3 things you can do to make it possible.
1. Create a people-centric business:
a. Hire right.
Get the right people in and the wrong people out. I’ve shown you how to hire right (Click here). But remember this, as hard it is to find the right people, sometimes it’s harder to let the wrong ones go, especially if they are the longest working employees. It’s hard, but it’s essential if you want to grow your business with a team that helps you grow rather than makes it harder.
b. Focus on improving the work and life of your employees before you focus on your customers.
If your employees are happy, your customers will be satisfied. Take the time to understand what motivates your employees to do better.
And for those times when you understandably want to tear your hair out because of an employee who is driving you nuts…take a moment to understand why they are behaving the way they are. Be curious and speak to the employee as if you were speaking with another human being first and not just an employee. Find out what’s bothering them, why are they being resistant and why aren’t they doing their job well?
If you do this, you’ll quickly find a way to get through to them and connect with them at a deeper level. And just because you bothered to find out what was bothering them, they will feel like they matter to you and feel grateful for your patience and understanding. Because of this, they will willingly want to perform well for you. Do this, It really works!
2. Become fanatical about setting processes:
a. Create a checklist for everything you need done, so that anyone who is hired can always follow a checklist.
b. Document your standard operating procedures (SOP’s) for each position. An SOP is a list of what needs to be done in order of priority. It’s made for each designation or task.
For example Julie the server’s SOP’s for every time she approaches a new table:
1. Hi and welcome to Juan’s Flying Burrito
2. My name is Julie
3. How are you today?
4. What can I get you started with?
5. What would you like with your main course?
6. Would you like to try our daily special?
7. Can I interest you in a bottle of Cabernet tonight?
8. so and so forth….
DOCUMENT EVERYTHING…so that your business runs on processes and systems and your customer’s experience doesn’t depend on an employee’s moods.
3. Be careful of ignoring what your customers are saying.
Take customer feedback seriously and do what your customers tell you. It’s that simple, give them what they are willing to pay for and want to come back for again. It’s not more complicated than that.
Once again, set a system and process of who will take the feedback, how will it be accumulated, who will analyze it, how will it be used to create new dishes, introduce new beverages, specials, promos, increase prices, etc.
IMPORTANT!! Remember, you don’t have to do all of this at once. Pick one thing and just do that this month.
You will begin to feel less stressed; you will have a little more time; more peace of mind and you’ll go home knowing that your Blue men are rocking it while you have more energy and time to focus on scaling your business and enjoying your life a little more.
Cheers
Nandu Awatramani
Coach and Advisor to Ambitious Restaurant Owners
P.S. whenever you’re ready…Let me help you get your business organized so that you can expand safely and with more certainty while striking a balance between your work and personal life. You need a different set of skills to grow a restaurant business from 1 to 3, 3 to 5, 5 to 10 and 10 to 20 and beyond?
Discover what it takes to scale your restaurant business profitably and get 3 times revenues and not do it alone! Just email me on contact@fandbbusinessschool and mention ‘Coaching’ to set up your complimentary discovery call to learn what you can do to increase revenues, stop employee turnover and expand your business profitably and with more certainty.
By the way, did you know we can work together over Skype, no matter where you are in the world!
