By Bill Tribelli, Tribelli Restaurant Consulting –
It seems to me there are many restaurants out there that are equipped to handle most aspects of restaurant management but either don’t have the time or require assistance in specific areas. I have found that instead of charging an exorbitant fee to come in and offer advice where it is not needed, it is far more effective to offer my services “on call” to my clients.
I believe it works to set up a relationship that allows me to join a restaurant’s team much like they would hire an employee on an hourly wage. This provides an on call service that allows them to consult with me when they need me and carry on without me when they can. This is cost effective for them and allows me to provide input, offer advice and let them carry on and make it work.
A good example is a client who was faced with high volume they couldn’t handle. High volume was a result of them doing just about everything right. However an erratic kitchen was ill prepared to handle their success. This was a result of a very disorganized kitchen. The production area was inadequate to handle the growing demand and to make matters worse they also had an extensive menu that took too much prep time.
I was able to remove poor sellers and items that were too labor intensive from their menu while providing advice on money and time saving techniques to relieve pressure on prep cooks. Alternative high quality food items were purchased and we then were able to focus on workflow in the kitchen that allowed cooks to meet the needs of the high volume. They had everything else right so I was able to pop in, do an assessment, make some changes and set them on the right path to enjoy their success.
Many restaurants are faced with the opposite problem which is far worse: low volume. One of my clients was in desperate need of sales but was faced with a common problem. He had plenty of competition in the immediate area which spread customers pretty thin. As a small town restaurant they had to make changes that would provide a draw in an area with more restaurants than there were customers. It took some investigating to find out what changes he could makes to his menu based on what the other guys were missing. It turns out the town didn’t have a local steak house so I re-wrote and printed new menus to get him started. I recommended they update their equipment which allowed them to reduce their overhead. The results were more sales and less overhead which enhanced profits considerably.
Issues can also arise due to new regulations such as the recent requirement introduced by The Rhode Island Department of Health that restaurants employ at least one Certified Food Safety Manager. New restaurants must also now have a Food Safety Plan. I can provide the on-site Food Manager Certification Courses required by law and also write Food Safety Plans so restaurants are following current regulations. I can assist with other state programs as well.
I’ve had plenty of clients opening a restaurant who come to me without a clue of where to begin. It is a long and arduous process and I can work with them from preparing a business plan to help secure financing to hiring and creating work schedules prior to opening. A lot of people get everything in order on their own from menus to designing beautiful kitchens and dining rooms but get caught up when it comes to details such as licenses. Again they can choose to do what they know and leave the rest to me.
When I work with my clients I know that each will have specific needs and my experience will allow me to indentify where they need me and where they are doing fine on their own. I can offer them advice and provide an assignment to complete and they can report back to me when they are done. More importantly, they can call on me when they need me or we can do the whole thing together from start to finish. It is a collaboration of taking their vision and philosophy and using my experience to bring it to fruition as efficiently and profitably as possible.
