Restaurants Say Paying For Obamacare Will 'Threaten Their Very Business'

The Supreme Court upheld Obamacare today, and the restaurant business is "troubled" over the decision because they doubt they'll be able to afford the new regulations.
The restaurant industry is notoriously low-margin to begin with, and having to pay for employees' healthcare will be a "burden," the National Restaurant Association said today.

Here's what CEO Dawn Sweeney had to say in a release:

“Today’s ruling by the Supreme Court is troubling for restaurant operators and business owners across the country. We encourage Congress to continue efforts to repeal the law, since the Court’s decision leaves the employer requirements in place, provisions which impact restaurant operators’ ability to grow and create jobs.

“This unworkable law cannot stand as is. We need reform that addresses the increasing costs our members are faced with each year. Restaurant owners are looking for solutions that will allow them to provide better health care coverage options for their team members, but they cannot be saddled with excessive costs and regulatory burdens that threaten their very business. We ask members of Congress to take action that helps the restaurant industry continue to help create jobs and grow the national economy.”

What I find so strange is that the restaurant industry never really pay high hourly wage to waitstaff as they are getting paid by the customers as they receive gratuities. Since the diners pay tips to the waitstaff, they have less burden in that area.

The restaurant industry is also notoriously known to not pay any benefits to their workers. Very few restaurants pay health insurance, sick days, 401K or vacation time.Once again they keep their employee cost low by avoiding to pay any benefits.

Now they are concerned because of Obamacare. God forbid they have to give a little bit to their employees. For so long they could avoid giving anything, now that they have to give a little they are concerned.

They probably have never heard of "YOU HAVE TO GIVE TO RECEIVE". No wonder why there are so many restaurants that go out of business. No wonder why the rate of attrition is so high in the restaurant industry. So many people get into the restaurant business but have no passion for it. They have no clue on how to run a restaurant. They do not understand is that it's not about food, it's about a dining experience. 

Restaurants will NEVER compete on food. There are too many great restaurants, too many cuisines and people can dine anywhere they want. What restaurants DON'T GET, is that they compete ON SERVICE. People go out to a restaurant for the food the first time, but the second time for the service.

This business is about HOW HOSPITABLE YOU ARE TO OTHERS.

Richie Jackson, CEO of the Texas Restaurant Association, explained to the Dallas Business Journal why restaurants are so deeply impacted by Obamacare. The cost of health care "closely equates" to the bottom line of a restaurant.

“We have a very high labor cost and very low profit margin and very little to cover that health care cost with that.

“What it really means is that menu pricing will have to go up. The concern there is, in the struggling economy and when people are seeking value to their dollar because you don’t have to go out and eat, raised prices will reduce the number of meals served. It has that kind of spiraling effect to continue to erode profitability.”

Yeah right, you pay high labor? How much do you think it cost Microsoft, Facebook, Google or other tech companies when they hire a programmer? $8 or 10 per hour like you currently pay a cook or server to whom you do not offer any benefit? 

Just imagine how much more it cost the tech companies when they hire an employee? And you complain? Sure you know why you complain? Because those people who work in the restaurant industry do not know how to run a business. That is why so many fail in the restaurant industry.

And Mr Richie Jackson do you know how you can go up in pricing for your menu??? I give you the solution: ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS TO RAISE THE SERVICE STANDARD OF A RESTAURANT. It is obvious that if your service is bad, you cannot justify an increase in menu pricing. If your offer is bad, your pricing will be too high. The only way you can ask for a higher price for yor food, is IF YOU RAISE YOUR SERVICE STANDARD, WHICH IS HOW YOU JUSTIFY YOUR PRICING.

Why do you think Apple, SONY, Disney, Microsoft, Rolls Royce, Ferrari, Mercedes, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus or any other amazing company can justify their high price? They offer a fantastic service, and amazing products. And people don't mind paying high price if they have a better value for their money. And they do. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. Americans love to get great value for their dollar. And more than EVER, they seek the best value for their dollar.

Obviously the restaurant industry doesn't get it.They believe that they are in the commodity market where they compete on price. If they could only understand that they compete on service, they would be able to ask for higher price.

So it appears that the restaurant industry is annoyed because they may have to give a little to their employees. It could be the first time in centuries that some restaurants may finally have to give a little bit to their workers who have been working so hard for nothing.

Last thought. The restaurant industry is notoriously known to cheat its workers, by not paying overtime, stealing tips of the servers to pay managers,or other. Does that mean that more are going to cheat their workers? Could be great news for lawyers as they will be able to sue more restaurants. Maybe one day only the best restaurant companies will be in existence. That would not be a bad thing. After all only the good ones will be left, those who have passion for the hospitality industry. Will get rid of all the bad apples.

I have a word for the restaurant industry; Take care of your employees, they'll take care of your customers and the money will take care of itself. If you want to succeed, follow the footsteps of other successful American companies and you will go much farther than you've ever imagined.

One thing for you, you need to hire talents. You must surround yourself with people who are passionate about the hospitality industry, and not a bunch of managers who act as cops in the dining room, who treats employees like if they are a bunch of dummies or kids. And by the way, who hired those employees that all day long are treated as kids and dummies?

How can you think of being successful is if you refuse to pay for talent? It doesn't add up, neither mathematically, nor if you apply the laws of nature. It's a losing equation. Nobody can say when, but we can certainly say that YOU WILL END UP CLOSING THE DOORS IN THE FUTURE. That is a certainty. The Ritz Carlton won't. Disney won't. But you will. That's because they think very differently than you do. They have a vision, and you don't.

Your management team should have diploma in hospitality and a management degree. Stop hiring just anyone to work at your business. Start hiring people with skills. Do you honestly think that the tech companies in Silicon Valley, just hire anyone? Why do you think they are more profitable than you? Why do you think they pay benefits? Because they have a different mentality than cheap people. Because they believe that if they can take care of their employees, they will in turn take care of business.

It amazes me to see restaurants hiring just ANYONE, ABSOLUTELY ANYONE. Anybody in the street could come and they would hire them. How foolish! I would never hire anyone to serve my customers. I would hire like high tech companies do. People that are highly skilled, because the service industry needs highly skilled people as well.

No wonder you struggle, and your profit margin is so low And you complain about paying health care to your employees. Stop nagging and start thinking outside the box, so you can contribute a little bit more to this society. Start doing something good to others. And if you think you can't pay healthcare, then you will never be able to do it.

What ever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.  Napoleon Hill

  The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. Eleanor Roosevelt

START BELIEVING!

What Type of Employer Are You?

There are different types of surveys that are done for employers such as "The 100 Best U.S Companies to work for" by Fortune and I recently saw one which was "The 15 Most Hated Companies. I wonder which categories your employees would put you in. How hard are you working to be in either surveys.

Here is what I have learned in life. I am a 46 year old man, and I have lived. I was born in the south of France, moved to Paris when I was just 21, and then moved to Los Angeles at the age of 27. I have certainly had a lot of jobs, and worked for many employers in my life.

I remember when I used to sell ATM machines I was dealing with a certain number of owners from various ethnicities. Some people like to bargain a lot and sometimes so much in their favor that they really don't care if they leave you nothing on the table. They are happy as long as they get the best deal, and get something for nothing. It doesn't matter if you end up being the losing party, what they want is to be the winner. They see life their way, not your way.

What I quickly realized as well is that those individuals who get their way, end up not respecting you when you give them everything they want. Since they got something for nothing, got what they wanted and left you nothing why would they respect you? After all they know they got the most from you.

It is the same for many employers. If an employer gives nothing to its employees, no health insurance, no sick day, no retirement, and no vacation why would they respect their workers? They don't. I have worked for enough employers in my life and the worst ones I've worked for, were the ones who gave the least to their employees.

The very worst employers are the ones who cheat the law and their workers. The worst employers I've had, were not paying labor to EDP, and workers comp. When I was a server in the restaurant industry there was an French owner who was not even us paying hourly wage. YES HE WAS NOT PAYING THE SERVERS THEIR HOURLY WAGE. The only income we had was the gratuities from diners, and I highly doubt he was not keeping some of it. He was a mad man, who was yelling all the time at his employees. He used to own a French restaurant in Eagle Rock, California. He decided not to pay any benefits to his workers, no vacation, no sick day, no retirement, nothing at all.

These are the signs of someone who disrespects his employees. He was the worst employer I've ever had. SO DISRESPECTFUL, YELLING AT US ALL THE TIME. Mean to everyone, including the customers. What do you expect about someone who refuse to pay what the law requires him to pay?

How could he respect us, if he was stealing from us and not paying us hourly wage?

Another terrible employer I had in downtown Los Angeles, a French restaurant but this time not a French owner, but an Iranian owner, and a woman. She was not paying overtime, and was in fact stealing the tips of the servers to pay the managers salaries. Completely illegal in the state of California. When you think of it, how could it be legal to have workers pay their supervisors salaries? Completely insane.

She was breaking the law in so many ways. Not giving breaks to the workers, not paying overtime to people working 12 to 14 hours a day, stealing the tips of the servers, and SO MUCH MORE. When I left the restaurant after two and a half years of hard work she did not thank me, nor said goodbye to me. She was not paying sick day, retirement, healthcare, nor vacation. She just hired anyone to work there, and preferred to hire cooks out of school so she did not have to pay them much.

I felt in the end that that woman had no respect for her employees. But how could she, when she was taking advantage of her workers, stealing from them and not paying overtime? Obviously she could not have any respect for those she was mistreating and stealing from.

In life if you want to be respected by an employer you have to be with a acompany that is going to give you the most for your hard work. Meaning health insurance, sick days, vacation, 401K etc... The employers who give the most to their employees are the ones who tend to respect their employees the most.

You would probably feel more respected if you were to work with Apple, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Johnson & Johnson, Boeing, GE etc....

The more someone gives you, the more respect they have for you.
The least someone gives you the more disrespect they have for you.

So it should be a no brainer that you should be looking for an employer that will give you a lot in exchange for your hard work. In the hospitality industry you would be better off working for the RITZ CARLTON, as opposed to working for my ex French employer who owned a French bistro in Eagle Rock California or my ex female employer who owns a French bistro in downtown Los Angeles.

YES life experience is so VALUABLE. You realize that those who gives the least are the ones who disrespect you the most. That is the law of nature and cannot be changed when someone is so rotten inside and has no regard for other human beings, even when they employ them and expect the most from their workers. Quite a dumb thought. How can you get the most from your employees when you cheat them?

The law of nature also tells me that those who cut corners, disrespect their employees, steal from them, break the laws and disregard their basic needs, their wishes, their well being cannot go very far in business. Greed means that someone acts selfishly. But how can you possibly go far in business when all you care about is yourself and your own pocket book? How will you involve the hearts and soul of your workers when you don't give a damn about them? IMPOSSIBLE!

Even worse is that those self-centered people do not realize that when they disrespect their own employees they also disrespect the customers. After all your attitude is always the same. You are who you are and if you don't give a damn about your employers, you don't give a damn about anyone, that includes your customers.

So the choice should be clear. Work for a great employer who gives you the most for your work. Work for an employer who offers career advancement. Work for an employer who cares about you and your family. In the end that employer will survive and outlast the employers who has nothing to offer.

And don't forget that an employer who breaks the law will never stay in business, because of all the damage they create. With social media the news will be all over the Internet, accessible to anyone.

Don't hesitate to call a lawyer to defend your rights as a citizen of the United States. The law is the law, and no employer should break the law to cheat its own employees.

In the end as previously stated, the most wonderful companies in the world, who have the most to offer to its employees and customers will far outlast those employers who have nothing to offer to the rest of the world, and have so much disrespect for others.

Andre Plessis
AP Consulting
Restaurant & Hospitality Consultant

Meal credits For Restaurant Owners

Meal credits For Restaurant Owners

Many restaurant owners who offer free meals to their workers are unaware that they are entitled to a minimum wage meal credit for each employee.  An employer who regularly furnishes meals to employees may reduce the cash wages paid to those employees in an amount equal to the reasonable cost of the meals as determined by the U.S. Department of Labor.

The meal credit is in addition to any tip credit the employer is permitted to take and can include any employee.

Here’s how the meal credit works: the Federal Department Of Labor allows a restaurant establishment to take the food cost (approximately 50% of the menu price) of an employee meal, and divide it by the average hours worked in a shift. This calculation can be averaged out over the entire workforce and made a standard hourly credit amount for all employees. The meal credit amount must be “fair and reasonable – and – without profit.” Here’s an example: $4.00 menu item x 50% food cost = $2.00 divided by a 5 hour shift = 40 cents per hour meal credit.

So, an average weekly savings using 40 cents per hour, would be $896 per year per employee (40 cents x 40 hours x 56 weeks). If you have 20 fulltime servers and bussers combined that would be over $17,920 per year. If you had 50 servers and bussers combined it would be over $44,800 per year.
And since meal credits are not taxable for FICA/Medicare, federal and state withholding or unemployment, there is an additional savings to both you and the employee.

To take advantage of the meal credit you need to process it through your payroll and properly reflect the calculated amounts in your payroll records. If you’d like a no-obligation restaurant compliance evaluation, we’ll be happy to supply it.

Customer Service is the only Tool That Will Give You an Edge Over Your Competition

Customer service is no longer an afterthought, it’s the competitive tool that will give you an edge to your competition. Customers are forward thinking, they take service into account when doing business with a company. They work hard, so they want the most for their money. They will choose a company with a product/service backed up by best service. People are willing to spend a little more with a company they can trust. Great service can turn your customers into salespeople.

Restaurant Workers Rarely Get Benefits From Employers

Very few restaurants are willing to invest in their employees. Maybe restaurant owners are too greedy, maybe they are selfish, maybe they do not believe their employees deserve benefits or maybe they think that their employees are not skilled. In any case the restaurant industry continue to hire just anyone, and believe in offering nothing in exchange for their employees work. 

When a restaurant owners hire anyone, they hire unskilled workers who in turn cannot offer much to restaurant patrons. With so much competition diners will easily make a difference between a great restaurant who has a lot to offer, and a restaurant who has nothing to offer with clearly unmotivated workers.

According to the FCWA report, of those surveyed…

• 79 percent don’t have paid sick leave – or don’t know if they do
• 83 percent don’t get health insurance from their employer
• 58 percent don’t have health care at all
• 53 percent worked while they were sick
• 35 percent have used the emergency room as their primary care

If benefits are scarce, so is training and promotions. According to the report, of those surveyed…

• 81 percent never received a promotion
• 75 percent never had an opportunity to apply for a promotion
• 74 percent had no ongoing training from their employer
• 32 percent received no training at all after their first day

Those restaurants who have nothing to show for, that are unwilling to invest in their employees, that refuse to give them ongoing training, adequate education or benefits are simply planning for failure. In such a competitive environment you cannot possible compete with restaurants who invest in their employees and offer them benefits such as health insurance, sick days, paid vacation, 401K, training and an opportunity to advance their career.

Restaurant workers are not fool. The best workers will find job at those restaurants who have a lot to offer. Thus it is just a question of time before your business can no longer compete against those companies with forward thinking. The restaurant industry is so competitive that anything that gives an edge to a restaurant is a chance for them to outlast you. And you will pay dearly your lack of vision. Only the strong will survive.

How is Your Employees's Morale?

How much is a disengaged workforce costing your company?

Employee engagement is a person’s degree of attachment to their company, role, and co-workers.  When employees are engaged, managers don’t have to force them to perform or monitor them. Rather, they are self-motivated to do what’s in the best interest of the organization and can be trusted to do terrific work.

Employee engagement is not the same thing as employee satisfaction. Maybe your employees are not so engaged after all. It maybe that your management team has no leadership skills, that they bring your employees morale down with their negativity.

It may also be because you have nothing to offer them. If all you have to offer your employees is a paycheck against their hours of work, you have nothing that motivate them.How can blame them? They know that other employers have more to offer than your current meager offer, and they'll just have to wait till they find such employer. In the meantime do not ask them to excel at their job, because THEY WON'T.

Not actively engaged: These workers do their jobs, and leave as soon as possible.  They may be happy enough with their work, but have no desire help take the organization to new heights.

Actively disengaged:  These employees are holding a grudge against the organization and look to undermine it at every turn.  They are the most dangerous because their negative attitude is contagious and can result in very real performance and morale problems.

In the U.S., the estimated cost of disengagement in the workplace, which includes the actively disengaged and the not actively engaged, is over $350 billion in lost productivity, accidents, theft and turnover each year.  Gallup recently found that approximately 71% of American workers are not actively engaged or actively disengaged.

Can you compete with other companies in your industry when you have nothing to show for?

When you consider these numbers, it’s no surprise that the majority of employees would be happy to leave their current organizations if a better opportunity presented itself.  And this is going to be expensive.

According to Ross Blake in his article Employee Retention: What Employee Turnover Really Costs Your Company, talent replacement costs an organization between 30 and 50 percent of the annual salary of entry-level employees, 150% of middle-level employees and up to 400 percent for specialized, high level employees.

I do not believe that an employer who does not offer any benefits to its employees can compete against other companies in their industry that offer full benefits and ongoing trainings to their employees. Those later organizations will undoubtedly have better ways of motivating their employees who win turn will deliver much better performance.

Obviously if you are among those employers who cheat your employees by stealing their money or not paying them overtime, you shoot yourself int he foot. Your existence in business will just be temporary. You have nothing to show for.

Should Restaurants Pool Tips For All Waitstaff?

What is a Tip Pool?  What is Tip Sharing?

Tip pooling is typically the collection of all tips from directly tipped employees so that they may be redistributed among a larger group of employees.  Pools are generally considered legal when designed by employees themselves, and with distribution based on the level of service or amount of customer contact.

California:  Tip-sharing (pooling) arrangements that provide equitable distribution of gratuities among co-employees, even those who did not directly serve a patron, are permissible in California. Just make sure that employers and supervisors do not share in the tip.

Gratuities are a significant part of the compensation for restaurant servers. Several restaurants have implemented a process where gratuities are pooled among individuals that have contributed to the service experience. The distribution of those pooled gratuities is dependent on the structure of the organization.

Tip Sharing (or tipping-out) differ substantially from tip pooling in that the distribution rates are generally recommended by the employer, and are generally accepted to be incidental to total tips received.  These tip-out rates are normally a percentage of tips, sales, or category receipts.

Did any restaurant ever abuse tip pooling for its own benefit?

Starbucks was recently the unlucky recipient of a $105 million dollar California judgment for purportedly including supervisory staff in their tip pool.  






Mario Batali, Joe and Lidia Bastianich, and their company Pasta Resources Inc. agreed to pay out $5.25 million in a class action settlement in response to labor lawsuits.










The only advantage for a restaurant for pooling the tips, which are given by patrons to the servers is to have control over the tips. Not sure why restaurant owners want to have control over what is given to servers. Do they have a better solution to redistribute it? Are they smarter than the waiters and have a better and fairer way to distribute it? There is nothing to prove it, and I think that it is more a danger for the servers as if the restaurant take the tips, and mismanage his money, and as a result go out of business, the server will never get their tips.

I have worked in restaurants where they pool the tips, and I do not think that restaurants have any clue of  what is fair to the servers. Even though a server has been in a restaurant for 10years, even though someone just come on board, both waiters will make the same money. THIS IS LUDICROUS.

A major problem with tip pool as well is that everybody gets paid the same, servers, busboys, food runners, thus that you work hard or not you get paid the same, thus this system does not encourage employees to work hard. No matter what you get paid the same if you work hard or if you do the least amount of work. Thus many employees will abuse the system and do the least amount of work, knowing that they will get paid the same. Why sweat when you can be paid while you talk with your colleagues.

With tip pooling the hardest workers are penalized as they get paid the same as the laziest workers. The diners are also penalized as they many employees are not encouraged to work hard. Those lazy employees think about themselves, but not about the fact that patrons spend money and expect great service.

Employers have no clue on all of this since most do not understand hospitality, and what employees feel. I have never seen a restaurant asking for employees' feedback. Employees would not feel comfortable in telling the truth anyway since they may fear retaliation if they speak up.

There is no need for a restaurant owner to pool the tips, unless they want to control what servers make and they think they are unable to do things by themselves. I have to admit that in many restaurants employees are treated as kids and dummies so thatmight be a reason for restaurant owners to pool tips.

As we have seen in the lawsuit cases above, when restaurant owners pool the tips they have a hand on it and may very well abuse of the system and lkeep some money which is ILLEGAL.

In some restaurants they go as far as PAYING MANAGERS with the tips given to the waiters. This practice is ILLEGAL IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA. As you can imagine it does not make any sense that a waiter pays a supervisor. But some restaurant owner feels the need to steal the servers' gratuities so they do not have to pay their managers.

I have seen restaurant pooling the tips and  one day as servers came to work, they saw a notice that the restaurant was closed indefinitely. What do you think happened to their tips? THEY DID NOT SEE A PENNY.

So if you still think that pooling the tips is the best practice at a restaurant feel free to let me know, but I think it is well too dangerous for hard working servers to be part of a restaurant that tip the pools.

Should restaurants be barred from taking a share of a server’s tip?

When I was working as a server I remember when it was a pool system, and that the owner was stealing our tips to pay for lazy managers. We all know that servers' tips should not be used to pay for managers' salaries at restaurants in the state of California. This is ILLEGAL.

What many employees do not know is that tips belong to the employee, not the employer. This means that supervisors cannot share in tip pools. Essentially, tips can only be share with employees who do not have the authority to hire or fire employees or to supervise or direct the actions of other employees. Furthermore, employers cannot deduct money from wages because of earned tips, nor can tips be used to compensate business owners.

As part of a common industry practice called “tipping out,” many restaurants require their servers to fork over a portion of their gratuities. While these tip-outs are typically meant to be divvied among hosts, bussers, and other staff, the practice is also abused by employers who take a cut for themselves. Some restaurant owners take tips from waiters to pay managers. This is obviously an illegal practice that some restaurant owners abuse when they are too greedy and operate a scam.

What is so unfortunate is that restaurant diners do not even know that the gratuities they voluntary leave to the waiters are being stolen by some restaurant owners.  In Los Angeles and all over the country, many restaurant workers, in my view, are getting ripped off, and are used as slaves. I would go further and say that restaurant patrons are being ripped of as well as they are not aware that those tips do not go directly to the employees. There is absolutely no reason for restaurant owners to take gratuities from their employees.

This is just greed, and only to pay for their lavish lifestyle

In New York State, where authorities took the rare step of regulating gratuities in 2011, making it illegal for employers to appropriate tips, a flurry of lawsuits have emerged from servers alleged violations. Even top names in the restaurant world have been ensnared. New York magazine’s Grub Street website reported in November that a class-action lawsuit was filed against celebrated chef Eric Ripert, co-owner of Le Bernardin restaurant, and partner Maguey Le Coze, in part, for allegedly mismanaging tips. Star chef Mario Batali and his associate Joseph Bastianich agreed to pay $5.25-million (U.S.) to settle accusations by employees that they illegally took part of their tips to supplement their profits.

Restaurant workers who believe they are being ripped off by their employers should not hesitate to contact the labor department and a lawyer who has experience in defending the rights of restaurant workers.

What greedy and unethical restaurant owners should understand is that by ripping off their own workers they have are short sighted and won't go very far in business. When you rip your employees off, you also rip your clients off. Unhappy employees, cannot go above and beyond to delight the customers since they are being short changed by their employers.

Also workers will never recommend anyone to dine at a place where they are being ripped off.

Even worse for restaurant owners who steal the servers' gratuities is that they should be very careful today as with social media the news can spread out very fast. With social media the power has been transferred to the people. And they can strike back at their wish, and destroy your reputation in minutes by spreading the news all over the Internet to reach thousands or millions of people who will support their cause.

How you treat your employees will determine the success of your business, GUARANTEED!

In 2000 search firm conducted a survey  of 660 about American workers. The study included looking at what would persuade the workers to stay with their current employer. BridgeGate found that although a raise was the most common response (43.2%), non-monetary issues were cited by more workers as motivators (50.5%). The non-monetary motivators included:

• improved benefits programs (23.1%)
• flexible work schedules (14.1%)
• stock options (8.6%)
• better training (4.7%)

A 2009 study by another search firm asked the executives at companies, “Which of the following is most likely to cause great employees to quit their jobs?”

• 35%  replied unhappiness with management
• 33%  replied limited opportunities for advancement
• 13%  replied lack of recognition
• 13%  replied inadequate salary and benefits
• 1%  replied bored with their job
• 5%  replied other/don’t know

Finally, another study found that 51% of employees interviewed said that they would work for slightly less money if other good working conditions were present. The top four reasons sited for leaving an organization included:

1. organizational practices that weaken morale
2. poor fit between skills and culture
3. no concern for growth and development 
4. inadequate training.

Whilst the findings of the various studies are noteworthy, I find it difficult to reconcile how salary seems lower on the importance scale for so many people, when I know that through the hundreds of interviews I have done with various job applicants two key reasons for not taking the job have been:

1. "The job is not paying enough."
2. "I received a counter offer from my current employer and have decided to stay."

The answer lies somewhere in between and is well articulated in the book The Enthusiastic Employee: How Companies Profit by Giving Workers What They Want by David Sirota, Louis A. Mischkind, and Michael Irwin Meltzer (2005) who suggest through their "Three Factor Theory of Human Motivation in the Workplace" that there are three basic goals of people at work, namely

1. Equity: (To be treated fairly). In an article for Knowledge @ Wharton, Sirota states " Employees want to know they are getting fair pay, which is normally defined as competitive pay. They want benefits and job security. These days, employees especially need medical benefits, so those have become significant. On the non-financial side, employees want to be treated respectfully, not as children or criminals. Equity is basic. Unless you satisfy those needs, not much else you do is going to help. If I feel underpaid and if I feel that the company is nickeling and diming me, or wants to pay as little as possible, there is not much else an organization can do to boost my morale. This runs contrary to what a lot of people in my field say -- that pay is not that relevant. Baloney. It's terribly, terribly important."
2.  Achievement: Employees need to take pride in their accomplishments by doing things that matter and doing them well. They need to receive recognition for their accomplishments and take pride in the organization's accomplishments. (Note: This is supported by the Gallop research above.)
3. Camaraderie: "The quality of social relationships in the workplace - its `social capital' - ... are critical for effective performance and, therefore, for a sense of achievement in one's work."

If you are among those companies who just want to take everything from their employees, and do not want to offer much in exchange for their hard work and dedication, you will see your good employees leave you for other competitors who offer better packages, incentives, but most importantly that will respect them and reward them.

This is a phenomenon I see all the time. It pays to care about employees. Take care of your employees, they'll take care of your customers and money will take care of itself. FAIL TO UNDERSTAND THAT BASIC IN BUSINESS AND WATCH YOUR SLOW DEATH AS A BUSINESS.

Don't worry your competition will love your short sightedness.

Andre Plessis
AP Consulting
andreplessis@att.net

What Will Give a Restaurant an Edge Over All Others

What separate a restaurant from another one? Not the food as everybody offers great food these days. There are a lot of talented chefs all around your city. Take Los Angeles as example. There are so many talented chefs in Los Angeles with their own cooking and their own touch.

People will be glad to visit a restaurant and taste the food. But the only the service will give a restaurant an edge over all others, will be the service. They way you treat customers will make a difference in the eyes of customers. I believe that food taste good or great at many restaurants, but the service is bland in most restaurants. Not many individuals have the sense of courtesy these days.

So diners go out regularly once can easily spot a restaurant who has great employees who care about diners, who engage in meaningful conversation and who treat them better than at most other restaurants. When diners connect with staff members at a restaurant they will become loyal to that restaurant or brand.

I see it all the time, and nothing will ever change. We are human beings, we are emotional, and we will always do business with those we like and care about us.

Until next time ..........

Andre Plessis
Restaurant & Hospitality Consultant
Los Angeles, CA
Call 310-266-9463

Noisy restaurants ruining the dinning experience of diners

According to the nationwide Zagat survey, noise has become the second-biggest complaint among diners, behind lousy service. In Los Angeles, 18% of diners ranked noise as their top peeve last year, up from 12% in 2010.

If you want to enjoy a great dining experience, avoid a restaurant with a high-noise level, lousy music sound system and where you are packed like cows to help the owner maximizes his profit.

Yelp has begun listing noise levels atop its ratings. OpenTable, a reservations service, allows reviewers to rate restaurants as "quiet," "moderate" or "energetic." Several national restaurant reviewers now factor sonic quality into their reports. The Rundown LA, which sends email blasts on local activities, provides noise ratings when it reviews eateries.

If you want to enjoy a great dining experience when you go out, you must look for good food, great ambiance, great music, and warm, and engaged staff that will make your night memorable.

Planned obsolescence is a business strategy that will set any business for failure

Planned obsolescence is a business strategy in which the obsolescence (the process of becoming obsolete, that is, unfashionable or no longer usable) of a product is planned and built into it from its conception. Having been in the restaurant industry for over 15 years and being as passionate as I am, I understand hospitality better than most. My extensive education and reading allows me to understand what it takes to build a business that can last.

With that I can easily spot a restaurant that won't last very long. Remember the proverb? "Where there is no vision the people perish".

YES this is very true. A greedy business owner, who only thinks about himself and doesn't give a damn about his employees and customers, who is blinded and "obnibulé" by his  idea of wanting to make as much profit as possible does not plan for long-term success. During his short years in business he will think to maximize his profit to the expense of employees and customers. But any person that wants to reap a much bigger reward will have to think outside the box, and not just about himself.

A selfish business owner does not have a vision he can share with his employees to sustain the growing competition. Thus the "Planned obsolescence" is applicable to any business owner who is just driven by profit, and has no vision because all he does is contribute to himself and nobody else. You can't go very far in business when you only think about yourself.

A great example is the real estate industry. Agents and loan officers were just thinking about themselves when they sold homes that appreciated at 15% per year in Southern CA, and loan officers were reaping high commissions by selling bad loans to home buyers. Most of those sales people reaped huge commissions during a few years but are out of business or struggling today. They also lost all those customers who will never do business with them again.

So if you want to reap a much bigger reward in life it is much better to think outside the box and plan to contribute to the lives of others. You should have a vision not for yourself, but also for others so they can relate to you.

Planned obsolescence is a business strategy that will result in having a business with a short life span because has there is no vision for anyone.

Are You Cashing In On Your Share of Iced Tea Profits?

Did you know that selling just 5 more glasses of Fresh Brewed Iced Tea per day means you'll earn over $3,600 est. profit over the course of a year?

FACT: Iced tea is the fastest growing non-alcoholic beverage
FACT: Fresh Brewed Iced Tea is preferred to fountain, liquid concentrate or bottled iced tea

FACT: Sweet and Flavored iced teas rank among the trendiest nonalcoholic beverages in the National Restaurant Association's What's Hot in 2012 Survey

Minimum Wage For Restaurant Servers Remains Stagnant For 20 Years Under Industry Lobbying

Minimum Wage For Restaurant Servers Remains Stagnant For 20 Years Under Industry Lobbying. The money is meaningless for employers as they can buy cheap labor, but they're getting more and more out of workers. In my experience it is never good when someone is getting the most out of someone else, as if only one party wins (the employer), the other one loses (the employee). 

Also if someone gets the most out of a business transaction, the human nature makes him feel like he got something for nothing. If such thing happen, it is difficult for the "winning party" to appreciates the "losing party" as it got something for nothing. Think of it: if you can get something for nothing, if you get the most out of someone how can you possibly value the other party? 

You don't. And if you don't value your employee, then it cannot be great for the employee, the owner as he won't get the most out of the employee who feels cheated and obviously the diners, or clients won't get the most out of their money neither. EVERYBODY LOSES when the employer feels that he can get cheap labor and can get away with paying people he/she does not value.