America's Got Talent But Not Everybody is Looking For it

Do you watch all those reality shows on TV. America's Got Talent, American Idol, America's Next Top Model, So You Think You Can Dance, The X Factor etc.

The goal of those shows is to uncover talents, guide them through the process, educate and coach them, so they develop their talent and hopefully they will have terrific new career. Those young talents are full of hope and are surrounded with professionals who have their true interest at heart.

Obviously those TV shows have gained a huge audience as America enjoys witnessing and following the birth of new talents. It is inspiring. TV shows are not the only one who chase talents. Other amazing and successful companies also seek talented individuals, so they stay at the forefront of their industry. That includes Apple, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Intel, Sony, Samsung etc.

It definitely makes sense for companies to recruit talents as the more you have, the more successful you will be. Those TV shows and companies are the perfect proof that talent means money, and long term success. But how come restaurants in Los Angeles are not interested in recruiting talented individuals?

I have worked in the restaurant industry for almost two decades and I have never encountered a restaurant seeking talented employees. To find workers restaurant owners post ads on Craigslist and basically recruit just anyone and pay them the minimum wage. Most restaurants struggle as the competition is intense. Restaurants open everyday, so although a restaurant is doing well for the first few years it does not guarantee long term-success.

The only way to build a lasting business is to recruit talented, passionate people and give them a chance. Restaurants must care about their employees if they want the workers to care about the customers. You lead by example. Show them you care and they'll care for your guests. Pay them the minimum wage, do not offer them any training, nor education and they'll be quickly as uninterested about their job as you are about their career. You have to give, if you want to receive.

Workers expect a company that cares about them and they'll give you their best. The problem is that most restaurant owners are only interested in their own pocketbook. They spend their day to nickle and dime, paying their workers the least, and giving them the least. Yes controlling cost is great, but it is just one piece of the puzzle. Saving has never created long-term success. 

So why don't more restaurant owners in Los Angeles do not try to recruit talents?

Andre Plessis
Restaurant & Hospitality
AP Consulting

When should you receive your tips on credit cards

Q. When a customer pays their bill with a credit card and the payment includes a tip, when can the employee expect to receive the money from the employer?
 

A. Payment of a gratuity made by a patron using a credit card must be paid to the employee not later than the next regular payday following the date the patron authorized the credit card payment. Labor Code Section 351

 

Andre Plessis

AP COnsulting

My employer deducts my tips from my paycheck. Is this legal?

California Labor Code Section 351 

351.  No employer or agent shall collect, take, or receive any gratuity or a part thereof that is paid, given to, or left for an employee by a patron, or deduct any amount from wages due an employee on account of a gratuity, or require an employee to credit the amount, or any part thereof, of a gratuity against and as a part of the wages due the employee from the employer. 

Every gratuity is hereby declared to be the sole property of the employee or employees to whom it was paid, given, or left for. An employer that permits patrons to pay gratuities by credit card shall pay the employees the full amount of the gratuity that the patron indicated on the credit card slip, without any deductions for any credit card payment processing fees or costs that may be charged to the employer by the credit card company. Payment of gratuities made by patrons using credit cards shall be made to the employees not later than the next regular payday following the date the patron authorized the credit card payment.

Andre Plessis

AP Consulting 

Bringing out The Best in Restaurant Workers

In my career in the restaurant and hospitality industry, I have observed that ill conceived management is one of the biggest problems. Restaurant owners hire people with no clue about the tasks at hand, including managers that got promoted from servers to managers. They have not received the proper training and education unlike almost all other professions in the world.

 
Managing a restaurant, on the floor or otherwise, should be learned. You cannot properly manage a business and employees without education, passion and skills for the job. Today, in most restaurants, it is all about catching workers doing something wrong, barking orders at them and punishing them, in other word instilling fear in them with the twisted hope that it will work out.

It’s counterproductive! High turnover cost money, time and stress to no avail.

Management never ask the staff for their comments or suggestions as they are not valued. They are hired to do a task, take orders and keep their expectations low. That’s not the best way to build a lasting business.
It’s wrong and that's not what managing a business is about at all.
I have never met a manager with entrepreneurial skills that were looking for ideas to grow the business. In fact I have not met many restaurant owners who truly know how to grow a restaurant business. They usually focus on minimizing payroll, food cost, labor cost, doing inventory to see if the workers they hire and do not trust steal liquor or food. To them it’s all about minimizing cost, rarely about growing the business. 

And that’s why most restaurants close down in record time and by the thousands (about 9450 last year in the U.S.)
I rarely meet a restaurant owner who understands how valuable his or hers workers are, who trust them, ask for their comments and suggestions. Workers are at the forefront of the business. They are the ones who deal with the customers all day long, so obviously they know more than managers and owners. The only thing they don't know is Profit & Loss of the business.
A good worker is invaluable and should be chosen and treated as such.
To build a restaurant business that lasts, you have to change your management style and think outside the box. For as long as restaurant owners hire managers who acts as cops on the floor, hire unskilled workers then refuse to trust them and value their feedback, they will be one step away from being knocked down by the competition.

Andre Plessis
AP Consulting
Restaurant and Hospitality Consultant

We WANT YOU, But We'll Pay You as Low as we Can

When I browse the restaurant job category in Los Angeles I am horrified by what I witness. Here are some extracts from my reading:

1. Upscale, fine dining restaurant on the Westside is seeking experienced servers capable of acting as part time assistant managers. Applicants should have skill in delivering outstanding service, excellent customer relations, and wine and liquor knowledge. This person will work with existing management to improve service with a structured system in order to increase sales and profitability.
2. Servers / Brunch Servers:
   Responsibilities include, but are not limited to, assisting in the opening and closing of the dining rooms, greeting the guests upon arrival, working closely with restaurant & bar manager, and supporting the service staff when needed. You will be expected to play an active role in selling, describing and learning the food, cocktail and wine menus. Waiters can make $100 - $150 /brunch.
   Please be familiar with:
   • white tablecloth service standards
   • classic new and old world wine knowledge
   • pre-prohibition cocktail ingredients
   • traditional Italian, French and Spanish ingredients
   • the difference between hospitality and service
   Above all - great personality, enthusiasm, welcoming attitude & the ability to maintain grace under pressure. 
3. SERVERS: Ideal candidates will have had prior experience in either a wine bar or high-volume, fine dining restaurants. We are looking for solid candidates who will create an extraordinary dining experience for the guests with their knowledge of worldwide cuisine and an outstanding wine pairing knowledge. Attention to detail, a service standard second-to-none and the ability to create the perfect dining experience.
   
   Requirements-
   
   -Must have at least two years experience in a fine dining or upscale restaurant
   -Needs to have a solid background in wine. (Please be prepared to take a proficiency test)
   -Must be able to be flexible in schedule (Weekends & Holidays) PM Shifts ONLY
   -Have a customers' first attitude
   -Knowledgeable about wine and have a positive attitude
   -Solid references (References will be checked)
   -Energetic, Enthusiastic and Punctual
4.  Servers: (photo optional)
   Responsibilities:
   • Ensure a positive customer experience for customers
   • Present menus to patrons and answer questions about menu items, making recommendations upon request. (Especially wine pairings)
   • Wine knowledge is a must (quiz).
   • Inform customers of daily specials
   • Serve food or beverages to patrons,
   Requirements:
   • 3 years minimum fine dining experience
   • Highly presentable appearance
   • Professional and elegant demeanor

Compensation: $8.00 per hour plus tips

As you can see in the above four examples, restaurants around Los Angeles have a lot of requirements. I agree with that and the standard should be very high when you are looking to hire employees. Why would you hire people you cannot trust? Why would anyone hire employees that cannot perform a job? Why would you hire unprofessional people? That wouldn't make any sense at all.

Employees should ALL be professional, no matter what the job is. Being a server requires a lot of skills. When you have seven to ten tables you must be multitasks, as you have to know what all your guests need at all time. Some guests may need their water glass refilled, some are waiting for the first course, some need another cocktail, some may need the dessert menu, some may need the wine pairing with their new course, some may need the bill, some may need a bottle of wine and some may need something else. Not everybody has the ability to multitask. That is very hard to do.

Waiters must anticipate their guests needs at all time. They have to deliver great customer experience and they should have excellent customer service skills.

I do not believe you should just hire anyone for such job. Waiters should be professional, have knowledge in food, wine and deliver excellent dining experience to the guests. It also requires understanding what customer service is all about. Waiting tables is has nothing to do with taking orders, it's about dealing with the public, anticipating their needs, getting to know their stories, making a restaurant a home away from home for the guests and deliver memorable dining experience. Please don't assume everybody can do that.

Your employees must understand hospitality.

But requiring so much from restaurant staff and paying them the minimum wage is a TOTAL RIP OFF, shameful and outrageous. How about SLAVERY! How do you expect to get away with that?

Restaurant workers are not fool. They understand what's going on. You will never get the most of your employees if you refuse to invest in them. You will undoubtedly fail if you do not train, educate, reward your employees and continuously exploit them. If there is nothing in it for them, they will give up at some point.

In life you get what you pay for. You can exploit employees for a while, but once they realize that their efforts don't pay off, they only live paycheck to paycheck, get no reward, no thank you, no gratitude, no training, no carer opportunity, no vacation, no sick day, no health and no retirement benefits, they'll treat the customers the way you treat your them. They will have absolutely no regard and no consideration for them.

Your employees cannot deliver great customer experience when they do no experience great employee experience. You lead by example. If management does not value employees, they in turn will not value your patrons. The customers will feel it and won't bother coming back. In the end what you gained by not paying your employees properly, you'll lose as the clients won't have any reason to come back.

There are too many restaurants, too many choices, so if you can't give great reasons for your customers to come back, they won't. Your front staff must built loyalty with the guests. They must establish meaningful conversations with the guests and make them feel special. Not everybody does that, in fact very few understand how to deliver that. That's what customers want.

When you pay someone the minimum wage, you show your employees they are not asset, but a cost to you.

In the end, when you treat your employees that bad, the customer suffers and ends up getting ripped off as you do not meet their expectations. They do not get the most for their money. They feel the same as your employees. They feel ripped off even though they don't tell you. They can walk away and never come back. How much do you lose by being cheap with everybody that works and dines at your restaurant?

Andre Plessis

AP Consulting

What Customers Want and Rarely Get

Today I went to rent a car. I won't mention the company as I do not like to slam companies, but the employees there made it very painful for me to do business with the company.

The purpose of great customer service is to understand what customers want and give it to them. Unfortunately most businesses in the U.S want cheap labor and often time just hire anyone to do a job that appears to be meaningless but requires people who should have skills.

When you deal with the public and customers, employees should have people skill and be great with customers. That is what we call, excellent customer service which will get you always farther that your competitors whose customer service is terrible. Companies should never compete on price but on customer service. And that is what is needed these days since social media that break or make your business.

Today during my rental car experience I was dealing with unfriendly employees who never smiled at me and truly made my car rental experience quite awful and painful.

Customers walk into a business to buy a product or a service. The experience and process should be smooth and enjoyable. That is what people want. But walking into a business and dealing with unfriendly employees makes the experience quite unpleasant.

It is quite amazing to offer a terrible customer experience when you think that you are spending your hard earned money and that the fact that you do business with a company you pay the employees' bills and that they are so ungrateful to you.

Companies in America needs to rethink the way they do business. They should always keep in mind that they cannot simply put anyone to do the a job, particularly when you have to deal directly with the public. Those employees should be highly skilled, warm, pleasant, smiling and have great customer skills.

Sure it may sound like an opportunity to save money by hiring just anyone to do a job, but the lack of training and unpleasant experience they offer to your customers will drive away customers.

What you gain on one side, you lose on the other end. You may save money by paying someone the minimum wage or close to it, but the fact that you do not hire and train the right people will make yu lose money in the long run. The choice is yours!

Andre Plessis
AP Consulting
Customer Service Expert
Tel: 310-266-9463

Some Company Executives Get BIG Bonuses, and Cut Employees’ Hours To Avoid Obamacare

Do executives at companies feel that their workers are worthless and should be working on the minimum wage and with no benefit whatsoever?

It is the case for Regal Entertainment Group, which operates Regal Cinemas, Edwards Theaters, and United Artists screens in 38 states Regal is in the minority. Multiple surveys have shown that approximately 94 percent of the nation’s large employers will most likely provide workers’ health benefits under the new Obamacare, since they fear that not doing so will invite public backlash and could potentially drive away current and prospective employees to companies that treat their workers better.


Still, as Regal’s decision demonstrates, not all companies are thinking quite that strategically. But this type of anti-labor practice is nothing new, and it extends far beyond Obamacare. Large companies, and particularly those in the service sector,  have a long history of protecting profits by cutting hours, firing workers, slashing benefits, and generally shifting costs onto their employees. Obamacare just offers these corporations a convenient scapegoat.

Strangely why would companies in the service sector would tend to act that way towards their employees when those workers interact on a daily basis with clients. If you want your employees to treat the customers well, go above and beyond, you must show your own employees you care about them.

This is certainly not a recipe for success.

Andre Plessis
AP Consulting

How to Deliver Quality and Service in Your Restaurant

When guests come to your restaurant, you should treat them as if they are friends visiting your home. Treating your guests with care and providing an exceptional place for them to enjoy a meal is probably the biggest reason they will come back to your restaurant again.

When customers come through your doors, they expect quality in every aspect of the restaurant and not just the food. Food is a given since they go out to eat. But keep in mind that guests are looking for a value in the things they see, taste and touch, and so providing them with exceptional quality will certainly leave a good taste in their mouths.

Memorable Service

Perhaps even more important than food quality is the service the customers experience from the time they walk in  the restaurant until the time they walk out the doors. Remember to treat the guest with the utmost care. Pamper them and make them feel special because in the end they won't remember what yuo told them, how good the food was, they will remember how you made them feel. That is the most powerful.

Andre Plessis
AP Consulting
Restaurant & Hospitality Consultant.

What is the Benefit of Providing Excellent Customer Service

According to the 2012 American Express Global Customer Service Barometer, two thirds of surveyed consumers are willing to spend more with a company they believe provides excellent customer service, and  consumers being surveyed confirmed they have spent more with a company as a result of superior customer service experiences ( Zappos, Amazon.com, Ritz Carlton, Apple).

So if customers are willing to spend more for superior customer service, shouldn’t businesses and organizations be willing to invest more to achieve it?

Andre Plessis
AP Consulting
Restaurant & Hospitalty Consulting

Your Restaurant Does NOT Have a Sales Problem

When sales are viewed as THE real problem, restaurateurs often automatically assume the solution is more marketing.

While marketing is certainly an important part of generating sales in most restaurants, a change in marketing is not the cure for every case of insufficient sales.

If your sales have been in decline, sure, a different marketing approach might help but it's likely, the situation has more to do with what you're doing or not doing in your restaurant every day and how you're being perceived by your dinners.

We live in a cause and effect world, if your sales are too low something is causing it, so before taking any action, I believe the best place to start is to first step back and objectively look at what's going on in your restaurant and in your local market. 

 

Also before you blame the economy look at your competition and see if business has declined there as well. If their business remains constant, that means there is something wrong with the way you conduct business.

First, consider the following questions:

• How's your food quality? Is it consistent?
• Is your service staff friendly and responsive?
• Does your staff engage in meaningful conversation with the guests?
• Does your wait staff create customer loyalty?
• Do you have a superior customer service organization? 
• Are you giving your customers exactly what they want? How do you know?
• How does your restaurant's value proposition and experience proposition compare to what your customers can get at your competitors?
• What are you customers saying about you? Check comment cards, Yelp and other review websites?

Andre Plessis
AP Consulting
Restaurant/Hospitality Consultant

Will You Greet Customers With an iPad?

Customers at some restaurants aren’t greeted by a waiter. Nor do they step up to a counter like in a fast-food restaurant.

Instead, each table is equipped with an iPad, from which customers can order their food with no human intervention, no contact with a staff member whatsoever.

Waiters just confirm orders with customers, bring the food from the kitchen when it’s ready, and are available to accept payment and help customers who need it. But customers can enter and leave the eatery with little interaction with a human being.
If this technology is widely adopted, it has the potential to drastically cut labor costs at many restaurants, and put many waiters out of work.

BUT, if as a restaurant you opt for that technoclogy, I predict that you will be out of business very fast as well, because when you have been in the restaurant industry for as long as I have, you understand that it's all about customer service.

 The iPad is not going to come around and see if everything is OK and if a customer likes your meal. It is not going to have a meaningful conversation with a customer and build a relationship to create customer loyalty. The iPad is as cold as marble, and in business or sales people do business with who they like the most.

You go to a restaurant for the food the first time, and you go for the service the second time.

Andre Plessis
AP Consulting
Hospitality/Restaurant Consulting

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/25/3253729/hello-my-name-is-ipad-and-ill.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/25/3253729/hello-my-name-is-ipad-and-ill.html#storylink=cpy

Anticipation Will Help You create a Memorable customer experience

Anticipation is the key ingredient to creating a memorable customer experience.  When a customer is met with the surprise and delight of having their unexpressed needs fulfilled, it creates a compelling emotional connection and keeps them coming back for more.

That’s why successful companies such as, Ritz-Carlton, Apple, Nordstrom, Disney, and Zappos make anticipation part of their customer experience commitment.

Anticipation creates a sense of urgency in employees and shifts people into a proactive state. When employees are looking for opportunities to deliver the extraordinary, customer experience is enhanced.
Every single customer interaction is an opportunity to create a defining moment in the relationship and a customer for life.

Andre Plessis
AP Consulting

Should You Provide Health Insurance to Your Employees

Employees newly required to have health insurance under the law may want to get it from their employer, With that in mind, employers may feel encouraged to offer coverage.


Don't forget about the tax benefits of providing healthcare.
The federal government makes tax credits available to most companies with fewer than 25 low-wage employees to help cover the cost of insurance. A tax credit of up to 35% of what a company pays for health benefits is available today, and that increases to 50% in 2014 for businesses that buy insurance through their state's online health insurance market. In California, 80% of small businesses are expected to qualify for a tax break.

Andre Plessis
AP Consulting

What is Great Service at a Restaurant

People will go to a restaurant for the food the first them, then they’ll go back for the service.

''What is great service anyway?''

Great service is not about flamboyant tuxedos, tableside pasta cooking, French service style, or about lifting silver domes off hot food plates in unison or clearing all plates at the same time. Rather, great service occurs when guests leave the restaurant convinced that someone went that extra mile to make them happy. It’s about having our server engage in meaningful conversation with the guests who treat them like royalties and truly care about them.

At restaurants, servers are wine and food consultants, not order takers. They are responsible for controlling the table by setting the pace and by anticipating all guests' needs before they arise. It has been said that anytime a guest needs to ask for something, you've make a mistake.

Andre Plessis
Restaurant & Hospitality Consulting
AP Consulting