What clients did you impress this week?
Who did you go the extra mile for? Who has been telling their friends about how wonderful you are?
Friday, March 30, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
The Web and Your Restaurant/Hotel Business
Today, sites like Trip Advisor and Yelp (among many others) are transforming the way service businesses operate.
Here's how it works: at first, a business might try to ignore the system, but then they notice their customers talking about the reviews and their competitors.You'll see many diners entering a restaurant while they review dishes on Yelp. Some will post an instant restaurant review on Foursquare.
Can you continue to ignore reviews or let your competition excel while you keep providing average food or service? Probably not because today everybody is online and uses social media. There is nothing you can stop. You're in or you're out. You live or you die!
The only alternative? Amazing and flawless service. Memorable dining experience. When the guests leave they will only remember how you make them feel. And if you accomplish just that, they will be your raving fans, your advocates. Working with customers in such an extraordinary way that people feel compelled to talk about it, post about it, and yes, review it. It's not an accident that some companies are among the highest rated in your industry.
They didn't do it with the perfect building or sumptuous suites. They did it by intentionally being remarkable at service. Amplifying stories causes the stories that are built to change. Ignore the web and you'll be punished. Ignore follow ups with your guests and you'll be punished. Ignore social media and you'll be punished. Ignore their needs and you'll be left out.
The web changes everything it touches, sometimes in significant ways. Travelers ranted about poor service for a generation, but once the internet makes it easy to rank and sort and connect, the service has no choice but to change. Some businesses see Yelp and others as a tax, a burden they have to pay attention to in order to stay relevant, and they grumble about it. Others see these sites as the opportunity of a lifetime, a chance to deliver service to get distance yourself from the increasing competition.
If you want to stay in business, or stay ahead of your competition, you must deliver an unparalled service that guests will remember and talk about to everyone they know. And believe me, they will.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Word-of-Mouth is Still your Best Source for Increased Business
According to recent consumer polls, a customer’s choice of restaurant is primarily due to word-of-mouth referrals from previously satisfied clients within their family, friends or social network. When a satisfied customer visits a restaurant of choice and has a great dining experience (food + atmosphere + amazing service), the referral from them to their friends, co-workers, family members and social networking groups reaches a lot further than any advertising campaign could possibly reach.
Keeping great word-of-mouth referrals going is important, and there is no better way to do this than to give your customers a reason to spread the word about your restaurant. Feel free to encourage your customers to spread the word about the great food. superb service and unique atmosphere your restaurant offers. You can be sure that once they are satisfied with your food and services, they will certainly tell their friends about it.
This is why it is so important for restaurants to nurture and maintain unique relationships with their customer base. When a restaurant stays in touch with its own customer base, customers feel more attached to the establishment. It is also important to always acknowledge the clients when they come in and to emphasize on the farewell when they leave. Today you can say goodbye to the old inefficient and costly way to market your business using newspapers. It never really worked anyway.
When you nurture your relationships like any salesman would do by following up and staying in touch customers will likewise communicate with their friends, relatives, and co-workers about how delighted they were with the service and food quality offered. They will also communicate just as quickly with that same extended network when they are unhappy with your establishment.
Engaging Your Customers To Share Their Criticism
Engaging Your Customers To Share Their Criticism
It is always better to encourage your customers to share their opinions about your products and offers as opposed to ignoring them and then you find out later that they used YELP, or other social media tools to vent their frustration and criticize you openly on the web with thousands of people having access to a bad reviews on you
1- If you defend yourself to the customer, you are pushing the criticizer away because you're telling them they're wrong about their opinion. And they might indeed be wrong, but they may choose another route to express their frustration. That could be dangerous to your company.
2- If your front line people (customer service) restate the criticism in their own words and are grateful to the customer for sharing it, everyone will benefit. You can always choose to ignore the input later.
3- If there's no way for your staff to easily send the criticism up the hierarchy, it dies before it reaches someone who can do something about it.
4- If upper management follow up with the customer with specific acknowledgment and thanks, you multiply the benefits.
It is always better to encourage your customers to share their opinions about your products and offers as opposed to ignoring them and then you find out later that they used YELP, or other social media tools to vent their frustration and criticize you openly on the web with thousands of people having access to a bad reviews on you
1- If you defend yourself to the customer, you are pushing the criticizer away because you're telling them they're wrong about their opinion. And they might indeed be wrong, but they may choose another route to express their frustration. That could be dangerous to your company.
2- If your front line people (customer service) restate the criticism in their own words and are grateful to the customer for sharing it, everyone will benefit. You can always choose to ignore the input later.
3- If there's no way for your staff to easily send the criticism up the hierarchy, it dies before it reaches someone who can do something about it.
4- If upper management follow up with the customer with specific acknowledgment and thanks, you multiply the benefits.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Restaurant Managers CANNOT RECEIVE TIPS
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.
California Tip Law
Yes. According to a California court, Labor Code Section 351 allows involuntary tip pooling. Therefore, your employer can require that you share your tips with other staff that provide service in the restaurant. In this regard, it’s DLSE’s position that when a tip pooling arrangement is in effect, the tips are to be distributed among the employees who provide "direct table service." Such employees could conceivably include waiters and waitresses, busboys, bartenders, host/hostesses and maitre d’s.
Employees who do not provide direct table service and who do not share in the tip pool include dishwashers, cooks, and chefs, except in restaurants where the chefs prepare the food at the patron’s table, in which case the chef may participate in the tip pool. Additionally, tip pooling cannot be used to compensate the owner(s), manager(s), or supervisor(s) of the business, even if these individuals should provide direct table service to a patron.
Employees who do not provide direct table service and who do not share in the tip pool include dishwashers, cooks, and chefs, except in restaurants where the chefs prepare the food at the patron’s table, in which case the chef may participate in the tip pool. Additionally, tip pooling cannot be used to compensate the owner(s), manager(s), or supervisor(s) of the business, even if these individuals should provide direct table service to a patron.
Friday, February 17, 2012
California Tip Pool Law
California law protects employees from having to share their tips with the owners or managers of business. Employers are allowed to implement certain types of mandatory tip sharing arrangements, but these arrangements must conform to the law.
California Labor Code Section 351 states that:
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.
The most common violation is a "tip pooling" program that keeps a certain portion of tips for the employer. Any person who has authority to hire or fire employees or supervises, directs, or controls the acts of other employees is considered a manager and may not receive any of the tips given to those employees.
Another common practice that is illegal is the "tip credit" system. This is a pay program in which tips replace your wages. For instance, if the employer pays you $7.50 per hour (minimum wage) or your tips, which ever is greater, this is a type of "tip credit" system that is illegal in California. Under California Labor Law, your tips and your wages are separate. One can not be used to pay the other.
If the employer charges a credit card processing fee, an "accounting fee", or any other type of fee, deduction, or charge, for handling or processing your tips, this is illegal. The law is clear that you must be paid all of your tips without such charges.
Many types of tip sharing arrangements of legal, even if they are mandated by the employer and even if the employee has no real way to bargain for different terms. As long as no manager or supervisor is participating in the pool, the employer is allowed to split the tip up in a "fair" manner among all people who are normally part of the "chain of service." This has been interpreted to mean any waitperson, busperson, bartender, hostess, wine steward, or "front room" chef. The tip can be split with the bartender even if that particular patron did not order any drinks. However, requiring tips to be paid to people who have little or no connection to the "chain of service" is illegal. The most common violation is using tips to pay dishwashers or other types of employees.
California Labor Code Section 351 states that:
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.
The most common violation is a "tip pooling" program that keeps a certain portion of tips for the employer. Any person who has authority to hire or fire employees or supervises, directs, or controls the acts of other employees is considered a manager and may not receive any of the tips given to those employees.
Another common practice that is illegal is the "tip credit" system. This is a pay program in which tips replace your wages. For instance, if the employer pays you $7.50 per hour (minimum wage) or your tips, which ever is greater, this is a type of "tip credit" system that is illegal in California. Under California Labor Law, your tips and your wages are separate. One can not be used to pay the other.
If the employer charges a credit card processing fee, an "accounting fee", or any other type of fee, deduction, or charge, for handling or processing your tips, this is illegal. The law is clear that you must be paid all of your tips without such charges.
Many types of tip sharing arrangements of legal, even if they are mandated by the employer and even if the employee has no real way to bargain for different terms. As long as no manager or supervisor is participating in the pool, the employer is allowed to split the tip up in a "fair" manner among all people who are normally part of the "chain of service." This has been interpreted to mean any waitperson, busperson, bartender, hostess, wine steward, or "front room" chef. The tip can be split with the bartender even if that particular patron did not order any drinks. However, requiring tips to be paid to people who have little or no connection to the "chain of service" is illegal. The most common violation is using tips to pay dishwashers or other types of employees.
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